My first Mathews bow was the Z7 - a forgiving bow with
an outstanding draw cycle. In 2012 I traded it in for the Heli-m, Mathews'
lightest bow to date. I loved the weight, shot it well, and liked that bow very much.
The draw cycle was a bit edgier to me than the Z7 but the weight made up for it.
In 2013, Mathews combined the Z7’s forgiveness with the weight of the
Heli-m and added a fantastic draw cycle, valley, and wall. For me, the Creed seemed to combine my favorite aspects of the Z7 and Heli-m
into one superb shooting bow.
Specs from my setup: My Creed was setup
with a 27” draw length and a 70lb draw weight. It also included a loop and a
Mathews Ultra Rest HDX drop away. For Arrows I shot the new Carbon Express Red 250
shafts with an 85 grain Two Blade head.
Draw Cycle, Speed, and Forgiveness
At the heart of the Creed’s terrific draw cycle is their new
SimPlex
Cam™. I found this bow to have a very smooth and consistent draw. Even
on my 70lb bow, the draw cycle felt natural to me with a perfect valley and a
crisp wall which is a characteristic I always look for. It would be hard to
imagine a better draw cycle, valley and wall than what I experienced on this
Creed. For speed it was plenty fast, but it’s not a screamer like the Monsters.
That’s OK with me; I have imperfect form and find the speed bows difficult to
shoot accurately in high pressure situations. The IBO rating on the Creed is
328, my bow chrono’d lower than that with my 500 grain arrows but the speed was
entirely acceptable. I found this bow very forgiving, especially for a 30” A2A
bow!
Accuracy and Feel
Weighing in at 3.85 lbs out of the box, it is only slightly
heavier than the 2012 Mathews Heli-m, and noticeably lighter than my 2010 bow the
Z7. I felt the ergonomics of this bow were spot on for me. When I first
started shooting the shorter A2A bows I found them to be rather harsh and less
forgiving than the longer A2A bows I was accustomed to. That changed over time
and now I find them as comfortable (and easy to shoot) as any bow I have used.
Creed definitely falls into that category. It is a pleasure to shoot and my
accuracy proved that on my Big Green Target. With virtually no hand shock, the
Creed is simply dead in the hand and who doesn’t like that?
Tunability
In the last five years I have become proficient at bow tuning.
It’s become one of the most enjoyable aspects of getting a new bow. Because I
am extremely anal about arrow flight I will try dozens of combinations until I
achieve perfection with the hardest broadheads to tune – two blade COC heads.
On my previous bows I spent a fair bit of time tuning them to get a consistently
perfect flight. But when I got my Creed I must admit to being, well, a little
disappointed. It tuned perfectly out of the box. I shot a perfect paper hole
on my first shot with CX’s new ‘Red’ arrows and that was with 2-blade broadheads.
I backed up and shot at 30 yards. Arrow flight was perfectly straight. This
was the easiest bow I have ever tuned. I was so confident in the Creed that I
took it out hunting the next morning. I can’t promise your results will mirror
mine but I’d be surprised if anyone found this bow difficult to tune based on
my experience.
Video Review of the 2013 Mathews Creed
Late Season Buck taken with my 2013 Mathews Creed
Summary
The Creed is a hunter's bow. It seems to combine
everything I liked with my other Mathews bows into a single perfect package.
The individual improvements were subtle, but when added together with an extremely
smooth draw I fell in love with this bow quickly. I even broke my own rule by
taking it hunting the day after I received it. The
risk was worth it. The late season buck I was looking for came in and gave
me a nice 18 yard shot. The Creed performed as well in the field as it did back home on target and I took home a great 8 point with a perfect shot. Mathews is known for building incredible bows and
that’s no secret. But every year they find a way to make their bows even better. It will be interesting to see how they top this bow. It's my favorite bow to date.
