# Parker Challenger vs. Mathews Mustang review...



## JoeyM (Feb 24, 2004)

this is my first post, and me and my wife are new to archery, but i thought this would help most people over here.

we have both been shooting for about two months now and we are at opposite extremes. she is a 22 in. draw and i am a 31 in (she's 4'11" and i'm 6'3").

her first bow was a parker challenger (minimum draw is 23 inches, but our pro shop guy played with it to fit her). she started at about 28 pounds and eventually maxed it out at 40 pounds.

then she ordered a mathews mustang at 22 in. and 40-50 lbs (the only reason she got a new bow was her sister wanted to get into it too and she gave her the parker).

so after shooting the mustang for a few weeks now, i asked her what she thought. these are her thoughts, as she doesn't play on the internet like i do:

1. what are the main differences? the mathews cam is smoother, and draws more like a recurve. but, it has a lower percentage let-off (75% compared to 80%), so it's heavier to hold at the same weight. also, the valley is a lot shorter than the parker. so the parker although not as smooth in the draw, is much easier to hold an aim.

2. noise? both are very quiet. we added string suppressors to the parker and limb savers, the mustang has factory string stabilizers and we added limb savers. both are very very quiet.

3. vibration? none with either with the limbsvers.

4. build quality? probably same. both have nice wood handles, both are excellent in fit and finish (although she prefers the look of the parker camo better).

5. was it worth the extra money?: probably not. it is about 50% more, something like $350 for the parker and about $500 for the mustang. the bows are more similar than different. the other things the mathews has that the parker doesn't (the ball bearings and roller guard, don't make it that much better, in her opinion). also, those things make the bow heavier. not something she likes too much.

also, she tried both bows with a lot of different stabilizers including my modular stabilizer in numerous configurations and ended up shooting both bows with nothing on them. the only thing she added recently was a wrist strap.

so in conclusion, she would have happily have stuck with the challenger. she thinks it's just as good as the mustang, just different and at a better price. but she's glad she bought the mustang so she could see for herself what a fancy bow is like (and it's the fanciest bow for her short draw).


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## thedogmother (Jan 8, 2004)

Thanks for the comparison. I'm sure it will help out a lot of people. What other bows did she try before she decided on the Mustang? I was shooting a PSE Nova and wanted something else so I tried a few different bows one beong the Mustang. For me it was to small, felt like a toy. I am not big, 5'-5" and 26in draw. 
Thanks again


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## Africanbowhunter (May 29, 2003)

Did you consider the Mass weight?


2.6 # for the C hallanger small grip vs 4.3# for the Mathews not as small a grib


every lady that had handled both Prefers the parker Challanger

And you can make it shoot even faster by instgalling a smaller string 12 strands of 81225 ULTRA CAM and a 12 strange cable


It will hold up fine and will produce a lot more speed.

My lady red Dot is a new archer at age 65, and shot & killed 2 whitetails and Europeran red deer with ehr Challanger set at 32#


She used to shoot 38# and will when she get over her illness that is sapping her strength


Tink for RED DOT


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## Africanbowhunter (May 29, 2003)

I am 5'5" 200# Male if the made the Challabger isn 60 # I would hutn with it Tink Nathan


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## bowgodez (Jul 15, 2003)

interesting post......you are right when you say the price difference is a huge factor..i believe that both Parker and Mathews make a good Quality product(ok, i admit that!!LOL)but i think for the price,the Parker out does the Mathews,hands down.i love the Parker line...i love the fact that when you call the company they answer.... a real person..and your not put on hold forever..i love the warrantee,the bows,the staff that work there.right now im having a warrantee issue with my 31...called them monday,my parts will be here by friday..and it was no hassle..i will not shoot anything else..i have..ive tried every bow at the shop...and always come back to the Parker..it just feels right for me....and when im happy,i like to share!!i will always "preach" the awesome Parker bow!!!!!


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## kodiak (Jan 27, 2003)

*parker warranty ???*

I have a parker hunter-mag and it's been a great bow with no problems. A friend of mine made me a new string awhile back for it and I got more speed from the bow. I talked with parker and they said my warranty would be know good if I didn'y use their factory S4 string. Anyone else here of this or run into this situation with parker bows, or other bow companies.
Just curious if this is true, because I know many change their bowstrings from factory for more speed and better pefomance.
Thanks,Kodiak.


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## JoeyM (Feb 24, 2004)

my wife didn't try any others before ordering the mustang. there were not many other bows in her draw length avaialable at our local pro shop. and as we love our local pro shop (Bordy's in Florham Park, NJ) we like to support them.

so we can't really comment on many other small bows. 

the challenger is great. my sister-in-law loves it (although she has nothing to compare it to). 

i personally think it's better looking too. it has full camo from axle to axle. 

anyways, i shoot a Parker Hunter Mag, and i don't really have anything to compare it to. I have drawn a lot of the fancy bows, but i have not really spent too much time shooting them as they are out of my price range for now. 

all i can say from my limited experience with the other bows is that i love my Hunter Mag, but letting it down isn't too much fun. mine is maxed out at 70 lbs. with a 31 inch draw. one of my limbs also cracked at the "V" a little while ago. 

i don't know how good the Parker customer service is because i was shooting next to the shop owner when it cracked and he just told me to leave it there. a week later, it was all fixed at no cost to me. i never had to deal with anybody at Parker, but it sounds like they're nice people. hopefully if my wife's mustang breaks i won't have to deal with teh mathews people either and our pro shop will handle it.

can't comment on the bowstring question, but i'd like to know the answer too.


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## bowgodez (Jul 15, 2003)

Kodiak...did you talk directly wiith Parker or did you talk to a parker dealer? chances are if you talked directly with them,that would be the truth.they have their act together,and im sure no one there is reading "off cue cards"like some of the other people answering the phone at other large bow companies..but thats a good question..im going to investigate it and let you know.i can assure you that the people at Parker are wonderful..i had mentioned in another thread that i was having a warrantee issue with my 31,and it was no problem .called them up monday and im sure my parts will be here this week.they stand behind their bows.(BTW,this is the first issue ive had in owning this line bows for over 4 years,and this is the bow ive had the longest.and i'll tell you,this bow has seen ALOT of use..from target shooting to being bumped around the bottom of a boat on rough seas while we hunt coastal islands!!.4+ years now)i'll get back with y'all and let you know...Bow


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## bowgodez (Jul 15, 2003)

just got off the phone...according to the warrantee,Parker buss cables and strings are included in the warrantee...so i guess the answer is yes..if you cahnge strings to anything other than Parker,you would be voiding your warrantee....i only use their strings,so i gyess its a personal choice..i would choose not to take the chance,even if you do manage to get a little more speed..i hope this cleared things up for you.. Bow


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## MrSinister (Jan 23, 2003)

Tink the mustang weighs 3.2 lb. It is not a heavy one. I think I would have went with a 40lb draw weight mustang. A bow will perform better closer to the max of its draw weight then with the limbs cranked down. These mustang's will do a few lb over their max also.


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## Africanbowhunter (May 29, 2003)

*I stand corrected I guess it was the Outback that weighs.3*

Thanks I stand correct It the OUT BACK that weight 4.3#


3.2 is Closer to the mark


Mathews Had ad a chronic problem of the bow not actually making the poundage marked

It was suppose to be 70# when Ii got my new MQ 32 and it Never saw 67# again buch less 70#

It high time the bow makers sought the advice of women in bow design

Tink


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## Archeryboy (Feb 1, 2003)

Tink here we go again......


I believe what Tink means is that everyone in his /Dot shop liked the Parker. You can't say Everyone that's implies that everyone who ever held or shot the 2 bows didn't like them. Dot doesn't sell Mathews but does sell Parker, so when they held the Parker where they able to also hold and Shoot the Mathews at the same time?

I have several in my shop that didn't like the Parker. BTW I am a Parker Dealer. So i don't care which one I sell so long as I make the sell.


What bow does/did MAthews have a chronic problem with?

Have a good day.


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## JoeyM (Feb 24, 2004)

yeah i heard that bows shoot better at their maximum.

she ordered a 40-50 pound bow expecting that she would get the weight up to 45 lbs or more. she is handling the 40 lbs. ok so far. 

hopefully we can start cranking it down.


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## MrSinister (Jan 23, 2003)

You won't find a chronic problem with the mustang unless it is chronically splitting arrows. That is truly a top notch plus women's bow. and set up at the same draw and same arrows it will shoot faster than any of them out there right now. I am impressed with their effort to make a top of the line women's bow. I don't sell bows at all so this is unbiased. I shoot a Hoyt cybertec myself so I am not even a Mathews loyalist it is just a great women's bow. It would work out kind of expensive for a youth though since it takes a cam to change draw lenght. That is why my son shoots a spyder with the stinger cam.


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## thedogmother (Jan 8, 2004)

Biggame

How do you know how wonderful the Mustang is? Have you shot one? I did and was not impressed with the bow at all. Definitely not worth the $630 price tag.


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## JoeyM (Feb 24, 2004)

$630?!?!? is that really the MSRP of the mustang?
damn!


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## steph (Feb 27, 2004)

My husband bought me a Mustang a couple weeks ago and it was $479 (might have been a little more with tax but I know it was under $500). I love it!


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## thedogmother (Jan 8, 2004)

That's what the pro shop by my house was charging. I will find out for sure tomorrow. I know when I shot it the 1st thing I thought was it was no way worth that kind of money. I was looking at the mustang and the Sierratec and I know the Sierratec was more the $100 cheaper. I bought the Sierratec for $499. Remember I am from California where everything is more $. Where you buy a 2-3 bedroom house on no land for $400,000 easy, gas is $2.20 per gallon, should I go on(haha) How much did your wife pay for hers?


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## thedogmother (Jan 8, 2004)

*Price*

Ok, I checked with the archery shop and the Mustang is priced right at $600 so I was off by $30. Sorry


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## kodiak (Jan 27, 2003)

*New Challenger 2003 mod. $299.00*

The archery shop I go to in Cinti, OH. has 2- 40 to 50 lb R/H challngers. They are brand new 2003 models and he is asking $299.00 for them. If interested let me know and I can get you more info and a PH#.
Kodiak.


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## JoeyM (Feb 24, 2004)

are you sure MSRP is $600? for some reasson i didnt think my local pro shop gave me that much of a discount....

anyone know the MSRP of a Hoyt UltraTec? i wanna get that one day and it's about $730 over here (before my poor attempt at haggling).


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## steph (Feb 27, 2004)

*Ultratec*

I saw the Ultratec a couple weeks ago at a local archery shop, it was $680 camo/$730 target colors. You might be better off getting one on the classified forum here or looking for one on Ebay. You can usually the previous year's model in perfect condition for around $450.00.


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## MrSinister (Jan 23, 2003)

My wife shoots the mustang and loves it. It is a faster bow than the sierratec from Hoyt and the quality is just as good. That is how I know. As for price she got hers for $450.00 plus tax. Why does everyone around here got to start stuff. I am reporting what my wife told me in terms of how she likes it. So you don't like it big deal.


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## thedogmother (Jan 8, 2004)

Wow! Calm down Biggame I was just asking a question. I thought that was allowed. I asked, how did you know the Mustang was faster? Did you test them side by side? Set up the same? Or just cause your wife shoots it and loves it you think it's faster. I am just curious! I shot both of them set up the same and it seemed to me the Sierratec was faster was all I said. Gee! Sorry!


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## MrSinister (Jan 23, 2003)

Sorry your response seemed snippy to my post about the bow. I know a little bit about short draw bows cause my draw is 28 inches and I like to shoot 50lb draw weight myself. I like to get all the speed I can get out of that as well. The posting about speed is based on the specs for the two models. The Sierra has a speed rating of 285fps. Unfortunately Hoyt didn't bother to tell you where they got that number. I assume most likely it was using the 60lb. limbs that are available on it and the 28 inch draw length that is available on it. and that makes sense since it has a 6.5 inch brace height. I have a little more brace height on my cybertec in 50lb at 28 inches and it shoots around 270 set up for shooting. The Mustang has a speed rating that is measured at 26 inches and 50lb draw weight and still gets 280fps. That difference isn't something that may be easily seen with the eye but if they both did their tests properly that makes the Mathews a faster bow for most women archers.
I do trust both companies tests. I am sure their is variation from bow to bow but The mustang has a shorter brace height giving it a place there to pick up speed. Mathews also designs each cam to perform optimally for that draw length. You don't find that in the cam.5 system. If you are on the shorter points of the adjustment you will not get as much out of the cam. It is known to perform better at the longer length posts. That means a guy who draws 28 inches wants the cam that has 28 inches as the top length not the 27.5 to 30 cam most shops stock. Well you asked. It is all mostly hot air any way. Most important thing is what bow you like best. Even if it is just the color you like or the grip fits you best. I just like getting 70lb draw weight speed from a bow while only drawing 50. There are ways. Most folks just don't bother with string nocks and removing peep aligners, and I love to see those 70lb bows with 3 eliminator buttons on the string and two brass nocks and a peep aligner on the string. The guy is probably robbing that rig of 20fps. Shoot straight and shoot often.


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## MrSinister (Jan 23, 2003)

Oh one last thing if they made a 28 inch draw mustang I might just be shooting one. That thing is quiet with no silencers on the string and no limb savers. That is speed right there that you need nothing on the string. I shot the outback but it won't perform as well as the cam.5 cybertec I have. It has that Monster brace height slowing it down.


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