I recently picked up a new Mathews Creed XS bow and wanted to share what this bow could put out on the chronograph. Brett and I made some changes and man did it pay off. The first thing I had to so was get the draw length changed to fit me. It came with a 26.5 draw and Brett changed it to a 28.0 draw length. This is done on Mathews bows by changing the lower cam/wheel. My bow is maxed out at 62# which remained the same for all of the testing mentioned below. This is a very comfortable poundage, and is the reason I always chose the 50 t0 60# bows. It is important to have your bow at the top end of its poundage range, instead of the lower end. The longer draw length Brett added gave me a few more pounds than what it originally was. This is also a RH bow as you can see in the picture above. Brett also added a red anodized aluminum hunting peep sight for me as well as the d-loop for my release to clip on to.

**As a side note: Click the picture above, or click here << and it will open in a separate/new window, then click it again once it opens in the new window and it will blow the picture up so that you can see little details of this Mathews Creed XS bow. You can see how Brett served in the sting from the Mathews QAD Arrow Rest right into the cable/string of the bow and got rid of the little black plastic block that comes with the new arrow rest. Make sure you get rid of this block so it don’t wear on your bows cable and string, plus it will slow down the speeds by keeping this block. When things rub it will slow down your speeds…

You can also see the mounting blocks for my 2 piece Mathews arrow quiver for this Mathews Creed XS bow. On the Creed XS Mathews didn’t machine a place for these quivers due to a new riser design, and for shaving off a bunch of UN-needed weight. However, Mathews designed small plastic blocks to insert into the riser for mounting quivers. You will notice 2 small white dots embossed into the riser on the top and on the bottom, and this is where you insert these small black plastic blocks for mounting your quiver to the Mathews Creed XS bow. These blocks weigh nothing and is a nice feature and a clean look. See picture above, or click here <<.

What really made the biggest difference?

The biggest difference that was proven on the chronograph was the swap out of the whisker biscuit arrow rest to the Mathews QAD drop away arrow rest. This was HUGE!

On a side note, make sure you throw the little black clip away that comes with the new Mathews QAD arrow rest and simply serve the sting right into your cable/string assb. I recommend taking your bow into a qualified bow shop and have them do it for you. They will have a bow press that is needed, and they have the experience that is also needed for this small task. This will keep things from rubbing and will not just speed your bow up, but will also keep your cable and string from wearing due to the rubbing of this plastic block.

**See the little plastic block on the string in the picture above that I am mentioning? Get rid of this little plastic block! This is the Mathews QAD Custom Rest.

What else makes a difference?

Getting your tiller set right and getting your bow tuned by an archery pro…(your qualified bow shop) and archery dealer. Getting your bow tuned is huge and will do a great deal for your bow speeds and peak performance.

The Mathews Creed XS was shot with the Mathews QAD arrow rest with the black string block it comes with and it went 288 x 2 through the chronograph. Next was with the whisker biscuit arrow rest that the majority of bow hunters use, which was consistently shooting mid 260’s through the chronograph. I knew this wasn’t right, so the changes and the tuning process started. The Mathews QAD arrow rest was added again, the tiller was changed, the little black block mentioned above was removed and then back to the chronograph…

This time was way different. The average of this test was 295 up to 298 fps and the highest was 305 fps. I had no idea that a whisker biscuit arrow rest would slow a bow down so much…wow! Notice the top picture in this blog post of my actual Mathews Creed XS bow and you will see it complete after all of the testing and it ready to hunt. You can also see the monkey tails I added to the string and cables which made this bow even more quiet than it already was.

Why would you want to use a whisker biscuit arrow rest?

• Most people think it is the only way to keep their arrow secure from falling out while hunting.
• Some think it is much safer.
• Many people buy one because of the cheaper price compared to a quality arrow rest like the QAD arrow rest.
• Some people just don’t know any better and follow a friends advise or someone else that they have seen using one.

The QAD arrow rest also is made and branded for PSE, Bowtech, Hoyt, and others, as well as Mathews. This arrow rest will cost you some money, but it’s so worth it. The QAD arrow rest comes with a lifetime warranty, and is safe and very reliable. Oh BTW, your arrow WILL NOT fall out of this arrow rest!

When this arrow rest is in the up position and you want it down, simply push the black lower lever forward and slide your finger off of it and it will drop away. You can do this for loading an arrow, or in the up position too.

 In these two pictures above you will see why they call it a drop away arrow rest. In the up position is when locked and ready to shoot with your arrow in it. As you can see, your arrow is secure and safe, and will not fall out. In the down position is when fired. There is vertically no arrow drag at all with this QAD arrow rest.

All of the testing was done with Carbon Express Maxima Hunter 350 arrows that have been cut down to 27″. The testing was also done with 100 grain field points. These are some of the best arrows on the market today. Here is a must watch video << before you shoot any carbon fiber arrows again.

The bottom line is simple. What is getting your bow up to the top speed worth to you? The faster your bow, the more efficient it is, and much less drop for the longer shots. Most times when your bow is tuned properly, it is going to be so much quieter. It cost less dough to go slow. So don’t be a tight but when it comes to having quality parts and quality arrow rest on your bow and a good tune up to get the maximum speeds from it. You can get a arrow rest like mine on ebay.com cheaper than from a dealer for sure. You can also go with the QAD Elite which is the same arrow rest as my QAD custom arrow rest, less the Mathews Branding, but way cheaper.

This Mathews Creed XS is smooth, quiet, fast, reliable, hard hitting, fun to shoot, deadly accurate, and short enough for tree stand hunting, as well as using in hunting blinds. The back wall is solid which I love, and so smooth all the way through the draw cycle. This bow pictured above is Mathew’s “Lost Camo” design. Love it!

Happy bow tuning. 🙂

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