2010 is full of some great bows that push the limits of performance and introduce new technologies to the market. One such bow is the Bowtech Destroyer 350 which was sent to Archery Report for review. When the Destroyer arrived, my first impression was that the bow is great looking and seems to exude a feeling of performance with its aggressive appearance and styling. Are looks everything or does this bow perform as advertised?
Bowtech Destroyer 350 Manufacturer vs. Measured Specifications
| Manufacturer Specification | Measured Specification | |
| Weight | NA | 4lbs. 3 oz. |
| Max. Poundage | 70 lbs. | 72 lbs. |
| Brace Height | 6” | 6 1/16″ |
| ATA | 32 3/8” | 32 3/8” |
The measured specs came in very close to those stated on the Bowtech webpage. The above measurements were taken at 72 lbs. Turning the limb bolts 5 1/2 turns brought the draw weight down to 60 lbs even. At this weight the brace height edged out to 6 3/32″ and the ATA 32 11/32″. Many bows will change up to and sometimes more than 1/4″ under such changes; the design of the Destroyer does a great job at holding the specs very close no matter the poundage.
Each Bowtech is delivered with a birth certificate and this one has the following:
72 lbs., 29″ and a 350 grain arrow resulted in 342 fps. With an IBO speed spec at 350 fps for a 30″ draw, this particular bow looks ready to impress.
Bowtech Destroyer 350 First Impressions
As I first stated, the bow looks great in person. This bow came in RealTree Hardwoods camouflage with the InVelvet finish that looks and feels very nice. The Destroyer’s cams are some of the biggest made; in pictures I thought they looked a bit odd, but in person they give the bow an impressive and aggressive look.
One thing that did bother me about the looks are the limb graphics. By taking an impressive riser and cam design, adding nice looking camo but then putting a huge logo that is somewhat cheesy takes the looks down a notch. Overall I give the bow a big thumbs up on looks, minus the ugly limb graphics.
Drawing the bow back for the first time shocked me a bit as I expected a stiff draw force curve (with speed comes the necessity of hitting the peak draw weight early in the draw) but wasn’t quite ready for the dump into the valley. The Destroyer has an effective 80% let-off and combined with the stiff draw this is to be expected. I don’t think the draw is unreasonable and after several times of drawing back I quickly became accustomed to it. Normally I prefer bows with 65% or even a little less let-off so I will be interested to see how shooting this bow over the long run will be.
Pictures of the Destroyer 350
Without further ado, I present you with several pictures of the Destroyer 350. Click for full size and view.
First Shots with the Destroyer
I set the bow up with a NAP Sizzor rest, Smooth Stability stabilizer, TruPeep and a Copper John Dead Nuts Extreme sight. After installing a d-loop, setting the draw length to my liking and eyeballing the setup, I headed out to shoot with a few GT 22 Series arrows to give the Destroyer a test run.
I take everything I read about different equipment with a grain of salt because the internet tends to be saturated with those that either love or hate the equipment they post about. Some things I have read praise the Destroyer as the best thing since sliced bread while others say the draw is too harsh and harp about a few incidences of cable derailment that have happened. With all these stories safely stored out of my mind, I began my shooting with a blank slate.
OK, I lied, I did have visions of the greatness of this bow and the many praises that have been heaped on it no matter how hard I tried to block them out. My first shot with the bow shocked me with it’s lack of anything really. Lack of noise, lack of vibration, lack of bow movement other than gently rolling forward from the weight of the stabilizer. I really despise sounding like a commercial or company shill, but twenty shots later I was still being impressed with this bow. Rain be damned, I continued to shoot until the cold and wind forced me back inside.
There are two minor grievances I have; as with anything nothing is perfect for everyone. The bow does have a short ATA and the string angle is a bit sharp for my liking, but with the massive cams pushing the string up at full draw, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. For me to become consistent with this bow I’ll have to adjust my head/hand/string position to better fit the bow. Time will tell. Secondly is the issue of the let-off. I’m one of those people that like a little extra weight at full draw and the 80% let-off is tough for me to get used to.
Tuning
Every bow has it’s own personality and attitude when it comes to tuning. Some are a joy to work with and some are like spoiled children that do things behind your back when they think you aren’t looking. Being that the Destroyer is a high performance, short brace height bow I expected it to be a bit temperamental. I performed a quick paper tune on the bow using Carbon Express Mayhem arrows. By eyeballing the centershot and doing a quick measure on the nock point height with a square, I was able to get the Destroyer tuned in less than half a dozen shots with no issues.
Next it was off to the target with some bare shafts. Bare shaft tuning for me is where the rubber hits the road. Starting at ten yards the bare shafts were hitting nearly identical to the FOB tipped arrows. At twenty yards the bare shafts got a little squirrelly and were up and to the right. A couple of taps and tweaks to the rest had the bare shafts hitting dead on.
Overall tuning the Destroyer was fairly simple with no real surprises. For a high performance bow it is well behaved and easy to set up.
Destroyer String Stop, Cable Guard, Grip and Strings
String Stop: All Destroyers come with a custom string stop (as most bows do these days) that has a substantial, soft rubber bumper at the end of a woven carbon rod. The bumper is made of a fairly soft rubber and seems to do the job as good as any other quality stopper I have used. After a couple of thousands shots there is a small mark where the string hits the bumper and not other visible wear.
Cable Guard: Much of the noise this year about the Destroyer is due to it’s FLX Guard. The FLX serves as a roller cable guard that is built on a composite base that flexes with the cables. As the bow is drawn, the FLX Guard moves inward with the pressure of the cables and springs back on the shot. In theory it helps relieve pressure on the cables at full draw and improves the tunability of the bow. At first I was a bit apprehensive of yet another moving, breakable part on the bow. It’s hard to say just how much the FLX helps the bow, but I had a very easy time tuning the bow and the FLX Guard has given me no issues.
Grip: I’m a bit of a stickler when it comes to my bow handles and grips. Seeing the plastic grip of the Destroyer was a bit of a disappointment as I tend to prefer a good wood grip or sideplates. As a engineer I understand the great properties plastics can have and do most of my designing with various plastics. However, when it comes to touch and feel, a quality piece of wood is tough to beat. Shooting with the handle has had no adverse effects and it performs well. The throat is fairly narrow and fits my hand and as far as actual shooting is concerned, I have no complaints about the grip.
Strings: Factory strings that come on bows are generally considered inferior to custom built strings though many say the Bowtech strings are some of the better on the market. I have had some absolutely terrible stock strings come on bows and I usually replace them rather quickly. The strings that came with the Destroyer have definitely been above par when compared to other factory strings. After about five hundred shots I had to add on twist to one of the cables to correct a slight cam timing issue. At the same time I added a half twist to the string because the peep had turned slightly. Otherwise the strings have performed well and there are no visible wear issues with any of the serving after over two thousand shots.
Other Notes
One thing I really have to hand to Bowtech is their use of large hex bolts for the limbs. I really despise the standard sized bolts that have been used for years that tend to scar and strip when the bolt has been set for awhile and applaud Bowtech for using the larger size. It means using a different hex set than the standard archery ones sold in most stores and shops, but it’s worth the stronger bolt that is much less apt to strip or scar.
Adjusting the draw length and draw stop is not hard to do, but will require a bow press. Pressing the Destroyer requires a very stout press as the limbs must be pressed a significant amount before the FLX Guard will relax enough to allow manipulation of the strings, cables and cams. If you are not familiar with pressing different bows or question how to press the Destroyer, don’t risk it; go to a qualified pro shop that is familiar with the Destroyer to make sure it is done right without harming the bow.
Performance of the Destroyer
To judge the performance of the Destroyer I shot it with Gold Tip Ultralight 22 at 334 grains, draw weight of 67 lbs and draw length adjusted to measure 30″ exactly. There was a draw loop, tied nock points and a TruPeep installed on the string. This resulted in a speed of 345 fps which is right within the Destroyer 350 specifications.
The following chart shows the momentum and kinetic energy performance of the Destroyer (set at 72 lbs. and 30″) when shooting a variety of arrow weights from 466 to 1429 grains (see the kinetic energy and momentum article for more details):
With the kinetic energy ranging from 92.4 to 95.2 and the momentum from 0.62 to 1.1, the Destroyer packs plenty of punch for any large game. The Destroyer is a fairly efficient bow and the KE continues to climb steadily even with an arrow weight of 1429 grains.
After having put over two thousand shots through the Destroyer, I am happy to say that the bow is a great shooter is very accurate. It took a little adjustment to get used to the short ATA, but after a few dozen shots I was stacking shafts just as well with my target/3D bow. With a quality stabilizer the balance of the bow is great and holds steady.
Bowtech Destroyer in Action
Here’s a short video of the Destroyer in action. Notice how the sound of the bow shooting is only about as loud as setting the trigger on the release.
Final Thoughts on the Destroyer 350
I will admit that up until this point I had not found a Bowtech bow that I was overly thrilled with. There has never been much wrong with them, they simply didn’t fit me quite like I would prefer and so I stuck with other brands for my personal shooting. The Destroyer has definitely made a paradigm shift in my thinking of Bowtech bows.
The Destroyer is definitely not a bow for beginners, but if you are an experienced shooter looking for a bow with great performance and aggressive styling, the Destroyer is worth a hard look.
What I Like About the Destroyer 350
- Performance: one of the fastest on the market while still being accurate
- Smooth, quiet shot; little vibration and minimal noise even with light arrows
- Easy to tune, great to work with
- Aggressive styling that screams performance and “look at me!”
- Solid back wall and crisp feel
What I Don’t Like About the Destroyer
- Horrid limb graphics, these could be much better!
- Plastic grip cheapens the look of the bow, though it performs well
- Short ATA, I’d like to see a version with about two more inches
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
That is one of the most professional non-biased sounding reviews I have read to date! Thanks!!! I was looking for an article on paper tuning my destroyer and i found this and couldn’t stop reading your review. I read many before purchasing the bow but I wish I would have seen this one first because it would have saved me a lot of time spent reading some horrible biased reviews.
Thanks,
Brent
I just bought a destroyer and I love it. My drawlength is 28.5 and im shooting just over 70lbs, but my bow shoots 328 shooting goldtip 5575 arrows with 100 gr field tips. Are there any secrets to tuning my bow up to get it up to its full potential. Thanks, and i loved the review
Jamie,
One key to getting the Destroyer tune to perfection has been making sure that there is no excessive torque on the cam at full draw. Come to full draw and have a friend stand right behind you and carefully look to see if you cam is perfectly straight. If it’s not, I’d try adding or removing a few twists on the right side of the yoke until the cam is perfect. Other than that, the Destroyer has been very easy for me to tune by doing a quick paper tune to get things close, and then doing bare shaft tuning.
In your second paragraph of tuning you mentioned the FOB. Are you referring to fletchings only better (FOB) product or something else? I am considering buying the Destroyer 350 and I wanted to shoot FOB’s, but I didn’t think there was enough clearance between the flex guard and arrow’s path to allow the FOB to be shot from the Bowtech Destroyer 350. I shot the bow last week at the only shop in the bay area that carries the Destroyer and I just used range arrows, I did not have a FOB arrow to try but by eye balling I didn’t think there was enough room for that product to be used. I was impressed with my groupings at 20 yards with a demo bow and range arrows that were not set up and fined tuned for me, I was able to stack several rounds of shooting.
I was shooting Fletchings only Better (FOBs) and have been since almost day one of having the Destroyer. The FLX guard hasn’t been an issue and the FOBs have shot great for me.
What rest do you recommend? Right now i am using a whisker biscuit and i can not get it paper tuned. Iam shooting carbon express aramid KV 350 with blazer vanes. My destroyer 350 is set at 70 lbs. 29” draw, 28.50 length arrow and is shooting 295 fps.
Pete,
In what way can you not get it paper tuned? One thing to look for on the Destroyers is that with such huge cams it is easy to get some cam lean in them. You may want to try putting some extra twists in the yoke on the right side (assuming right handed bow). This will often correct side-to-side issues with tuning on the Destroyers. The Whisker Biscuit shouldn’t be the issue with your tuning unless your vanes are hitting any of the harder, darker bristles at the bottom of the rest.
That being said, I personally have a NAP Apache on my Destroyer and it has been and excellent rest. At previous times I have put both a RipCord and NAP Sizzor on the bow as well and had not issues with either of them.
hi,my grouping not to bad but the angle of entrance are not good.I expect the arrows to enter straight .
what is the reason for that?
340 ,100 grain tips and 29 drawlenght.
is it the arrows or my settings.shoot currently one full twist back from full setting
Louis,
Have you had your bow tuned? If your arrows are entering at an angle, there is a good chance that the bow is not tuned properly. There is also a chance that they are severely underspined, but tuning is most likely the issue. I am working on a series of tuning articles that will start showing up this week if you would like to learn to do it yourself. Otherwise I would recommend visiting a pro-shop that can help.
I recently purchased a 2011 destroyer, brought the bow home and immediatly paper tuned it. Its shooting bullet holes thru paper but when I shoot outside I can’t shoot a group if my life depended on it. The only thing I can come up with is that I’m still trying to get comfortable with the grip, I shot a hoyt before the destroyer and it had a longer ata , brace height, and a much more user friendly grip. Can you give me any pointers on how to grip/shoot the destroyer so I can shoot better groups. Its to the point were I’m almost ready to put the destroyer away and buy the Invasion. Please help. Thank You
Ryan,
The best advice I can give you is to NOT grip the bow, but rather let it settle naturally into the contours of your hand, right down the inside of your thumb, with your fingers completely relaxed. It’s a bit hard to explain in text but I’ll be putting up some pictures shortly to better explain it.
Michael,
Watching your Destroyer 350 review I saw you had FOB’s in your hip quiver and I read that you had no issues shooting the FOB’s through it with relation to the FLX guard. Can you or have you shot FOB’s through the Invasion CPX? I’m interested in knowing if there are any conflicts because I currently shoot FOB’s exclusively but my next bow will be the Invasion CPX. Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Kevin
Kevin,
I have not shot any FOBs through an Invasion just yet. From what I can tell, the Invasion has the FLX guard in nearly the same position as the Destroyer and it should clear just fine. If and when I get a chance to try FOBs in an Invasion, I’ll be sure to report back!
Michael,
Just checking in. Waiting for my Invasion to arrive. Have you tried FOB’s in an Invasion yet? I’m curious to to know if you had to raise your nocking point at all to shoot them and get proper clearance from your rest. I’ve read a couple places (FOB’s from Destroyer with Ripcord) that they raised their nocking point to account for down-travel of back of the arrow on launch creating clearance issue. In my experience with FOB’s (which I’ve shot for a while – and LOVE) I’ve NOT had to make such an adjustment but I have not shot them in a bow with the FLX Guard either. Feedback?
Best,
Kevin
I’ve not shot FOBs through an Invasion yet, but I have shot them through my Destroyer with an Apache, Scizzor, Ripcord and Limb Driver with no problems. My nock point is up maybe just a tad over being centered on the rest mounting hole, but not enough to even sneeze at.
I bought a 350 Destroyer almost as soon as it hit the market, trying to make up for my short draw length with a faster bow. After shooting it now averaging three to four days a week and probably a dozen arrows each outing I have not had one issue with it. Every time I go to a range people there are astonished at how quiet it is and when they try to pull an arrow out of the target….they “get it!” I shot the Hoyt, Mathews, and Bowtech fast bows with the same arrow…same draw length….same poundage…..and the Destroyer consistantly burried the arrow approximately two inches deeper. This is why I bought it. The N Fused Axis 400 seems to shoot the straightest and recover quicker than any other I have purchased. The only issue I have is weight for ballance to make this killing machine complete……How much makes you feel most comfortable and most accurate for hunting inviornment?……..Appreciate your feedbacks and writings…..and most of all…honesty!
@Uncle Joe:
If you dig the Destroyer you’ll love the Invasion CPX. I was planning to shoot the Destroyer and was convinced to pit it against the Invasion. At that time the Destroyer 350 boasted the quietest shot and smoothest draw of any bow I had shot and I’ve shot and worked on a lot of bows! I shot both bows side by side and left with the Invasion CPX. Everything you mentioned with the Destroyer is even a hair better with the Invasion CPX. It’s even quieter and smoother! Give it a go ’round next time you’re at the archery shop! It might become your next bow! Keep shootin’ straight. Keep shootin’ Bowtech!
Kev
MICHAEL,
HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE THE DESTROYER 340 VERSUS 350? ARE YOU USING A B-STINGER OR PSE VIBRACHECK PRO CARBON HUNTER STABILIZER? THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. VERY WELL WRITTEN ARTICLE.
CHEERS,
JOHN
John,
The 340 shoots very similar to the 350, though the longer brace height on the 340 is a little more forgiving. I don’t think there is a big enough difference to cause any concern if your form is good you don’t mind the slightly harsher draw. If you hunt with heavy clothing on, you may prefer the 340 as well. Overall, the differences are not huge and it’s really just a trade off of brace height vs. a little more speed.
The stabilizer pictured in the review above is actually a Smooth Stability stabilizer.
I have a mission by mathews maniac and it only shoots 312 fps. and im thinking about getting the destroyer 350 how much does it cost??
Caleb, They generally retail around $899. However, they have been discontinued for 2012 so if you want an new one you’d better hurry fast. Otherwise, good used ones can be found for much less.
The video I just watched on the timing and fine tuning was great, thanks for the info.
OH! The Destoryer, by far is the best bow I have ever shot, and I have many bows to choose from.
Thanks for the instructions
The info is great,but I do have a question.When testing the FPS did the 350 grain arrow and the 322 grain arrow include the field tip,insert,and fletching or was this the total overall arrow weight? I have a short draw length and love speed! I would love to shoot as fast as possible with a hunting setup.Would love to hear from you! thanks
All arrow weights stated are actual, fully built arrows. The 350 is a fast bow, that’s for sure, but I’m not sure exactly how well it scales with draw length. What draw length are you using?
I have been shooting my Destroyer for about two years. I jumped up from a 2006 Diamond Justice at 70#, the bow is a tack driver and very forgiving. The forgiveness I became accustomed to with the enormous brace height demanded quite a bit of “relearning” when I began shooting the Destroyer. Attention to form and consistent release anchor point are paramount to getting the most out of the destroyer. To aid in recapturing consistent 3 inch groups at yardages exceeding 30-40 yards I think it is necessary to install a sight extension arm to lenngthen the plane of view between the peep and sight pins. Havent done it yet since my groups are still 4-5 inches out to 70 yards. Tuning the cams is as simple as adding or removing a couple twists from your cable strings till the dots on the cams are disected evenoly on both cams. I use a simple ratchet strap press and it only takes about 15 minutes to get it evened up. Cam lean has never been an issue but the adjustments will be super easy to make. I love the bow and actually shoot the 60# version, still squeeze about 330 fps out of it with my hunting setup (440 gr total arrow weight). Bowtechs hype over the last couple years has been pretty loud, and well deserved. Good job Bowtech!