If you were expecting a minor warming over of hunting bows from Hoyt this year, you were in for a heck of a surprise. The new Hoyt Carbon RX-5 Ultra is absolutely loaded with new features. But first, let’s look at the specs.
The RX-5 Ultra has an axle-to-axle length of 34 inches a brace height of 7 inches, and an IBO rated speed of 334 feet per second. On paper, that is the slowest bow I tested this year, but the chrono results, which I will get to in a minute, tell a different story.
The most striking difference between the RX-5 Ultra and previous year Hoyt bows is the new HBX binary cam. This is a huge departure for Hoyt and the HBX makes all of its draw lengths available on one cam size. If you ever buy a used Hoyt or want to sell one, that is a huge bonus, as it opens up a lot more possibilities for you.
Another obvious change is the new lower front stabilizer position. This stab location is located right at the bottom of the riser, dropping the center of gravity of the bow. I will touch on this shortly, but I am a big fan of this. Hoyt also has a new In-Line sidebar location, but that requires you to buy Hoyt’s SL sidebar mount. If I was using this as a tournament bow, which this would bow would be very capable of, I might pick that up. But as a hunting bow, I’m not sure I’d bother.
Another very cool change is the new in-line Picatinny sight mount. I don’t have a sight with a Picatinny mount yet, so I’m using the traditional sight mount position. However, I may explore this in the future, as I can certainly see the value of putting the sight in line with the riser rather than off slightly to the side.
This review video will look at the RX-5 Ultra's draw cycle, speed, stability, fit & finish, and more.