When I bought my Excalibur Matrix 330 I went to a number of shops and shot everything they had. That is most important in choosing which one you think you want. I specifically said "think you want" because your chances of getting everything you want and getting it right the first time are not good.
I did not find a lot of difference in triggers six years ago.
I did not find enough difference in noise level six years ago in the crossbows.
I did not find much difference in accuracy that would affect whether I could kill Bambi at 25-30 yards.
The biggest difference I found was the simplicity of maintenance For Excalibur bows over the compounds.
My opinion is that until velocity gets to be about twice what I can get out of the Excalibur with light/very light arrows the speed won't make much difference. We do have the ability to drive an arrow that fast now, but the noise level and the stress on the arrow at launch will be a lot harder to deal with/mitigate.
At 20 yards using a known good arrow and shooting it repeatedly I have the accuracy to stay in one hole in the target. I can easily keep my arrows in a 4 inch bullseye at 60 yards barring gusty winds. I have killed deer with light arrows, very light arrows and heavy arrows with the Excalibur. Only three did not make two holes, Two of those hit enough bone to stop them. One, a small fawn, I never did figure out why it didn't make two holes. When the big 4 blade heads I use only have to cut a couple ribs on each side they zip through like there was no bone involved. I accidentally centered a big 3 blade head on the ball of the opposite shoulder on one large doe. It severed the ball into three nearly equal pieces and exited. I have taken boned out legs and pinned them to a bale target and then shot them in various places from 20 yards. Aluminum ferrules (like Rage) will make it through a scapula undamaged but for the blades, but the tip will fold up and bend the ferrule on the very hard leg bones and joints. My preference is to use as much blade to cut as I can find. Even the Excalibur has well more than enough power to drive anything I have found through a deer's chest.
I had a new string fail one evening while hunting deer. In my 6x6x2 inch pack that goes with me everywhere the bow goes was the destringing tool and a new string. I replaced it in minutes while I was out hunting.
I have shot what I have come across for new bows, including both Ravins, and have yet to find one that I would consider buying. I would much rather have a head with two sets of decently sturdy 2 1/2 inch or maybe 3 inch blades.
I do very strongly advise lighted nocks. Seeing that light go into Bambi and exit Bambi is important to knowing how well you hit Bambi. Combined with the the evidence found with the arrow, the blood trail or lack thereof and Bambi's behavior can be very useful in helping decide when to take up the trail. I will say though that I have never believed in waiting to follow the trail.I have had precisely two deer go down and get back up again. Both were double lung shots with excellent blood trails. One was the deer that made it just over a mile. The other I walked up on after 200 yards. Both deer were easily recovered without needing a second shot. That's less than 10% of the deer I've killed with arrows. For those odds, I will stay with going to get my deer as soon as possible after I shoot it.
I personally cannot abide poor low light performance from a scope and more so from a bow mounted scope. I hunt under red oaks which hold full canopy way late into deer season. Beneath the oak are buckthorn which makes a double canopy. Well before the end of legal shooting time which is 1/2 hour after sunset here The original scope from Excalibur was completely worthless. 9 out of 10 deer that I shoot are in the last 5-10 minutes of legal shooting time. I tested as many scopes as I could when I bought my replacement scope. I went to the ranges and turned off the lights to see what the scopes would do. I gave up on everything made for crossbows and grabbed a Zeiss 2-8 Duralyt out of my safe that was waiting for a rifle. It was one o the best decisions I made for bow hunting. A second focal plane scope is the same internally as virtually all crossbow scopes. My Zeiss has a German #4 and I just set the magnification so that the top of the post is dead on at 50 yards. The cross hairs are on at 20. 30 and 40 yards are easy to extrapolate. Never had to shoot one past 20 though. Remember that not only do you have to see Bambi, but you need to see very accurately what angle Bambi is standing to you to put the arrow through the internal target you need to hit. You cannot see them too well.
