Please Help.

muzzy125 · Jan 19, 2007

LAST EDITED ON Jan-19-07 AT 04:53PM (MST)[p]I have a question for some of you veteran's.

Which is better single cam or double cam.

A list of advantages and disadvantages of both would be great.

A buddy is buying his first bow and would like to know which way to go.

BigPig · Jan 19, 2007

Personal preference. Kinda like asking what's better burnettes or blondes. The only way to find out is to have your buddy shoot both designs and findout what HE likes best. I'd never buy one type or brand of bow without personally shooting it first. What feels great to one guy might feel like a brick to another.

canhunter · Jan 19, 2007

Exactly like he said.

Saskman · Jan 19, 2007

It is best to shoot a bunch of bows first and and pick which feels best but generally you will get a smoother draw with single cams. Dual cams will generally have a little harsher draw but will generally produce a little more speed. Go shoot a bunch and pick which one feels best to you. There are a lot of high quality bows on the market these days.

Saskman

zekers · Jan 20, 2007

For your buddy's first bow, I think more importantly than single or dual cam, don't let him get sucked into the hype of one of the new bows. These bows are fast, short axle to axle, lightweight, and very technical. He needs to work into them. He needs to shoot quite a few bows to see what is comfortable to him. Two forgiving bows that I learned on were PSE and Martin. The PSE was a single cam and the Martin was a twin cam. Both had advantages/disadvantages.

a3dhunter · Jan 21, 2007

From what I have read and understand:

With a dual cam you tend to have more problems with timing, but when timed correctly they produce "level" nock travel.

With a single cam they are easy to keep in time and they produce "straight" nock travel. This type is easier to handle for the beginning archer and is less complicated to understand.

I have owned:
Golden Eagle-dual cam
PSE-single cam
Hoyt Xtec-cam and a half
Bowtech Tribute-Binary Cam

I would recommend something in 33"-36" axle to axle, and if he is going to have the pro shop do all maintenance then cam type won't matter--get whatever he likes. If he is going to do some stuff himself like changing strings and tuning then get the best feeling single cam bow. A bow in the 35-36" range axle to axle with a brace height over 7" will be good for learning the ropes and establishing form. The main point would be to get a bow that you enjoy shooting based on vibration, hand shock, noise, and how it fits. For a beginning archer it is sometimes better to get something with an adjustable draw length to experiment with what fits best a little change at a time over several shooting sessions. Don't forget to consider shooting with heavy clothing if getting a hunting bow, as the clothing can affect the draw length.
Good luck