Ultimate Gear Special
The very best of everything: for recurve
If money were no object. If you need the very best. Bow has lovingly compiled a list of the finest gear available, for recurve, compound, and all bows. We took into account market-leading technology, feedback from top archers, and exceptional workmanship to compile this list. Were we right? Get in touch.
HOYT XCEED
The gold standard for many ILF shooters right now, it has the most adjustability yet seen in a Hoyt riser. It has switchable Vertatune plates, and the adjustable string tension technology too. Even without that, it is undoubtedly one of the best risers Hoyt have ever produced. A 27" version and barebow weights available. • Comes in a range of wonderfully named colours: Jet Black, Cobalt Blue, Championship Red, Rally Green, Orange Torch, Perfect Pink, and more.
• Price: from £700. More at hoyt.com
AAE ADVANTE-X
It's war in the world of small-diameter stabilisers, with several US names battling to make the thinnest, stiffest rods from the best high-modulus carbon. We think the Advante-x is the best of the bunch, from AAE, the well-known manufacturer based in Arizona who makes multiple lines of top-notch archery products in-house. Just 12.7mm wide and with a 30 inch rod weighing only 90 grams, these are beautifully engineered to be exceptional stabilisers.
• Starting at £147 for a longrod.
• Available from Merlin Archery in the UK
• arizonaarchery.com
WIN & WIN META DX
This combination of graphene carbon, 'special steel' and the Mathews EHS dampening system has been widely praised as one of the most stable risers yet produced, and it looks a lot sharper than the previous offering, too. Many pros will stick with the aluminium ATF-X, of course, but early feedback suggests that this is one of the best recent risers from WIAWIS. Behind the oblique marketing, the technology has a lot to offer, especially for high-level club shooters. • Also comes in a range of wonderful, if slightly oddly named colours: Graphite Black, Champion Gold, Metallic Silver, Brilliant Silver, Heat Blue, Turkey Green, Sonic Red, Neo Pink, and Dynamic Yellow.
• £580. More at wiawis.com
HOYT VELOS GRAND PRIX LIMBS
These slimline limbs from Hoyt, with their narrow body and limb tip design make for the lightest, fastest limbs in Hoyt history. This is an impressive statement, but these limbs have proven themselves on the world stage in the past few years, at least in the Formula version. The redesigned wedge allows for an “enhanced flex pattern” and more stability and accuracy, and upon reading reviews they appear to feel very smooth and controlled throughout the draw, with minimum stacking, which sounds perfect.
• Available in short, medium, or long. 22-46lb
• £700– available from most archery shops that stock Hoyt.
RCORE CAERUS GRIP
The Caerus is a grip specifically designed for Olympic recurve archers. Its design makes the hand sit comfortably on the same position, every time.the throat of the grip is reinforced on the thumb side and skinny on the index finger side, to 'fill' the webbing properly and hint on the correct angle of the hand.
As with every Rcore design, the grip is available for a wide range of risers, old and new, in three height options, low, mid and high. Materials now include a wide selection of 3D printed plastics, transparent glass and exotic woods.
• Available online
• www.rcore.co
FIVICS TITAN EX
Fivics state that the design purpose of this riser is to maximise the speed of the arrow and utilising their balanced design to achieve stability and control at those higher speeds. This riser has been used by top archers in the past few years and has been proven to be top tier kit, keeping up with Hoyt and Win & Win on the international stage. With a unique - and somewhat polarising - wooden grip, and some features to assist tuning, it has been adopted by the Italian international team.
• Comes in red, blue, sky green, black, or silver. RH only.
• £575 – available from Merlin Archery in the UK
EASTON X10
No dream kit list would be complete without the arrows that have won more world and Olympic titles that any other archery product since it appeared on the market. Every single individual Olympic medal since 1996 has been won using X10s, so it is safe to say that the X10 is the best arrow in the world for the 70m distance. The price does reflect this, but with the high precision engineering, testing, and quality assurance of the carbon and aluminium alloys that go into this arrow, it’s easy to understand why. It's perhaps surprising that no one has yet surpassed this 1990s piece of technology, but once you've got to a certain point, nothing else will really do.
• £370 per dozen
• easton-archery.com
FIVICS FORNIX 14
The new 2020 Fivics stabilisers are an upgrade from the Phoenix 1500D stabilisers. These rods utilise Fivics’s own carbon material that specialises in the dampening of vibration and feature a small external diameter (14.5mm) for the same reason as the Gillo rods. These rods are incredibly light with no dead weight, allowing the archer to create their own balance preference.
• £330 for the full set
• Available from Merlin Archery in the UK
• www.fivics.com
FIVE-X ARROWS
These arrows were developed with the Korean national team over more than five years and make use of a new carbon material that allows for flexibility while reinforcing durability. These arrows have been appearing more widely on the international scene in recent years and at a much lower price point than X10s, it’s understandable that some archers are making the switch.
• £240
• Available from Merlin Archery in the UK
• fivics.com
AXCEL ACHIEVE XP CARBON RECURVE SIGHT
In the eternal recurve sight arms race between Shibuya and Axcel, we think the Achieve XP is presently coming out on top. With huge windage adjustment, zero backlash, a slimmed down sight track, heavy duty knobs and multiple other features major and minor, it is an extraordinary piece of precision machinery and Bow recommends it. In ultra-high modulus carbon. Not cheap - but the best. • Comes in range of colours: Blue, Black, Red, Orange, Green, Gold, Silver, Purple
• £400
• Available from Merlin Archery
• truball.com
WIAWIS MXT-10 FOAM
New for 2021, WIAWIS have been working with graphene in recent years, with the MXT-10 limbs showing a very definite shock absorption and vibration reduction effect at the moment of shooting, compared with previous models and without external dampening. Many top archers have used Win & Win limbs and have done for as long as a lot of us can remember. Their high-end products keep customers loyal and the minimalist black and red design on these limbs make for a truly beautiful piece of kit. • Available in short, medium, or long. 28-48#
• £670 - available from most archery shops that stock Win&win
UUKHA SX+ LIMBS
We're giving these a fuller review later in this issue of Bow, but the SX+ are the full-monolith carbon version of a long line of exceptionally well-engineered and high-tech products from the French stable. Uukha have backed off on the extreme curvature of their previous top-flight limbs and improved the foot significantly, giving a significant increase in speed. Expensive, but without a doubt, the best alternative to the big Korean and US names.
• Available in short, medium, long or extra long. 24lb to 48lb.
• £800
• Available from Perris Archer
CTH MAXIMUS MK2 TAB
This is the second tab from the new archery company CTH, a company that prides themselves on making custom tabs for every archer: “No two finger tabs are the same because no two archers are the same!” This tab is available in different sizes, materials, and colours. There are three different sized plates, in two different materials, two different stiffnesses of kangaroo leather, multiple sizes of spacers, and different cord options. This tab really can be made to the unique archer for their own specifications with 14 colours, and they even offer leather engraving. • Prices start from £40 with additional features costing extra
• Available online.
• ctharchery.com