Performance Comparison of a Genesis bow at approximately twenty (20) pounds peak draw weight versus two different recurve bows with peak draw weights of approximately thirty-five (35) pounds. The two recurve bows used in this comparison are typical of those found in many introductory classes.

Figure 1.

In Figure 1, we see the draw force curves for the three test bows.

From the draw force data and the arrow velocity data collected from shooting the same five arrows of varying weights (Table 1), we can determine the performance characteristics of each of these bows. Table 2 summarizes the results of the bow tests conducted on each of the bows tested.

Table 1.

Table 2.

We have taken the liberty to highlight the results of the tests shown in Table 2. The Draw Force Curves in Figure 1 indicates that each bow was draw to an AMO draw length of 30” and the arrow velocities in Table 1 were obtained by machine shooting each of the listed test arrows at a 30” AMO draw length. The first thing we see in Table 2 is that the Genesis bow at a peak weight of 21.9# stores over 28 Ft-Lbf of energy and the two recurve bows stored a very similar amount of energy but required that the user draw a peak weight of 35#. The reason being that the Genesis design stores energy more efficiently with its 74.64% ESE (Energy Storage Efficiency) it is nearly 50% more efficient than the recurve bows. The Se / PDF is another indicator of the Genesis bows superior ability to store energy at a given draw length. The True Virtual Mass (K) is an indication of how well a bow transfers its stored energy into kinetic energy ie. arrow velocity. The lower the value of K the more efficient the bow. The last value in Table 2 is the Figure of Merit which is the bows overall efficiency, it is derived from the product of the bows other efficiency’s and is used to relate one bows performance to that of others.