Any recommendations for carbon foam limbs? My coach always recommended them but I was still growing a lot and was going up in draw weight. Now I'm considering getting better limbs and was looking at the wns armato c3 carbon limbs. I'm worried that they're just fiberglass lims with a layer of carbon. Has anyone shot them or know if they're actually carbon limbs.
Leverson
I guess people get scared of the name or view these as a knockoff brand but theses limbs are absurdly good for 200$.
They are. If you look at weights some retailers publish, they’re still significantly heavier than an all carbon laminate limb should be.
The SF Ignio are some of the cheapest all carbon limbs available. Kinetic has the Palmaris and a few others in about the same price range. After that, Galaxy Gold Stars are the next most affordable all carbon choice. The WNS SF Trinity G6 and Hyperion G8 are in the second price range too, and are excellent limbs for the money.
After that you have some more Sebastian Flute choices that don’t seem very different from each other until you hit the price point of WNS Vantage G7s and Uukhas’s most affordable offering. Both are great mid-range all carbon choices.
You have interesting options that contain fiberglass here for structural reasons or to control vibration, like Gillo’s offerings, the Hoyt Integras, and MK’s L3 limbs. They’re all very nice limbs to shoot, but they’re slow. Some of the mid-range WNS stuff can the like this too. These use fiberglass for a purpose other than cost savings (unlike the budget “Carbon” limbs that are mostly glass).
Then you hit the beginning of high-end choices. The FC-100 are nice, if older. Gillo’s C77 are the fastest laminated limb here. The Winex is the most conventional. Uukha’s second level offerings sit here as well. They’d win in speed if they didn’t need stiffer and heavier arrows to balance them out. But you’ll get the most energy.
Lancaster doesn’t import a lot of the really good Kinetic options, or the WNS SF stuff, so I’d recommend:
$200 SF Ignio; $400 Uukha SX50 (if you have a short or long draw) / WNS Vantage G7 if you have an average draw length; <$600 Gillo Q7; “what even is money?”WIAWIS MXT-XT
The SF Ignio are some of the cheapest all carbon limbs available. Kinetic has the Palmaris and a few others in about the same price range. After that, Galaxy Gold Stars are the next most affordable all carbon choice. The WNS SF Trinity G6 and Hyperion G8 are in the second price range too, and are excellent limbs for the money.
After that you have some more Sebastian Flute choices that don’t seem very different from each other until you hit the price point of WNS Vantage G7s and Uukhas’s most affordable offering. Both are great mid-range all carbon choices.
You have interesting options that contain fiberglass here for structural reasons or to control vibration, like Gillo’s offerings, the Hoyt Integras, and MK’s L3 limbs. They’re all very nice limbs to shoot, but they’re slow. Some of the mid-range WNS stuff can the like this too. These use fiberglass for a purpose other than cost savings (unlike the budget “Carbon” limbs that are mostly glass).
Then you hit the beginning of high-end choices. The FC-100 are nice, if older. Gillo’s C77 are the fastest laminated limb here. The Winex is the most conventional. Uukha’s second level offerings sit here as well. They’d win in speed if they didn’t need stiffer and heavier arrows to balance them out. But you’ll get the most energy.
Lancaster doesn’t import a lot of the really good Kinetic options, or the WNS SF stuff, so I’d recommend:
$200 SF Ignio; $400 Uukha SX50 (if you have a short or long draw) / WNS Vantage G7 if you have an average draw length; <$600 Gillo Q7; “what even is money?”WIAWIS MXT-XT
I have had good luck with the following similar limbs. Gillo Q2 (discontinued but LAS has some shorts still available), and the very similar in terms of price and I believe construction WNS Motives and the Gold Galaxy limbs. I think they all come from the same factory but I could be mistaken. we have a bunch of all three and these sub 275 or so limbs have given us good service. The SF EVO is right about 300 and again, I have a couple kids using those and liking them.
moving up to the mid 300 range you have the Gillo Q5 (I shoot them on my indoor bow and like them). they are about the only limb LAS offers in that range-for right under 400 you have the Flute ISO Pro we have had great luck with both of those but I'd buy the Gillos since they are 40 bucks cheaper and they seem as smooth and fast as the SF.
under 500 you have the Gillo Q7 which are fast and the WNS Vantage which I find slightly smoother than the Q7, the discontinued Uukha 50s are in this range now and discounted by LAS
under 600 I shoot the GTL 88s and the 77s from Gillo-I haven't found anything better feeling and that includes some of the 900 dollar sets.
UUKHA has discontinued its current offerings and their 50s are under 400 and LAS now and several of my archers like them. the new models-apparently the cheapest new set will have 80% carbon vs 50 for their current cheapest offering-don't know prices.
moving up to the mid 300 range you have the Gillo Q5 (I shoot them on my indoor bow and like them). they are about the only limb LAS offers in that range-for right under 400 you have the Flute ISO Pro we have had great luck with both of those but I'd buy the Gillos since they are 40 bucks cheaper and they seem as smooth and fast as the SF.
under 500 you have the Gillo Q7 which are fast and the WNS Vantage which I find slightly smoother than the Q7, the discontinued Uukha 50s are in this range now and discounted by LAS
under 600 I shoot the GTL 88s and the 77s from Gillo-I haven't found anything better feeling and that includes some of the 900 dollar sets.
UUKHA has discontinued its current offerings and their 50s are under 400 and LAS now and several of my archers like them. the new models-apparently the cheapest new set will have 80% carbon vs 50 for their current cheapest offering-don't know prices.
L -
Most limbs have slightly different characteristics or "feel". Unfortunately most of those differences, (except for fps, which is quantifiable) fall into the personal preference category. If you were shooting at a level where things like torsional stability became a factor, you wouldn't need to ask the question.
Over the last few decades, I've shot limbs from the $100 range to the $800 range, and except for an marginal (like 10 fps) difference in speed, scores were rarely affected beyond statistical error. On the budget end, the difference in speed between carbon "foam" limbs and wood/glass limbs of equal weight, is barely detectable (by chronograph).
Unless you can specifically define the exact qualities/features you need (want) in a limb, or riser or anything else, the "differences" are just window dressing.
Probably the biggest problem a lot of people face today, in any sport, is putting too much thought into the equipment. Almost any current production rig out there will out shoot 99% of the humans trying to use it.
Viper1 out.
Most limbs have slightly different characteristics or "feel". Unfortunately most of those differences, (except for fps, which is quantifiable) fall into the personal preference category. If you were shooting at a level where things like torsional stability became a factor, you wouldn't need to ask the question.
Over the last few decades, I've shot limbs from the $100 range to the $800 range, and except for an marginal (like 10 fps) difference in speed, scores were rarely affected beyond statistical error. On the budget end, the difference in speed between carbon "foam" limbs and wood/glass limbs of equal weight, is barely detectable (by chronograph).
Unless you can specifically define the exact qualities/features you need (want) in a limb, or riser or anything else, the "differences" are just window dressing.
Probably the biggest problem a lot of people face today, in any sport, is putting too much thought into the equipment. Almost any current production rig out there will out shoot 99% of the humans trying to use it.
Viper1 out.
The original Gillo C88s had an "advanced recurve" profile that was designed to optimize smoothness to 5% per inch over a wider range of draw lengths (or a wider range of preloads). This was designed in conjunction with W&W and used on their MXT limbs as well. It's not quite a super-recurve (even a mass produced super-recurve like Uukha), but it does store more energy and is smoother at full draw.
This draw profile is also found on the Q5 and Q7 limbs, which have varying ratios of fiberglass and carbon, unlike the C88s which are all carbon. The C77s have basically the same curve profile and use a simplified core structure compared to the C88s (fewer layers) which is a little more durable but is also lighter. They're also a little more tapered IIRC. This results in a limb that is faster (the C88s are very stable, but were a little slow compared to even similar limbs like the more expensive MXT series).
I haven't seen or used the new Alphas yet, but in general Uukhas' super-recurve profile is more extreme, and narrows down to a much smoother draw force curve (3.5% at one point). This means that they have a smaller adjustment range when using the tiller bolts or floating limb pockets. They're also heavier at the beginning of the draw (so are C77s when compared to conventional limbs, but not to the same degree). I found that I really liked the way Uukhas felt to shoot, but that I shot better with a limb that was less smooth (while still being smooth).
The W&W MXT limbs were a happy medium that performed just as well in terms of speed (Uukhas are "faster" with the same arrow, but need a stiffer and heavier arrow so the actual speed for a tuned setup was comparable for me), but felt more stable. I've shot all of my personal bests with those limbs. The C77s are very similar in feel, but much cheaper than a new set, so got some when I wanted to try medium limbs on a 27" GF riser for the upcoming outdoor and field season. They are very similar to the MXTs that I have been shooting, and they are noticeably snappier than the older C88s. That means that they're a little louder and vibrate a little more, but a set of Rigi limb dampeners cleaned that up without an appreciable loss in speed. I was able to use the same crawl marks out to 60m as I used with my 25" GF and long MXT-10 limbs.
If I had a very short draw length and was shooting a conventional riser, I might prefer Uukhas. But on a riser with floating limb pockets, the Gillo limbs let you dial in the draw weight you want while maintaining similar levels of smoothness and stability. For long draw length archers, the combo lets them dial back and avoid the stack point of limbs where they lose efficiency and smoothness.
This draw profile is also found on the Q5 and Q7 limbs, which have varying ratios of fiberglass and carbon, unlike the C88s which are all carbon. The C77s have basically the same curve profile and use a simplified core structure compared to the C88s (fewer layers) which is a little more durable but is also lighter. They're also a little more tapered IIRC. This results in a limb that is faster (the C88s are very stable, but were a little slow compared to even similar limbs like the more expensive MXT series).
I haven't seen or used the new Alphas yet, but in general Uukhas' super-recurve profile is more extreme, and narrows down to a much smoother draw force curve (3.5% at one point). This means that they have a smaller adjustment range when using the tiller bolts or floating limb pockets. They're also heavier at the beginning of the draw (so are C77s when compared to conventional limbs, but not to the same degree). I found that I really liked the way Uukhas felt to shoot, but that I shot better with a limb that was less smooth (while still being smooth).
The W&W MXT limbs were a happy medium that performed just as well in terms of speed (Uukhas are "faster" with the same arrow, but need a stiffer and heavier arrow so the actual speed for a tuned setup was comparable for me), but felt more stable. I've shot all of my personal bests with those limbs. The C77s are very similar in feel, but much cheaper than a new set, so got some when I wanted to try medium limbs on a 27" GF riser for the upcoming outdoor and field season. They are very similar to the MXTs that I have been shooting, and they are noticeably snappier than the older C88s. That means that they're a little louder and vibrate a little more, but a set of Rigi limb dampeners cleaned that up without an appreciable loss in speed. I was able to use the same crawl marks out to 60m as I used with my 25" GF and long MXT-10 limbs.
If I had a very short draw length and was shooting a conventional riser, I might prefer Uukhas. But on a riser with floating limb pockets, the Gillo limbs let you dial in the draw weight you want while maintaining similar levels of smoothness and stability. For long draw length archers, the combo lets them dial back and avoid the stack point of limbs where they lose efficiency and smoothness.
Galaxy Gold all the way. I have very high dollar Hoyt carbon foam and, relatively, dirt cheap Galaxy Gold and I really can't tell them apart. Except, I have a lot more money in my pocket to waste on other things. 
As a frame of reference my 38# GTL88 in a 27” GT wind down to give me 42# at 32”. They do go past that but I wouldn’t want to shoot that far out as my “normal”. Do Gillo do 40# limbs? GTL88 are 4# steps. I wouldn’t have thought 38‘s would give you the range you are looking for. Sure Vittorio will be along in a minute… maybe better to start a new thread?
Stretch
Stretch
Great points! You're absolutely right most limb differences boil down to personal preference, and unless you're at a high performance level where every little detail matters, the equipment isn't likely to affect your scores by much. The gear is definitely important, but in most cases, the human factor will always be the biggest limitation. People often overthink it when the real focus should be on consistent practice and form.
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