What is "smoothness"...?

[Hornseeker]

I always hear people talking about how "smooth" a bow is to draw. With compounds...what is smoothness??? Being a traditional bowyer and avid trad shooter, I know what it is with a trad bow...but it has to be different with a compound....

[croix]

it has a lot to do with the style of cams. a more rounded cam will have a more gradual increase in weight as you pull and more gradual decrease into the valley; therefore, feel more "smooth". an aggressive cam ramps up in weight very quickly, flattens out, and then falls quickly to the valley. there are of course varying degrees of cams in between.

[coachcw]

you will hear some guys say how hard a bow is over the top . That means a real agressive cam and draw cycle . for most bows agressive is fast , the longer the arrow is on the string at max poundage the faster it will be thats why a 6 inch brace hieght with be faster than an eight inch bow.

[carpsniperg2]

a good bow shold feel like glass when you draw it back some of the more radical cams have a learch to them when you draw them.

[let.it.fly]

yeah what carp said. my mission is very smooth but my buddies kodiak is so bad that when i draw it once the let off kicks in i bounce on the end of the draw. the same is true with my girlfriends pse chaos

[Todd_ID]

Draw a PSE Xforce and a Mathews Switchback side-by-side, and you'll answer the question quickly.  Hard cams certainly have a place when trying to get speed, but I'll take smooth any day when the chips are down in a compromising position on a big bull.

[carpsniperg2]

  my xforce is smooth and way faster and its 84lbs

just messin  todd_ID

[Hornseeker]

So...is my Alphamax smooth???

With a trad bow..."smooth" is drawing the same number of pounds per inch from about 25 inches to and through your draw length....

E

[CallMeBigPapa]

The alpha max is smoooth...

[NWWABOWHNTR]

So...is my Alphamax smooth???

With a trad bow..."smooth" is drawing the same number of pounds per inch from about 25 inches to and through your draw length....

E

I hear the Alphamax is smooth... but guarantee it isn't nearly as smooth as my Sapphire Hawk!        

[blackveltbowhunter]

The limited experience I have with traditional tackle, it sounds like it may be opposite as with a compound. Correct me if im wrong but in general a stick and string reaches max draw weight at the end if that bows draw length? a compound actually loads the weight at the front of the draw cycle and then "drops" weight at some point within that cycle so less weight is held at full draw. I think the majority of compound shooters myself included, would agree more "bump"= less smooth and less "bump"=more smooth. The amount of force loaded in the front end will determine how hard the shooter will have to pull to get over the bump which is why it can be very subjective.  A shooter used to shooting @ 70 lb with a "smooth" cam, will probably notice the more aggressive cam, drop the aggressive cammed bow to 60 or 65 lbs and the bow may feel smoother. Your not pulling back more weight with one or the other, your just pulling more at once. Personally I have found that  most bows feel similar at 70 lbs ( havent drawn to many with 80lb limbs) and under. After a few shots my muscles simply anticipate where the rollover is and adjust accordingly, since in my mind I want to limit the bump. The lighter the draw weight the easier it is to do. 

[halflife65]

Go try a Z7.  Those are smooth bows.