Hehehehee. Ok, here's my take Jay!
Crossbows are inefficent by nature of their short stroke. Whees and cams store energy via a longer string travel stored around their wheels. Cams try to accelerate the string a little more gently than the 747 of crossbows, namely the Excals. Wheels are therefore more efficient but in the end have more parts and depart from the KISS principal that we want as hunters. That is that nothing goes wrong at the moment of truth. I think that the honest truth is that little goes wrong withour warning just like cars. So if the operator is congnisent of what he or she is doing during maintenance then the two bows are just as reliable. Ok, here goes!! To coin a phrase IMHO, LOL that was for you Dan, recurves are for idiots and experts alike and compounds are more suited to those who don't mind some maintenance and have a carefull eye. In a perfect world the compound is a better world. Too bad tolerance stacking, high production methods and human error are involved. That being said I'd better get off the fence cauz my butt is hurting.
Come and get me!