Cams are about maxxed out with current designs, so they have to look elsewhere now for speed for the future advancements of bows. Draw force curves are pushing the limitations of efficiency, a pure 100% efficiency drawforce from todays' current bow designs will top out at somewhere around 418fps according to the laws of physics. It will also be very nasty to shoot. We will always continue the quest for additional speed, so of course there will be many new trials and errors and eventually advancements from them using newer, lighter, and stronger materials, and alternative propulsion designs such as air-assist, ratchet cams, force multipliers, etc. (We have already seen the force multipliers over the last 20 years, we will undoubtedly see more in the future along with many new inventions) These new designs sound awful " goofy" and strange to us right now but I can recall when the compound first was introduced, everyone thought Mr. Allen was crazy, too!
The technology will continue to advance, make no mistake there, and we will flock to try them, just as it has been done since day one when man invented the stick and string.
One thing to remember in all of this hubub with the bow manufacturers and " speed bows" (or any bow for that matter) however-----there isn' t a bow company out there who wishes to be sued by anyone for bodily harm or negligence, and they all try hard to make sure their products are safe for the consumer, it is simple as that. The bad press (and lawsuits) could definately bury them in a heartbeat! (Look at the bad press that came from a mere cable failure at the HCA booth at the ATA show! Rumors, bad press, and word-of mouth can kill these companies very quickly) Therefore every bow is normally tested quite thoroughly amongst all companies to ensure that it is relatively safe for production before ever hitting the streets. Unfortunately isolated incidents can and will occur, that is allplayed upon percentages of items sold. Of course if we are also idiots and run them right on the edge of the abyss, then we have no-one to blame but ourselves,[&:] but if we run them in a relatively " safe" range we can still enjoy their capabilities--- at least until the next design comes to better it, that is.
Good shooting, Pinwheel 12