I really, really, really love my hornet, but at this point if I was going to choose a bow purely on aesthetics, it would have to be the Merlin HQ 35. But, at this point that' s not enough to make me pull the trigger and buy one. I don' t want to lose any energy that I' ve already paid for

Straight Arrow, what don' t you like about the stock Diamond string/cable? I got a new one from them last year, $25 for the set, after it shot in, re-set and it hasn' t moved yet.

I asked the following questions on Merlin' s website feedback sheet, and Ben Jones responded-

Q- Do you ever see your company producing the HQ with some
version of the omega cam with an IBO along the lines of 320+, similar to
Darton and Bowtech? I draw 28.75" at 70#s, and would like to fling a
425-450 grain hunting arrow at least 270-5 fps. Is this performance
possible with your current HQ bows, assuming only 2 brass nocksets on the
string? Also, do you have plans to offer your pro-fusion limbs on the HQ-31?
Thanks, you make an awesome looking product.

Ben' s Answer- The Quest-31 is likely to be discontinued shortly. The Quest-35 will
remain. There will be another bow I cant tell you too much about just yet
that will be around 33" axle length and 7" Brace height that is faster than
the Quest-31 & 35. Speeds are still being tested at the moment, along with
some faster cam options.

One thing we want to do is keep all the brace heights to a minimum of 7" for
2004. Dropping brace heights does increase speed, but consistency suffers
significantly. We will not be going down that road just to boost the speed.

I don' t realistically see us getting above 320fps and maintain a 7" brace
height, but it looks like we will be close.

There will be full pictures and specifications of all the new products in
December.

Best regards
Ben