There has been more than one company in recent years working on the hybrid design, long before Hoyt released their version last year. It is no secret in the industry that there is simply much more room to move within this design than within the conventional solocam, therefore future improvements to the design will be much more easily designed and acheived.

I do give Hoyt a bundle of credit for pushing the hybrid into the limelight, but there is no doubt in my mind that it would've come anyway within a year or two---maybe not by Darton or Merlin themselves, but with so many other companies now coming onto the bandwagon, Martin, Champion, Kodiak, Newberry, etc etc I truly beleive that the design has finally caught hold and that this is the next step forward in the evolution of cam design. IMO the solos will continue to fade over time as an obsolete entity because there is now a much better mousetrap available. That is also IMHO why you saw the "running scared, time to smash Hoyt" advertising banter in 2003 from certain companies---they know the deal as well and lost around 25-30% in sales in 2003 from what I understand, nevemind what will happen in 2004.. Even dual cams do not offer all of the attributes that Hybrids do IMHO. In a nutshell, they(hybrids) offer the best combination of attributes of both twins and solos-- all in one package, and are the easiest bows to tune and shoot I've ever experienced in over 30+ years in this sport and industry-- with little recoil, vibration, and handshock to boot. Having been a staunch twin cam fan for many years now, this is saying something and it took me a long time to become convinced and say so. I now shoot the Merlin Omega hybrid exclusively for all applications, and feel there is no finer hybrid system currently available anywhere. (Each bow comes complete with simple tuning instructions! Almost impossible to screw it up![8D])

I truly believe this is a good thing for the industry overall---people are hungry for new concepts, and we must retaiin interest and excitement within the industry for it to prosper. I think that many companies are now finally getting off their duffs and back into the R&D depts, and we as archers will certainly benefit from this increased activity over the next few years. JMHO, Pinwheel 12