I had a 38 Special for a little while. It was very quiet and had very little recoil. I would put it right up there with the Mathews Q2 XL and Hoyt Havoc for quiet. It was close on recoil, quite similar to my Mathews MQ1. The Vib-X system does work like they claim. My bow did have just a little vibration in the grip when shot bare bow. With even a small solid stabilizer screwed into the Vib-X, the vibration was eliminated. Another nice feature is that the grips can be removed if you like to shoot off the riser like I do. The grip area of the riser on the McPhersons is nicely tapered at the sides, no sharp edges. Nice bow. Quiet, shot well. I sold it because I preferred my Bowtech at the time and the Bowtech was a little more consistant for me at longer ranges.