Feel a quick intro is in order first -- been around firearms all my life but only recently got into hunting (bagged a turkey first time out this year! ), and moreso, just got into archery. Had the opportunity to try bow hunting last season, and while I had a great time out in the woods, a past shoulder injury made it a bit less than ideal. To top it off, I've managed at least 6 shoulder dislocations since the first of the year... hence, my decision to look into crossbows.

Spent the last couple days trying to learn what I can when it comes to crossbows and have finally decided on going with an Excalibur (lifetime warranty and ease of maintenance were the major selling points). After looking at what they have to offer I can't help but to wonder what is the difference between their "groups" of crossbows -- Ibex/Phoenix, Exocet/Vortex, Exomax/Equinox

As far as I can tell, they have almost identical specs with the only difference being the stock (traditional vs. thumbhole) and a $40-50 difference in MSRP. Anything else I'm missing? Any reason that the thumbhole stock would be preferred over the traditional (aside from aesthetics)??

Also, assuming money isn't much of a deciding factor, is higher velocity always better? Michigan recently lifted the 350 fps rule to make things easier. Only plan on hunting whitetail and turkey for the time being, but who knows what the future will hold. Could you reliably take larger game (bear, moose, whatever) with one of these?

Thanks for the help!

They all have: same limbs, risers. The diff in power/poundage is the rail length Phoenix/Ibex 175# Exocet/Vortex 200# Emax Enox 225#.

As you guessed w/ those 6 models the 2nd ones are thumbholes and they will only interchange w/ each other.

You can't put a pistol grip stock on a thumbhole model. I had an Emax, Exocet and a Vixen. The Exocet is my favorite. The Emax was too much of a brute, eats serving and it's near impossible to find an arrow after a shot.

They all have the same triggers but the thumbholes appear different due to ergonomics and angles. They seem to have a heavier pound pull.

I've read the Phoenix is the biggest seller in Canada and the Emax here.

I like the feeling of a Vixen w/ just peep ad pin for turkey hunting, it's like a whole different bow, lighter still and better balanced, YMMV

The VixenII is stocked 1" shorter than the plain Vixen. They have a lifetime warranty new or used which keeps the price of used ones up there.

Talk to Danny Miller, USA warranty rep, he sometimes has deals on trade ups/downs. [740] 483-2312. No matter where you buy an Excal in the USA, prob arises it ends up w/ Danny and he encourages guys to just send them straight to him. Great guy to boot.

I shoot two now: Phoenix and Vortex; LOVE it's thumbhole stock. It also has the best trigger of the 5 bows I've owned, but it got that way by my working on it. I shoot the Phoenix the most, same POI out to 50 yards using the same aim point in their respective LumiZone scopes. Owned the Equinox too but too much bow for me. More difficult to ****, harsher shot, tough on serving.
IMO the Phoenix/Ibex is the near perfect deer bow at reaosnable ranges (out to 40 yards). If you want just a tad more pop try the
Exocet/Vortex but the relatively small gain in speed (15-20 fps with 400 gr arrow) comes at slightly harder ****ing effort. Do consider getting the Flemish string and a set of STS (string stoppers).

Thumbhole stocked models are 1" shorter than regular stocked models. Vixen & Vixen II don't have a counter model, vixen is the older of the 2 both 150 lb