Grampus, Here is a compilation of two posts I wrote about this on another forum. The Nika N3s are $280. All the others are between $130 and $215.
"I’ve spent a lot of money trying to find the balance between smoothness, performance, quietness and cost. What I’m slowly coming to realize is that I’ve been splitting hairs in my search. It’s quite likely that even the most basic limbs will perform the same or better than limbs I shot for decades on Bear, Howard, Shakespeare and other production or custom bows.
We can weigh limbs and examine the construction but it’s apparent to me that a good fiberglass and wood limb can still be a great limb for hunting. So while I’ve tried to justify having no glass as “better” the data I’ve accumulated doesn’t support that for me. I do find that limbs with fiberglass are typically quiet limbs. Toss in a lam of UD carbon and it adds torsional stability.
Is fiberglass or the lack of it that important? For hunting limbs probably not. Limb design is likely the most important."
"There are many good limbs available at a wide range of prices. At this point in my life, being retired, I’m not shooting Winex, Uukhas or super curves primarily because of the cost. I focus on limbs that are, with the exception of Nika N3s, from $105-$200. And what I’ve found could have saved me a lot of money over the years.
I currently own seven sets of limbs and the fastest I have now are Nika N3s. But they are only a few fps faster than most others I have. The slowest limbs I have are Nika C2s, by a surprisingly large margin. The other five sets of limbs are all within 2 fps for average speed and only a few fps slower than the N3s. As set up on my risers the limbs are all between 40 and 41.5# draw weight .
The best value limb for performance that I have is Sanlida Athletic X7, or the current model Miracle X10. They shoot the same or faster than my other limbs that are set up to four pounds heavier. They are very smooth but on most risers they are a bit noisy. I finally found them to be quiet on one riser I own.
Speed aside the other major difference in my limbs is smoothness of draw and limb reaction after the shot. They are all smooth but one, the Nika N3s, are a different smooth. As I draw the limbs become just buttery smooth. The only downside to me for the N3s is that they require me to be very consistent or I shoot a flyer. Unfortunately I’m not always consistent.
A quick summary of how I feel about my other limbs – My favorite limbs are Samick R1. Maybe I just got a good set but they are smooth, quiet and shoot a 10gpp arrow at 172 from my bow. They aren’t too heavy and, to me, they totally outperform their cost for what I need in a hunting limb.
Kinetic Finity limbs are a pleasure to shoot. Maybe it’s the design, thin and lightweight, the bamboo or the cross carbon but they pull smoothly and shoot 173 with an arrow just over 10gpp. They are dead quiet but I do have them on a DAS riser which are my quietest with most limbs.
Kinetic Athlos are smooth shooters but I expected a bit better performance. They are also thin and lightweight, have a maple core and cross carbon pull smoothly and are quiet on release but shoot a couple fps slower than the R1 limbs.
Galaxy Black Star limbs are carbon and bamboo. Their draw is as smooth as any limb except the N3s. They shoot just a bit faster than the Finity limbs but, on some risers have an annoying buzz after release. I haven’t been able to figure out the cause, but I’ll play with brace height and string material on several risers to see what it could be.
Nika C2 really surprised me. They are bigger and heavier than my other limbs but are so smooth and quiet. When I shot them over my chronograph they came in about 10 fps slower than the N3s and 6-7 fps slower than my other limbs. I shot them three different times throughout the day just to see if I made an error. Still they are a good hunting limb and the arrow goes where I want it to consistently."
