Ultimate Gear: Recurve

The very best of everything, available right now.

If money were no object – or if you only accept the very best – then Bow has once again lovingly compiled a list of the finest gear available, for recurve, compound, and all bows. We took into account market-leading technology, feedback from top archers, and exceptional workmanship to compile these lists. Feel free to sit back and drool. 

Hoyt Formula XI

Hoyt’s newest Formula riser comes with so much tech, it doesn’t seem possible. The USP is its“String Tension Technology” that allows you to make adjustments to the tension in the string via the limb rockers to customise the feel of the limbs for a smooth shot or an aggressive feeling. The clicker plate is adjustable and it has a dovetail adjustment block. This riser is perfect for the archer who wants to customise every single aspect of their riser to find the shot that feels perfect and performs the best. Many, many top internationals agree.

Price: £720
Available from www.clickersarchery.co.uk

Win & Win – 2021 Meta DX Recurve Riser

This riser is made from graphene carbon, which WIAWIS claim is their highest quality carbon yet, with “steel inserted” to assist the reduction of vibration and torsion. It certainly looks fancy, with a certain reminiscence of GMX about its ILF limb pockets. It’s a beautiful looking riser, available in six well named colours: my favourite being Remington Red. It doesn’t come cheap though, with a reasonably sized price tag for a flashy piece of kit.

Price: £795
Available from www.merlinarchery.co.uk

Hoyt – Carbon Velos Recurve Limbs

These limbs are still one of the top performing limbs on the market today. The fastest limbs in Hoyt history (their own claim!), with higher stability and greater accuracy. The unique selling point of these limbs has to be the bamboo core which apparently gives a smoother draw cycle – you just have to make sure there are no hungry pandas around.

Available in Formula or ILF in short, medium, long, and extra long. 22-50#
Price: £699
Available from www.walesarchery.com

Win & Win – 2021 MXT-10 Foam Recurve Limbs

The MXT-10 limbs were developed to reduce unnecessary movement when shooting while maintaining smoothness when drawing. They’re done this by using WIN&WIN’s favourite wonder material: graphene.

These limbs were developed using “strain-balance” technology, which means they’ve been manufactured using alternating tensile and compressively strained layers to create a zero average in-plane stress to account for differences in elastic properties in the layers. But even without a degree in materials engineering, it’s easy to see that these limbs are top of the range and are going to produce some big scores in 2022.

Available in short, medium, or long. 28-48#
Price: £675
Available from www.clickersarchery.co.uk

RCore Caerus Grip

Retaining a spot in our Ultimate lineup, the ‘Caerus’ is a grip specifically designed for Olympic recurve archers. Its design makes the hand sit comfortably on the same position, every time.The throat of the grip is reinforced on the thumb side and skinny on the index finger side, to “fill” the webbing properly and hint on the correct angle of the hand.

As with every RCore design, the grip is available for a wide range of risers, old and new, in three height options, low, mid and high. Materials now include a wide selection of 3D printed plastics, transparent glass and exotic woods.

Available from https://rcore.co

Easton X10

No arrows have won more world and Olympic titles than any other archery product since appearing on the market. Almost every single Olympic medal since 1996 has been won using x10s, designed specifically for the 70m distance, and they must feature on any ultimate kit list. The price reflects this performance, and with the high precision engineering, testing, and quality assurance of the carbon and aluminium alloys that go into this arrow, you still expect to pay top prices for the top of the range kit. 

Price: £370 per dozen
Available from most archery shops

Skylon Paragon Arrows

These all-carbon shafts have been around for a few years but have mostly been flying under the radar during this time, overshadowed by Easton shafts. I have been shooting these arrows for around a year and have found them to be a very high-quality product. The shafts are parallel, which can be an advantage for those of us who need shorter arrows and just cannot make efficient use of a barrelled shaft such as an X10. I find they group similarly well as X10s at the low bow weight I shoot, at a significantly reduced price.

Price: £120
Available from www.cbarchery.co.uk

Shibuya – Ultima Magnetic Arrow Rest

This classic arrow rest offers everything you need in terms of adjustability and functionality in an easy to use package available in a miriad of colours. The most popular recurve arrow rest on the market, easy to set up, with durable “diamond-like carbon” (DLC) coated support arm. A useful feature of this arrow rest is that it’s ambidextrous, so left and right handed archers use the same rest, you just have to flip it upside down and move the support arm. A great all round rest with modular parts that can be purchased separately for use as spares at a great price.

Price: £30
Available from www.centreshot.co.uk

Avalon Tec-X Maxx 13mm Stabiliser

These stood out for us in the performance / value stakes over much higher priced offerings. The renewed Tec-X Maxx is an extra thin (13mm) stabilizer that offers less wind drag in windy conditions. It is made out of hi-modulus ‘48ton’ carbon and the double core makes it extra stiff. The core damping system reduces vibrations. It also comes with a tec-X damper and black nickel plated weights. The long rod is available in 28”, 30” and 32” . The side rod in 10”, 12” and 15”. A top level stabilizer at an unbeatable price.

Price: €84 to €99 (long rods) – €51 to€61 (side rods)
Available widely. 

Axcel Achieve XP

The XP stands for ‘xtra performance’, and has an impressive amount of engineering and design features that make it an amazing sight. It has an ultra high modulus carbon bar, and a bracket mount that claims to be stronger than any other on the market. In the eternal sight battle between Shibuya and Axcel, we think the Achieve XP is still coming out on top. With huge windage adjustment, zero backlash, a slimmed down sight track, heavy duty knobs and multiple other features major and minor, it is quite the piece of precision machinery.

Available in Blue, Black, Red, Orange, Green, Gold, Silver, Purple
Price: £400
Available from www.merlinarchery.co.uk

Fairweather Modulus Tab

Chosen by many for its simplicity and consistency. Made from kangaroo leather, which is lighter and thinner than cordovan but durable and excellent in wet conditions. More recently, its medal successes at the 2020 Olympics added the highest level of validation. The tab body is available in urethane rubber and in metal for extra weight, and is held together by a single screw that holds the plates clamped onto the leather.

Price: from £62
Available from www.thearcheryshop.co.uk

Wifler Industries MP One Button

Developed over five years, this is a boutique high-precision magnetic plunger button which does away with both springs and proprietary spanners to produce a highly consistent, forgiving button which they claim is less affected by changes in wind and temperature. With 48 micro adjustments per turn, it should satisfy the most OCD micro tweaker. Now available widely in Europe, an increasing number of international archers are adopting it over the ubiquitous Beiter button at the top of the pile. You can read Bow’s longer review of it in issue 142.

Price: from £108
Available from: quicksarchery.co.uk

AAE Advante-X

At the higher end of the small-diameter stabiliser market there are several US names battling to make the thinnest, stiffest rods from the best high-modulus carbon. We still think the Advante-X is the best of the bunch, from AAE, the well-known manufacturer based in Arizona who make multiple lines of top-notch archery products in-house. Just 12.7mm wide and with a 30 inch rod weighing only 90 grams, these are beautifully engineered to be exceptional stabs.

Starting at £147 for a longrod
Available from Merlin Archery in the UK
Available from: arizonaarchery.com