10/06/2026
Battle of the Super Recurves
Technical analysis is crucial to better understand the bows, and I need to know if I'm paying justifiable price for them. Nobody likes to pay $1000 for a bow, only to find that the $500 alternative worked even better! For today's comparison:
Smaug 2XL (RM5000)
Peregrine (RM3800)
Moonchase (RM3000)
Mini-Smaug (RM2600)
Spirit of Khorasa (RM1900)
Josyrian-X (RM1300)
Smaug's draw curve completely stands out, there's really no competition at all, like the others aren't even trying. It is the undisputed highest-energy storage, ultra-smooth draw. Though in practice, Peregrine and Moonchase's speed actually came pretty close at 10gpp. This means that Smaug's cast efficiency is the bottleneck at lower gpp. It benefits greatly from longer drawlengths and heavy arrows, much like a Manchu. This explains my previous observation that Smaug's kinetic energy output seems to increase ~1% per gpp between 10gpp to 20gpp. Massive G10 riser provides maximum stability, forgiveness, handshock and vibration damping. Highly customizable with 3 years warranty makes RM5000 looks expensive but justifiable.
Peregrine and Moonchase's draw curves are almost neck and neck. Moonchase's early draw is slightly more aggressive, while Peregrine's late draw is slightly smoother. Their mid draw is overlapping, and even their speed tests result is splitting hair. Moonchase seems slightly faster at shorter drawlengths, but ironically it is able to reach up to 32" from belly. Peregrine is slightly faster at longer drawlengths, but maxes out at just 31" from belly. Neither has G10 riser, but Peregrine's significantly larger riser do provide noticeably better stability, forgiveness, handshock and vibration damping. Both are customizable with 1 year warranty. RM3000 is a good start for a custom carbon SR (Moonchase). If you value the extra refinements on the Peregrine, that'll cost you another RM800.
Mini-Smaug offers an interesting competition. Slightly less aggressive, less energy storage than both Moonchase and Peregrine, but late draw is actually smoother than both (which makes daddy-Smaug proud). Mini-Smaug will be difficult to ignore for those seeking a tiny bow (just 47"), very smooth draw, full carbon SR with G10 riser, 2 years warranty, and a price tag of just RM2600. The only real drawback is that there's extremely minimal customization. But if you don't plan to spend heavily on decorations anyway, then that's not a bad thing after all.
Spirit of Khorasa is not a carbon bow, but the next-generation of fiberglass-based SR that heavily draws inspiration from historical Asiatic bows. Its early draw is as aggressive as Smaug, mid draw resembles Mini-Smaug, and late draw is similar to Moonchase. Energy storage is higher than Mini-Smaug, Moonchase, and Peregrine, but still unknown whether it can efficiently convert to kinetic energy. Seeing how quiet the bow actually shoots is a good indication of excellent cast efficiency. Finishing is being reworked, so that it would look sincere when given out as FREE GIFT to my top fans (as previously promised). Khorasa combines all the best innovations that I've ever worked on at an incredibly affordable price of just RM1900 with 1 year warranty, and a plethora of customizable options.
Josyrian-X is only there to represent the baseline for some of the best traditional asiatic bows. Only the Super Ming's draw curve was slightly better than Josyrian-X, so it makes sense to be included just to show the wide gap between the typical bows vs SR. At just 46" strung, it is the smallest and cheapest of the lot, but still fully capable of 32" from belly. If you aren't looking for absolute performance dominance, then Josyrian-X is already perfect and sufficient for the job.
