Compound bows decrease the amount of force necessary to propel an arrow long distances at high speeds. Manufacturers of compound bows do not design bows specifically for women; however, the size of the archer plays an important role in bow selection, and female archers often benefit from shorter draw lengths. Compound bows have single cams, hybrid cams, twin cams or binary cams.
Single Cams
Single-cam bows are often quieter and easier to maintain than twin-cam systems, but the trade-off is they may be harder to tune. Single-cam systems feature a round idler wheel on top of the bow and an elliptical cam on the bottom, where the bow gets its power. Some single-cam bows can be fast, aggressive and hard to adjust, but the majority are smooth and reliable. Single cams are also referred to as solo-cam or one-cam bows.
Hybrid Cams
Hybrid-cam bows offer the straight and level nock travel of a twin-cam bow but without the timing and synchronization challenges. Hybrid cams feature two asymmetrically elliptical cams, a power cam on bottom and a control cam on top. These bows are often recommended for the recreational shooter because they require less maintenance and skill to orient the cams properly, compared with a single-cam bow.
Twin Cams
Twin cams get their name from the identical cams at each end of the bow, which can be either round or elliptical. The advantage of a twin-cam bow is the excellent nock travel, accuracy and overall speed the archer gains from a perfectly synchronized cam system. Twin cams are susceptible to gaps in performance because of synchronization problems, but the advent of no-creep string fibers has reduced the amount of maintenance for the archer. You may also hear twin-cam bows referred to as two-cam or dual-cam bows.
Binary Cams
Binary cams were introduced in 2005. The binary system salves the cams to each other instead of to the bow's limbs, which allows the cams to automatically equalize any imbalances in cable lengths as well as limb deflections. The ability to self-correct these problems takes timing and synchronization challenges out of play for the archer and should lead to perfectly straight and level nock travel with every shot.
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