What are the pros and cons of wood, versus foam core limbs?
Foam is physically lighter than most woods, not bmboo, and thus may be a few fps faster.
It's supposedly impervious to temperature changes, which wood isn't.
May or may not be as durable as wood over the long term.
For some reason, it's usually paired with carbon lams rather than glass, and I find the resulting bow noise higher pitched than wood/bamboo glass limbs.
One pro for wood is it stands the test of time given the millions of vintage bows that are still in service. Only time will tell how foam will hold up.
I am seeing most of the Barebow and Olympic shooters are using foam limbs for the reason Orion states. Paired with Carbon is the norm. A few still use wood cores but almost backed by carbon,
I shoot Foam Carbon limbs on my competition bow. The limbs do have a higher pitched noise and are a little louder, but they are fast. Since I use them in completion, speed is important and noise is not so they work well.
My hunting bow I use glass/bamboo limbs, the probably aren't quite as fast as my foam limbs (but I have never compared them with the same arrows, so not 100% sure, but they are deathly quiet. I use these for hunting because speed is not that important to me, but quiet is.
Anyway, that is my take on the pro's/con's of foam limbs.
Sorry for the misspellings and grammar errors above. Either my fingers are getting bigger, or the buttons on my phone are getting smaller.
It's more of a feel thing to me. I shoot both and like both. I also shoot the old BF Extremes from Samick which is a combination of foam and wood core. Greatest limb to my way of thinking.
I have owned both in a number of bows, and for me, I prefer bamboo cores. I just don't like the sound that a foam core limb makes.
My buddy has a Zipper Nitro longbow with foam/carbon limbs. That bow is one of the sweetest and quietest bows ive shot to date.
As with everything else in archery, the choice is up to you.
I too find wood to have a softer feel but slower.
However don't buy based on a couple of fps....
go by how they shoot for you