Are they as good as the newer ones?
They are a good bow, but not as good as the new. I believe many or all were not fast flight string material compatible. They did not have as much of the reflex/deflex deflex design that the current models do and they also didn't have the grip refined to where it is today.
Don't take that as a knock, but read it as they were still in the infancy stages compared to where they are today. They're a good, solid bow. An example would be comaring a Bear Grizzly with B-50 string(older shrew) to a Bear Custom Kodiak Takedown with fast flight string(current shrews).
Thanks for the feed back Ray.