Lots of choices out there. For me, I wanted as primative as I can and still be effective and still learn. I went with a longbow, but was disappointed that martin had clear fiberglass backing. I am a newbie, so take it for what its worth.

But if I was going to get a recurve, I really, really like that dream catcher and sarangetti from martin. I like the high dollar customs also like zipper too. But this is just from a pure vainful astetics point of view. I like you, searched and searched Ebay. Wasn't sure if the bows were just some selfbows that people wasn't happy with, so sell on ebay or what. So I bought a brandname.

For me, 55lbs is about my limit for longbows, and I have shot 70lb compounds for 20 years.

I am not too big into takedowns but the advantages like buying different limbs, one for hunting and other for practice sounds real attractive.