I agree with most of what you said. However, I think the biggest problem with penetration isn't so much the total weight of the arrow, but the configuration of the arrow. The average hunter, even the average bow shop refers to a spine chart, while picking a light-weight broadhead, and that's the end of arrow tuning. This is the real problem. Hunting arrows need a high percentage of weight up front, lots of drag in the rear, and very careful tuning for spine. If people did this, it wouldn't matter so much what the final weight was. The arrow would fly the best it's capable of.

As most who have read this forum for any length of time know, I am a big fan of high FOC arrows. As a higher percentage of the weight is moved towards the tip, penetration increases. The arrow also becomes more forgiving in wind, when hitting small twigs or even when hitting bone. If you try to put 18-24% of the weight forward of center, you will find that you need a relatively stiff arrow, and a heavy broadhead. This automatically gives you a heavier arrow than normal for a given shaft type. If you try to configure one in the 25-30% range, you will end up with a real heavy arrow, no matter what you do. The heavy weight sure doesn't hurt with the increased momentum, but the weight still needs to be mostly up front if you want an arrow that penetrates it's best.

For sure, there's an overwhelming desire for speed by most of today's hunters. Obviously under the right circumstances, almost any arrow can do the job, even a very fast one that is not designed as a very forgiving one. I simply like to increase the likelihood that mine will work under the more demanding situations that seem to frequently pop up, so I put a lot of weight up front and tune them carefully.