Chris covered it pretty well. Obviously I'm not trying to get you to buy a Martin or Bear, I just see both sides of the coin--and I know Chris knows his stuff.

I've set up as a vendor at a lot of places. I've seen guys look HARD at a bow--I mean check it out from one end to the other. After the inspection, they asked about the price--when I told them, they put the bow down and walked off. I have no doubt if I'd quoted a price several hundred dollars higher than I did, the bow would have sold on the spot. Another vendor I know set out some arrow shafts at a shoot--had them priced cheap, because he got a deal on them. Didn't sell a one all weekend. On Sunday (last day of the shoot), he jacked the price up just to see what would happen--sold out in no time flat. A local "trading post" had an old game box full of old, rusty tools--had them priced something like 50 cents each--no takers. Changed the price to something like $5 each, sold them like crazy.

My point being is people are goofy, for the most part. Most think that if it costs more, looks better, or has afancier package it's supposed toautomatically be a lot better.

I'd bet you could take a plain-jane bow that shot like a rocket, price it at $100, and lay it on a table next to a beautiful bow that shot like crap and price it at $800, and 9 times out of 10 the pretty bow is going to sell first, and the plain bow may not sell at all.

Again, I like pretty woods, but pretty isn't the determining factor. I like a fast bow, but speed isn't the be-all end-all either. I've shot most of the bows that claim to be the absolute fastest on the market today, and I don't own any of them. Not because I can't get one, they just didn't shoot that well for me. Heck, there's at least one or two I could get at a bargain because I have a bussiness connection. They were really nice bows, just not the bows for me.

Chad