Carbons can be more durable than aluminum, but not always. A cracked carbon is toast while a bent aluminum arrow can often be straightened to near factory tolerances. So, cheaper in the long run is relative.

Carbons come in a few sizes - a good thing for dealers, but not always a good thing for shooters. It presents problems getting the perfect spine for your setup. Just because you' re in that arrow' s spine range doesn' t mean you' ve got the right arrow for your bow. If you don' t shoot a setup that' s close to the middle of a carbon' s 20 pound spine range, within say 5-7 pounds either side of the middle, you wind up either marginally overspine or marginally underspine. In that case, the only option is to play around with arrow length and point weight. With aluminum, you can pick an arrow length and tip weight and choose the correct size arrow.

' Carbon penetrates better' is very much open for discussion. In some cases, yes, especially with the heavier carbons, but I don' t think it holds true for ALL carbons in ALL circumstances. In fact, I think the lighter weight carbons can be more of a hindrance to penetration than anything else.

Less wind drift because of smaller diameter is also open for discussion. Faster arrows with less flight time would give wind a shorter amount of time to blow the arrow around, but my experience is I wind up with MORE drift, not less. I think the lighter weight and lower momentum, which equals lower directional stability, allow the wind to blow a carbon arrow further off course than a heavier aluminum arrow. On very windy days, up around 20 mph, I' ve had a devil of a time shooting carbons when my aluminum arrows (which weight 100 grains more) flew great.

But I do agree that you get what you pay for.