Thanks Ischa and Mike - that's sound advice. Actually I got a chance to handle (not shoot) several brands at Cabela's here in Michigan and came away with the opinion these are really heavy and huge. Even the lightweight TenPoint crossbows were a bit heavier than I'd want to tote around plus my biggest fear is sitting in a treestand with a loaded crossbow andworrying abouthitting a solid limb and knocking both me and it out of my treestand. I still think I'll wait a year and see what the new users here think. Thanks again.