I think the internet and the real world are two different things when it comes to bow sales. Oh sure-you see a bazillion guys online buying an Elite, or a Strother. I bought an Elite because of internet talk! But locally no-one has a freaking clue.Far too much credence is give to poularity on the internet. My local dealer is one of the largest shops in the entire country-4 different locations in NY state, and has been written up lately in all the industry rags.

They have been an Elite dealer for a few years now- and can barely move more than 6 or 7 a year. Your average bowhunter has no clue who Elite is. They have no idea about the warranty. They have no idea who Kevin Strother is.

In some parts of the country I can see where some dealers who are selling just a couple of lesser know manufacturers can move alot of Elites- but for a dealer who has Hoyt, Mathews, BowTech, PSE, Martin, & Bear on the shelves- Elite (and Strother, and G5/Quest, and Darton, and Athens, and New Breed, etc) are not going to sell in any meaningful way. Especially as most of them don't advertise in the big archery rags to help sales for dealers. And because the dealer only buys a dozen (because they are hard sells) the dealer gets very little in the way of discounting, and they are not making as much on each sale. Not to mention these companies may or may not be around in a year or two or three. Or in Elites case-no warranty parts for models like the GTO/XXL, etc. Kinda tough when you totally sold a customer on that awesome GTO and then he needs parts, and you have to say "sorry, can't help you". Also Elite raised their dealer prices when Peter came on board. Yet MSRP stayed the same. so again less profit for the dealer (don;t get me wrong, I like Pete-just saying not a goodwill move for dealers-especially all those who had been burned with the patent fiascos)

As a Pro-shop owner, a stable bow company with large financial and production resources, AND good customer service are far more important to your livelihood than Kevin's name on it, or a few more FPS, camo patterns, or whether some guy who buys the bow used on Ebay still can get transferrable warranty. As a dealer I'd be extremely leary of buying anything associated with Kevin anymore because of his "questionable" business practices/sense. And heck I followed him around since the Oregon days. I like the guy. I picked his brain at a couple BTS/AT shows, and ate dinner with him. He makes great stuff, but thats not all there is to it.