If your buddy wants $250 for the golden eagle I would say no way!!! You can get some pretty good bows for around $300 new. I just looked in the cabelas archery cat. and counted 13 bows packages under $300. I also saw in the Dick' s flyer they had the Martin tracer mag combo for $299. I think that any of them would do you just right for a starter bow. The stuff that come with it isn' t " top of the line" but you can change your acessories around untill you find what you like and shoot best. But in the mean time the equipment that comes already on it would serve you just fine. You would only have to take it to a pro shop and have them set your draw length and such, then you would be in buisness. Good luck!!