RE: for the wife-anything better than the BROWNING ..
I have seen the Challenger and I am familiar with most of the Browning bows but not the lady Impulse. I believe they might also have another new woman's bow for 2002. I do remember hearing something about it.
You might also want to take a gander at either the Hoyt Sapphire (mucho bucks though) or the MTSport. The Sapphire was designed for folks whose draw lengths and draw weights generally fall under the "average" range. The MTSport is offered in draw length and draw weight options down to 22 inches and 40 lbs, respectively.