Dave C

I think if you shot the Machete with the "rubber dohickies" on, you'd find it as quiet and vibration free as anything on the market. At least I have.

Rangeball, tonight I shot a couple of the bows you seem interested in. The Merlin Max Extreme arrived at the local shop. They just came in and 6 of us got together with the shop owner as he set them up and we shot them side by side with other bows. The shop also sells Diamonds, so I got the opportunity to shoot it side by side with the Machete and the Gladiator.

First impressions of the Max Extreme - Heavier then the Diamonds, but very well balanced. The Merlin had a smoother draw, but was about 15 fps slower then a comparable Machete (actual measured draw lengths were with 1/4" of each other). Gladiator was even faster. The Merlin did have about 1/2" more brace height and the Machete was an inch shorter. The Max Extreme and the Machete both had cable dampeners, string leeches, identical stabilizers and the Machete had limb savers (merlin has rubber limb coverings). The six of us all rated both the Machete and the Gladiator as slightly quieter. We all thought the Merlin had slighter better balance and was completely without recoil. Recoil on the Machete was about the same, but the balance was not quite as good. A different stabilizer would probably correct this. Neither had any vibration to speak of. The Machete has a harder wall, but had a more drastic "roll-over" on the cam when dropping into the valley. They had completely different feels and I'm sure some will prefer one over the other (the six of us were split on preference of the draw cycle). I felt the biggest difference between the two bows was the $200 lower price on the Machete. Hard to ignore this bow at the price they sell for. However, I'm sure many people are going to fall in love with the Merlin and will be willing to part with the big bucks. I'm sure Merlin's carbon limbs and locking limb pockets will attract many buyers. Personally, I don't like locking limb pockets and don't keep bows long enough to wear out the limbs on even the cheapest bows, so those don't mean as much to me.

I encourage you to shoot them both and determine for yourself if the price difference is worth it to you.