Mathews are good bows but your going to spend a pretty penny on them. The same holds true for bowtechs. If you are not too concerned about money and a certain that you are going to stick with it then these two brands are excellent bows that i would definately recomend (although I would go with a bowtech, especially if you want to show your friends up). However, if you are not sure you are going to stick with it then I would head to the shop and check out some of the lower priced bows from hoyt and pse both of which make evcellent bows at a reasonable price such as pse's firestorm. No matter what you choose I would suggest going to the shop and actually shooting the bows in your pricerange for yourself. What one person on here likes in a bow may turn you away from it and you won't know that until you pick it up. Good luck.