I have gone through 4 bows this past 2 years. Not that I want that many... I just upgraded an old "beginner" one to a newer " beginner" one because the price was right. I then moved up to a very nice AR34 and gave my old one to my father in law for his birthday because he was in the market for a newer bow. Well, a deal came along on my newest bow, which I always wanted. I sold my AR for close to what I paid for it and bought my brand new 2004 Hoyt ViperTec for just a few dollars more! I'll be staying w/ this bow for hopefully a couple more years.
Up until then, I this process, I had the same bow for 5 years.