I don't want anyone to think this is a brand or fanboy bashing post, so I will not post brand names.

The shop I shoot for had a booth at the St. Louis Deer Classic this past weekend and I helped with the show.

We sold EVERY "bow x" we had in inventory and were having to beat people off of it. Now this bow is not the same brand I shoot, but I have shot it and I really like the way it shoots. However, I was surprised stupid with the number of people that were dropping $940 on this bow and had never shot one to see if THEY like the way it shoots. In fact, one guy that bought was told me that his deciding factor was the reviews it was receiving on AT.

So with that being said, would you buy a bow based on nothing more than specs, reviews, and marketing?

I have done this one time in my life and hated everything about the bow once I got it in my hands. After that, I have always shot a bow, multiple times, and normally side-by-side other bows to see if it is really is "THE" bow for me.

It depends on my cost... As a shop shooter, you know a well as I that our cost will allow us to sell it and get our money back used... If it was not that way, I never buy one sight unseen new... Used=a different story as I have done thi numerous times.

I bought my alphamax before the shop even got them in. I did however liked the way the katera, vulcan, vectrix, and trykon felt, so I was confident in my decision.

I will not buy a bow without shooting it first. Just my opinion and how I go about buying items. Reviews on bows are just someones opinion anyway so even though a bow may get good reviews, I still like to form my own opinion on the product and experience firsthand how it feels, shoots, etc...

I also gotta say that with new bows priced around $900 dollars nowadays that also has a large part in why i won't drop that much money on something I have not had a chance to shoot.

Cost of shooting a new bow at the local archery shop before buying: PRICELESS

Absolutely not. I buy nothing on someone else's opinion..

Yes.

Because trying out a left-handed, short draw, low poundage bow before you buy one is almost as hard as making a unicorn sandwich.

Being left handed, and in a very small town there are not too many bows to shoot around here. So yes I will buy a bow without shooting it first.
Having said that I have never paid more than $450 for a new bow.

I will buy used without previously shooting that particular bow but, if I am buying new, I will shoot it at the shop I am buying it from before making any final decision.

I did and can't complain. I think as a hunter we could "adapt" to a bow and if you don't go and shoot all of them and compare prices then you won't know what you are missing.

I first purchased a High Country bow. It was fine and I liked it a lot, then the string broke. I wanted a newer and lighter bow (something about heavy bows turns me off of them). So I went and got a Parker Ex Hunter Mag (super light) bow from ebay and had never shot one before and love it as well.

I am sure there are many bows that cost 4x the amount I paid for mine ($125) and could be smoother of a draw, higher IBO, etc but there is nothing wrong with my bow and I can shoot it just as well as someone who shoots a $940 bow!

Just depends, i have alwasy been a HOYT fanboy so yeah I would probably buy the new Maxxis without hesitation. I know there quality and have never shot one that i didn't like. And I'm sure its not gonna be worlds different from the Vectrix I current shoot. Now on the other I would like to see what the Bowtechs have to offer, especially the new Destroyer, but I wouldn't buy one without shooting it first.