10 years is a long time to stay with the same bow at least it is for me! I have been married for 16 years and she is just used to me blowing money on bows when she thinks my last one was my dream bow!
buy what ever you want. You might not live another 10 years, who knows? If you manage your money well you'll know if you can afford it or not. would you buy a new car without power windows and doors and AC? then why would you buy the lower model of bow? You only live once and we all know that as we age, time goes by faster every day. If you can't do the things you enjoy, with the things you want, within reason of your budget, why do you work so hard?
I would do neither but if your a Hoyt man I would cancel the 10 yr deal, do you really think that will work out? And BTW, pots and pans for Xmas? Surprize her with something personal and I don't mean a valcum cleaner either :p
10 years is large part of your remaining years. Don't make that deal if she is actually going to hold you to it.
Im gona say get the bow of your dreams. I shot a Hoyt Havoc -tec for 10 years. I still love that bow, someone had to steal it from me to get me to buy a new bow. The carbon matrix will last 10 years no problem. Set it up the way you want it. Ten years is a long time make it the way you want.
Just so everyone knows, she didn't make me promise anything. I came up with that one because I really believe that if I paid that much for a bow, I would not feel right keeping it any amount of time less than that. I shoot an older PSE now and I am fine with it. I would like something faster and IMO a bow shooting 300+ is where the bar has been set for a long time now. Yes everyone wants a 400fps bow but no company has made one yet. I believe it will be a few years before anyone does. I don't have to have the latest and greatest to hunt. I just really love how that bow feels in my hand. I describe it as an extention of my arm not a bow. Thats how well it fit. I know it will not make me a better hunter but, I still would really like to have one. I personally think that bows are like guitars. I was learning to play a few years back and I asked a guy at a music store, can you really tell a difference in a $2500 martin and a $500 Ibenez which is what I played. He simply walked behind the counter, picked a beautiful Martin and handed it to me. I couldn't play very well but I could tell a refined difference. It played smother, the strings didn't buzz because I didn't have to press the strings as hard and everything was smoother. It didn't make me play any better but, the experience was so much more pleasent. If I had bought the Martin, I would have enjoyed playing more. I would still have the Martin. The Ibenez still got the job done. I guess thats how I look at bows but, then again I love to shoot bows.
x3 Also don't forget as soon as a new bow comes out the newest and greatest is already in protype form and will be out in the next year. I was sold on a z7xtreme until I really started looking at what I would have to give up during the season to keep my hunting budget in the black. After some debate I bought a new Mathews dreanlin and coudn't be happier. Plus I saved a full grand thats alot of wish list gear or a decent extra hunt. IMHO new bows are great but 10 years is insane by then bows will be 2-3 pounds and pumping 400+ fps. Just my .02 cents
Here is another way I look at owning a bow for 10 years. Lets take a quick look back 17 years ago and compare it to now. The 300FPS mark has been hit for many, many years now. Take the Mathews 3-D Hunter Produced from 1994-1996. Specs: 318fps, Brace height of 8.125", ATA 39", DW 75lb, Bow Weight: 4.5lb. Now look at the Mathews Z7 Extreme: 330fps, Brace Height: 7-3/8", ATA 28", DW 70lbs Bow weight: 3.98lb. As far as speed goes, we have gained 12fps in 17 years. As far as weight goes, we have lost .52lb. in that same amount of time. Yes the ATA is 11" shorter now and thats great but, do we really need a bow less than 32"? 10 years from now Mathews and Hoyt may be @ 345-350fps on their hunting bows. As long as a bow is kept up and not mistreated there is no question that a man can use one that long. I mean the first bow I owned was 20 years old and had killed a deer the year before I got it. The one I use now has to be at least 8 years old and it is still pretty fast. The only real reason I want a new bow is so that I can buy a brand new one and know that the only deer killed with it are the ones I have. I want it to be mine and no one elses. A bow like the Hoyt Carbon Matrix is a bow I wouldn't mind owning that long. I really do not see the advantage of buying a new bow every season or every few seasons. The only thing I see is being able to impress others by saying "I have the new _ _ _ _ bow and this thing is bad ***" Is it really worth spending $600+ a year to say that? Not to me. I don't need to impress people that way.
I just feel that that extra money spent each year on the latest and greatest could be used on other things such as stands or replacing camo. For guys who hunt far away, it could be used on gas for more hunting trips. Thus creating more opportunity to harvest more animals. Maybe even more stands for private leases or their own private properties. Maybe better food plots or equipment to maintain food plots and habitat improvement. Things that would improve chances of harvest. In my case more trail cams later on down the road. Not a new bow. Thats just me though. To each his own. I don't judge anyones intentions. This is just the way my mind works.
Same logic can used for NOT buying a carbon matrix. That is a whole lot of extra money for a bow that doesn't do anything differently than a new bow at a 1/4 the cost. That bow at 1/4 the cost would last 10 years also. I agree that you don't need a new bow every year, or even every 2-3 years, but you also don't need to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a carbon matrix either unless, of course, you just want to impress people with the fact that you own a carbon matrix .
First... you should never..ever make deals with a wife.....it never goes as planned she hears one thing when you say another Get what you want and when she see's it say ''oh that i have always had that"
I think you should get what you want. I've had my Cougar Mag for 25 years I love this bow. I've thought about getting a new bow but besides it's weight it's all I need.
A 10 year committment is a big risk. Many things can happen. What if the bow doesn't turn out to be all you thought it would be? What if another bow comes along that you like better than this one? What if you have problems with the bow after a few years? I wouldn't lock myself into a 10 year committment when wedded bliss is involved. I would instead ask for cash for every Christmas and birthday and save my pennies and buy the bow outright so if things don't go as planned you have all your options open.
