New to bowhunting ......

[mdbowhunter66]

This September will be my first time out. I have found a guy that has a used 2008 Martin Firecat Pro X for my first bow. Any feedback on users of this bow would be greatly appreciated.

[dzsmith]

im sure that would be a great first bow, but dont make the mistake i seem to make everytime i get into a new sport. i always try to get beginner equipment when i start something new and after a very short time i usually love it and then i wished i had gotten something better. I have a 2011 exile, i thought that would be a great starter bow, at the time i had all the money i could need and could have gotten anything i wanted, after about 1 month i wish i had just gotten silencer or something. I wanted more speed and power than the exile. well theres nothing wrong with my exile, its a killer, but i have put a lot of high dollar upgrades on one of martins slower bows. when realistically i could have payed maybe 100 more and gotten a speed bow from them. so dont undersell yourself, if you have the budget to get what you want, then get what you want. if you are on a budget, then you gotta do what you gotta do. your looking at a good bow though, definetly nothing wrong with starting out with it. However, a martin bow is reasonably priced, so take a look at some new ones if you get the chance.

[mdbowhunter66]

Thank you. I will look around and do some research to see what is out there to make the right decision.

[wscywabbit]

Well I didn't have the Firecat, but my brother in law did have the '08. The one thing I can tell you is that the bow was '08's speed bow, IBO of 345 if I remember correctly and an absolute tack driver!

Down side is that that model year was during a run of bad limbs Martin had, so I would suggest watching the limbs closely. If it has the rounded limb pockets instead of the square ones, it has already been upgraded to at least '10 limbs and I wouldn't worry about it. Then again, realistically there were only a small number of failed limbs overall so you may never have a problem. Just something to be aware of

Over all it would be a fantastic first hunting bow!

[bfisher]

As Wabbit said the 2008 FireCat was a speed bow. It's still in production to this day with modest changes to the cam and better limbs, It's IBO rating was 335-345 which is right up with some of the fastest bows today. In other words it's not a starter bow.

One thing Wabbit mentioned was the run of bad limbs. Actually they weren't bad limbs. They were the same laminated limbs that Martin used for many years, but they just wouldn't hold up to the aggressive Cat cams. Wabbit also mentioned the square limb pockets and I would humbly like to clarify this statement. The FireCat in 2008 did not have limb pockets. That's when Martin came out with the Roto-cup rocker system. However the limb butts were square and this is what he was talking about. In 2009 and newer the limb butts are rounded. In 2010 the limbs were made narrower with redesigned Roto-cups to fit them. In 2010 the limbs are 1 1/2" wide. Prior years they were 1 7/8" wide. 2011 limbs will have the same dimensions a 2010 but will have a limb deflection (number/letter code) of something like 5MP marked near the butt of the limb.

FYI, I had a 2008 FireCat. The only reason I don't have it now is because it got replaced by two Rytera bows.

[wscywabbit]

You are correct Barry It was a combination of circumstances that led to the failed limbs, and most certainly the CAT cams were aggressive! One thing I believe was another factor was longer draw lengths; it seemed that most people having the limb problems had longer draw lengths than average...

Overall the number of failed limbs were small compared to the number that had no problems.