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Martin Archery in 2013

20K views 167 replies 97 participants last post by  ClydeWigg3 
#1 ·
Dear Martin Friends and Family;

We wanted to share some news of positive changes taking place at Martin Archery. Gail Martin, our founder and elder statesman, has finally decided to cut back his involvement in the company and enjoy some well earned fishing time. To partially fill the gap that Gail will leave, a new CEO and National Sales Manager came on board to strengthen the Martin Archery team. With the addition of these new experienced executives, Martin Archery is moving forward with an aggressive marketing plan and new strategies that will benefit everyone associated with Martin Archery.
Martin Archery’s major focus area for 2013 will be to strengthen the product line for Pro Shops and aggressively partner with them. We will be looking at ways to increase market presence and sales through faster order delivery times as well as continually improving quality control, and better customer service.
Our 2013 line will keep the best of our current models complimented by the introduction of three new bows. We will have the strongest bow lineup Martin Archery has ever produced. Eleven uniquely different models will make up a Pro and Gold series that will surely please the whole cross section current and future Martin customers.
We will keep you updated as these new products are near completion. This is an exciting time for the future of Martin Archery.

Martin Archery
 
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#138 ·
Never had problems with any of my Martins. Have a Nemesis that had prototype cams on it that frayed the cable, called Martin, got new mods and new cable and string within a few days. Martin is the only bow I have owned since 1975 and will be the only brand I will ever own! Great service! And great bows. Keep up the good work. Good luck in the future of the company.
 
#139 ·
I hope they get their stuff together and figured out. They've been around forever and you want to pull for them. As it stands, when you look at their bows compared to what else is available, you see a lot to be desired. They have their work cut out for them and I'm pulling for them to get back on top. I'd love to see them up in the big 3 or 4 again. To do that tho, I'd almost scratch everything and start designing from scratch. As others have eluded to, the two piece riser whether it has a good failure rate or not, leaves a lot to be desired. Honestly their risers are not desired by most people from an aesthetic perspective at all, which I dont really agree fully with, but hey -its the way the market works. Folks now want performance "and" looks, period. The two piece riser tho, it really is just a cost savings thing, and not a bow improvement thing. It seems to me that the companies putting their eggs in the bow improvement department, instead of cost-cutting, are the ones currently winning. The top shelf Hoyt, Mathews and BowTechs are flying out the door at nearly a grand each. They are very quality bows. Seems a lot of folks are willing to pay for that. Martin should shoot for the best if you ask me.
 
#141 ·
My firehawk has been at my dealer for 5 weeks now,waiting on right parts.First axles werent right,then when new axles came and bow was being put back together string and cables were wrong,still waiting.
So even though martin has good CS it still needs work....
 
#143 ·
I would love to see a graph of Martin's market share since the introduction of the 3 piece riser, you can say it's great/strong etc...till you are blue in the face but if the consumer doesn't want it there's no use to use it on your bow...and honestly it's hard to market something that is only there for a cost cutting measure as the price of the bow already speaks for itself. I can remember 8 years ago or so when Martin was the bow to have. Now, not so much. Everyone raves about their customer service, but from what I've read (and experienced) a lot more people get to experience their customer service.

It's no secret that Martin has to be coming off a rough few years, limb problems, the TRG disaster (what else would you call it when they drop it after one year AND will replace it free) etc...I have no proof but I'm wondering how many 2011 bows Martin got stuck with. If you watch Ebay their biggest ebay dealer (also located near the factory....) has tons of 2011 models that have had the TRG replaced for about 1/2 what they cost new or a 2012 without the TRG cost new. They put up several every day. When you see 2011 bows selling for $250 when a new one cost $599 that's a pretty big indicator something happened, and not all of those are the old cam - some of those for $250 are Nitro cams equipped - the same cams on the 2012.

I think Martin has some great things going for it but lately it's been one thing a year for a few years.
 
#148 ·
I bet when you developed it you touted an increase in perofrmance, decrease in vibration etc...and not "this is cheaper".

Someone tell me one positive bonus to a 3 piece riser other than cheaper manufacturing cost? Even if it's just as stiff and effective as a one piece riser what makes it a positive other than being cheaper? Visual appeal is subjective but going from the comments on the board I would say that's a negative as well.

Look I own several Martins but if you think they aren't on a downward trend from about 2008 onward then you aren't paying attention. I'm not saying they are about to go under, but they definetly aren't the company they were even 5-6 years ago and defeintely not 10+ years ago in terms of quality and market share.

I bought a Bengal the first year they went to the 3 piece riser. Unfortunately I never got to shoot it. When I opened the box (I ordered it as a backup for a hunt when I had another bow go down) it was clear nobody was in quality control that day, the medallion was missing, the camo was missing in large chunks of the bow and the rest mount was mis threaded. Of course the great customer service of Martin sent me another one right away but by the time I got it I had already sold it on AT and picked up another bow locally.

Maybe it's regional as well, here in the south you almost never see someone shooting a Martin. In the spring we had a 3d shoot that attracted 500+ shooters and looking at the equipment list 2 shot a Martin, of course the nearest Martin dealer is 5+ hours away which is another contributer. I'm sure in the NW there are lots of dealers. I don't know of any semi major dealer that has fewer/further away dealers in this part of the world.
 
#147 ·
good bow for the money smooth draw and consistent imo
 
#149 ·
All I want from Martin in 2013 is a lrft hand Alien Z!!!! Keep up the good work!
 
#151 ·
I will say it again and again...Bring out a 44" ATA Shadowcat or anything with a ATA longer than 40" for that matter.
Don.
 
#156 ·
The market probably just isn't there.....

Good reply, Barry.
 
#152 ·
Bob, there is no way you are ever going to see a chart showing market share. For that to happen you'd have to know how many bows were sold in a given year by every bow manufacturer, and that just isn't going to be divulged by them all. Besides, there were other issues other than the 3 pc risers that might have hurt. The limb problem and TRG, as you mentioned. How do you weed out just how many problems were because of just the risers. I can't verify anything, but I'd venture a guess that riser problems were no worse than those of other companies---breakage, twisting, etc. There just aren't that many problems with the risers. And why not develop something like this? Yes, it may be cheaper, but that's one thing Martin can do to increase profits. Some of the cost savings passes onto the consumer by them holding there prices stable. Some of it may go into R&D to improve their product. Some goes for wages and/or benefits and some goes into the owner's pockets. That's how capiltalism works and it's how it should be.

Just figuring that most of Martin's top hunting bows hit the racks at $500 to $600. Try to find a Hoyt, Bowtech, or Mathews for that. Not that they aren't good bows, just that people are gullible enough to pay their prices. More power to those companies is what I say.

Yes, Martin has had it's share of problems the last couple years. And I agree that Joel is one of the finest customer service/warranty reps you can find. It's a shame he has to be. I hope in the next year or two Martin gets some of their quality issues in hand so Joel doesn't have so much work to do.
 
#163 ·
Agreed I sold Martins and 99% of them Nitrous...but quality control issues and dealer factory issues caused me to stray away...I would love to have them in my shop again but I need to have dlr/factory issues resolved.Love to give them input......
 
#155 ·
It is good to hear that steps are being taken to improve and moved forward. I do have to chuckle that some have not experienced issues with other companies. I've owned many bows over the last few years and have had issues out of the box with more than one company. From spacers missing during assembly, finish, limbs, strings - unfortunate, but it happens. Finish quality is one that comes to mind after walking through another M name dealer recently. There were probably 8 used bows hanging, from recent to older. ALL of them had the finish wore off in the riser, grip and other normal contact areas. So those $900 bows looked pretty coming out of the box, but didn't stay that way - it appeared.

I have just recently started playing with Martin's and Ryteras, hopefully my experience will be positive. I do wish the company and shooters that choose them the best.
 
#159 ·
I know Bowtech has an Advisory Board made up of some of their dealers from around the country. They get together once a year to discuss with Bowtech the things the see in their shop, improvements for the next year and so on. Might be a good idea for Martin as well.
 
#160 ·
It seems that over the last 60 years, Martin Archery has had it's highs and it's lows. Innovative at times and willing to try something "different". From my perspective, it seems like a company with many worthy ideas, it just appears that follow through has been lacking at times. I say this with my limited knowledge, and from comments on line, literature, shooters and my experience.

I did purchase an Alien X last year and the sight mounting holes had not been threaded. Not a big deal, in my case. But that lack of attention to detail would be an indicator that a solid quality control process was not in place.

I would think they have some long term employees, why not put together teams that are responsible for each model, from start to finish. This would allow the builders to know that model and be more likely to notice any discrepancies. Feedback from the individual teams could assist development with changes to both current and future offerings. This, of course, works if those in control provide the means to communicate, evaluate and make adjustments.

I recently picked up a Martin and 2 Rytera's, all new old stock '09 or '10. All are good, but each required me to make contact with the company. I was told the Ryteras changes had occured to the modules, specifically, since these bows were built. I realize it would be costly to follow up with bows sold, to offer replacement parts, but it is frustrating to buy new bows, be told changes have been made, and then rely on the dealer to order the parts and wait.

I like the way they shoot, so would like to see some start to finish quality control and Martin will be be making customers happy and competitors nervous.
 
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