Martin Serengeti?

[Mark of WV]

Looking for opinions of or more information about the Martin Serengeti. I understand it was discontinued several years ago, I also understand that Martin has a pretty good name in the business.


What say ye?

Thanks,
Mark

[Mark of WV]

WOW! Must not be many of these out there since no one seems to have any input, especially  with such a large and diverse group of multiple bow owners/ shooters.

[Zradix]

I really like my Savannah and my buddy's Rebel.
Never touched a Serengeti.

[JRY309]

I don't have a Serengeti but do have a few other Martin/Howatt bows.I don't think you can go wrong with a Martin/Howatt bow.Mine are well made and great performers,they shoot with any bow out there in my opinion.I believe the Serengeti is a 60" bow,like their Dream Catcher.They are some of my favorite bows I have,Howatt has been making bows since the 50's I believe.

[ibehiking]

I have a 50#@28" Serengeti. Here is what I found from doing some research on them . . . . .


""I have had a serengeti for a few years. Absolutely an awesome bow....very, very underrated. I was pretty surprised that they discontinued it.

It is very smooth and has excellent performance with a custom string.

There has been considerable talk of the sabre and that is a great bow but I still perfer the serengeti.

I talked to Larry Hatfield and he said that this design was very different from anything in the past. It is a 60" bow with a approx. 25" riser from fade to fade!!! The core is bubinga with tapered zerbra veneers. It is in its optimum perfomance range between 26" to 29" draw. As far as perfomance goes....Larry said that this bow has the best cast of any bow that they have made including the fabled sabre. Did I say it was smooth for a working tip recurve. I am talking about smoother than robertson, morrison, and horne.

I think that the reason it was discontinued was because the bow has a very dramatic curve that starts about half way through the limb.....you have to use a stringer. I think several people may have twisted limbs. Another reason is with the long riser, dramatic curve it freezes the bottom portion of the limb. After the shoot there is a more of a soft bbbooonngg sound than a regular recurve slap. I think that some people shot one that wasn't tuned well and were turned off. Also, most of stickbow archery is in a hybrid craze currently....probably bad timing.""


 . . . . I think it is a very good looking bow. I currently have 3 RH recurves and I am trying to decide which "one" to settle on (I am LH and mostly shoot LH but like to keep a RH around). I have the Serengeti, a Fedora 560 Hunter one piece, and a Sovereign Ballistik. They are all quite nice. I think the Fedora and the Ballistik are a little faster than the Serengeti but they are all very "dead" in the hand, very quiet and very smooth. I think the Serengeti is the best looking bow of the three.

I will try to post some photos of the Serengeti if you are interested.  If it doesn't take first place in my little internal competition it might be available.

[Mark of WV]

Wish I would have waited just a bit to see what you decide but I just ordered a new left-over stock 2007 Serengeti. Very hard to find for a "production" bow.

Glad to hear it's a good piece, I had a hard time deciding whether to go 50# or 55#. Submitted order for the 50# based on some chrono results I found posted elsewhere. The shop emailed me with the news that the 50 was gone but had a 55 if interested. I jumped. (Drawing 27" it's close to 50 anyway).

Have been breaking back into Trad the last couple months and been shooting a 70's model Browning Wasp 56" - 45# @28. I like it well enough but wanted something a bit longer with more "sting".

Thanks for the posts.
Mark