I agree with all that has been said but can't stress this point enough.
You want my honest opinion, there are very few bad bows out there right now. It is a perfect time to upgrade your bow. The new lines for all manufacturers come out in November so you could wait if you like and see what is coming out. The best advice I could give you is head to the bow shop and shoot everything and I mean everything. If your bow shop doesn't carry a certain brand you want to try, shoot everything that bow shop has and then go to another one and shoot all they have, if they are different obviously. Shoot it blind bale style and focus on nothing but feel and comfort. How does your hand feel when you hold it? Any twang? Any thing that doesn't feel right?
You're right, some bows are just out of most peoples price range. However, many have mid range setups that are almost just as nice. I'd look into those. Hoyt actually just came out with a mid price point bow and it's actually pretty sweet and comfortable, to me anyways. It's called the Hoyt Powermax and the Nitrux is a new one this year that just came out but it's a little bit more. I have the philosophy though of "buy once, cry once" but that is not always an option.
I did shoot a Darton PRO3000 for the last 12 years or so and I loved it. I thought it was awesome. I decided to upgrade and I went and tried everything. To be honest, I didn't like the new Darton. That's just me. It had too much twang in it for me and wasn't very quiet. It might not be a problem for most but it was for me which brings me back to the best piece of advice I can give you is shoot them all. Even if some of them are out of your price point, maybe wait a little longer to upgrade and save up a little more so you get the bow you will be happy with. Maybe that is a better priced bow, you never know!
Sorry to ramble...
