If you have never charged your bows before it indeed its quite expensive the first time, but if you fail and need more tries (took me 9, go figure), it WILL be alot cheaper in the long run. Karils Xbow is good (what i used) but the racks can be costly (400ea I think) and sometimes quite a pain to get. I woundn't recomment rune arrows as they cost as much as the racks and wont hit as good as a Cbow or Xbow.