Ok here is my take on them. They do look easy to use, much faster than conventional fletching no doubt about that. I do have some issues with them though. Keep in mind I have never used them, because I shoot mostly aluminum arrows and because of some of the issues I will mention.
Number one I don't like the fact that you need to remove the nocks to put them on, or that when they pass through something the nock will come off. I like my nocks tight, and the more you move them or take them in and out this will loosen them up. Also The spine of your arrow changes depending on where it flexes on the axis of the shaft. This is why some adjust their nocks to fine tune the spine of their arrows. If you shoot at something and your nock comes out you have screwed things up. I guess you could mark both though, but I still don't like the idea of the nocks coming out when you shoot an animal. Nock adjustment and fit is pretty important in arrow tuning and many over look it. And it is even more critical when you are talking about large broads heads.
Also what happens when you are shooting into a target, especially a harder target like a 3-D target? Does the FOB eventually start sliding down the shaft from the impact of the arrow hitting the target? I would think unless they are a very tight fit this would start happening. And while we are on that subject they would have to decrease penetration when talking about passing through an animal. If the FOB is a tight press fit, and the nock is a tight press fit (it should be) this is a lot of resistance that has to be over come in order to pop both off in order to get through the animal. Some lighter set ups have problems getting a conventionally fletched arrows to pass all the way through a deer, this would pretty much guarantee it wouldn't get through I would think.
I have also had set ups where I had to rotate my fletchings so they would clear the cables, I need one fletching pointing to the outside of the bow and the other two at up and down angles to the cable in order to get it to clear. This simply could not be done with this product. And what about some drop away rests and set ups that you need to have one vane pointing up in order to get good clearance? I will admit that this product is a bit smaller in diameter than most fletchings though.
It has ZERO forgiveness with contact issues.
What if you hit one with another arrow? My guess is it will be ruined and pretty much unshootable. At least with vanes they will work relatively well until you can refletch them, they just make more noise. And with feathers it doesn't matter at all. Sure you could just pop the nock off and put a new one on, but lets not forget these babies are $20 a dozen (without shipping) so that is like a 1.50 to 2 bucks every time you hit one with another arrow and damage it. Or someone else if you are shooting 3-D with someone that likes to aim at your nocks
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I honestly can't see them being faster either, they weigh virtually the same as most 4 inch vanes so they are going to be pretty much the same speed. You can theorize all you want about it, but you won't see a speed advantage I am sure. I doubt most chronographs are even accurate enough to register the difference.
In my opinion blazers are cheaper, weigh less and work great. And feathers weigh even less and are very forgiving.
And please don't think I am saying these things are junk and no one should by them. I am not saying that at all. It is a very innovative idea and probably very appealing to some. I mean they would be great if you didn't shoot that much and hated fletching arrows. Just pull your nock off and put them on. It doesn't get much simpler than that. However for me they don't offer one advantage I would be interested in.
They are a lot like the Turbo Nock in my opinion.
My opinion and nothing more. I'm not real fond of the WB rests either but a ton of people love them.
Paul
the FOB??
