C903,

I agree with the reliability issue vs. speed. The key is to tie them tight enough, that they can' t be moved easily. After shooting a tie-on nock for a few years now, I' ve yet to have one move even a smidgeon, which is easily checked with my dab of white-out. If I had found reliability to be an issue, I wouldn' t use them. I' d be more worried about those screws falling out of that nock in your picture.

What' s really great, is that if something happens in the field that causes you to have to move your nocking point, they are easily constructed and can be moved without a tool. Other positives are: There is less string vibration (and noise) when you reduce the weight of the nock, you gain a small amount of speed if you break or lose one and you can tie a new one within a few minutes.

I wouldn' t recommend tying on your first one, the day before going on a hunting trip, but learning it now in the offseason, gives one plenty of time to learn how to tie a good one.