During the last off-season a friend of mine gave me the 3 pack of Double Take Archery Nockturnal S Lighted Nocks to try out. I have used them a couple times during target practice and I had been waiting to harvest a deer with one before writing this review. Now that I have used them for several months, I have to say they make arrow tracking much easier.
Overall, I have been pretty impressed with them. They do not seem to change arrow flight and they make finding your arrow a hundred times easier. They are easy to install and fairly easy to turn off once you have shot them.
Pros:
Biggest advantages to these is by far the finding your arrow if you miss or if the arrow stays in the animal after the shot. They certainly do a good job of that as even during the daylight hours they are easy to see and easy to find. The doe I shot at and missed this year I knew based off where the nock went that I had missed and could see my arrow stuck in the mud right in front of here before she even ran. The deer I just harvested was right before dark and I could clearly see the arrow hit the deer and it was laying just a couple feet behind where it was standing. Very bright and simple to use and easy to install.
Cons:
These have two downfalls I guess you could say, 1 is that you have to keep something to turn them off after the shot, I keep a paper clip in my pack so I can turn them off to keep battery life. The second would of course be added cost. Most of us already complain about the cost of arrows and broadheads, with the average being between $20 - $30 per arrow each time you take a shot, add these guys on you add another $ 7 - $10 per arrow. So if you are on a budget these may not be something you want to add.
Finally Thoughts:
If you are tired of losing arrows because you cannot find them after a shot or want to be able to see where arrow is going in low light when you shot these are a great add on. If you only use them mostly for hunting and turn them off as soon as you can as I do the battery life seems pretty good and they are super bright. I have found them to be a great add on and will likely pick up some more so I have at least 6 for my primary hunting arrows this off-season. I would highly recommend them to anyone if they work with your arrows and you are looking for a lighted nock!
