Do Lighted Nocks Affect Arrow Flight?

Archery entails more than just shooting an arrow with a bow, although yes, that is the essence of it. But there is plenty of extra gear and additional items that you can use with your bow and arrows, especially nowadays, in which the sport is constantly evolving.

One of these additional items that you can use is lighted nocks.

But what are they, and more importantly, do they affect the arrow flight? Let’s get right into it!

The nock is a little piece, usually made out of clear plastic, that gets inserted into the back of the arrow, behind the fletching. As the name indicates, they are lighted, meaning they give off a light, and this makes it a lot easier to find your arrow once it’s been fired.

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Do lighted nocks affect arrow flight

(Especially useful if you’ve fired it somewhere off track and it’s somewhat lost!) So essentially, lighted nocks have a small switch button, with which you can turn on the LED light so that it’s activated and ready.

And once the arrow is released from the bow, the light will turn on so that you can follow the arrow’s path, and then find it once it lands. (Keep in mind, that lighted nocks can be quite sensitive to motion, so the light can be easily activated by accident!)

But let’s get back to the main question. Do lighted nocks affect arrow flight? The answer is no.

They work just like any other traditional and commonly used arrow nock. The only difference is the addition of the light within the nock, which helps track the arrow flight path, and find it once it lands.

The lighted nock will not affect the actual flight path, and will not provide any advantage or disadvantage on aim or range whatsoever!

Do lighted nocks affect accuracy?

Lighted nocks can be incredibly useful when it comes to shooting in low lighting, or for when you want to track the arrow’s flight path with more ease. Plus, if the arrow gets lost in the wilderness, you’ll be able to find it a lot easier thanks to the flashing light.

Do lighted nocks affect accuracy

But the main worry is always whether or not it will affect accuracy in any way.

As we’ve mentioned, lighted nocks do not affect the flight path of the arrow whatsoever, and so they also do not affect accuracy in any way.

They work the same way any other normal or traditional nock does, helping fit the arrow onto the bow when it is being shot. The only difference is the light, which has no effect on accuracy!

Are lighted nocks worth it?

Lighted nocks are usually slightly more expensive than normal or traditional nocks. Although like with everything, it depends on where you’re buying from, and whether you’re able to find a good deal.

Are lighted nocks worth it.

So are they truly worth the purchase?

This majorly depends on your needs, and whether the benefits of a lighted nock will affect you in any way. But just to break it down, let’s look at the main pros, and the main cons of using a lighted nock for your arrow.

PROS:

  • Never lose your arrows again: It’s incredibly easy to lose an arrow amongst the wilderness, especially if you’re shooting in low lighting, or somewhere unfamiliar. And instead of spending hours searching for that one missing arrow, the lighted nock helps you find it straight away, thanks to the flashing light. It might not seem like a huge benefit, but it will save you from having to replace all those lost arrows, which in time begin to add to the expenses!
  • Track the flight pattern of your arrows more accurately: Tracking the flight pattern of your arrow can be very important for when you are learning to shoot, and for when you are training to improve your archery skills. It can say a lot about your aim, about how you’re firing, and about how different conditions and circumstances affect the flight pattern of the arrow itself. You can do many things to help you track the flight, such as getting brightly colored arrows or attaching brightly colored strings to the nock. But some of those can get in the way and cause interference. The lighted nock will not affect the flight pattern in any way, and the flashing light makes it incredibly easy to track. It’s also especially easy to track on camera if you’re keeping a more professional and technical track of it all!
  • They can help improve arrow placement: As the lighted nock can help you track the flight pattern a lot better, over time it can also massively improve your arrow placement and your understanding of how shooting the arrow and controlling its flight path works. Basically, it can be a practical and handy tool within training, that doesn’t take away from the shooting itself.
  • The light only turns on once the arrow has been fired: As the lighted nock will only start flashing when the arrow has been fired, you don’t need to worry about having a bunch of bright flashing arrows.

CONS:

  • Lighted nocks are a few grams heavier than normal nocks. But this doesn’t really affect the shot in any significant way and therefore is mostly irrelevant.

Does lumenok affect arrow flight?

lumenok affect arrow flight

Lumenok is the leading brand for lighted nocks, so a lot of people will sometimes just refer to lighted nocks as lumenoks. As we mentioned previously, they do not affect the arrow flight, as they work like any normal nock.

The only difference is a slight increase in weight, which has no significant effect.

Why are lighted nocks illegal?

Lighted nocks are becoming legal in more and more places, but are still illegal within some states. This is by default, as a law was put in place to ban electronic devices as archery equipment.

Why are lighted nocks illegal.

This law was made before lighted nocks even existed! So there is no real reason as to why they are specifically illegal in some places at the moment.