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Assembly
Assembly of the Lumenok is pretty
straightforward:
Prepare your arrow shaft removing the old nock
and clear the end of the shaft of any glue with
very fine sandpaper. This step serves in order
to ensure a good electrical contact so you do
not really need to remove any metal or carbon:
be
careful to go lightly.
If you sand too much the
end of the
arrow may not be at 90° anymore and
either
the nock or the arrow may be overstressed and
you shot precision altered.
Always remember: Safety is rule 1
Now press the Lumenok in until the two tiny
contacts are just a hair from the arrow end.
The flat end Lumenok poses no issue in
positioning while if you need the half moon
variant you have to be careful in placing the
nock correctly.
In the
field
The Lumenok replaces you conventional nock, it
just sits and hair off the arrow tube edge. As
you shot the string will press the Lumenok
against the arrow, the two tiny contacts will
touch the arrow body (both aluminum and carbon
are electrically conductive) closing the circuit
and LED will turn on. You will now be able to
see not just arrow flight but also you will see
where the arrow is after it impacted the target
as the LED will stay lit until turned off , this
will help you find your arrow in the event of a
pass trough or help find your game if the arrow
remains on the animal .
Turning the Lumenok off is a little trickier as
you should wiggle the nock until it moves
backward enough not to let the contacts touch
the arrow body. You should not twist either the
arrow or the nock as you may damage the
contacts. This is easier said than done as the
nock is quite small and getting a firm grip is
rather difficult. Much easier to do with a pair
of pliers, but now you have to be
extremely careful not to damage
the nock, the tiny LED and Electronic Circuit
inside it.
For us at Crossbow-Review the main reason to use
the Lumenok on our arrows is to be able to see
arrow flight.
When you in fact use the Lumenok with camera
shutter speeds low enough you can trace the
arrow flight and spot unexpected or incorrect
behaviors that would be impossible to detect
with bare eyes. This is a must if you want to
check how a broadhead flies or just to see how
flat arrow trajectory is, without messing with
paper sheets.
From now
on lighted nocks will become part standard for
our testing of crossbows, arrows and broadheads.
One (small) remark is that if you use the
Lumenok for target is that it is designed to
stay lit until you turn it off. This is ok for
first shot but then you may tend to concentrate
more on the nock of your first arrow than the
target itself.
Conclusions
The Lumenok is a terrific product, extremely
useful in retrieving expensive arrows (and
broadheads) . It is also equally well suited,
with the help of a camera, on target field as it
helps troubleshoot arrow flight.
PS: shooting lighted arrows is also just
plain fun !!
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