FOB's tested

Watch_Man

Active member
For anyone who has not seen the video's or read about these on ArcheryTalk FOB's are a round fletch with 3 internal fins.



Welcome Starrflight? - Home of the FOB is the companiies website with loads of video's.

I shot FOB's on Axis FMJ's at the clubs Dennis Ingham memorial Hereford yesterday. I am the first to admit that my archery is not of a level that makes testing accurate, however I hope this write up helps anyone thinking of trying them.

Firstly the FOB is really designed for hunting and 3D rather than target, however the manufacturer claims they are FITA legal. I asked for this confirmation in an email before shooting them. The FOB is available for FMJ and standard ICS fit arrows. So I am afraid if you want them for your X10's it isn't going to happen :) (not yet anyway)

Conditions yesterday were very windy with the gauge showing wind speeds peaking around 23.5mph and a steady wind of around 9mph. As the FOB is designed to perform in the wind it turned out to be a good day to test them.

I can only compare my score in the wind yesterday to my last Hereford shot on a completely calm day and the score was roughly the same, very slightly down but not by much. 2 competitors who shot over 1200 at the same calm weather Hereford only managed 1122 and 1095 yesterday. This was a similar result across the field.

So taking them at face value they do seem to perform better in the wind. I have asked a member of our club who shoots at a higher level than me to do some further testing for me at the club as my shooting isn't really consistant enough to realistically test them :( However they did seem to work for me.

I can imagine that the most common question would be - what happens if you have a FOB fletched arrow in the target and another arrow comes in close? does it damage the fletch of the other arrow, deflect it off course. In other words, is it a problem for archers on the same target with standard fletches.

The answer is NO, I was on the same target as a former World and 5 times European field champion (although he has had a bit of a holiday from archery - teachers, you think they would get enough holidays :) ) and he managed to keep all his arrows on target and intact. What actually happens is either the FOB and nock pop off as the arrow is struck, you can actually see them pinging off and flying onto the grass, or you get what is now termed a 'Friar Tuck' (as named by John Fisher of Silver Spoon) where the arrow just passes through the gap in the FOB and doesn't damage the fletch. In most cases though the FOB just pops off.

So you walk to the target and you now have 3 bare shafts and 3 FOB's lying on the grass. Once you have pulled your arrows, re-fletching takes about 2 seconds, you simply push the FOB and nock back into the arrow shaft. In every case the nock was still within the FOB and was not missing.

When you miss the FOB marks the rough position in the grass where your arrow is. As the FOB lays on top of the grass you can even see them from 80yds as they are so bright. In most cases the shaft was located just behind the FOB and makes arrows easy to find without a detector. They are designed to do this for field shooting, to act as markers and they certainly work well.

On the downside:

FOB's can only be shot by compound archers using a fall away rest.

Some archers cannot shoot FOB's because of their anchor position - my wife being one of them.

They only fit 'field type arrows' such as the AXIS FMJ

Starrflight is shipping these direct to the UK for the same postage rate as US internal orders so you arn't even charged any extra postage at the moment, although this may change.

In summary. I beleive they work very well in the wind, make fletching very easy, don't cause a problem with other archers arrows, are very easy to spot in the target but are probably best suited to field archery for which they were originally designed.
 

bimble

Well-known member
Supporter
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Ironman
AIUK Saviour
After spending a fun weekend in Lillieshall shooting my FMJ's with bi-delta vanes in the wind I think I shall give them a go. If only because they look funky!!
 

kieran

New member
there is only one semi-downside to using FOBs on arrows. they are so effective at getting your arrow under control, it is more difficult to tune your nock and rest positioning. or it was for me.

if you listen for noise. the quieter you can get the arrow flying from your bow, the better your initial arrow flight is. a fishtailing FOB makes a lot of noise .. its almost like a buzzing sound. once you have good arrow flight, this goes away.

its an impressive product.
 

Watch_Man

Active member
An update on the FOB.

I shot them at the Lincolnshire AIUK Ironman yesterday in winds gusting to 43mph and under these conditions they really showed how good they were. There was a definite difference between the FOBs and normally fletched arrows.

 
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