How to choose your darts?

With darts everyone has different needs so there is a lot of trial and error in finding the right dart for you and it also may change over time as your improve, however the general rule of thumb is if you have long fingers you would probably favour a long dart, small fingers a smaller dart.

We have put together some tips for you when you are a choosing your darts: 

• Are you playing soft or steel tip? 

What are the differences between soft and steel tip?

soft tip

steel tip

Soft tip darts have flexible plastic tips (soft tips) and are thrown at a plastic board with molded holes in it, which accept and hold the point of the dart. These darts are most commonly used on electronic machines, which score automatically.

Steel tip darts are traditional darts with metal points most commonly thrown at a bristle dartboard. 

• What weight of dart? 

Beginning darters tend to choose brass or nickel plated darts as they are less expensive than tungsten, however these are thicker darts and can crowd out the following darts preventing tight groupings and high scores. Steel tip darts, range from 18gm to 32gm. Most common weights are 23gm, 24gm.    Soft tip dart weights range from 14gms to 20gms. For countries that tend to play steel and soft tip darts, players tend to go with a lighter weight.

• Feel of your darts - Smooth or grippy?

Smooth hands call for a smoother grip, rough hands more rougher grip.  Some of the more popular grips are Shark Fin, Knurled, Ringed, Puma Wave grip, micro grip, Precision grip which are great for consistent finger positioning every time you pick up your dart.

Knurled grips

Puma Wave grip

Shark fin

Micro Grip

Ringed

          

• Balance  of your darts

Whether the dart is back weighted, balanced or front  weighted this will depend on your throwing style.  Generally beginners like front loaded darts because if gives a more loop when throwing the dart, or a mid balanced darts. Some examples of front loaded darts are Shot! 805 range, balanced darts - Exterminator range and Shot! 803 range.

• Brass or Tungsten darts?  

Most dart barrels are made of brass, nickel/silver, or tungsten/nickel alloys. Beginning darters will typically use brass or nickel/silver darts because they are the least expensive. However, a major objective in darts is developing the ability to put all 3 darts close together in a tight grouping. The thickness of brass and nickel/silver barrels can crowd out following darts, preventing tight groupings and high scores and generally not well balanced.
 
The higher the % of tungsten then generally the narrower the dart can be as Tungsten is alloyed with nickel to give it strength. The higher the percentage of tungsten in the barrel, the better the dart.  

• Budget

How much do you want to spend? We have a great selection of darts to suit any budget.

90% Tungsten

80% Tungsten

Brass darts

Nickel plated

• Dart Flight Shape

Dart flights come in several shapes - standard, kite, teardrop, slim lantern and shape. With a bit of experimentation you will find the one that is best suited to you!

Standard gives maximum leverage to the flight mechanism because of its larger area.
Kite has a smaller area, thus giving the dart faster flying speed.
Teardrop allows maximum lift from a small flight and tends to keep the tail of the dart down.
Slim is designed for the fast-flying dart and allows the tail to stay low.
Lantern is very similar to the kite design but slightly more back heavy trajectory.
No.6 Shape in between Kite and Standard

• Shafts

We offer a great range of shafts to suit both the recreational players and also professionals. Shafts are available in various materials and sizes the below may help in your choice:

Nylon: Suited for the recreational user, the nylon shaft is designed for entry level dart player. Available in 3 lengths; Extra short, Short and Medium.

Aluminium: Suited for the recreational user and also the professional players. Available in 3 lengths to suit your style of throwing. The aluminium shaft is a high quality durable shaft.

Remachined aluminium: Suited for the recreational user and also the professional players, the Remachined aluminium range is available in two lengths; medium and short. The difference between the Remachined and the Aluminium shaft is purely the colours. It comes down to player preference.

Supergrip: Designed for the competitive player the supergrip comes in two lengths; short and medium. Fitted with a supergrip ring, this design helps to keep the flight on the shaft in play.

Superspin: Designed for the competitive player, the superspin is available in two lengths; short and medium. The Superspin spins in flight to help prevent dart on dart deflections.

We hope this information has given you an idea of where to start when choosing your darts.

Happy darting :)

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