Choosing The Best Dart Weight For Beginners New to the exciting world of darts? The first thing you will need to sort out is a set of your very own darts so you can start playing! When picking darts, it is important to choose the right weight. There are a wide range of weight options to choose from, as well as different materials, grip styles, flights and stems. If you’re at the start of your darts journey, you’ll have plenty of room to experiment! Dart Weight Range The weight of a steel tip dart ranges from 12g to 48g, whilst soft tip darts usually range between 14g and 24g. The barrels of these darts will come in various materials such as brass, nickel-silver and tungsten. A steel tip dart will have a sharp metal point and is used on a bristle (Sisal) dartboard, which is the board regularly seen in professional tournaments on television. The point of a soft tip dart is made of a plastic material and is used on a soft tip dartboard. Many soft tip boards are electronic and come with an automated scoring system. Factors To Consider There are several factors that come into play when choosing a dart weight for beginners. You will first need to consider what type of darts you will be playing (either steel tip or soft tip) and which material you want for the barrels of your darts. It is also worth thinking about your throwing style and grip preference as these two factors will also impact your decision. Taking time to carefully consider all of these different factors will help determine what is the best weight of dart for a beginner. Tungsten, Brass, or Nickel? The different types of material used for the darts barrels will impact the throw and style of your game. A brass dart will generally give you a larger sized barrel, and is a relatively inexpensive option, which makes it a popular choice for beginners on a budget. A nickel silver dart will give you a slightly thinner barrel than a brass dart, which will help you to group your darts together as the darts will be covering less of the target. Tungsten darts come in various percentages, relating to how much tungsten is used to make the barrel. As tungsten is a highly dense material, this type of dart will be more durable, and the greater percentage of tungsten will result in a thinner barrel. With a higher tungsten content you can have a thin barrel, but still keep the same weight. It will help you to hit bigger scores, as it will be easier to group three darts in the same target (such as the treble 20), with the thinner barrels covering less of the board. Our ‘Beginners Darts Collection’ features a wide range of darts that are typically priced between £10-£30 and are suitable for new players. However, if you are serious about playing it might be worth investing in a tungsten dart. These are much more durable and favoured by pro players. Throwing Style The best weight darts for beginners will depend on your throwing style. If you have a faster throw then a lighter dart would be more beneficial, whereas heavier darts are more suited for players that have more strength and power in their arm. Everyone’s throwing style is different, so choosing between a heavy and light dart will come down to the mechanics of a player’s specific throw and what works best for them. Heavier darts are typically easier for newcomers to use and find consistency with. A lighter dart can be more challenging for beginners to control, requiring more time and practice to master. Grip Preference Another important factor to consider when choosing a set of darts is the grip on the barrels. This decision comes down to a player’s own personal preference, as some players like a lot of grip on their darts, while others prefer no grip at all. The graphic above displays the grip levels ranked from 1-5 by Darts Corner. Rank 1 would be a smooth barrel with no grip and 5 a razor grip barrel that will offer the most grip. For beginners, we would suggest trying a ringed grip barrel (levels 2-3). This is in the middle of the scale and can provide a good starting point to work out if you need more or less grip, or if a ringed grip barrel is the perfect option for you. Weight Distribution The weight distribution of the barrels can also impact what is the best weight for beginner darts. A dart can be back-weighted, front-loaded or weigh evenly, with each option favouring a certain style of throw or style, including how you grip the dart in your hand. A front-loaded dart is when more of the weight is placed at the front of the barrel (near the point), whilst a back-weighted dart will have the majority of the weight positioned at the back of the barrel (near the shaft). The weight distribution of your darts can affect how you play, so it is worth trying out the different options to see which you prefer. A good dart weight for beginners will have its weight distributed evenly across the barrel, but it is worth experimenting as you progress to see if a front-loaded or back-weighted dart might improve your game. A front-loaded dart will bring the centre of gravity closer to the point of the dart, which may provide better balance if you hold the dart at the front of the barrel. Shaft & Flight Combinations A dart is made up of four individual components: the flight, shaft, barrel and point. Whilst the barrel contributes to a large majority of a dart’s weight, the flights and shafts can also make a slight change to the overall weight of your darts. Flights are measured in microns and a flight that weighs 150 microns will be slightly heavier than a flight that is 100 microns. This small change can affect how the dart flies through the air, as a thicker flight will make the dart travel flatter in the air because of the added air resistance. Shafts come in various materials which weigh differently. For example, a carbon stem is very light compared to an aluminium stem, which is heavier and can alter the balance of your darts. We would recommend a 100 micron flight with a nylon stem for darts beginners. This shaft and flight combination is a popular choice for players and keeps the dart perfectly balanced. Finding Your First Darts on a Budget Discovering the best darts weight for beginner players can involve plenty of trial and error. If you don’t want to invest in a more expensive set just yet, we would suggest trying out an affordable dart for all budgets. The Perfect Darts Super Cobra Darts offer excellent value for beginners. These darts are reasonably priced and are made of 90% tungsten high-quality materials. The Super Cobra darts also come in a variety of different weights and are at a good price point for experimenting which weight works best for you. Additional Tips To find out what weight works best for you, consider speaking to more experienced darts players to get some tips from them. You’ll find that they will have lots of knowledge to pass on to you to help you find what darts suit you the best. If you have a local darts supply store nearby, go and visit them and try out different dart weights and grip styles. You’ll also be able to seek advice from whoever is running the store, as they will have helped plenty of players in the past who were looking for the best darts weight for beginners. Now you know how to choose dart weights as a beginner There are many things to think about for choosing dart weights for beginners and we hope that this guide will help you in deciding what is the best dart for you. It is important to try out different weights and seek advice from experienced players to help you find your preferred weight and also whilst developing your own technique. If you need some more help, our ‘How To Choose Darts For Beginners’ blog has some more useful tips for newcomers to the game. Darts Corner also has a team of experts in customer services on hand to offer their advice for choosing your first set of darts. Find out more about Darts Corner with our 'About Our Darts Shop' page and use our contact us page to get in touch with our team. Andy Cornwall is a former PDC tour card holder who now offers his expertise to players of all abilities through his Mission Precision Darts Fitting Service. Exclusive to Darts Corner, Andy’s one-hour dart fitting experience is an in-person service available for any darts player to help them to discover their best darts setup! Andy has been a darts coach for 15 years and during his playing days also represented Lancashire at county level. He is now the brand manager for Mission Darts and works alongside ex-PDC professional Matt Edgar in producing content for the Mission YouTube channel.
