Shot Warrior 1 23g
DETAILS:
BRAND: Shot Darts
WEBSITE: https://www.shotdarts.com/
MODEL: Warrior 1
WEIGHT REVIEWED: 23g
TUNGSTEN CONTENT: 90%
AVAILABLE WEIGHTS:
STEEL: 21g – 23g – 25g
SOFT TIP: 19g – 21g
PRICE: £65
Review Date: 1st April 2017
This new range is themed around the indigenous culture of New Zealand and Pacific area.
As you may have already seen the darts have a etched tattoo design on the barrels. Shot employed the services of a famous New Zealand Tattooist Ruatoto Henry to make the design and it features the New Zealand fern which reperesents abundance and good health (and good darts playing). The dart itself represents a Maori close combat spear a taiaha.
As you can see it is certainly a unique looking dart and the shape is a little like a tear drop style with a tapered nose then a kind of stepped down section into a more straight barrel style with some sections of shallow shark style grip at the rear. Its a little mix of medium to about high level grip.
I never knew anything about these darts until they arrived and when I saw the Warrior I thought “they look awesome!” and they do, the tattoo design makes them like a mini work of art almost too nice to throw 🙂 I think the shape suits the theme and style that Shot are doing too.
One thing I thought when I held them though was the surface felt kind of dry and almost powdery, thats as close as I can describe it really. I know Shot calls it Cinder grip and says its a superfine grip technology, I guess its the result of the laser etching which I presume is how the design is put on. Its a nice feel anyway 🙂
Now as I pick up the darts naturally my grip is on the tapered section and I thought the darts fly well enough there but I think the best spot is just behind where that sloping section meets the straight part. I would say its closer to middle grip there though. It felt comfortable and balance was great and seemed to fly smoothest too. Having the little ledge part is useful to push against also.
The rear part where the two sections of shark style grip is feels great in the fingers although I did not throw it as well from there but I can see natural rear grippers who like a front weighted barrel will probably like it.
Overall the darts were mostly very smooth and well balanced, I got some spin but probably more from the shark grip area and much less from the tapered part.
For me it is not quite right for my natural front grip but I did not feel too out of sorts gripping in the area shown in the pic above and have since played with them more using that grip and had some very good spells, I think it also helps that the barrel is less than 50mm too.
I just want to mention about the stems too, I think these are some new stems from Shot as not seen them before. I actually found the flights gripped tighter without the rings but I have still knocked off the flights with my chin at least 12 times so far, may be a little more. What has surprised me is that from the very first impact to the ground I thought “another broken stem!” but they were fine and have remained fine even after so many impacts. I also had a Robin Hood which did not damage the tangs. So I have either been very lucky or these stems are quite hardy!
The quality is great and its nice to see the influence of the Maori culture. Of course they are not that cheap at £65 but I guess adding that tattoo must take up more production time and also employing the services of doing the hand made designs etc.
The only think I cant say for sure is how long that design will remain as visible as when its new, it will be a shame if it wears away but only time will tell.
So overall I like the darts and think they look great but may suit middle grippers the best 🙂
RATINGS OUT OF 10:
LOOKS: 10
GRIP: 7.5
WEIGHT MATCH: 9.5
QUALITY: 9
VALUE: 7