Winmau Mervyn King Special Edition Darts Review
DETAILS:
BRAND: Winmau
WEBSITE: https://winmau.com/
MODEL: Mervyn King Special Edition
WEIGHT REVIEWED: 22g
TUNGSTEN CONTENT: 90%
AVAILABLE WEIGHTS:
STEEL: 22g – 24g
SOFT TIP: 18g
PRICE: £48.89
Review Date: 14th March 2021
I bought these from Total Darts just before Christmas, another player Special Edition from the Winmau 2021 launch, this time its the Mervyn King version. Unlike the Ted Hankey Special Edition though the Kings have another weight in steel tip and also a soft tip version. Price has recently increased by £3 too.
One thing that has puzzled me a little with the new range is the packaging, I got the Willie O’Connors in a generic grey box, my Cullens also came in the same type of box even though others had proper players boxes, and these special edition for Hankey and King have nothing on the box to indicate its a special edition and as you can see in the video my King box shows his normal silver version on the back? That along with the bad stock supplies all seems a bit slap dash to me.
Anyway the box does not matter to some people so lets get on with the darts 🙂
I think I first reviewed the King Gold version almost eight years ago now and I was not sure if that kind of shaped barrel would suit me at all. I think my throw has changed continually since then due to my various joint problems but I was surprised how nice a dart it was in the end.
When I seen these new Special Edition Kings I kind of wondered why King had needed some grip in the scallops as the scallops are sort of like having a built in grip in away anyway. So I was not sure if they may end up been a little too grippy as I do often say a scallop feels comfy but you need to have a clean release and with my iffy release its not always clean enough lol.
Now I have played with the darts a fair bit though I can say its just as surprisingly nice to throw as the gold ones were but I still slightly prefer the gold more 🙂
The new Special Edition darts have the three bamboo shape like scallops with the kind of knuckle sections which have the painted red grooves but the grip feels nice in the fingers and not too grippy at all. I think it may even add a little to the pushing of the dart out of the fingers.
The dart does have a wide flat bull nose though, so I think it could catch the flights of the darts in the board, could probably eliminate that lip somewhat with a trident cone or similar point if needed.
As I mention in the video the three scallops are nice and comfy if your natural grip falls into them, I felt fine with my front grip but the exact middle is the second knuckle. I threw the darts from there expecting it to miscue all over but it was fine, was actually a nice reference point and a nice little section to push against too. I did think the dart rocked ever so slightly but I think its easy to get used to the feel of it with practice.
So after that I guess some people could be very happy throwing it from just behind the knuckle parts without needing to sit fully in the scallops.
I tried throwing from the smooth taper at the end and it flew fine so for natural rear/end grippers it should work well but seems kind of pointless you buying the dart when you wont be using its main features, that is the scallops.
So I think overall its a really nice dart and I enjoyed throwing them, it did feel lighter than 22g to me though, could be the way its balanced but its around the length I prefer so felt good.
Its a good looking dart with the nice black PVD coating and the little red highlights but I was a little disappointed with the weight matching. Two were closely matched but under the 22g weight and the third was three tenths heavier than the lightest. Its not a massive difference but was not the 0.05g match as stated on the box, so I knocked off a point for quality. Other than that is a really nice dart but shame the price increased so soon after launch but still not too crazy.
RATINGS OUT OF 10:
LOOKS: 8
GRIP: 7
WEIGHT MATCH: 6
QUALITY: 8
VALUE: 7