Winmau Blade 5 Dual Core dartboard review

[Getagrip]

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99li5XOnxZ4

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So here we are with a new board from Winmau, the Blade 5 Dual Core, I heard a rumour one was coming out so was not so surprised to see it in the recent launch, but is it any good?

Well I am sure most have you have already watched the video and may have made your own mind up already but lets get on with a full review and see how I feel about it so far

First the price, the board retails for £45 which seems to be around the price of most new boards now. Secondly what is new about it?  Well the main new feature is the changes to the spider.  Winmau have made the spider a little stronger, 20% to be exact and also the have made it thinner and decreased the angle of the blade.  All this should result in fewer bounceouts and also hopefully improving the dart points ability to glide over the wire and into the scoring bed.

The other result of this is of course a slightly bigger scoring area.  It says the doubles have increased by 9mm squared and the trebles by 6mm squared.  It wont mean a great deal to average players like me but for players in the 80+ averages it could possible up their average a little more, that remains to be seen though

The bull ring has also been made with a stronger metal, carbon diffusion it says whatever that is?  So overall it sounds like the spider and bull should be better lasting and better for reducing the bounceouts which is good if it works out that way

The board still has the dual layers of sisal like the B4DC with a softer top layer and a denser bottom layer to allow the darts to penetrate easy and yet stick well into the bottom layer.  The Rota Lock feature is also still the same and a very nice thing to have as it helps to steady the board on the wall even if the wall is uneven.

The number ring is the traditional round wire white painted version.

BOX AND CONTENTS:

There is a nice graphical explanation on the back of the box explaining all the features of the board and with the board you get the usual standard style wall bracket and screws as well as the rota lock wheels.  There is a nicely detailed instruction booklet and a little checkout chart:









PICS OF THE BOARD:





























One of my wires had a slight nick on it as below:



MEASUREMENTS:

I took a few pics on various segments to get a better overall idea.

Doubles:











Trebles:











Bull Area:









CONCLUSION:

So as you can see the spider has made the Doubles and Trebles bigger but overall I think the spider looks better and its more flush to the surface of the board which I prefer.  I am not sure which spider I like best though, the HD2 spider is very thin and neat but I wonder if the bladed spider of the B5 will be better for darts that hit the wire?

The spider still has the radial legs protruding past the outer doubles ring a fair way so its not as neat looking as the HD2 or G3 in that respect, but its not going to affect your darts scoring so it may be a bit of a mute point.

The bull ring looks very similar to the old B4 so I cant really tell just by looking if its better, the proof will be in how it wears which will take a few weeks I guess before people report on it.  My bullseye was very slightly off centre but I cant say that I noticed until I measured it.

The board on the whole looks very neat and tidy in regards to the inking and the insertion of the spider.  Nothing really to speak of in blemishes or raggy edges as it is very good all round save for the slight nick on the wire as mentioned.  Blacks are nice and deep as are the other colours.  White is the natural slightly off white colour of the sisal.

I am not 100% sure but the board felt ever so slightly denser than my B4DC and at this early stage I don't know if that's a good or bad thing as I think the softness of the top layer on the B4DC was what I think heals up the holes well.  I think the B5DC seems to heal up a little slower but when I rubbed one of the holes it pretty much disappeared so that was a good sign at least.  

But its impossible for me to report on long term wear this early so as usual I will report back in a few weeks or so.

As things stand it seems a very promising contender for top spot again, I personally like the improvements to the spider and it feels very nice to throw at.

I cant say if its the best board as its too early to tell and I still need to fully test the G3 but its certainly tough to choose between them and also my B4DC is still a firm favourite.

On another note, did you see my 3 double tops in the video lol! Here is a pic, with 3 different darts too!



NECTAR!

[Cat]

Nice, good review. Was looking to get a B5 DC if they ever get here, so very timely review.

[Tormentor]

Great review Darren, looks a nice board!

[bigwids]

So nice

[vanJupp]

Now you are not only the best darts reviewer, you're also the fastest. Thanks for the review.

If I wouldn't already have a Blade 4 as replacement for my current Blade 4 this would be now on top of my christmas list.

[blacko]

Nice review as usual Darren. I kinda wish they had gone with a black number ring and the missing spider "legs" on the outside like the HD2 and it would have been close to perfect imho. Looking forward to mine turning up tomorrow.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

[kungfuron]

Nice review, I wish they were only £45 here.

[barcrusher]

Great thorough review Darren. Very nice looking board. It does seem quite hard as mentioned hence probable why the heavier darts take a bit of pulling out. One thing I was wondering has the officialdom in darts have a specification for the size or surface are of the doubles and triples area as you mentioned they were a few millimeters in area bigger than the previous version. Cheers

[joeriw96]

Great and fast review Darren, it will probably be the B5DC vs the G3 to compete for the #1 spot for the next few years.

[Buckshot]

Thanks, for the very fast review. Did you get the board before the official release?

The colours are very bright and perfectly in the segments. The bull is really a bit off (I was surprised you first recognized it when you were measuring it ). Maybe a new design for the number ring would have made the board perfect. Digital numbers would made it look a lot more stylish.

Now that Winmau has changed the wire, I can got back to Winmau. I switch to One80 because the big wire of the Blade4 was causing too much bounce outs.