This is a review of the Voks Nobu 24g El-C darts. The darts are 90% tungsten and come in 3 weights 19,22 and 24 grams. There is also models with a black and gold coating.
They are a moveable point dart and this particular range has what is called the EL-C system. Its a free moving point and as you can see in the pic below it is only resisted by the impact from hitting the bottom of the shaft on entering the board.
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The top of the point has a tapered/flanged end so it cant pass straight through the barrel.The darts can be converted to a fixed point set up with the addition of the EL-C conversion kit. Basically this is a rubber stopper that sits inbetween the shaft thread and the top of the point. You can also convert it to a spring loaded point. You can also buy replacement points in different lengths; XShort, Short, Standard, Medium, Long, XLong.
The darts retail for $69 and can be bought from the Voks site here:NOBU
Voks have been making darts in the U.S. since 1980 I believe, and were recently taken over by new owners and re-located to Florida. The new owners are very keen to gain World Wide recognition for their darts and will hopefully have a U.K. distributor in the not too distant future. I would welcome that as they have some great designs already and would like to own a few more sets in time Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
The darts came in some plain packaging with a Voks hard plastic case, short alloy shafts and Voks standard shape holographic flights. There is also a mini Voks wallet although I am not quite sure what is meant to go in it, maybe its just to hold the darts in with the supplied point protector?
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The darts have quite a unique but very pleasing shape. As you can see above the grip is mostly smooth apart from a few grooves on the nose and a kind of smooth shark type grip at the rear of the barrel, I would say the grip there is only medium at most.Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
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Below you can see how the points measure up to the barrel and the small gap that is between the top of the point and the underside of the shaft. If you add the small rubber conversion kit this is a little wider than the gap but compresses when the shaft is screwed on tight:
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Dimensions:Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
Length:
Barrels are not too long and I think that made them nicely balanced for me.
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Width:The middle section is fairly chunky but I quite liked that Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
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Detailed Dimensions:Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
Weight:Barrels were extremely well matched and very close to the stated weight only 1 hundreth of a gram difference!
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Weight of the full set up as supplied:
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Balance:Without the shafts and flights the barrels are slightly front weighted and the balance is right in the middle of the chunky section:
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With the supplied set up the balance moves closer to the middle of the barrel and just in front of the rear grip section:Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
Balance with medium, short and extra short nylon shafts and standard flights:Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
I could probably grip these darts at the very front but they felt much better to grip on the chunky part and it was not too far off the very front anyway so felt very nicely balanced for me at that point:Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
Darts landed tail up in the board, may be a touch more than my normal angle:Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
Conclusion:
I know not everyone will be happy with movable point darts and a lot will simply dismiss them out of sheer hatred but I think you need to have an open mind to try things if you have not already done so and to me these are one of the better moveable point systems around.
I think they work very well and there was only one very minor irritation with me from playing with them and that was due to the fact I rest my finger on the point and as it can turn freely it was a little annoying when it did so while I was about to throw the dart. Other than that there was no real rattling or very loose feeling from the dart and if I was not resting my finger on the point I would not even know it was a moveable point dart. If you shake the dart vigorously in your hand then there is a slight rattly sound but it is very slight indeed and not noticeable when throwing normal. The point is only moving about 4mm up/down the barrel and it is close fitting within the barrel so it is very close to been like a fixed point when it is in the set position, if you push the point into the barrel and dont re-set it then it can move freely up and down, but once you have it set it takes a little force to release. I dont know if in time the action will become more loose, I had a lot of throws and it was still working fine for me.
The nice thing with these darts though is that if you really dont like the idea of the point moving at all but like the darts you can simply add the conversion kit, a simple solution that works brilliantly. I played with the kit in place and to be honest the only difference I felt was when holding the dart before throwing with my finger on the point, it was not turning and that was it! If you watch my video above and look at the slow - motion section you will see how the darts been allowed to spin could be an advantage though Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
The darts themselves are simply lovely! I like the look of them and they are very nice to throw. If you like to grip at the rear then the whole barrel sits very comfortable in the fingers and I had a throw from that grip and the darts seemed to fly flatter from there for me, but I was much more at ease gripping the chunky part of the barrel and even though it was smooth there I had no issues with my grip, you may have problems if you suffer from very dry fingers though.
These are one of those sets of darts that I just enjoy throwing, I dont think I throw them as well as I do some others I have but there is something nice about playing with them that makes me want to keep throwing them, I only have that feeling with a few sets and its kind of hard to describe why.
The design I believe was made by a Japanese designer Nobuyuki Yoshida and I think they are a lovely shape and very nicely machined, quality seems to be very very nice and I like them a lot.
I did have a set of Black Nobu darts a few years ago, I thought they were great then but since then my throw has changed a bit and they seem to suit me even better now.
A very nice set of darts! Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
Summary Ratings:
Looks: 9.5 (lovely looking darts)
Grip: 6 (on a 1 to 10 Scale, 10 been severe grip)
Weight match: 9.5 (Almost exact!)
Quality: 9 (really nice quality)
Value: 7 (not too bad)
Suitability for me: 8 (very enjoyable to throw)
Best Feature: looks