Unicorn Gary Anderson Premier Phase 3 23g darts review

[Getagrip]

I got these a few weeks ago and just been giving them a throw the last few days. Gary Anderson has been playing very well with this dart lately and I personally think he suits this straight barrelled type dart better than his Phase 2 style. These are closer to his Unicorn Phase 1 in the dimensions but have a grippy Purist style ring grip.

They retail for around £33 and are available in 2 weights 23 and 25 grams. The barrels are 90% tungsten and come supplied with Anderson Standard shape signature flights, medium alloy shafts pre-fitted with rubber "O" rings and a luxury midi wallet.

You can find more info on the Unicorn site here: https://www.unicorn-darts.com/range/dart...ase-3.aspx

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The barrels are a high level grip for most of the barrel with just the very rear section been mainly smooth except for some very shallow thin grooves, so if you grip at the very end of the barrel and need more grip there your out of luck I'm afraid, but as our grip poll shows, not many people grip that far at the end, if your a normal style front, middle or rear gripper then you have plenty of grip on offer with these Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.

Dimensions:

Length:

Barrels are a bit longer than I prefer but I know a lot of people like this long style barrel:

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Width:

A fairly slim barrel:

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Detailed dimensions:

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Weight:

Barrels were within the +/- 0.1g as stated on the packaging so they are closely matched:

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Weight with full set up as supplied:

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Balance:

The darts are quite long but as with most straight barrel darts they are pretty much evenly weighted, the back of the barrel is drilled out about 10mm so balance with nothing attached is slightly front of centre:

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Balance moves central with supplied set up fitted:

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Balance with medium, short and extra short nylon stems and standard flights:

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As these darts are quite long I moved my grip up the barrel a little to be closer to the balance point:

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With the supplied set up the darts were landing in the board very flat, I switched to a short stem in the video review and they landed more in my usual tail up angle:

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Conclusion:

These are not the sort of dart I would normally buy as the length of the barrels is above what I would consider right for me. I think 50mm is about as high as I would comfortable go and usually prefer a dart around 48mm.

However its not so much the fact that the length is a problem when I throw the dart as that can be something I get used to with practice, its more that with medium stems fitted the whole length of the dart from point to top of the flight is quite long because the supplied alloy stems are about 2 or 3 mm longer than my medium nylon stems and add the fact that the slots on the alloy stems are not as deep as the nylon's and the flights sit higher up, that means that it is longer still and I kept hitting my face on the draw back lol!

But something I found very curious was that because of me hitting my face, I deliberately shortened the drawback and yet the darts seemed to fly very easily to the board with what was more of a wrist flick of a throw. I am not sure if its to do with the whole length been more flighty through the air but I think its something I may have a little experimenting with, if only I can get used to throwing from the side of my face then may be there is some merit to trying a longer barrel after all?

Of course I was using a slightly different grip position than normal as I moved further up the barrel. It did not really feel too strange throwing with that grip as it was only a move of about 6mm or so, but I probably would have hit my face more with a very front grip.

The thing I was noticing though was I got some sideways movement with the dart (again it could still be due to my release issues from my injury) but the darts seem to quickly stabilize and right themselves into a straighter line, but landed very flat in the board. I watched Gary Anderson throwing these same darts last night on the Premier League, I know he throws different to me but for him the darts were landing tail up which is how my darts normally land?

So I decided to ditch the medium alloy stems and try some short nylon stems. This was so much better for me, firstly because I was no longer whacking me face! Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images. and also the darts seemed to be flying much better through the air and they landed tail up, although that ease of throwing I felt with the previous set up seemed to go and I had to obviously resort to my normal drawback.

Overall these are a dart that can suit a wide variety of grip styles and if its a long grippy dart you need then give them a try for sure. You may need to play about with the set up if like me you find them a touch long.

I did like how they seemed easy to throw with the medium stems though, I think its got me curious now about trying to see if I can get used to a long barrel with medium stems, although I may need to alter my drawback position a little, but I welcome that ease of throw really and it is something I think will take some strain off my wrist problems, time to experiment again! Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.

Summary Ratings:

Looks: 7 (classic straight barrel with nice ring grip)
Grip: 8 (on a 1 to 10 Scale, 10 been severe grip)
Weight match: 7.5 (close)
Quality: 8 (nothing to complain about)
Value: 7 (not too bad)
Suitability for me: 6 (some elements about them I seemed to get along with, tempting to give it 7 but erring on a 6)

Best Feature: grip

[Spartan]

im starting to dislike you grip :p you make me want to buy every dart you review....note to self: boycott grips reviews Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
excellent review +!

[Del]

Another good review pal

[Getagrip]

Thanks guys!

I can block you from seeing them Dave if you want lol!

[Spartan]

lmao ill take my chances never know what the next review will bring Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images. luckily these are too grippy for my liking

[uncle poop]

Yet another great review by GetaGrip. Nice looking grip, too bad they are straight barreled.

[PoloNero]

Excellent review, damn they look good.

[Getagrip]

Yet another great review by GetaGrip. Nice looking grip, too bad they are straight barreled.

Cheers!

I was watching Ando closely last night when he was throwing them, although he was using what looked to be the medium 2 tone deflectagrip stems.

[Getagrip]

Excellent review, damn they look good.

Thanks mate!

[hamo]

That's the straw that broke the camel's back...I'll be getting a set of these me thinks...cheers grip +1

[Getagrip]

That's the straw that broke the camel's back...I'll be getting a set of these me thinks...cheers grip +1

LOL Cheers Hamo, I will be putting these up for a comp too, hopefully soon Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.

[rich345]

This is one of the few darts I have struggled to throw straight out of the box. However I have stuck with them and now I really like them. I have tried all lengths of stems and I find they are best for me with medium nylon. They land just above flat which I like and I am quite liking the slightly bigger big wing flights. Overall I think they are very good for £30. Thanks to perfect darts for the good service too.

And lastly, thanks for the great review Grip. One thing though is that unicorn list these 23g as 6.35mm width. I have the target Lewis and MVG darts in 21g both of which are 6.4 and the andersons I have are definitely thinner than both of those. I know it's very small but I do notice the difference

[Veni]

Darts porn Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.

[Cankles of Fury]

As soon as I said I will wait till the new lines are released till i buy another set i stumble on this :p Great review grip, your pictures are great, thoughts concise, and quality impeccable. +1 !

P.S. The new watermarks look amazing Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.

[BeeP^]

Great review Grip, I'm using the 25g version which has a slightly thicker barrel & I had storm points fitted when I bought them. I find they fly great for me with short pro grip vision stem & either the stock flights ( a nightmare to get by the way) or some target vision flights. I hit 3 180's in under 10 minutes with these fitted with gold Q flights, what can I say......I'm a tinkerer lol.

I've not even touched my phase 5's since getting these, I really cant fault them.