Which dart weight to choose? Heavy or light?

[Milkysunshine]

Most of Wright's darts weren't 26g.

[*Saber*]

Okay Hamilton 25gm lol

[DIRTY G]

Lets see Barney 25gm
Taylor 26gm
Wright 26gm
MVG 25gm
hmmmm

^^^^^This^^^^^^
But in the original posts defence, it does say that "the majority of pros use lighter darts". its not the list fault that I have never heard of them before. lol

The fatigue factor always makes me laugh, 22g could pass for light, 26g is classed as a brick, thats only 4 g differance, I made my kids with that kinda weight.

I think there is a perfect weight for each individual's stroke,, ie natural stroke and landing to high ,go lighter, natural stroke and laning low, go heavier.

[The D'Artist]

Of course we can't believe all that we are told. Players have their darts modified I am sure, weight distribution changed, weight changed, etc etc. Like PGA players with their customized clubs so they use a 9 iron to hit 200 yards.
Is there a darts truck that turns up at venues to tweak their darts?
I might be a cynic but I might be right.

[Tormentor]

Everyone's comfort zone is different. I do believe you have to have a better and more consistent follow through with lighter darts. Just because Taylor, Barney, MVG and who ever else throws heavy darts means nothing.

[Banned]

I think there is a perfect weight for each individual's stroke,, ie natural stroke and landing to high ,go lighter, natural stroke and landing low, go heavier.

I don't buy into any of the "darts land low, go heavier" stuff. If a dart keeps landing low then you need more practice. Period. Same as if it keeps going high. You simply need to work on your aiming skills. I've played with anything from a 10 gram barrel up to a 26 gram barrel and with a little practice they all go where i want them to.

The one thing with darts that everyone keeps forgetting is there are incredibly different skill levels. So one theory won't hold true across the board.

The only thing I can say about the weight of darts that holds true is that there are very limited selections of lighter darts so that could be why some have never tried a lighter dart. Who knows? But I do highly recommend everyone give a lighter dart (18-20 g) a go at some point in their life. It worked miracles for me

[Hoppy]

I have used 25g darts for nearly all my darting life I now play with 24g darts. I have tried darts at 20g and more recently 22g and I can't throw them with the accuracy I like. I have quite a hard throw and with the lighter darts I can't throw them hard and straight I feel they float more.
If you play soft tip then you have no choice but to go light and those guys get used to light darts.

[*Saber*]

I find heavier darts easier to throw- light darts my arm speed must increase. That being said I can throw any dart after a little practice. I threw some 12-15gm darts and did quite well with them actually.

[*Saber*]

Most of Wright's darts weren't 26g.

I wonder what weight he used when he was on fire at first in the P-league?

[Getagrip]

I never used to have problems with heavier darts until I hurt my shoulder and wrist, I cant describe it but it seemed like something changed and there was just no power there anymore, but eventually I seemed to settle around the 23 or 24 gram, but apart from my recent hand break (which is a bit sore still) I think my shoulder has improved a fair bit, I still get wrist issues but I am working on that with some hand exercises and I feel my strength improving so I fancy giving it a go with a slightly heavier dart again. My biggest problem now is my release is poor, I am trying to improve that and making some small progress but I just dont think really light darts are right for me personally at this time.

[Banned]

I never used to have problems with heavier darts until I hurt my shoulder and wrist, I cant describe it but it seemed like something changed and there was just no power there anymore, but eventually I seemed to settle around the 23 or 24 gram, but apart from my recent hand break (which is a bit sore still) I think my shoulder has improved a fair bit, I still get wrist issues but I am working on that with some hand exercises and I feel my strength improving so I fancy giving it a go with a slightly heavier dart again. My biggest problem now is my release is poor, I am trying to improve that and making some small progress but I just dont think really any darts are right for me personally at this time.

Fixed.

That's okay. You run a great site and do good reviews. Plus you have an awesome collection.

[Getagrip]

LOL nice fix, its true too, now where's Larry put that ban hammer!

[Dorian]

Interesting post and great contributions, in my case I started with brass Jim Pikes but I cannot remember the weight they felt good mainly because of the thickness.
Much later on everyone was talking tungsten 'cos their thinner, but as I couldn't afford them I tried a thin brass set around 18gms. Living and working in Saudi for 2 years darts was the only social activity available, I found I was playing brilliantly with the light brass set.
Back to the UK I stuck with good old brass not a lot of variety available still and I reverted back to heavier weights again 24gms if memory serves, perhaps the feel of front loaded thicker darts suited me more. I moved to Australia and played well again with brass and took out a couple of open singles titles with 22gm darts. Packed it in for 28 years and took it up again and started to try and find the Pike style / look of dart. I ended up with Gold coloured John Lowes in tungsten, for the very first time, however I ended up buying 4 sets starting at 21gms gradually finishing up at 24gms.
The only real problem with them was a lack of grip at the rear so I changed to Andy Hamiltons 23Gm (great dart) but they became quite smooth after a while so as an interim measure I bought 26gm phase 5 lp's ok weight was right but soon returned to Hamiltons but now in 25gms....perfect.
So weight, thickness, amount of grip front loaded are all inter-related for me so its not weight alone. I've also proved that you can get used to anything really in time.
On the whole though at my tender age the heavier weights I find, fly truer for me as I don't lob them. One important point I should add is that I use brass stems which make the complete darts weigh in at almost 30gms...but they all land at almost a perfect 90 deg to the board most of the time, with very little effort.

Cheers

[SirHeroCall]

Weight has been a funny thing for me as well. I've fluctuated a lot over the past year honestly. The first set of darts I started with were 23 grams which I threw well but never to the level I've gotten too. I then moved to 25 gram Adrian Lewis ones and found that I just can't throw that heavy with my throw. I settled on 23 Lewis darts for a while until I dropped to 21 Lewis darts. 21 saw me reach some of my higher success but it hasn't been till I recently changed to the 22 Carrera C4's that I've achieved the most consistency and been able to compete in the higher divisions of my league. I hit maybe 2 180's with all the other sets over 2 years. Last night I hit 2 and it has been a recurring thing. So I still don't know where I stand on the whole weight issue but it seems for me lighter is better. The next step is I want to try either 20 or lighter.

[Cat]

Whats your take on it Nutz?