Deciding on the Shaft

After you have decided on your first barrel, the next thing you will be choosing is the shaft. The shaft connects the barrel and the flights together. They also help to maintain the balance of a dart and affects how the dart flies in the air.

Thinking about what length is right for you?

• Longer shafts help the darts to fly easier with a smaller parabola
• Shorter shafts will fly with a larger parabola
• It is recommended for beginners to start with a shaft length similar to the length of the barrel

(Blue line – shorter shaft; Red line – longer shaft) 

Shaft length is up to personal preference and we recommend all players to experiment with their shaft lengths to discover what suits their throwing style. Of course, there are other considerations… 

Standard vs Slim Shafts:

What are Slim Shafts?

Slim Shafts are thinner and lighter as compared to standard shafts, this allows players to tweak the balance of their darts without sacrificing the total length of their darts that they are comfortable with.

Shaft Material:

Shafts usually come in 3 different materials: Plastic, Carbon and Metal. 

Plastic shafts are the cheapest of the 3 materials and are the best place to start when finding a shaft that suits you.

Next are Carbon shafts, they are more durable as compared to Plastic shafts but are slightly more expensive than them.

Last are Metal shafts, Metal Shafts also comes in a variety of metals like aluminium, titanium, duralium and more. Metal shafts are usually the most durable out of the 3 types of shafts but are the most expensive out of the 3.

In terms of weight, Plastics shafts are the lightest, followed by Carbon shafts and lastly, the heaviest goes to Metal shafts.

Deciding on the Flight:

Flights come in a variety of shapes, materials and design that can help tweak the performance of your darts.

• Larger flights cause the dart to fly slower towards the board creating a larger parabola (flight arc)
• Smaller flights will cause the dart to fly faster towards the board creating a straighter path to the board 

Some flights also have added textures onto the flight to create more air resistance, causing a larger parabola without using a larger flight. For example, the L-Style Dimple flights as shown below.

Experiment with different flights on the same barrel/shaft setup to find out how much one change can affect your throw. Your throw style can also determine the flight that would be more suited to you. 

Feeling overwhelmed so far? If you can’t decide on your first set of darts, visit us at any iDarts X outlets! iDarts X offers a variety of barrels from different brands such as Target, Cosmo Darts, Harrows and more.

They will also provide sample darts for you to test out before deciding on the dart you want, so definitely test out barrels of different weights, lengths and thickness to find out what suits you best.

Happy Darts!