Dart Analysis & Comparison

 

We've been talking about doing an analysis/comparison for some of the new darts on the market for a little while now. Imagine how surprised we were when one of our readers and local players, Blood Angel beat us to it! Ok, we weren't all THAT surprised, we were kind of dragging our feet on this one. Those that know him know that whether it's making a pump grip Retaliator, a Foam Converted Arrow Gun , or even just storing his blasters, he never does anything half way. The same is true with this wonderful write up and analysis that was submitted to us.  Read on an enjoy!



(Picture heavy post after the break)

Suction cup, Koosh, and Cheap Knock-off darts

14 Mar 2014

So, it has been a few months since these different types of darts have spread through the internet. A handful have made their way to some of the stock wars I play. But how do these darts affect performance?

Bottom line up front (BLUF) – Both the suction cup darts and koosh darts decrease range but improve accuracy. The cheap knock-off darts are worse than elite darts in both range and accuracy.

Let’s take a closer look.

Already we can see a few noticeable things. The foam in the cheap knock-off darts is shorter than all the other darts.  This means that the cheap knock-off darts will not fire from flywheel blasters. The dart pusher in most of the Nerf flywheel blasters will not be long enough to push the dart into the flywheels. Also it means that the cheap knock-off darts will set slightly lower in the front loading blasters.

I can tell you that the suction cup and koosh darts loaded without problems in the Nerf clips; and fired just fine from all of the flywheel blasters that I tried (I put them through every Nerf flywheel blaster but the hail-fire).  

Weight distribution:

Elite Streamline	*
Dart Weight – 1.03g
Tip Weight- 0.76g
=73.8% of weight in tip
Koosh Dart	*
Dart Weight – 1.16g
Tip Weight – 0.89g
=76.7% of weight in tip
Suction Cup Dart	*
Dart Weight – 1.00g
Tip Weight – 0.69g
=69.0% of weight in tip
Cheap Knock-Off Drat	*
Dart Weight – 1.03g
Tip Weight – 0.72g
=69.9% of weight in tip
Dart Tag Dart	*
Dart Weight – 1.00g
Tip Weight – 1.26g
=79.4% of weight in tip

Accuracy

When testing accuracy I created a small shooting range that was 60 feet long had a half silhouette target with target rings. The target is approximate to an adult sized human.  I tested at various distances with stock blasters.

(View of target at 60 feet)

The best distance to test accuracy seemed to be about 30 feet. I used the following stock blasters: Elite Alpha Trooper, Hammershot, Retaliator, Elite Rayven, Stryfe, Stockade, Spectre, Firestrike, Strongarm, and Snapfire 8. On average per blaster,  I was hitting 5 out of 5 shots in the 9 ring using the suction cup darts. With the koosh darts I was hitting 5 out of 5 shots in the 8 ring. The regular elite streamline darts were getting 4 out of 5 shots in the black. And the cheap knock-off darts were getting 2 out of 5 shots in the black.

Conclusion

I don’t know what it is about the suction cup darts that made them more accurate than the heavier koosh darts. Maybe it is the aerodynamics of the tip or the longer stem; or maybe it’s just my testing processes. But I can’t deny that I saw the suction cup darts flying in tighter groups and following more predictable arcs. As for the range decrease, I would just angle my shots up a little higher and happily accept the tighter groups.