I have heard some people say they play with tattered flights (practice) until there is just nothing left. I won't do that !! Now a slight imperfection on say a cosmo set up I will use for awhile but normally any rips or frays and they go to the trash. I reason that they will eventually fly differently and I really don't need that ! Practicing for hours with a ripped flight or slightly bent shaft to me is bad,bad, bad. In league play I check constantly my stems and flights for imperfections and if found trash they go. I have seen players play with bent medal stems that they keep straightening Something to think about, what say you ?

Flight condition doesn't bother me. I've had some excellent legs and triple bulls/180's with cosmos that were missing complete sides. Maybe because of my throw?

Well Mac you may be the exception, for me thats a no,no.

To be honest sometimes I do leave the battered flights on, but not stems, having said that they dont stay on too long. Once the edges are all bent and mangled I may leave them for the rest of my practice and sometimes they may get used on my nest session but after that they are binned for some new ones.

I dont play with tattered stems. flights are a different story. I'm quite superstitious and if im playing well with a certain flight i'll leave it on as long as possible. Once the flight ends get crunched or split i toss em. The only time i keep a set of busted flights is to comemorate something well done. In other words i retire them, for example earlier this week i hit a 170 in a game with my brother.They were retired!

I've hit a 180s with a quarter of the flight missing and 3 pronged shafts, so It doesn't really bother me.

I hardly notice any difference in flight performance either. Maybe its because I throw the dart with allot of force, I don't know.

They only get replaced when they eventually split in half or are missing a section.
But ofcourse for matches I always use perfect conditioned ones.

If they were like the ones Mac posted the pic of then I would have thrown them out long before lol. If there's only a little tear or small chuck out the flight then I'll even use them in matches

I played last week with a 3 finned flight after completely shaving 1 fin off with one of the other darts. Having had a Homer moment and forgetting my spare stuff I carried on with it and to be honest suffered no drop off in scoring. In fact, that particular dart dropped into the T19 on 7 out of 8 occasions that I went for it with it.

Although, that said, if I'm playing a League match I will change my flights before setting off to the club.

chrisbamb wrote:

I played last week with a 3 finned flight after completely shaving 1 fin off with one of the other darts. Having had a Homer moment and forgetting my spare stuff I carried on with it and to be honest suffered no drop off in scoring. In fact, that particular dart dropped into the T19 on 7 out of 8 occasions that I went for it with it.

Although, that said, if I'm playing a League match I will change my flights before setting off to the club.

Hmm, they do have tri - fin flights, but thats give me an idea, think I will cut some flight up and leave just 2 wings on and see what happens.

The optimum number of fins for a flight is either 3 or 5 - I think darts only have 4 because it is in the middle. As for trying 2 fins, I would put up a backboard if you try this Darren as I would be impressed if they flew lol.

mc1958 wrote:

If they were like the ones Mac posted the pic of then I would have thrown them out long before lol. If there's only a little tear or small chuck out the flight then I'll even use them in matches

Ahhh yes these

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Had a good run of 180's and a triple bull with em

Them's the ones lol

mc1958 wrote:

The optimum number of fins for a flight is either 3 or 5 - I think darts only have 4 because it is in the middle. As for trying 2 fins, I would put up a backboard if you try this Darren as I would be impressed if they flew lol.

What ya saying Mike?

I know what ya mean, but if you think about it I bet someone who is really good and has a forceful throw, could probably throw their darts without any flights, I think George even did it once with just a piece of string on the end of the stem!!!

What you on about Mike?? Grip has a backboard when he uses darts with 4 fins on them!!

chrisbamb wrote:

What you on about Mike?? Grip has a backboard when he uses darts with 4 fins on them!!

True, I do! in fact every where is covered with rubber mats or bits of wood,

As far as stems go, I don't mind them being battered. Just as I don't think those stems with the machined notches in various patterns make any difference in your dart's flight. Bent stems are different. That was the main reason I stopped using metal stems. For the typical recreational dart thrower, I don't think bent stems make much difference to them. For those of us expecting to "put the dart in the hole" it very well might. I'll play with flights that get their back edges blunted for awhile. I'll practice with them until I break or bend them. If I take a chunk out of them or crack them, I won't play with them. For the short distance we throw the dart, we probably make too much out of the shape and condition of the flight, but like everything else the most significant affect the flight has is on our confidence. If you feel confident with your flights, keeping throwing them. If you're worried it might have a negative effect, change them.

I'll use tattered flights (in practice) without too much worry as long as they aren't so bad that they won't hold the + shape any longer, but I'll replace a stem if the flight keeps popping out. Can't abide that.

Fresh everything for league night though.

ochejockey wrote:

As far as stems go, I don't mind them being battered. Just as I don't think those stems with the machined notches in various patterns make any difference in your dart's flight. Bent stems are different. That was the main reason I stopped using metal stems. For the typical recreational dart thrower, I don't think bent stems make much difference to them. For those of us expecting to "put the dart in the hole" it very well might. I'll play with flights that get their back edges blunted for awhile. I'll practice with them until I break or bend them. If I take a chunk out of them or crack them, I won't play with them. For the short distance we throw the dart, we probably make too much out of the shape and condition of the flight, d]]but like everything else the most significant affect the flight has is on our confidence. If you feel confident with your flights, keeping throwing them. If you're worried it might have a negative effect, change them.[/b]

well said.

I will play with tattered flights and stems that are missing one of the pins that hold the flight in. I will throw them out once they become severely battered. I haven't been able to distinguish enough of a difference in my throw between a perfect flight/stem or battered flight/stem to really justify throwing them in the garbage right away. I even lean towards wanting to keep battered flights longer because they offer character especially when I find that I am shooting well with them.

I play with battered flights since I only practice. I got high scores with them, so unless a fin gets ripped, they'll stay on the darts.