Hi guys!

As some of you know we're lucky enough to have Rob from Target a member here and he's graciously offered to answer any questions we might have.
It may take a few days for rob to get back to us as the Target office is understandably busy.

Hey Rob,
A little while a go I emailed the lovely charlene (I think thats her name) at Target, with a product idea. I had recently bought some gold smooth storm points but found I had to scuff them to get them to stay in the board, which obviously removed the gold coating. So my idea was for a set of board gripper storm points. I was told my idea would be passed onto the development team. Do you know if this is in the works?

Hi Rob,
question: Is there any plans for Target to use different materials for making darts?

Thanks- Larry

A couple from me:

1 - there was a story going round before the Carrera darts were launched that Target had made their biggest signing yet - have you signed any new players to Target since Scott Rand?

and

2 - do you still arrange tours of the factory in Harlow, and if so how often?

Can you make me a slightly rear loaded verry skinny 95% tungsten 26g 55mm grippy dart and give it to me for free

P.S. I will gladly pay for postage

seriously though a rear loaded dart in the range might go down well.

OOOOO I would also like a 26g in a storm 2 (rear loaded HAHA look at that i answerd my own question)

And while Im at it how about making storms in natural tungsten.

OH and 55+mm 26g super skinny strait barrel extra grippy please.

And longer storm points

And yes I would like fries with that!!!!

Thanks ROB

I like the number 26g

Oh dear! a bombardment of questions already LOL

Hope you have plenty of spare time Rob!

Oh poop, thought I had asked a question here. Maybe I didn't hit send?
Oh well I'll have to think of a new one..

or I can remember the old one..which is...

Does target do custom darts and if not who/where/what would you recommend?

How long does it take for a dart to go from a design stage to a final product?

Hi everyone,

Apologies for the lateness of the replies - I was out of office Friday-Monday.

thefox - This is a matter that will be further discussed in our up and coming product meetings, so will get back to you asap on that.

Larry - We at Target are always on the lookout to improve our products in the most innovative ways possible, so we will exhaust every option before making a decision.

Mc1958 -

1. I believe the story of us announcing our biggest signing yet was born from forum rumour - at no point did we suggest a new signing when bringing out Carrera. Apologies for any confusion or upset caused, but we never stated about signing a new player. We haven't signed any new players since Scott Rand, although we're always on the lookout for up and coming talent.

2. As for the tours of our factory, at the moment we aren't planning any for the immediate future - although it is always up for discussion when considering competition prizes. Hope this helps.


Dirty G -

Ha ha! I appreciate your mentality, you don't ask you don't get!
Unfortunately, as you can probably understand, we get inundated with requests every day to make personal sets of darts - due to the cost of producing a single set of darts, it would be impossible to justify it. Minimum order numbers are also a further stumbling block. But your product suggestions will certainly be brought to the table in our next product meeting, I will personally put them forward. Hope this helps.


davidsproull -

Unfortunately we don't produce custom darts as the cost to produce a couple of sets would be extraordinary.


Nucky -

It very much depends on the complexity of the design - some darts are designed and produced within a couple of months, other more complex designs (Carrera, for example) take slightly longer

Many thanks for the questions everyone


TargetRob

Many thanks for the responses Rob - I thought it was just a rumour about a new player, many thanks for the confirmation.

Thanks for the replies Rob, very much appreciated!

Great answers Rob

Quote :

davidsproull -

Unfortunately we don't produce custom darts as the cost to produce a couple of sets would be extraordinary.

Ok fine then! I guess I'll just have to win a major event I suppose.

Thanks Rob for your answers.
Guess im guna hve to fork out for my own targets then.

Dam so close

Hi rob

At our Dartsnutz day out that target are generously hosting for us, will we be seeing and target sponsored players? I understand they may be busy preparing for the open

Hi Fox

Naturally, we would look to get a couple of our professional players down to sign autographs and to make sure every one has a good time - even dish out a couple of practice tips!

We shall look into it further.

TargetRob

Hi Rob, I am available to sign autographs here in Australia should you need my services. lol

Seriously though, is it only pro's that you sponsor or do you sponsor local league type players?

Great question jimbo

Hi all -

Jimbo - haha!

We currently sponsor professional players and youth players - the youth players are club league players as well as BDO and PDC youth players.

The problem with sponsoring local league players would be the same if Adidas sponsored a local Sunday League player - the pool of players is massive. If we sponsored one local league player, the traffic of other local players asking if we could sponsor them too would become impossible to deal with.

We will, however, continue to look at new ways we can assist and promote the local game

Hope this helps.

Rob

Great answer rob, although how can local league players, some of who are good enough to play on the pro circuits, hope to do so without sponsorship. There a few players on this forum, myself included, who feel we could compete on the circuits but cant afford to travel to all the events, or pay for q school.

superb question fox i 100% agree with you about needing sponsership

Presumably you guys play Super League as this can lead to County if you are good enough. This will help get your face known - as will entering as many local Open tournaments as you can and doing well in those.

Hi Rob, I absolutely love Target stuff. Some of the best looking darts on the market imo. According to a poll we took on this site, it's also the favorite of most members. With that being said, sadly I don't own any Target darts. I have always shot with a very light steel tip dart. The lightest I've ever seen offered from Target is an 18 gram Colin LLoyd. Any chance that Target would do something lighter in the future? Maybe offer a limited run of something in the 14 or 15 gram range? Thanks, JD

Hi Rob - I've been using Target darts for quite sometime now and truely think they are the best out there. I was wondering why Target doesn't offer any 95% tungsten darts. One thing I would also love to see from you guys is your distinction darts made in steel tip. Thanks for listening

Hi everyone

Fox - many thanks for that question. We appreciate that local players sometimes struggle in terms of funding towards participation. It is something that we are looking into - we understand the gap between County and professional and we're trying to think of ways we can help bridge it.

Again, the problem lies with sponsoring only two or three players - for every player we sponsor, I can guarantee we would get at least 100 more emailing us for the same sort of sponsorship! Ha ha.

JD - first of all, many thanks for the kind comments regarding our products. It's always pleasing to know that players do tend to like our darts. As for a range of lighter darts, steel tip darts - we have tried this in the past and they didn't prove popular. Unfortunately there wasn't a market for them. Of course, there will always be exceptions, but in order to satisfy minimum manufacturing orders it would be impossible to justify the cost to produce just a few sets. Hope this clarifies.

Hi Spat - many thanks for your question and, once more, the kind comments. We have looked into producing 95% tungsten barrels. However, 95% tungsten barrels become very brittle; this makes the precise engineering which we crave in our barrels much more difficult to achieve and much more expensive for not a tremendous amount of difference. Hope that explains it.


Once again, thanks for the Qs everyone - if you have anymore then simply let me know

Kind regards

TargetRob

Hi Rob, I love the look of the new Carrera darts, (although I probably won't be getting a set as they are a little too long for my liking). My question is, how long did it take from inception to design and then to manufacture? They certainly are an innovative dart!

Thanks for taking the time to answer us Rob, very much appreciated.

Would you consider maybe a tournament to decide who could get a sponsorship package. The package wouldn't be as much as your mega stars get, but maybe say some vouchers for fuel and accommodation discounts. It wouldn't have to be a lot, but that would give those on the border line a chance to chase that dream for a short time to see if they have what it takes.

I think we should ALL take the time to give Rob a +1.

Not often a company rep takes the time to answer all our questions.

Much appreciated Rob.

Cheers. +1 from me.

Hi everyone,

Walks - many thanks for the question! Whilst we can't disclose too much information about the Carrera barrel, what I can say is this - Carrera takes longer to machine than any other barrel we have ever produced, so hopefully people can appreciate the costs behind this process. In terms of process, from design to shop Carrera took around 4 months to produce.

Jimbo - that is a very good idea, something which we are already running with the Target Darts Harlow Open and Grand Prix Series, which have been running throughout the year. The idea is that the person at the top of the rankings come the end of the Series will get our support, although it isn't a full sponsorship contract.

Many thanks for the +1 JD, we at Target believe every Target player should have the opportunity to contact us directly or via the forums - apologies if the replies are sometimes a bit late - as you can imagine it does get hectic in the office!

Many thanks, happy throwing!

Rob

Winmau wrote:

I think we should ALL take the time to give Rob a +1.

Not often a company rep takes the time to answer all our questions.

Much appreciated Rob.

Cheers. +1 from me.

I agree, +1 from me too!

One thing I would like to know Rob is something that I guess applies to all darts makers, and that is when a designer comes up with a new design how do they know what weight the darts will be or is it just a case of machining the design then drilling out the middle to reach the desired weight?

If that is how its done I would have thought that way would be hit and miss and could upset the intended balance point?