OK, I am a dartaholic and change sets way more often than I should but that's another topic all together. I was just wondering what the average time is to get used to a set of darts? I know when Phil Taylor switched to his phase 5's it was some time before he got comfortable. How long does it take to go from saying to yourself "here's a nice dart" to throwing with a desired consistency and reaching the levels you want to? Of course that is when you go to one dart/shaft and flight combination and stay with it as opposed to what I've been doing since forever

hmmm good question. I think we all different but for me I know after a few days if its for me.

I get the honeymoon period with most new sets of darts, and if I'm still throwing well with them after 3 days then I generally wouldn't have a problem using them in proper matches.

I don't know for sure as I am still switching a lot, but I would imagine that if you feel comfortable with a particular set then it wont take long, but if your trying to force your self into liking a certain set then could take weeks.

I know Bovrilheid said he took about 3 months I think, to get fully used to his Taylor Phase 6 and he swears by them now, after a week I would have given up if I never felt right with them.

At the end of the day I dont think there is a definitive answer, also once you stick to a set you will probably improve in other ways over time which would make you think its because your getting used to the darts, where its actually yourself and not the darts thats improving.

For me the honeymoon period is usually the first week after that if I am still playing well with them then I would not hesitate to use them in a match. The problem here is with a new dart if i do have a bad game with them then it would always be in my mind that I would have done better with my other darts.

Honeymoon for me lasts about three days. If I find I still like them after that it still probably would take me up to a month to get where I was with my original darts.

Hatrick wrote:

For me the honeymoon period is usually the first week after that if I am still playing well with them then I would not hesitate to use them in a match. The problem here is with a new dart if i do have a bad game with them then it would always be in my mind that I would have done better with my other darts.

I like ya post Hat, its true ya start doubting yourself.

I know relatively quickly whether or not a dart fits me and feels good in my hand. From there I give my darts a week to decide if I will stick with them. Because my throw is still being developed, or at least I hope it's developing lol, I will pick up an old set randomly and give them a toss to see if my changes in throwing action work with the dart.

If it's the same weight or within a g of my current dart then about 15-20 minutes for me, once I've got the flight & stem settled for smooth transit, and I've not been having a bad patch in the period before in the 1st place.

If the dart is working well with my toss in that time then 3 days, 3 weeks or whenever later if it's not going right then it's not the dart, it's me that's off.

If the dart is more than a g different then I give it 3 days to minorly adapt my toss or release but if it requires more time then that I'd be altering what had been working for me previously and was so hard to find and develop.

Mind, I've been thru the experimentations of weight, grips, and lengths that took longer to experiment or assess a new dart but I'm now settled to a weight range & grip type so anything new for me now is as replacement due to wear or the possibility of being a better grip.

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful input. I wonder how long I could stay with one dart, shaft and flight set up? So far it is about ten minutes or so.

It depends on which set of darts, for me. The fastest time I became used to a set was one day (Silica Apollo 26g) and there was one set that I never became comfortable with, my first set (given as a present)!

What I do normally is to have two sets of darts, one set which I am most comfortable with and consider my primary set. The other one would be a set that I want to check if it could replace my primary set (hence, an excuse to buy a new set of darts!).

I've been using my Silica Apollos since October of last year and so far, no other set has been more comfortable for me. I haven't changed the setup for two months now, sticking with pear flights (but changed from L flights to Ruthless recently) and medium nylon stems.

Now if only I could be more consistent with my throw!

Well I managed to stay 10 weeks with my Target Sprints, that was the longest I ever used one set. The urge to try others crept in again, but the Sprints are in my holding pile of darts.

I did feel some consistency developing after a while as I got comfortable with the darts, the trouble was there was always a nagging doubt in my mind saying "I think these darts are too long!" , so I ended up trying more and have bought more too, so will have lots more darts to try yet before I settle, which will probably be never!

10 weeks! I am impressed

A friend of mine who is a very good shooter switched to a new set and he was still good but it took him a bit before I saw his level return. Maybe that was where I was going when I posed the question. Not so much a question of how long does it take to get used to a dart but how long before you start to do very good things with "the" dart? How long before you see a noticeable improvement?

I think its inevitable a "honeymoon period" will happen at some point, usually the beginning, but if you can then I would say try a set for as long as possible and keep aware of how they fly for you. After all the darts I have tried I at least know that centre or back weighted darts do not suit me at all, also darts with really short barrels. Oh and very aggressive grip darts too

with a name like getagrip one would assume... well, I assumed at least

The only thing he grips well is his blooming carrot lol

dvsdog wrote:

The only thing he grips well is his blooming carrot lol