This is my take on the black titanium coated darts that I have had. Unicorns,McCoys,Targets, and Winmau. The Unicorns and McCoys seem to be the same coating or they use the same process in application. They are dark black and the coating seems thick. They get dinged up pretty quick, but they feel great in your hand-IMO. The Target and Winmaus look more blue/gray almost like a gun barrel. The coating seems thinner and doesn't chip as bad so the darts don't look as bad as quickly. I prefer the McCoy/Unicorn coating for the feel, kind of a warm smooth feel in your hand, even though the look hammered! Scars are good right? Just wondered what anyone else's opinion on the different coatings. I would like to know more on the different methods of how they apply it. Sorry for the rambling!

I'm using a black Unicorn Black Titanium Phase 5, and I agree that the coating gives a good feel to the dart compared to the natural model which I use as backup. The black coating is horrible though when the dart gets dinged. One problem that I had was the visibility of the dart (I have poor eyesight) compared to natural, gold and silica coatings. I have to rely on a different colored stem or flight, although I would've liked an all-black dart.

I also noticed that the end of the storm point where the point and barrel meet is turning grayish. Not sure if it's because of the coating.

Cheers.

I was just throwing my black Phase 5s! I don't throw them too often- too heavy for me. I picked them up and thought how good they felt - I then threw my black McCoy stealths and they felt even better and they have a lot more wear.

I have used the following coated darts:

Laser Darts Black Widow --Black Ti Coating
Voks Hammerhead --Black Ti Coating
Target Chizzy's --Gold Ti Coating
Unicorn Hamilton Maestro--Gold Ti Coating
Unicorn Old Hamilton Maestro--Gold Ti Coating
Unicorn Caven Contenders-- Gold Ti Coating
Unicorn phase 5 slikstik stems --gold ti coating
EDIT: Target Storm Points -- black and gold

On the Black Widows, I owned the knurled version. The black coating combined with the knurling felt "heavy and thick" and a bit like sandpaper in a good way. The coating was very susceptible to wear though. The finish in the non knurled area's was still rough feeling which was positive.

On the Hammerheads the black Ti finish was similar to the blackwidows but less heavy feeling. The finish was smoother but still had that matte frictiony feel. Disliked the style of dart though and did not use it much.

On the target Chizzy's they have a very light gold coating. To me it feels thinner than the current unicorn coating but comparable to theirs from years gone by. The coat is either very subtle or more decorative, hard for me to say because the grip level prior to the coating is probably a 2 or less on the birkin scale.

On my Caven darts by unicorn, the gold coating is very thick, and durable. Combine it with the shark grip and you have a 5 or higher on the birkin scale. I have used my cavens quite a bit and have not noticed any wear even in spots where the grip dinged.

My hamilton darts are quite possiblely the easiest to compare because I own the same version in gold TI and natural tungsten finish. The grip pattern is 2-3 on the birkin scale but very plentiful. On the natural darts I had trouble controlling them when shooting for higher numbers 20's 1's 5's d12's. Slippage was also a huge problem. On my Gold Ti however this never happens. The unicorn gold Ti seems to maintain the level of friction even when I sweat or hands become oily. On the natural the grip is a 2-3 like I previously mentioned but on the gold Ti the same cut combined with the coating is a solid 3 for me. They have taken quite a beating and the coating is still intact even in dented areas'.

My older hamiltons, much much older model, have a much thinner gold ti coating comparable to targets chizzy's. After heavy use the gold ti coating simply wore off. So in this area Unicorn has definitely improved over the years.

On my phase 5 shafts that are new gold ti coating, the gold has totally scrapped off. I get the impression that the coating on these was a different formula purely for decoration.

EDIT
storm points: use both black and gold, no real wear as far as the coating goes except on the very tip

there ya have it, my experience with coatings.

I have some gold Hamiltons also and they are very nice and feel great. I've mainly had Unicorns gold darts- not much else other than Kongs and I think Target actually makes those darts. I like Unicorns coatings

I like the Gold Ti coatings, I have some Lloyd, Deller and Walsh Black Ti, all made by Target, but they are all new and I have not played with them yet, but on just feeling the barrels I think I still prefer the gold ti.

I have had a few, mainly gold. I have had a few sets of Black darts (Target O'Shea, Walsh and Voks Nobu0, but havent owned any of them for long enough to comment on their durability.

As far as Gold darts are concerend, in my opinion, the best and most hard wearing is that of Unicorn. I have had a few sets of Taylor phase 2 in gold, and they look great for a long time.

I am currently using Gold Kongs, and whilst they look great, for me, they seem to fade quite quickly and lose their 'vibrant' gold look.

I am awaiting some Gold (zirconium Lewis) darts and look forward to seeing how they wear.

I know that Target make the kongs for A180, so maybe the wear will be the same for Lewis darts, but we shall see.

Is the extra cost worth it though?

I have a set of Unicorn Bob Anderson WCs with the Black Ti coating and they seem to be holding up pretty well. I think the coating does improve the grip a little, but I just like the way the black darts look. I got these fairly cheap from A-Z so there wasn't a huge price difference for the black. I think a little extra cost for the black coating is worth it.

I would say yes its worth it. I highly recommend getting it in gold especially if your oily or sweaty, or black if you need that extra roughness. I am never playing with a natural dart again.

Although if you look it up there are companys who Ti coat in these huge cylindrical steamers, so you could probably slip in a set of darts for minimal cost if yours dont come in Ti coating

I do prefer coated darts over natural, and prefer the feel of the black coating vs gold. They both look great- gold seems a little bit slippery to me.