Hi lads, now that I've finished my thesis in college I can get back to more important things, Darts! Thought I'd try a review of my current darts, Unicorn Paul Nicholsons 20g. It probably won't be up to grips standards but its a start.

Here's what you get with the box;
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Nicholsons box

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Eclipse Max case
8 Flight Protectors
Signature Flights
Medium Catalyst(I think) Aluminium stems
Weight Certificate

First Impressions
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The darts probably aren't the best looking if I'm honest, I added Tridents to the set up as the bull nose at the front was destroying my flights. They're also quite dull, certainly not as bright or shiny as other darts I've got when new. First thing you will notice is how thin these darts are, they are tiny! 5.9mm which is as small as possible using 2BA threads. They're also quite long, 53mm by my measurements.

Grip
To me, this grip is absolutely perfect. I'd say a level 4 overall, not quite level 5 but grippy all the same. Its similar to the purist but with 4 parts with thinner cut groves separating the purist grooves. Its very similar to the James Wade dart, visually at least because I haven't had the chance to throw the Wades. I have heard somewhere, can't remember where that Nicholson used to use Wades darts before he got sponsorship from Unicorn so that probably explains the similarity. If your after a set of Wades but don't like the colours or finish on them, these are available slightly cheaper on DC, A180 etc and I love them.

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Balance Point
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Comparison to O'Shea Stone Grips
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Nice 180!
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Nicholsons 180


Other
You get signature flights which I never use, alumiuium stems, eclipse max case and flight protectors. I don't really like Aluminium stems of any description and these are not different, they came lose very easily if I remember correctly. I switched to Unicorn Grippers II as you can see in the first impressions picture. The case is pretty useless if you play league or comps but I'd guess that most of us have our own cases anyway. If not, I'd recommend the Target Play case, pictured with the Nicholsons below;

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Own opinion, feel free to ignore
My own opinion here, I like Unicorn darts but their prices are a bit excessive to me. I've a friend who got a set of Barney World Champion Golden Heros, cost around €60 to get delivered here (Ireland) and they looked bad after a weeks throwing! He ended of taking off the coating it got so bad. I'd recommend people shop around for cheaper alternatives before splashing out on a set of darts they're not sure about. Red Dragon, Pure Darts and a few others sell excellent sets of darts for less than £20 so if you're not sure about shape, length, grip etc. maybe try a cheaper set before spending money on a Unicorn, or any branded darts for that matter.

Overall, a lovely set of darts so all thats left is to pay homage to Neil from D16, fancy a set?

Nicholsons 20g

Great review mate, I have had a set of these in 24g (and black) and can confirm they are very similar to Wade's, the grip is reversed and slightly more towards the front of the barrel on Wade's and for some strange reason they don't seem to fly the same.
The Nicholson's seem more front heavy than Wade's but maybe that was just me.

I actually quite liked the flattened front end, added a bit of character to the dart although I didn't have the trouble of it damaging my flights otherwise I may have added tridents or Storm points too.

And i can also confirm the Target Play case is a great case too, had one although due to squeezing in more flights than it was designed to hold ended up with the pouches ripping - so be aware, don't squeeze too many flights in the pouches or they will split!

Once again, great review, enjoyed reading someone elses opinion on these.

Great review! +1 rep from me. Nicely done and glad to have ya back

Cheers lads. Good to hear that about the Wades, i'm really tempted to get a set of them at some stage. Rebel, very true about the Target case as well, I had mine completely filled with stuff for league matches until I realised it was pointless bringing so much stuff with me, it doesn't quite close properly and loses its shape when its too full. I only carry a few extra flights now and one set of stems.

Excellent review - and a rep added from me as well.

The same happened with my Target case as well lol. All I take to matches now is 2 sets of darts (I take a set purely for backup if a point breaks or something), 2 sets of shafts and flights, a sharpener stone and a broken shaft remover.

Great review. Great pictures to show what you were explaining and you kept it simple while still providing lots of information about the darts. Well done all around

That's a top review mate, very nice!
Have a +1 from me too.

Not sure why, but unicorn prices seemed to jump quite a lot a few years ago. Still if you shop around there's plenty of great value darts.

Hope your thesis does well!

Cheers grip. I don't necessarily have a huge issue with Unicorn charging a bit more than others purely because its the same in all industries, whatever company/brand sponsors the big names can charge more. What annoys is the ridiculous cost of their World Champion, Hero darts etc. I'm happy to pay for the Maestro range but couldn't possibly justify the prices of the hero darts etc. Would cost me over €60 to get a set of them delivered here and they just aren't better than other darts you can get for half the price.

Though I say that now but if they bring out a more expensive fancy version of the Nicholsons I'd be tempted Darts has a hold over me

Off topic but how do I add rep, if I find out I will also add +1 rep :cheers:

On the right side of the post that you want to add 1 to press the + sign. Under it is a - sign that will remove 1

Thanks Lefty, done now, cheers :cheers:

ya, enjoy hitting the -1 on grips posts

USMC80 wrote:

ya, enjoy hitting the -1 on grips posts

you gunna get it Mac!

see -1

Thanks for the +1s lads. I'll try do another review next time I get a new set, probably around the end of next month for my birthday

Look forward to it mate, keep them coming, got a set in mind?

Well I was thinking about the Wades but I'm not too sure now. Have a set of Triple Bs coming through a swap but I'm still tempted by the Bulls Barney Shark Grips. I'm open to suggestions though if you or anyone else has any. Anything with decent grip 20-22g and I'm interested, thats the problem

The Winmau Sabotage have a good grip, I have a 22g set, too grippy for me.

Thanks for the recommendation Daz, not sure if I like the look of em, seem very similar to the Razor Grips I got off you

Very nice review and a plus 1 for ya.

Great darts in the 20g version. Just got a set and I like them a lot. Have to use short or inbetween stems, as they have quite a long barrel, compaired to my usual dart barrels.

Also could just do with the nose of the barrel tapering slightly, into more of a bull nose. As when you hit a flight, the dart tends to do quite a bit of damage to the flight, and also deflects along way off the other dart or even falls to the floor.

Think this is a good option if you like the purist or wade dart grip and want something slightly different.

thanks for the great review. +1!