Darts Review: Harrows 18g Assassin vs Talon 25g

Playing darts is just one of those things, that once you have caught the bug it just wont go away.

I can think of few other games where quite good players and not quite so good players can play together and still enjoy themselves over a few pints. You might not win every game, especially early on, but with all things practice makes perfect, and you never know 100% what is going to happen each time you step up to the oche. (the line you throw from)

One of the more daunting things as a beginning player is picking a set of darts. Most players (myself included) start off with an inexpensive set of brass darts and then progress up to varying degrees of higher quality tungsten darts.

The Problem with darts, that while there are difference in the quality and consistency of manufacture, there is no absolute best or worst other than what is best or worst for you and your style (and budget).

That being said, sometimes a little insight and perspective can be helpful, so I will be doing a comparative review between two sets of mid range darts that I own personally.

I hope this review might be useful to you in making your selections.

The darts being reviewed are:

Talon 25g

VS

Harrow's Assassin 18g

The Harrow's Assassin:

The Assassin has a relatively lightly etched grooved knurling along the entire barrel. It gives it a slightly slippery feel, but is perhaps a reasonable compromise as what traction it does allow is along the entire surface of the barrel, it is not heavy enough to affect your release.

The Talon:

The word I would best use to describe the grip of the Talon is 'confident'. It is the reason I purchased the Talon set in the first place. Only draw back (and this can be big) is that there is a chance of the knurling catching your finger as you release. That being said, all things considered it seems less likely to do so and a better grip than other darts I have tried with similar amounts of knurling.

Winner:

The Talon. Not that the Assassin is bad at all, Just that the Talon feels great in the hand. Maybe a confidence boost for a developing player?

The Talon:

The Talon's very secure grip along with a weight that allows the dart to do all the work makes for a very satisfying throw.

The draw backs are that at 25 grams it is a fatter barrel and you can find yourself inside a treble without a lot of room to see to sneak in your next dart. To further compound issues, the relatively deep grooving on the barrel can cause a second dart that would otherwise slide in alongside a smoother dart to bounce out from time to time. No not all the time, but it is an issue.

The Harrow's Assassin:

With our Assassin at a full 7 grams lighter the difference in feel is night and day. I am finding that I am needing a much higher level of focus (so far at least) to keep the Harrow's Assassin 18g dart from going astray.

That being said, with the much thinner barrel you can sink a dart pretty much anywhere into a treble and still be able to see options for a shot that an average player has a good chance of making.

Winner:

On the throw the Talon might edge out the Harrow's Assassin, but the barrel size and increased chance of deflections/bounce outs is huge. Decision goes to Harrow's Assassin 18g.

What else can be said about each dart to make it stand out?

The Talon 25g:

• Overall slightly better perception of quality
• Really Sweet case
• It looks like you have 'nice darts'

Harrow's Assassin 18g:

• About $20 cheaper
• What I am using right now

Well here we have two sets of mid-range darts that have both their benefits and their flaws,

Which is the winner? To be honest i don't 100% know yet. I like my Talon's but right now I'm giving the more slender Assassin a go.

In the meantime, which of these two darts wins it in your books?