Editorial Policy

At Decent Darts we aim to provide the most in-depth information and product reviews possible. We are not professional dart players but combined have over 100 years of darts experience.

We therefore provide unbiased opinions based on standardized product testing. You can find out our testing and rating process below but if you feel there is anything we can do to provide more in-depth or better reviews then we’d be happy to receive your feedback.

You can do that by contacting us here

How We Test at Decent Darts

At Decent Darts, we personally test all products that you see in a review. If there’s an individual product that we’ve not personally tested then you won’t see a review for it. We test 100% of our individual product reviews. 

For product roundups, we will occasionally include products that we may not have tested but this is based on our experience playing darts and knowledge of the product. In these instances, we’ll make a disclaimer to say the inclusion is based on opinion and not as a result of us testing it.

Our Testing Process

We have a consistent dart set up to test all products. We’ll use similar equipment around the product being tested, will apply the same testing criteria to each item (explained below) and will always give an unbiased opinion. 

We also purchase all products that we review and will show proof of receipt so that you know the price we paid and where we bought it from. 

If we have received a product to test or review from a manufacturer or brand and have not paid for the product then we will highlight this as a sponsored post. Any sponsored post we create will be clearly marked at the beginning of the review and we’ll always produce an unbiased review.

How We Score Products or Services

Products are all scored out of 10 for an overall rating and this score will be decided based on 3-5 key criteria depending on the products category and then 2-3 additional criteria for any additional features that each product has.

Testing Criteria

Depending on the type of product we are testing, the criteria and our approach will vary as a result. We test three main categories:

Darts

Darts will be tested based on the following criteria: 

  • Grip
  • Cost
  • Material
  • Weight options

To test the dart we follow the same process: 

  1. Throw 1,000 initial darts
  2. Track the 3 dart average of 1,000 darts (we’ll always highlight our current average with our typical match dart to compare against)

As we can’t play to the exact same standard for every review, throwing 1,000 darts is a continuous 2-3 hours worth of practice so this should give a fair assessment for the feel, grip, and performance of each dart. 

Dartboards

We test dartboards in two different ways depending on the type of dartboard. 

For a bristle dartboard we’ll rate it based on the following:

  • Material
  • Cost
  • Wire design
  • Mounting options
  • Durability

To test a bristle dartboard we’ll do the following: 

  1. Throw 300 darts at treble 20
  2. Throw 300 darts at bullseye
  3. Play 10 games of 501

This above will give us an idea of how well a segment recovers during each throw (testing the healing abilities of the board). 

We’ll also be checking for the number of bounce outs to analyze the wire system used and we’ll also be checking for size of segments, ease of doubles/trebles and how clear the segments around the board are. 

For an electronic dartboard we’ll be rating it based on the following: 

  • Material
  • Spider design
  • Electronic scoring system
  • Scoring modes and functionality
  • Accuracy logging each dart

To test this we’ll do the following:

  1. Throw 300 darts at treble 20
  2. Throw 300 darts at bullseye
  3. Play 10 games of 501

We’ll be doing this to see if accurately the spider holds each dart, how responsive the scoring system is, what game modes are available, and a subjective opinion of how enjoyable the board is to use.

Dart Accessories

For dart accessories, the testing criteria will vary depending on the product. For a dartboard light we’ll be checking brightness and dartboard coverage but for something like a dart mat, the rating criteria will be completely different. 

Where possible, we’ll therefore compare it against other products we’ve used that are similar to give a fair comparison.