While they may be a small piece of plastic, dart flights are one of the most important components of a dart. If there isn’t a flight in place, the dart will just fall to the ground before it reaches the dartboard.
This means that it is vital that you keep your dart flights in perfect condition and replace them as soon as required. How often should you change your dart flights?
Change your dart flights when they become visibly altered or damaged. You should also change and practice with your new dart flights before a competition to make sure your darts are in peak condition.
How Do You Know When to Change Your Dart Flights?
Any visible signs of damage to the dart flight will mean that the dart flight needs to be replaced.
You will also need to replace the dart flight if the dart doesn’t seem to be moving as straight through the air as it used to. Remember, one of the main purposes of a dart flight is to keep the dart traveling to its destination completely straight.
So, if your dart seems to be constantly veering off course when it never used to, then it is probably high time to replace that dart flight.
It is likely that you will be replacing a dart flight far more often in a tournament setting than you would if you were playing at home. You may see professional dart players changing their flights several times throughout a match.
This is to help to ensure that their darts are sailing through the air as straight as possible. In a competition environment, you cannot really afford to have your dart be off by even the smallest amount. This means that you will need to do as much as possible to minimize the risk of this happening.
How to Change Your Dart Flights
Replacing dart flights is dead simple. In fact, it is so simple that if you look at the dart you should immediately be able to see how everything is replaced. Well, unless you have a particularly unique dart, but these are rare.
To start with, you will just need to pull that old dart flight off of the dart. It should pull out with ease, even if it is damaged.
Now, grab your new dart flight and open it up. There will be four sides to the dart flight in a ‘cross’ shape.
You can then guide the dart flight onto the end of the dart. Each of these sides should be lined up with one of the grooves. Do not push down too hard, otherwise, you run the risk of damaging the flight. This means that you will need to replace it pretty quickly.
Push the dart flight all the way down to the end of the grooves. This will hold the dart flight in place, and you will be ready to throw your dart!
Do Dart Flights Make a Difference?
Absolutely! In fact, it is a pretty big purchasing decision for most darts players.
The type of flight that you use will determine how straight the dart is able to fly through the air. The cheaper dart flights on the market tend to be made with lower-quality materials. This means that the flight will flap about a little bit which could throw the dart ever so slightly off course.
The quality of the dart flight isn’t the only thing that you need to be worried about, though. You will also need to focus on the type of shape of dart flight that you purchase.
Most people will go down the route of standard dart flights. They are the most common and suit most playstyles. They are particularly good for those that use heavier darts or tend not to throw all that hard at the board. They are easy to get to grips with and, therefore, they tend to be favored by a lot of the newer darts players.
Slimmer flights have been designed for those that play with soft tip darts, or those that have particularly hard throws.
This is just scratching the surface of the flight types too. You have all sorts of shapes and textures available. Each of them will make your darts move in ever so slightly different ways. If you can afford it, we suggest that you invest in several different types of dart flight.
This way you can see which ones gel with you the most. Finding the right dart flight could easily mean the difference between a win and a loss when playing darts.
How to Protect Your Dart Flights with Flight Protectors
If you want to protect your dart flights to ensure that they last as long as possible, then it is worth investing in some flight protectors.
Flight protectors sit on the back of the dart flight. The idea is that the protector will help to keep the dart flight protector the perfect shape to sail through the air. It will also help to ensure that other darts coming in do not hit the dart flight, which could damage it.
These dart flight protectors by unicorn do a great job at keeping your flights protected. They are small, durable, and hardly noticeable.
Using flight protectors is surprisingly easy. Once you have installed a new set of dart flights, the dart flight protector slides into the top part of the dart flight.
It actually slides on the same way as you slid the dart flight into the dart. This means that you want the notches on the flight protector to line up with the dart flight.
What Dart Flights Do the Pros Use?
Remember what we said earlier about there being tons of different shapes and styles of dart flights on the market? Well, despite all this, most professional players will only ever use standard dart flights. The movement is easy to predict, and they work well with darts of all types.
We recommend using only high quality standard dart flights. These standard dart flights from Winmau offer exceptional performance and are extra thick for added durability.
Beyond this, always try to buy the best dart flights that you can afford. They are made from better quality materials that will allow the dart flight to glide through the air easier while, of course, allowing the dart flight to last for as long as possible.
Pros will almost always use dart flights that have been made from nylon. This is because nylon is going to be a whole lot more durable. This will allow the dart flight to last a lot longer.
It also means that the dart flight isn’t going to be ‘flapping’ about as it travels through the air. This means that the dart will go exactly where you want it to go.
You will also find that a lot of the pros will use dart flights that have dimples on them. This is because the dimples provide a little bit more drag which, ultimately, provides the player with more control over their shot.
However, this isn’t really something that is recommended for beginners. Pros tend to play with heavier darts than newer players. If a beginner used a dart with too much drag, the dart would change trajectory before it hits the board, causing a missed shot.
Final Thoughts
Dart flights are one of the most important pieces of your dart. They will dictate how your darts fly through the air and land onto the board.
Its best to change them as often as you need to. If they are visibly damaged, or just aren’t flying straight anymore, go ahead and swap them out with a new set.
Look for a high quality, standard set of flights. If standard flights are good enough for the pros, then they will be good enough for just about anyone.