They came with a couple sets of RD darts I've had. Decent stems for sure. But the ones I had were an aluminum top. One robinhood and the things are toast
As an L-Style/ champagne ring molded flight user, the designa stems hold my flights on the tightest. I've tried just about every brand of nylon/poly stem and those cheap ass designa stems are the best in my opinion! They even hold an L-style flight better than an L-style stem which blew my mind!
Spot on and exactly accurate in my book. Before you got into it I had both my kids rank the stems (they have used all of them) and they matched you as well!
Very nice! It's tough because this was mostly opinion but it was also based on experience of using many of these over the years. 1st and 5th were the easy ones. Cheers Willis 👍
Hey...Robin Hood here! Unfortunately I break ´em all in under ten minutes of darts. Just recently I switched from all nylon shafts to Target´s Aluminium Grip Style and bought an extra of 30 screw-on tops. Now, I can at least play 6 sets with 5 Legs. LOL!!!
@@WorldwideDarts Hey Worldwide! Merry christmas! Saw your answer here just today. Nope, not american; just here in germany we call it aluminium for some reason... but anyway, I even got L-Style shafts and flights for christmas today and guess what!?!?!? third throw Robin Hooded that thing. So, have some nice xmas days! Keep it up!
Been using the Harrows Supergrip, find them excellent. The Mission grips are good too, but I found the ring breaks very easily, a couple of tight groupings usually does it, although I took the rings off the Harrow grips and they are good to go. I'll give the Designa a go now, anything else I've tried from Designa, including Darts sets, have been top-notch. Thanks for your reviews, very informative, all the best, from Ireland.
Great video🎯👍🏻 but you forgot to mention that the rings of the target pro grips are very unstabable. One hit on the ring and it is either bent or broken😫. They are on the right spot at number 4. Harrows Supergrip Stems have the best rings, it is nearly impossible to destroy them
I haven‘t tried the Missions Stems but the Slot Lock rings on them look quite a bit thinner than the Harrows ones, but still thicker and more durable than the Target rings, so i think you ranked all of them 3 in the right order 👍🏻🎯😉 right.
The video was great. As a newbie, info like this is a gem. Definitely helps with narrowing down what to try specifically instead of taking a random stab at a product. Thank you!
Thank you very much Loopy. I'm sometimes a bit hesitant to make videos like this because as I commented elsewhere it's mostly opinion. But I suppose it's opinion based on years of testing out different dart products. Even so, opinions will vary. That being said, the number 1 spot was well deserved and you can't really go wrong with any of the top 4 stems here. Thanks again for your comment 👍
But the Harrows Supergrip has shortest life i ve ever seen. Falling 2-3x on the floor, they are broken. Same happens if Robin Hood is coming, then one of these gripperarms is 100% gone, coz the material is too hard and unflexible... so this means Harrows on 4th and Target on 2nd place ;)
There we go, just starting out in darts, and I have a set of the mission darts with the lock grip stems, but could not figure out how the lock ring works.... of course it's obvious once you see it done :D Thanks for the video!
For me the cosmos are the most expensive but also the durable and God looking stems of them all, and Also the sistem to put the flight in is unbeatble!!! Lshafthts are also great but nothing compare to the cosmos.....the only down side is the price, the are unreal God but also ver expensive, if you have a favorit set of darts like almost everyone, dont esitate and put a cosmo flight and Steam...
I flight punch all my flights so they hardly ever come out with just a cheapo spring in the slot So it all comes down to just how they look to me as I like the use different colour flights and stems just to look at something different in the board
Have you tried to use L-style flights? They are expensive, but I can use designa stems and almost never need to change them. The flights lasts a long time for me aswell. The champagne rings (you buy to the flights) also protects the stem and I hardly ever get robinhoods anymore
I've used pro-grip and super-grip for years and pro-grip is the better shaft without a doubt between those. I hole punch my flights btw and everyone should as well....
Personally I like the Tommys deflectagrip nylon from puredarts.co.uk: good quality and even cheaper than the winner in your test. And even if the quality is only slightly lower than one of the big brands, they all get broken just the same when you do a robin hood!
As if anyone needs another reason to buy Designa stems, they are just good to have around for testing. For example, I always use short stems. Recently however, I bought a set of Designa ultralights in 16 gram just to try something out of my comfort zone. For the love of God, I couldn't get those to fly with short stems. I installed the supplied medium stems and they flew great. The problem was I only had that one set of mediums. So I ordered 10 sets each of tweeines and mediums just to have on hand. For four bucks, I'll have something that should work with almost any barrel I buy. Once I get the dart to fly right, I can always order another stem that may be more pleasing to the eye.
Spot on. They're a great stem to experiment with. Unreal to be able to buy 10 sets for $2. Most shops here in the states will charge $2 for ONE set of nylon stems 👍
I've tried the designa and I believe I tried the pro grips. I actually really like the value you get from the designa stem as well. If my practice area didn't have a concrete floor that has not been kind to many a stem I would probably throw them almost exclusively. I still might throw them exclusively at some point just because of the price and value.
Hey Worldwide, how do you find shipping to the states to be with Darts Corner? As far as time frame and shipping costs if I was to say order sets stems and flights. Ty
I like the fact that you're quick to point out when a product sucks. As for the others in the ranking, I might buy a few Mission sets to go with the Kronos darts I won from your drawing (thanks again to you and Darts Corner for that), but it's the Designas I'd recommend to anyone. They're made by Nodor, I've been using them since 1992, and in those 27.5 years I've only broken ONE. If you want the metal rings you have to buy a bag of them (DC has those bags in various quantities), but even if you do they're still cheaper per set of three stems / three rings than the others and just as good if not better. They handle Robin Hoods like a champ - I've thrown quite a few Robin Hoods over the years and with the Designa stems once you yank the dart out of them after a RH you can't even tell it happened. The Designa / Nodor nylon stems are so good (as are many other nylon stems) that I'm left completely unable to understand why anyone would ever use polycarbs or aluminum.
Thanks Berlin! I always try to tell it like it is here. Sure, Unicorn is never going to send me any products to review now but I'm okay with that. I'd rather the truth get out there instead of me pumping out videos that are nothing more than a commercial for a company. But yes, the Designa killed it here. When a quality product costs 4-5x less than the competitor but performs equally as well then that's a hard to beat combination
Darts corner do there own stems now they are the designa with the darts corner logo on them and the flight ring for 5 sets in a pack is like £2.50 in the I use them 100% of the time the intermediate size great reviews
Excellent comparison video. Been using shot eagle claws but lately theyve not been so good Will try the mission and designas as not used them before. More of these types of video would be great.
Target Pro-grip gave me nothing but trouble. Hard to get flights in, easy to get flights out, broke a lot on bounce-out. Garbage. I prefer aluminum for the most part, but new darts always come with plastic.
I agree about the Target ones. I had a hard time getting the flights in the stems of a recent Nathan Aspinall video. Not a fan of aluminum at all though because they bend easily, cost a small fortune and get REKT when you robinhood them. Plus they scream 1990's to me. Seems like a TON of American players like them though 🤷♂️
I can see that the video is three years old and you must have found out by now how the rings work :) but I am surprised to not have heard you talking about punching the flight first, placing the ring in the hole and then putting the flight back on the shaft. The rings make sure the flights sit tight and keep the shaft together after a robin hood as well. other than that, a great and honest review from you again. I have used all of them but I'd pick the Designa too :) Now I use super grip with spinning top, the logo wear off so easily.
I agree entirely with your rankings here--one line of shafts I've been really pleased with that wasn't listed are the One80 Vice shafts. They hold a flight better than most if not all the other shafts I've tried, and they're cheaper than the Harrows and Target ones I'd bought before. They are a bit pointier at the flight end than other shafts, but I personally really like the shape and the flight grip is top notch.
favorite practice shafts: designa i bought 20 sets of these and i'm pretty sure that's a lifetime supply :P favorite fancy shafts: Winmau prism force. they pretty :D
Great Video once again. When I started playing darts 4 years ago I used non-branded stems that weren't any good. Then switched over to the Harrows and eveutually bought some Target Pro Grips, which I still love to this day. Having said that I'll have to try the Mission and Designa Sets next time I order new Stems
Cheers CG. Any of the top 4 stems were worth trying for sure. Definitely give the Designa stems a go though. Hard to pass on them when they're $2 for 10 sets lol
i recently got some harrows supergrip shafts and i noticed something: when using a slot ring the flight won't go in all the way and it takes quite some effort to get it in there at all. however, when using regular grip rings those go on about halfway, just like a slot ring on a typical shaft and so if you are using punched flights, you can use a regular grip ring in place of an actual slot ring. quick cost comparison: mission slot rings, 3 piece set: 0.50 sterling mission slot rings, titanium, 3 piece set: 0.67 sterling vs XQMax Shaft Springs, 24 piece set: 0.60 sterling so that's almost 6x cheaper then slot rings and 9x cheaper then the titanium rings. not to mention you can use the rings that come with shafts as slot rings. also i'd say these things grip so well you don't actually need any rings at all.
i use 'selecta' shafts. they are indistinguishable from the designa and prolly just the same thing rebranded. bought a pack of 20 sets, and it feels like a lifetime supply. am still keeping some pretty ones on the side though for when i play against other people...
trying out some designa 'vignette' shafts. they look like harrows supergrip fusion shafts without the logo, and have the same shape, resulting in the same situation of being able to use regular grip rings or springs as slot rings. and they are about half the cost at 0,58/0,52 euros per set.
The Unicorn ones are absolute rubbish. I broke 5 out of 6 stems within the week. If your dart falls out of the board and on the the ground, the stem probably won't survive. You can even break them by grouping your darts.
I've always used the supergrip simply because they look better, guess I'm a material guy 😂. Glad they placed high on the list, I don't mind paying extra for a sexy looking stem
I play soft tip and often have bounce out due to the heavier dart I use. Since the beginning, I've been using Cosmo and I broke a gear stem every 2 weeks on average. Though after I try using the harrows supergrip, I broke 2 shafts in 30 minutes. 1 Cosmo stem last me around 16hrs of intense practice, and supergrip stems last me 15min only... If I only replace the broken one every time it breaks, that's 10 times more expensive than Cosmo!
I have them all and would rank them like this. I threw with the Designa less than 5 minutes and one of the four pins snapped clean off (no rings on the stems), no bending just flew off. The Mission plastic seem to be softer than Target, Unicorn and Harrows. So the latter have the best build according to me when it comes to quality. Talking about how tight the flight attaches to the stem I agree completely as described in the video. Ranking the rings, the best first, Unicorn, Harrows, Target and Mission where Unicorn beats them all hands down while Harrows are good and Target and Mission I would change them directly. Anyway, my favorites are the Target, they feel nice for me but I change the rings while Harrows are the best in my opinion.
The progrip are the most accurate and the supagrip are the least accurate to light maybe causing ugly resonances that need to be considered. The designer are good no doubt stronger than all off them and well damped. Unicorn stems are enigmatic I still mess with them convinced greatness is possible somehow. Harrows along with clear progrip types are awful accuracy.I dig the progrip split sizes the mission brand I won't touch ever.
Omg.. it FIGURES..lol.. i just ordered a wack of shafts just yestarday order still being processes in fact still... i picked like 6 different ones have 3 of yours coming in the review and a few other brands as well to try... lol... and even bigger kicker recieved a black friday sale for darts corner later that day after i sent in the order ..lol.. so that late as well...lol.. too funny how the universe works sometimes.. but all good.. still not gonna stop me from banging some 180s taking names and winning some games today at our hometown 2nd annual sauerkraut cup invitational ... lol.. you really are the best and agree with all of your reviews so far.. amazing work and thanks for this review you are the boss.. !!! Have a great day see your next reviews soon.. 👍👊✌
I now tested more with my shaft break problem: My shafts only break when i use the tweenie/intermedium shafts. Short shafts never break and medium only sometimes. But its crazy how often the tweenies break thats just not normal. The sad thing is that the intermediate are my Most favourite to throw. I now ordered a flight puncher and a gabriel clemens l style flight. I hope that helps me. But crazy that only the intermediate shaft breaks. Shaft rings reduced that a little bit but thats not much shaft rings helped. I look forward to the new flights i bought
The one advantage that Target has 8s the number of a available stem lengths. All companies have stems at 34mm, 41mm and 48mm, while Target also offers lengths inbetween with 38mm and 44mm. For me that's the main reason for buying them, to get my preferred dart length. Other than that I prefer the Harrows Supergrips or the Winmau Prism Force because of the little grip zone on the stem
I reckon the white target are the most accurate stem but the cosmo just too pretty and too easy and too comfy. The L style are pretty but their prickly. I could imagine there more durable. The progrip ends work if your old and need glasses you just turn it until it goes in another plus for cosmo don't glasses on.
Hello friend does a 1mm longer stem make difference in your trow, because some darts stems (shafts) are 1 mm longer then 47mm they are 48mm especially when you search those stems with no Firm Name? Keep it up...
Red Dragon Nitrotech! only downside: whenever you replace the flight you need to replace the stem as well. It holds the flight so well that you ruin the stem before it comes of
I would suggest that a follow up video to show the breakability of the prongs from robinhoods. You could simulate it by simply bending the prongs of the stem back and forth without the flight inserted, until it snaps. I've experimented with a few different stems and concluded poly stems can take a lot more bending. But I punch all my flights so that the ring is positioned much closer to the end of the stems, which keeps the prongs from peeling back as much.
should have got the gripper 4 long length those match the other brands medium more closely the unicorns come in 4 lengths i actually love the g4 the amount of times u get a robin hood and the prong survives u can just bend it back into place fine defo need to use punched flights with them though my only issue with them is the threads on them are a bit too thick for my target darts and tyhey are prone to snapping the thread in the barrel if the fall on hard floors
I bought the flight punch for the supergrips a few months ago and haven't had a flight pop of yet. Not sure if it makes a huge difference but fot $6 what the heck.
One more thing pertaining to my previous post, that's how I found out that the Designa poly stems (40 cents) are more durable than the Harrows Supergrip poly stems. And the Designa durable nylon stems snapped way quicker than the other two unfortunately.
To improve the video, I would've added rings to the designa stems to more fairly compare, I bet they would've been just as strong as the competitors with a ring but it's the lack of a ring which makes them cheaper
I have a problem: I threw today 2 hours and 12 stems broke in that time. Its very dissapointing A Quarter of the Shaft breaks always. I dont know what to do. I use the designa durable nylon from Dartscorner in black. With tge target bolide 01 21g with standard flights and the intermediate edition is my setup Do you have any idea?
I would try both although imo if you punch your flights that could lead to more robinhoods. If you want to eliminate them 100% get some sort of champagne cap or WizCaps . You shouldn't be breaking stems at that rate. I honestly don't remember the last time I broke a stem
@@WorldwideDartsI know I keep saying this but I honestly do believe that you could go pro. Have you tried, or would you consider trying? If I were anywhere near your level I definitely would. Take care buddy peace
Been using the Designa's for the last four or five days. Fine first two days. Then started having flights slip out on the way to the board. Bought some locking springs, but don't seem to tighten up much at all. After twenty minutes practise yesterday, one of the springs was almost touching my darts barrel. Slid it back up, and it's stayed there, but not promising. Flights popped out a lot last night, and springs came off too three or four times. Going back to my old Deflectagrip. Never used a locking spring on them, but hold the flight. Bought some with springs though, as it seems to protect the tynes. I think the modern stems are too hard, and shiny. So they aren't as grippy, and need locking springs because of this frailty.
Are the Target Pro Grip Spin still considered nylon? I know you are not a fan of spinning stems, but have been using them for a while with Robson F-shape flights. Also tried the Harrows Carbons you reviewed on my backup set, but I seem to get more deflection related fall outs with non-spin stems. It could be a combination of lighter darts and softer throw, idk.
I started playing in the 90 s , at that time I found that plastic or plastic type stems had a problem of breaking off even inside the dart if you had a bounce out. So since then I started using aluminum exclusively. Is that less of a problem with today's materials?
I have just ordered a load of the designa ones from darts corner, the price and even postage is cheaper than what I can get from any place in Australia 🤷🏻♂️
Awesome to score stems at that price isn't it? If you order again you can use the discount code newslettersignup and save 10%. It's a one time use code only. Works on most items. Doesn't work on sale items though
Would like to see you test the stress points of the shafts, at the threads ( nothing worse during play than the shaft break off with the threads stuck in the barrel) and at the prongs. And maybe the weight. I had a USA dart store pushing the carbon stems for $20, I used them 5 times and one broke off at the threads, I put my Harrow click fit back on and been using the same set for over a year with no problems just changing the flights.
Gave the Designa a try and broke 4 of them in one league night. This was on a soft tip board, no carpet or cushion on the ground, every bounce out was a broken shaft. When they break they are not easy to remove, you must use a dart tool or shaft remover to get them out. By the end of the night I was using my wife's Stratas. Going back to Target....
