Proeclipse/Not impressed

Tonplus

My wife bought me a Blade4 for Christmas with a dart cabinet..I got it exchanged for a pro eclipse as our house is Timber framed and has all Stud walls..!!I only got it up about 4 weeks ago and today had to turn the Board for the 5th time as the Treble 20 segment and above' the bristles are worn out and the darts are falling out..I play maybe 2 to 2 and a half hours a night..At this rate the Board will only last another couple if months..!!

What are the best wearing boards on the market at the minute..? Nodor or is the blade 4 any better..Any suggestions would be Good..Thanks

Tonplus

Tonplus wrote: »

My wife bought me a Blade4 for Christmas with a dart cabinet..I got it exchanged for a pro eclipse as our house is Timber framed and has all Stud walls..!!I only got it up about 4 weeks ago and today had to turn the Board for the 5th time as the Treble 20 segment and above' the bristles are worn out and the darts are falling out..I play maybe 2 to 2 and a half hours a night..At this rate the Board will only last another couple if months..!!

What are the best wearing boards on the market at the minute..? Nodor or is the blade 4 any better..Any suggestions would be Good..Thanks

I bought a Blade 4 last year, have used it in total for around 6mths, 5/6 days a week for at least 30mins a day(I don't time my sessions just get in a bit of everything until I feel I've covered most) and it still looks brand new.

As seen in the BDO you can get a lot of bounce-outs in comparison to the ProEclipse(some days I may have 1/2, others none) but most of mine came from hitting the outer ring and not the actual board marking wires.

I've been happy with it anyway.

mackeire

Eclipse Pro are good. ive had one on the wall for the best part is two years and it gets a lot of use and is still going strong!

id always recommend them.

Tonplus

Thanks for the replies lads..!!

IL Be trying something other than the ProEclipse next time..They are a Good Board for heavy Scoring' but the Durability is very Disappointing ..!!

After 4 or so weeks having to turn the Board for the fifth Time' as the scoring area bristles are worn out and the Darts either "fallout"or just about hang there' then that says to me' Not a Quality board..Of course there is a good bit of play left in the Board yet but they will be another brand on the wall next time Round.

minty16

I find the Blade 4 and the Eclipse Pro to wear very quickly. My uncle has a Nodor board for years now which still looks brand new every time I play on it. Now im not sure how much he plays but im talking a good few years here. Anyone recommend a Nodor?

gramar

I'm also in the market for a new board. I bought a Blade 4 last March and nearly a year on I need to change. I play about 2-3 hours a week so as you can see it's far from heavy use and as Tonplus says above about his Eclipse pro 'bristles are worn out and the darts either "fallout"or just about hang there'. This is especially noticiable
around the triples and bull. I've turned the board so many times that I've no decent black segments left and the board looks raggy. On the plus side very few bounce outs with the wire between the outer bull and bull producing the most but other than that hardly any.

There are a lot of different opinions about the same boards so how do some last years and others months? Is it to do with a dodgy production lot, do they have 'seconds' quality boards that we don't know about or is it just down to luck?

statto25

I have a Blade 4 since before Christmas and its wearing very quickly. I play about seven hours a week and its looking battered already. My blade 3 was a far better board

chalkie 501

A few years ago i went through 3-4 boards in a single year, id say i tried a different make each time and none of them lasted more than a few months, in fairness i was spending 2/3 hours on it 4 or 5 nights a week.
it turned out that the points on my darts were the cause of the problem, they had been sharpened so many times the points were little more than stubs and were ruining the boards. since then i got them re-pointed and my current board has lasted about 2 years.
its probably not the problem but how are your points Tonplus?

krustydoyle

A good friend of mine got a Bulls Advantage II last year and it looks like he only took it out of the box, seriously good board and def worth the extra few quid you need to cough up for it..

Rented Mule

statto25 wrote: »

I have a Blade 4 since before Christmas and its wearing very quickly. I play about seven hours a week and its looking battered already. My blade 3 was a far better board

That's funny that you say that because I liked my Blade 2 better than my Blade 3. I was having the same issues that the OP mentions. None of them held up very well with moderate usage.

I recently bought two Blade4s. One is in the house and the other at our local for our league night. Both are far better than the Blade 3s that we were playing on. I would guess like anything else, you're going to get a few bad ones in every bunch.

statto25

Rented Mule wrote: »

That's funny that you say that because I liked my Blade 2 better than my Blade 3. I was having the same issues that the OP mentions. None of them held up very well with moderate usage.

I recently bought two Blade4s. One is in the house and the other at our local for our league night. Both are far better than the Blade 3s that we were playing on. I would guess like anything else, you're going to get a few bad ones in every bunch.

My local bought three blades 4's for a competition after Christmas and they are all wrecked. Saying that they were all purchased from Argos on sale (including mine) so maybe they are getting sub standard boards? Ive had cheapo boards last longer than these.

gramar

Has anyone tried a Bulls Advantage board that Krusty has mentioned above?

Tonplus

chalkie 501 wrote: »

A few years ago i went through 3-4 boards in a single year, id say i tried a different make each time and none of them lasted more than a few months, in fairness i was spending 2/3 hours on it 4 or 5 nights a week.
it turned out that the points on my darts were the cause of the problem, they had been sharpened so many times the points were little more than stubs and were ruining the boards. since then i got them re-pointed and my current board has lasted about 2 years.
its probably not the problem but how are your points Tonplus?

Hey Chalkie..I was starting to think it was the Darts that are the problem..They are 27grm darts and i keep them Quite sharp..Although they have not got a lot of use up until after christmas past as ive been out of the Game for a while' so the points are pretty Good..I was thinking maybe it was the weight of the dart that was the problem with wearing out the Bristles..?

Just on the subject of Dart Tips..I did not know you could replace dart tips until i got a brochure in the post..How are dart tips attached to the barrel..?Are the threaded And hoe do you replace them..? And what are the best ones to use..? I suppose if you throw unicorn darts then unicorn tips would be the way to go..? Any info on this greatly appreciated..?

Ivefoundgod

You can do it very roughly and poorly by wrapping the barrel in a cloth, put it in a vice and removing the point with a pliers then putting a small bit of adhesive on the new point and inserting it into the barrel. If you like your darts I wouldn't recommend this method, we did it with cheap brass darts you get with a board and while it worked, I wouldn't like to do it with my nice sets.

So instead of that, you'll have to buy a repointer, (around €50) off of the online shops. The points are not universal (e.g. Red Dragon points don't fit all darts, Target Points the same) but a quick google should point you towards one of the larger forums which have good information about what points fit each brand of dart. Alternatively, Dartscorner offer a repointing service for a fiver I think but its hassle as you have to send your darts off and wait for them to send them back. Hope that helps.

Where did your friend get the Bulls Krusty? I would love one but its too expensive to get delivered to Ireland from the online shops and I don't know anywhere that sells them.

buster180

Tonplus wrote: »

Just on the subject of Dart Tips..I did not know you could replace dart tips until i got a brochure in the post..How are dart tips attached to the barrel..?Are the threaded And hoe do you replace them..? And what are the best ones to use..? I suppose if you throw unicorn darts then unicorn tips would be the way to go..? Any info on this greatly appreciated..?

If you live near Dun Laoghaire Mike’s Bikes on Patrick Street will repoint the darts for you. It only costs €3

chalkie 501

buster180 wrote: »

If you live near Dun Laoghaire Mike’s Bikes on Patrick Street will repoint the darts for you. It only costs €3

thats a serious deal,i re-pointed mine myself and it nearly killed me:p
i would gladly drive to Dun Laoghaire the next time they need re-pointing!!

Tonplus

Thanks for the info Gentlemen.!!

ivefoundgod' thanks for the advice..I dont think id feel competent about doing that with a Good set of darts.At 50 smacks for a repointer..I wonder would it be worth the money.my darts dont need new tips at the moment i was just curious as to how the job was done. My darts are John lowes..The 27grms i had for years where in my car that got stolen and burned out..So i purchased a set of 25grms but found the barrel was shorter and i coulnt throw as good with them..So i sold them and got a new set of 27grm ones again and they havent seen much use as ive only started throwing again..I wonder how long a set of tips last on an average Dart with constant sharpening..? It used to be said that darts sharpen themselfs..Although with the new Blade type wiring on modern boards i think that no longer applies..!!

Thats pretty Cheap Chalkie..Il keep an eye on the forum if i ever need new tips..Maybe that guy has a postal service..?

Ive tried to post a few photos on the forum but cant get them to work.I blue tooth them from my phone onto the laptop and on other forums "non dart" i upload them to photobucket and can insert them.I have tried to copy and paste but it wont work.When i click on insert image' it asks for an Url..Can anyone tell me What an url is..?i took a few of the wear on the eclipse pro to show what i mean.

gramar

Speaking of sharpening darts - I have one of those little round unicorn ones but I don't think it does a great job. Does anyone use a flat sharpening stone or anything else that works well?

Ivefoundgod

In my limited experience I don't think you'd need to repoint a dart for a long time, I'd say at least a year. Remember that the point should be rounded and not like an arrow, that way you get less bounce outs. I've never felt the need to sharpen any of the points on any of my darts but I throw them fairly hard and I know others who have to do it regularly to grip the board.

I'd say only change the points if you want to add something different like grip on the point or the board gripper points you can get. No need to change them after a few months just for the sake of it.

Not great about uploading images but the url is what is written at the top your browser in the box (for boards its http://www.boards.ie).

NeoRox

gramar wrote: »

Speaking of sharpening darts - I have one of those little round unicorn ones but I don't think it does a great job. Does anyone use a flat sharpening stone or anything else that works well?

Those round stones are useless. Sand paper is what I used to use.

gramar

NeoRox wrote: »

Those round stones are useless. Sand paper is what I used to use.

Didn't think of that. I'll give it a try. The points are rounded and I usually only use the stone to take any spurs that form when they hit the floor (tiled floor, when they fall point first the impact can flatten the dart head a bit). I think the problem may be the board as it's getting a bit raggy after nearly a year and doesn't hold the darts nearly as well as it used to.

seiphil

will wetting the board make it last longer, I work in a pub and buying pro eclipse boards from argos, but are getting destroyed very quickly.....i am guessing the light may be a strong on it and the heat is damaging it, so was thinking of dampening it from time to time ??
Also, a few of the players throw their darts very hard which I guess isnt helping

buster180

Wetting the board will destroy it Just stop buying boards from Argos. And if the board is in constant use it will get damaged.

gramar

buster180 wrote: »

Wetting the board will destroy it Just stop buying boards from Argos. And if the board is in constant use it will get damaged.

Someone wrote on the forum before that Argos boards might be 'seconds' quality.
Mine is a balde 4 from Argos and it's in bits. I told the missus a week ago I needed
a new one and she wouldn't believe me. She's throws a few in the garage sometimes
and yesterday when half of her good darts didn't hold and dropped to the floor she saw
it for herself.

By the way water won't do any good.

Ivefoundgod

I've heard lots of stories about Argos boards being of poor quality from various forums, I've only bought one board from them, a Blade 4 which came with the Lakeside Cabinet and I can't say i've had any troubles with it. Great quality and a big improvement on my Eclipse Pro which didn't last well. I've heard other people asking to take a look at the board before you buy it, might be an idea for you. At least then you can see if it's a dodgy looking board before buying.