Electronic Dart Boards with those soft-tip darts

[Agentbolt]

Any time I go out to the bars, I always look for a dart board, because I love a quick game of Cricket or Cutthroat cricket. I want to get a dartboard for my house without spending a fortune on it, and my roommates are paranoid about holes in the wall if I go with a normal steel-tip set, so I've been thinking about getting an electronic one.

I've looked around and found some decent-looking ones for about 50 bucks, that keep cricket scores right on the face. I'm curious if anyone has experience with these soft-tip kind, are they any good? Do the darts bounce out a lot from not hitting one of the holes dead-on? Are there any serious problems with them I'm not aware of?

Old thread revived by spammer.
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[hanoverphist]

ive always had one of these at my houses. i buy the arachnid boards, they are the same ones in the bars. usually good stuff, i still have the first one i got from my dad as a house warming gift 20 yrs ago. i also have a steel tip in the backyard, with a 6X6 foot cork behind it for the drunk tossers.

 

[lokiju]

My parents used to have a plastic tip one when I was a kid and it sucked.

But that was a good 20 years ago now so I'd think there'd be better ones...

 

[Tiamat]

The cheap ones, they bounce out easily. I've never played on any of the more sophisticated ones. I personally prefer the steel-tip sets as they aren't too expensive while also spending a few bucks on a drywall spackle kit for before move-out.

 

[LS21]

i like em a lot.. cheap as hell, makes funny electronic noises, good for parties, without putting holes in your walls

i also have a "real" set with steel tips, i like those too. i would use the steel in a basement or something, but for casual play use softtip inside

 

[Modeps]

They're ok but the tips on the darts seem to be very prone to bending

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: Agentbolt
I'm curious if anyone has experience with these soft-tip kind, are they any good? Do the darts bounce out a lot from not hitting one of the holes dead-on? Are there any serious problems with them I'm not aware of?

I wouldn't think there would be too much of a different between the soft-tip kind you find at bars and one you'd buy for your house. Obviously the whole thing is smaller, but if you secure it to the wall well enough I think it would be fine.

I only play soft-tip darts (at bars and I play in the independent league here) and they don't usually bounce out if you don't hit a hole dead-on. That mainly happens if the dart wasn't thrown very hard.

The darts are cheap enough to buy, and replacement tips, flights, and shafts are cheap too. I definitely enjoy playing soft-tip darts. I'd like to get a nice board myself when I get my own place.

 

[vi edit]

I've got an Arachnid as well. It's great for scoring cricket games.

There's some serious drawbacks though:

1) Tons of bent/busted tips. Buy a giant box of replacement tips.
2) Even though they are "soft tip" they'll still put a hole in drywall. If you aim sucks, put up some sort of back drop.
3) LOUD NOISES. Seriously...I hope you don't have a neighbor on the other wall. I put up a couple of those drop ceiling tiles behind my board to help absorb some of the shock/sound, but it still isn't great.

If you have a quality set of darts you can throw rather well on them. I haven't had many darts not "stick".

 

[Tifababy]

I bought an Arachnid Galaxy II dartboard off of ebay a couple years ago. I got it for a steal, but it's probably more than most people want to pay for a dartboard. Plastic tips are cheap, I bought 1000 of them when I got my dart board for under $10 and probably haven't gone through more than 50.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Tifababy/dartboard.jpg

I've played darts when I was extremely drunk and I've never missed the entire dartboard, so I don't think holes in the wall should be a problem.

 

[mcvickj]

I'm a steel-tip darter. My home bar has over 35 wall mounted boards. If you were to mount your dartboard on a backboard or used a surround you wouldn't have to worry about holes in the wall. For example - http://www.a-zdarts.com/bkbd/bkbdmain.asp

There is only one place that I know of around my area who has soft tip boards. Full size Valley Cougar 7 boards iirc. Same size as what Tifababy has. With the soft tip boards you get what you pay for. Arachnid makes several nice home boards. A good place to ask some question and read reviews it http://www.sewa-darts.com.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: mcvickj
I'm a steel-tip darter. My home bar has over 35 wall mounted boards. If you were to mount your dartboard on a backboard or used a surround you wouldn't have to worry about holes in the wall. For example - http://www.a-zdarts.com/bkbd/bkbdmain.asp

:Q

Hows about you post some pics of your "home bar" :Q

 

[RagingBITCH]

Maybe I suck at throwing darts, but I've broken the tip of *every* plastic dark I've ever thrown. Regular darts FTW (for me anyway)

 

[mcvickj]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: mcvickj
I'm a steel-tip darter. My home bar has over 35 wall mounted boards. If you were to mount your dartboard on a backboard or used a surround you wouldn't have to worry about holes in the wall. For example - http://www.a-zdarts.com/bkbd/bkbdmain.asp

:Q

Hows about you post some pics of your "home bar" :Q

There are a few pictures on their site. http://www.thewestwood.us/darts.htm I'll have to bring my camera in next time and take some better pictures. Our next season starts up the last week of January.

There are also some images here. http://www.shoottherapids.info/

 

[hanoverphist]

ya, i thought he meant his house too...

 

[zinfamous]

I've never liked them. Just get a real dart board and mount it on a large piece of plywood to protect the walls.

keep drunks and children away from the darts (well...the first is probably impossible; so just keep the asshats away)

 

[edro]

3) LOUD NOISES. Seriously...I hope you don't have a neighbor on the other wall. I put up a couple of those drop ceiling tiles behind my board to help absorb some of the shock/sound, but it still isn't great.

That's why I have always hated them. That harsh loud bang when the darts hit. Traditional boards have the nice thunk sound.

BTW, when I was in college, my roommates and I had a dart board but never used it.

 

[dabuddha]

This thread reminded me of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flP02rznSLE&playnext=1&list=PLAD393F690B32EAA3