Harrows NX90 21 gram Steel Tip Darts

This is another barrel that at first sight is a real eye catcher.

The barrels are plain natural Tungsten (silver) and really stand out.

50mm long barrels, in what I would describe as a Torpedo shape package, starting at 3.85mm at the point opening up to its full 6.8mm diameter after 23.6mm from the point. Looking at the profile it’s difficult to identify the shape as an ellipse or a taper because of the grip.

The last 26.4mm the barrel actually tapers down a 5.95mm diameter to meet the shaft. The profile overall points toward a barrel that is front loaded.

I am not even going to try to describe the grip profile. It’s a bit busy and is comprised of a combination of micro ring grooves, scallop cut rings and standard narrow rings.

The darts come with mid length Black Supergrip shafts, Yellow and Black NX90 styled flights and black standard length points.

Packed in a stand out Yellow on Black packaging with a slide out tray that holds Darts in a point protector, flights and shafts.

Out of the pack and on to the board was an interesting experience. My first throw was a bit of an eye opener. I normally hold the barrel firmly when sighting and throwing but 2022 was the year of the ‘dart grips you back’ barrel and the NX90 was no different in this department.

The busy grip really took hold of my soft fingers, the result being some really awful releases (resulting in some bizarre angles that the darts stuck in the board). This happened so many times I was ready to give up and move on to an easier set to throw.

Phase one of the tuning process involved swapping to a short shaft.

Phase two, focus and reimagine the grip on the barrel, over the next few throws I relaxed the grip and worked on a precise release action. Slowly it came together and eventually progressed to my regular practice drills with reasonable success.

The problem (for want of a better word) was that I slipped into my old habits, over gripping and my old release action.

I could for short bursts throw them in an unfamiliar way but when I threw them my usual way the results weren’t as good or consistent.

If this were to be a permanent change of darts so be it but, in this case as a short term ‘practice run’ it’s simply not worth retraining.

On the whole I like the shape of the darts; it’s the grip profile I have trouble getting used to. It’s on the more aggressive side, no matter how much you try to ignore it and get on with your game it’s always in the back of your mind.

The grip rates as a 3.5 - 4.0 out of 5, like I said it’s there, you can’t ignore it and it definitely won’t go away. As a value for money option, 90% Tungsten at the price of some 80% Tungsten Darts is fantastic value for money.

Love the look, the weight, the style but these finger magnets are not for me.