Condor’s, love ‘em or hate ‘em?
In recent months the Condor flight system has taken the darting world by storm. For those just starting out in the world of darts, the “Condor” is an “integrated darts flight and shaft system” according to the Japanese company that first engineered and manufactures the product. Effectively, the stem and flight are all one piece rather than the traditional separated stem and flight.
So a friend who shall remain nameless asked me some weeks back, “hey Paul, do you stock Condor’s at all?” I said, “Steve, no I don’t but I will look into it for you mate”. Since then and after buying sets from a local competitor and suppliers offshore, I begun using the Condor flight setup myself along with my normal barrel. With this in mind, I will provide what I think of the Condor flight system from the weeks I have used them.
First off, the Condor flights have been popularised by the Portuguese PDC dart professional, “The Special One” Jose de Sousa. You may know him by his nine-dart game in the Premier League (night 4) in early April of this year. Or by his tops, tops, tops, cheeky 120 finish in the Premier League (night 16) in late May. (Little is said about the 41 setup to leave 120 though). Or maybe his record number of 180’s having banged out a total of 81 maximums in this year’s Premier League? Anyway, something is definitely going right for him, is it the Condor’s? Maybe, maybe not. But they have certainly helped his game, but not his counting.
A few weeks ago, it was interesting to see the world’s 7th ranked player, Dave Chisnall also using Condor flight’s for the first time throughout the Cazoo World Cup of Darts in early September too.
So, let’s take a look at the pro’s and con’s of the Condor (mainly) according to the manufacturer.
To keep this simple, there are two types of Condor’s. There’s the Condor flights and the Condor Axe flights. Both are a one-piece stem and flight system with the difference being the Condor flight has a flexible plastic stem that gives or flexes when a dart hits it. The Condor Axe flights are rigid and takes the hits from following or subsequent darts with ease. Both are a one piece “darts flight and shaft system”.
Here, we’ll examine the Condor Axe flight.
The pro’s:
There’s no shaft to flight separation during play.
Reduces and keeps air resistance to a minimum.
Durable and longer lasting.
Allows for incredibly close grouping.
The con’s:
A set of Condor Axe flights will set you back over $20, much more than traditional setup.
Lightens a touch the overall weight of the entire setup, so needs time to get used to.
The final “pro” of the Condor Axe flight that it “allows for incredibly close grouping” is the key!
There is no coincidence that de Sousa scored the most 180’s in this year’s Premier League and that he was the only player to be using Condor flights.
In the past couple of months since “testing” out the Condor Axe flights myself. My own game has seen plenty of more 180’s scored versus my old setup used previously. Each time I get the T20 with the first dart, the next dart only needs to hit the flight and slide down the shaft and barrel and land very close to the previously thrown dart. Hence raises your chances of scoring 140’s or 180’s.
The upshot? I would certainly recommend giving the Condor flights setup a try as they truly do help you lift your game by providing tighter grouping and bigger scores.
Like with any new set of darts, the setup of using Condor’s does take a bit of getting used to as it changes the balance and weight of the overall darts setup. So, using the Condor setup as opposed to the traditional stems and flights requires plenty of practice, but once mastered, you’ll be surprised how effective they really are.
The Condor’s are available to view at www.bullseyedarts.co.nz. New Zealand’s largest online only darts store with over 700 darts, stems, flights and plenty more to choose from.
Straight Arrows everyone.
