By Kurt Bevan
One of the more interesting parts of the huge launch from Winmau on 25th October 2023 was the large range of 85% tungsten barrels released. In total six of Winmau's players received a Winmau Pro-Series 85% tungsten release including 2022 Masters Champion Joe Cullen and three time world champion Michael van Gerwen.
It's not often manufacturers release 85% tungsten barrels, often sticking to 80% for their more affordable ranges, but Winmau here have created some suitable and more affordable alternatives for fans of these players and their darts, for the most part.
The price of each set of the 85% darts as of 23/10/2023 are £39.95, which although is cheaper than the majority of darts in the current market, I do believe to be seen as a true 'cheaper alternative' these darts would need to be less than £35.
Most of the darts feature the exact same barrel shape of the players' match darts that are 90-95% tungsten as well as featuring black coatings and player brand colour paint.
Below is a summary of each of the darts and their prices along with images and links to purchase. Expand each title to see content!
The MvG 85% barrels feature a very similar grip pattern to the MvG Exact with alternating sized rings. These barrels feature a black coating with the signature MvG green paint within the wider grooves.
MvG fans especially will be pleased with this dart as the barrels are replicated almost exactly in terms of grip. But will offer slightly different dimensions.*
These darts are available in 23, 25g Steel Tip and 20g Soft Tip
* Information on dimensions currently unavailable at the time of writing
The MvG Pro-Series 85% Tungsten Darts are available to purchase here.
Overall these darts offer a nice and slightly more affordable alternative to the current range of 90% tungsten Winmau darts.
I think the real benefit of this release is the dimensions of the barrels, all of which being 50.8mm long. This means the MvG, Darrel Gurney and Florian Hempel darts are significantly shorter than their match darts. These three darts specifically keep the same style and grip, which may benefit some players looking for a shorter version of these player darts.
All darts are available at Premier Darts and can be bought with a 5% discount by using the code 'MD5' at checkout.