Aaron Beeney Steel Tip Darts
After winning his PDC Tour Card in January Aaron Beeney has taken big leaps and is finding his feet within the professional circuit. One of those leaps is his brand new darts to help him on his journey in his professional darting career.
Aaron Beeney spent a long time working with our design team in order to perfect his dart. His match weight is 24 grams.
Barrels = 90% Tungsten
Supplied with 100 Micron Flights
Dimensions:
24g – Length 50.8mm – Max width 7.5mm
22g – Length 50.8mm – Max width 7.1mm
Point Length = 32mm (26mm protruding)
Designed by Aaron Beeney together with Zachary Thornton & Matthew Birch.
Darts Review Channel Review:
Media:
Review by Joe Reid
Possibly the most unique dart of the entire Loxley range, the new Loxley Aaron Beeney darts are a true masterpiece when it comes to cutting edge design – a high level of intricacy and precision rarely seen on darts that feature conventional grip styles.
The darts are designed for, and used by PDC professional Aaron Beeney, who won his PDC Tour Card back in January this year, defeating Jarred Cole on the third day to claim a spot on the professional circuit for the very first time. With his shirts already on general sale, Aaron needed a dart that both matched the image of himself created through his ‘Yin and Yang’ inspired shirts, yet also suited his unique style of throw, in order to allow him to compete at the very top of the professional game.
Aaron’s darts come in his match weight of 24g, and are made from a 90% tungsten billet. The darts are 50.8mm long, with a thinly cut ring grip across the full length of the barrel. At their thickest point, the darts measure at 7.5mm in width, yet are far thinner towards the centre, at the lowest point in the scallop. They come fitted with a standard black point, which allows for greater board grip in comparison to the silver points found on some of the current Loxley darts.
Aaron’s darts arrive in a simple plastic outer casing, which contains a cardboard insert on both the front, and back – promoting both the darts, and Aaron himself. Out of every set of Loxley darts, for me these are my favourite in terms of packaging. The blue, black and gold insert looks easy on the eye, and stands out well – complimenting the black and white barrels seen through the window to the left of the packaging.
Inside the plastic casing is a standard black bar case, which contains the darts, which have been fitted in a point protector to ensure the darts stay secure during transport. A set of short Loxley black nylon stems are already attached to the barrels, with three of the stylish signature Aaron Beeney flights contained within the case as well.
The primary point of focus for these darts is the central scallop, which acts as a guide for Aaron while throwing. This ensures he picks up the dart in the exact same position after every throw, resulting in greater consistency at the oche. The deeply cut scallop features a thinly cut ring grip, offering a relatively high level of grip, despite the black coating dulling the grip somewhat.
The dart features a long taper, that begins shortly after the central scallop, running all the way down to the point. This allows for tighter grouping, as the barrel towards the point gradually thins out, similar to that of the Winmau Simon Whitlock darts. The grip on the taper is an interesting spiral cut, with one consistent groove running round the barrel. For front grippers, this will assist in spinning the dart, as well as further enhancing the grip in comparison to the generic horizontal cut seen inside the scallop.
Much like the Loxley Sheriff’s, Aaron’s darts are coated in a black titanium nitride coating, which further toughens the barrel and allows for a sticky feel when warm. The coating both enhances, and dulls the grip, based on your personal preference. The aggressive feel of uncoated tungsten, similar to that on the front section of the Loxley Matthew Edgar darts, has been lost, with the coating covering sharp edges of grip, dulling it in the process. However, with the coating retaining heat better than Tungsten, the darts warm up quicker, creating a sticky feel that compensates for the lost grip when coating the darts.
Along the length of the dart, there are five deeper cut grooves, which assist Aaron in setting the dart while feeling for the scallop, as well as implemented by the Loxley design team for extra visual appeal. The two rear grooves, separated by a flatter section promoting the Loxley brand, offer little in terms of grip, purely added to make the dart look more appealing. The three deeper grooves just in front of the scallop however, act as a reference point to feel for the front of the scallop, as well as offering a smoother transition between the edge of the scallop, and the micro grip towards the taper of the dart.
With the supplied setup, I found the darts to lie flat in the board, similar to how the land when Aaron himself throws them. The position of the barrel in the board allowed me to both over, and under-stack – similar to that of Mikuru Suzuki, and the way she is able to get both over, and under her first dart due to the angle of entry.
The scallop forced me to throw from a slightly unnatural position, where usually I’d be holding the dart from where the flat section is on the barrel (towards the rear). Throwing further forward contributed hugely to the angle of entry, which I still found helped me, despite feeling unnatural to what I usually do. I did find I struggled to position my other fingers along the barrel, with the severe taper offering me little to rest my middle finger on, in order to better balance the dart. This resulted in the odd dart flying off at strange angles, which was enhanced somewhat by the unfamiliar (to me) stem length supplied with the darts – I’ve used medium stems for my entire playing career, yet these are short.
Final Thoughts:
Appearance: 10/10 – Visually, these darts are incredible. The consistent black and white theme (alluding to the ‘Yin and Yang’ philosophy that Aaron embodies) creates a true work of art, with the points, barrels, stems and flights all complimenting each other perfectly to create one of the best looking barrels I’ve seen in a very long time!
Balance: 8/10 – This was a tricky one to assess. The darts are tailored perfectly to Aaron himself, and so should you throw in a different style, or from a different position along the barrel, these will feel unnatural to you. With that being said, if you hold directly on the scallop, the darts will feel perfectly balanced, with very little resistance towards the front, or rear of the dart.
Grip: 9/10 – The darts feature a spiral cut grip along the majority of the barrel, which offers a relatively high level of grip. As I mentioned earlier in the review, the grip (and by extension, the coating) will suit different players better than others. For me personally, I felt the coating let down what could’ve been a more aggressive dart, yet the coating allows the darts to suit a wider range of players, as well as (most importantly) meeting Aaron’s exact needs from the equipment he uses.
Quality: 8.5/10 – As with every set of Loxley darts I’ve reviewed, the quality is fantastic. Neither the grip, nor coating had any flaws along the barrel, with the only point of concern I found was the slight distortion of one of the flights, as it had been pressed up against the packaging for too long. One fault I found however, as I used the darts more, was the coating showed chips rather quickly, especially around the taper. While to be expected due to the nature of the grip, it was a shame it took damage very early on.
Value for Money: 9/10 – The Loxley Aaron Beeney darts retail at £49.95, and are available direct from the Loxley darts website. For a 90% tungsten dart, with a PDC professional’s name on the box, the darts are well priced. I’d class these as a ‘specialist’ dart, suiting specific players rather than a wide range of players. Should you fall into the category of players these darts would suit, then price is really no question, with very few darts on the market offering similar specifications!
Thank you to Loxley Darts for sending these amazing darts out for me to review! Loved taking a closer look at the barrels of choice for one of the up-and-coming stars in professional darts! Best of luck to Aaron for 2021 – hopefully you can build on your impressive end to this year, and kick on to greater things!