Two of the biggest darts brands on the market are Unicorn and Winmau. Both brands sponsor world class darts such as Unicorn’s Gary Anderson and Winmau’s Michael van Gerwen. Both brands have world class dartboards and accessories, but which brand is the better brand? In this article we review Unicorn Darts v Winmau Darts to decide which brand is better!
Both brands have a long and rich history and both date back over 50 years (pre World War II for Unicorn, post World War II for Winmau).
History of the Unicorn Darts Brand
Unicorn had its beginnings in the early 1930’s when a Hungarian born Patent Agency worker Frank Lowy was introduced to the game of darts. After taking a liking to the game, Frank felt that darts of the day could be improved and set about creating his own set.
This revolutionary new dart was known as the Silver Comet and it was about to take the dart world by storm. Manufacturers had been lined up for the flights, shafts and boxes and given his patent office history Frank was looking to trademark the Silver Comet.
After finding out that this registered to Wisden & Co, a meeting with Wisden (and their Royal Warrant) enabled a distributor relationship to be established and Frank’s darts were a hit! A light and heavy version of the Silver Comet were soon added, with sales continue to impress.
Unfortunately Wisden struck financial trouble and Frank took the distribution of his darts (losing the use of the Royal Warrant) into his own hands, took on an ex Wisden salesman and went into the darts business himself.
Struggling to find a business name, he looked at the Silver Comet box with the Royal Warrant, noticed the Unicorn in the Coat of Arms and the legend was born! Unicorn (now under 3rd generation ownership) are now one of the biggest darts equipment suppliers across the world and sponsors of some of the biggest players in the game.
For a more detailed history on the Unicorn Darts Brand visit the Unicorn Official Website.
History of the Winmau Darts Brand
The Winmau story starts a little later than the Unicorn story, around the end of World War II. Harry Kicks Sr. used his World War II demobilisation money to set up a dartboard manufacturing company (initially under the name of HA Kicks , then HA Kicks & Sons). Their initial dartboards were made up of elm, eventually expanding into bristle dartboards.
The company expanded after signing a deal with the new British Darts Organisation (BDO) to be their official dartboard manufacturer and eventually changed the business name to Winmau (the name Winmau coming from the first three letters of Kicks Sr. wife name, Winifred Maud).
After Harry Kicks Sr. died in 1984, Winmau struggled financially particularly when the popularity of darts faded in the late 1980’s. These financial difficulties led to a partial ownership stake being taken by Winmau’s US distributor Accudart Inc. Accudart’s owner Ron Kurtz eventually became the majority shareholder of Winmau and turned around its fortunes with his own management team.
Eventually Winmau was taken over by rival dartboard manufacturer Nodor with both brands still operating separately. Winmau recently replaced Unicorn as the official PDC dartboard supplier.
For additional history on the Winmau Darts Brand visit the Winmau Official Website.
Unicorn Darts Range
Unicorn has a wide variety of darts on offer. The majority of their darts is made from Tungsten/Steel (80% to 95% Tungsten) while they also offer Stainless Steel and Brass darts ranges. Unicorn also offers a wide range of Unicorn sponsored pro dart players ranges such as the Gary Anderson Bullet Stainless Steel range and the Noir James Wade 90% Tungsten range.
The lower end of the Unicorn darts range is their Mass Merchant range (from around £4.50Unicorn also sell a version of their original darts product, the Silver Comet.
Prices range from £15 all the way to £160 for a set of Unicorn Noir Seigo Asada darts though most of their popular pro dart player ranges go for between £45-£70.
While the majority of their range is steel tip darts, Unicorn does offer a reasonable range of soft tip darts. All of the prices (and approximates) above are from the official Unicorn website.
Winmau Darts Range
Winmau also offers a wide variety of darts. Similar to Unicorn, the majority of their darts is made from Tungsten/Steel (80% to 95% Tungsten) while they also offer Stainless Steel and Brass darts ranges. Unicorn also offers a wide range of Unicorn sponsored pro dart players ranges such as the (Michael van Gerwen) MvG Adrenalin range and the Mervyn King Special Edition 90% Tungsten range.
The cheapest Winmau darts tend to start around £14 though the majority of the Winmau range is in the £50-£70 price range.
Winmau also offer a wide range of soft tip darts. All of the prices (and approximates) above are from the Darts Warehouse website.
Unicorn Dartboards and Accessories
Unicorn is one of the biggest board suppliers in the industry. Having previously been the PDC board sponsor with the Eclipse Ultra dartboard, some of Unicorn’s boards include the Ultra Bristle with Unilock, Eclipse HD2 Pro and the Striker Bristle.
Unicorn also has a range of Soft Tip/Smartboard and also a paper dartboard.
Unicorn darts accessories include flights, shafts, oches, sharpeners, shirts, dartboard stands, dartboard lighting systems, replacement dartboard numbers, cabinets as well as home darts centre packs.
Winmau Dartboards and Accessories
Winmau is also one of the biggest board suppliers in the industry and is the current dartboard sponsor of the PDC with the Winmau Blade 6 Triple Core . Other Winmau dartboards include the Blade 6 range, the Diamond Plus range as well as region specific boards such as the Ipswich 5’s and the London 5’s.
Winmau doesn’t offer Soft Tip/Smartboards or paper dartboards.
Similar to Unicorn, Winmau darts accessories include flights, shafts, oches, sharpeners, shirts, dartboard stands, dartboard lighting systems, replacement dartboard numbers, cabinets as well as home professional darts sets.
Current Unicorn Sponsored Players
2 time PDC world champion Gary Anderson headlines the pro darts players sponsored by Unicorn. Michael Smith, James Wade and Dimitri Van Den Bergh are the other big name pro darts player sponsored by Unicorn. Unicorn was also the long time sponsor of 14 time world champion Phil Taylor.
Current Winmau Sponsored Players
Former PDC world champion Michael van Gerwen is the main pro player sponsored by Winmau. Joe Cullen, Danny Noppert and Mervyn King are the other big name pro darts player sponsored by Winmau.
So which brand is better Unicorn v Winmau?
It’s really too hard to pick. Both brands have excellent ranges in darts and dartboards though Unicorn probably has a larger product offering to the lower pricing end of the market.
If you are looking at the regularly home/pub player or league player market Unicorn and Winmau offer fantastic ranges and everyone at this level of darts will easily find a suitable darts set. The same can be said with their dartboard ranges and all other darts accessories. Either Unicorn or Winmau, you can’t go wrong.