VDarts H2 is home dart board that links up to your tablet or smart phone using bluetooth technology.  Your tablet is then used to play various games, cricket, count up, sniper, 01, etc via the VDarts app.  This board also allows for online play, to challenge opponents across the world.

Purchase VDarts H2–Global Online Dartboard

This is part 1 of a 3 part review.

The Purchase

After doing online research, I finally decided to purchase a VDarts H2.  They’re priced at about $265 shipped, not bad considering other home boards cost the same or more without the online capabilities. I had heard about others pre-ordering, and having to wait 6-8 weeks for one of these boards.  I didn’t want to wait that long, so I contacted the VDarts team directly via Facebook, and they had sent me a link to Ali Express.  After some back and forth chatter, I asked if they had any US distributors, which they did.  The great thing is I gave them my contact info, and they forwarded it to all of their US distributors who then contacted me directly.  I probably had 3 distributors contact me within 4 hours.  I ended up working with Travis from Hawaii since he actually called me, others sent me a txt or e-mail.  After speaking with him I felt comfortable making the purchase via paypal.  My board arrived in about 5 business from Hawaii to Washington state.  If anyone is interested, I can share Travis’s contact info.

The Arrival

I was a bit disappointed in the distributors packaging and shipping method.  It looked like a white trash bag duct taped around the box, also adding some painters tape.  There was also some box damage which was a I was a bit concerned with.  Luckily, everything inside the box was perfectly fine.  The pictures below already had the white trash bag removed.

What’s Inside the Box

Inside the box you get the following:

• VDarts H2 Board
• Instructions and wall hanging paper template
• Measuring tape to measure your waist to see if you’ve drank enough beer to be playing darts
• 2 sets of house darts.  I never used them but they’re better than the bar house darts.
• Extra tips for the house darts (not sure if they’re 2ba or the larger size)
• A bottle opener because bottles of beer and darts go well together
• VDarts charm which has your ID for using on VDarts bar machines
• Power Supply
• A flimsy throw line

Board Build

I was a little surprised how light the board was, and this is comparing to my old home arachnid board that felt more substantial.  The VDarts H2 feels and sounds hollow when tapping the casing.  The casing itself is all plastic, and I’m guessing they’re using the same manufacturer and case design as the DartsLive 100s home board.  In a way if you already have a Darts Live 100s board hung, you can easily swap out since the mounting holes are probably the same (i’m guess, and have not proven this, someone please verify).

As you can see in the pics the VDarts H2 has a traditional red/black bull, but uses a cool blue, grey, and white color scheme.  I actually don’t mind the scheme, but I’ve seen others online with different color schemes only to find out they used a marker or painted the segments to change the appearance.  The one thing I don’t like are how the dart board numbers have a shiny chrome finish which can make it difficult to see the numbers when/if you add board lighting.

The segments on the board compared to my other home board look a little cheaper.  Hard to explain, but just not as polished.  That said, I haven’t had any issues with the segments in any way.

The VDarts H2 also features a red change player button, light indicators to tell the user if the board is connected to the tablet or not, and an on/off switch on the bottom right.  You’ll also notice there’s some mystery port on the bottom left, which I’ve heard is for connecting sound, coin-op, and other functions for using at a bar.

For hanging the board it comes with a template that you tape to the wall.  Sounds simple… measure, tape template to the wall, drill the holes, add the screws, then hang the board.  It is that simple, but if you’re nit picky and try to be perfect, it can be frustrating.  My first attempt, the right side of the board was hanging a little lower than the left, and things like that drive me nuts!

Throwing darts at the the board can be a bit loud, and i’m wondering if it’s related to having a more hallow casing as well as how it’s hung with the screws hitting the back of the board.  I will say this wasn’t as loud as my old arachnid.

One complaint I’ve heard while researching this board was that people were experiencing a lot of bounce outs.  There’s a lot of factors that cause bounce outs, it could be the weight of the dart, the tips you use, the style of your throw, etc.  I do experience more bounce outs compared to a dart board at your local watering hole, but comparing between my home boards I don’t notice a big difference.  If you do experience this, I’ve heard of loosening the small screws in the back of the board helps.  Some people put some some foam behind the board as well to absorb some force of the dart.  For me, it’s usually my greasy hands getting on my dart tips that cause it to bounce out, and to fix that I just wipe the tips with my shirt or a microfiber cloth (thanks for the tip on the tip Vic).

The power cord it comes with isn’t very long, so you may need a power strip or extension to bridge the gap depending on where your outlet is.  I heard of a few bad power supplies being delivered to customers, but I’ve also heard that the distributors took care of them and replaced them.

Few other notes and facts:

• Vdarts H2 supports up to 20 grams dart.  I don’t know if that’s barrel only weight or full setup.  My dart setup is a total of 21 grams.  I’ve seen someone on the VDarts team say 23 grams is not recommended.
• My board doesn’t have a compartment for batteries, it’s plug in only.  Newer ones do have a slot for batteries.
• There’s also a VDarts H2L version which has neat LED lighted segments that can change colors depending on game situations, similar to what bar DartsLive boards do.  I never played on one, but my concern is the LED light is something that can go wrong.

I’ve had this board for 4+ moths and use it almost every day.  It’s held up, and I haven’t had any issues with the board physically.   No broken segments, no segments registering incorrectly, and the lights and buttons still work great.

That concludes my review of the physical aspect of the board, and in part 2 I’ll review the app that really makes this board come alive!