martial flowdart: capsule 2.0

Hi everyone! I'm Molly, 57F, born legally blind. I have very little vision, but even I can see this bright LED dart at night, and it is amazing!! People that drive by slow down, or stop, and are like, 'What the heck do you have now?" And then they watch and there is a lot of talk of how cool that looks, how awesome it is, can I try it, that kind of thing....

Did you know that a Flow Toys' LED martial arts dart is the perfect stocking stuffer and will fit right into any stocking? Even a silk dart would be great, or a cobra dart too! Just sayin'!!

On to the review! First, this LED martial arts dart?-- it is SOLID built. We're talking, sturdy! It will not break, and trust me, I have hit mine, dropped it, slammed it into the ground, stepped on it, hit myself with it, hit my bar stool with hit, (none of it on purpose of course,) but it still keeps working!

If anyone has given this thing a real true test of how well built it is, it's me! Because I can't see, so I hit stuff. By accident. Including myself. You should see all of the knots and bruises I have, haha! I really have no business messing with this dart as a beginner, but I figured I'd gotten 'good' enough spinning poi that this dart would be a new experience. And boy, was it! And SOOOO much fun! If you think spinning poi feels good, then you really need to try out a dart-- it's entirely different, but feels so good to use.

It is FUN! It has a great weight to it. Not great as in a lot like a meteor hammer, but just right. It comes with either a rope or "dragon rope" I believe Erol called it, and I should have taken his advice and went with the dragon rope, as it is flat. You see, I live way out int he country, and we have a TON of sticker-burrs and hitch-hikers, and they just LOVE that soft rope! I spend more time picking them off of my rope than I do spinning!

Also, even though the rope is very soft, as a newbie, after the first couple of days, I was getting a rope burn on my hand, so I got myself some gloves. Much better. And then I bought Flow Toys' silk dart, which is great too, for daytime practice.

I suggest also, that you buy the little flag to go with your dart, so you can hear it whizzing by and also, it gives it a little extra flair. It is made out of some kind of material that feels slick, almost plastic like, maybe some kind of polyester? Well, I'm not sure, but it is perfect because it is the right material for that sound! You couldn't get that with just a swatch of cotton, from say, a bandana. So get the flag, you won't be disappointed.

The only problem I had was initially trying to figure out how to attach the dart to the rope, but that was on me, because I can't see, and I couldn't see the instructions that came with it, and I had to send an embarrassing email to Erol asking HOW to do it, and he sent me a link to one of the videos that showed how. THEN I felt like a real idiot, because it was so simple! I felt so dumb! But I can't take myself seriously all of the time, right?! When you can't see, some things are just harder when you have no one on site to show you HOW to do it.

One thing I noticed as a blind spinner, is that I have tried to watch videos on how to "flow" and learn new tricks, and using the little sight I have, trying to watch myself work it out, it just wasn't working for me. I've been taking videos of myself and posting them, so I can see how silly I look, and hopefully to get some feedback from the pros out there!

Then I realized that if I closed my eyes, I could really FEEL the flow then-- does that make sense? I think we spend so much time using our eyes that we don't get the sensory input from other parts of our bodies.... most of the tricks I finally learned where when I had my eyes closed and could feel the tension on the tether, etc. Close your eyes sometimes--it's a really magical place inside your imagination! Better than Disney World, trust me. ;-D

I love Flow Toys and they are my go-to for whenever I want a new prop. Their customer support is stellar. Even though they are a small company, they WILL get back to you in less than 24 hours. And fix any problems or concern you may have, AND answer your annoying, silly questions. (Sorry, Erol, and thank you for all of your help and patience with me!)

I can't say enough good things about this company and their products. They have so many different props to choose from, prices are really fair and the S&H is fast!

I hope this review wasn't too long. Thank you for taking the time to read it. And thank you to everyone at Flow Toys for helping me so much. Learning how to spin and flow has really helped me through the worst grief of my life. Learning to spin has SAVED my life. I lost my Mom 3 days before Xmas, she was all I had. It's just me and my beagle. and enough fear, anxiety, and stress to supply 100 people some of their own. So yes, learning to flow, it truly ha...

I have just begun learning rope dart and purchased two darts (glowing and the soft one) and have been enjoying both. The soft one allows me to practice and the glowing one allows to experience that magic feeling of flow. Both are excellent, good quality products and arrived quickly. Thank You!

This can take a lot of damage. I'm not nice on things sadly and this never fails. Sometimes confusing to operate the menus with a single button, I'm sure it's easier with the bridge. Sadly I thought was included. But that's np. Lots of fun. Lots of ability to tune settings. I got all kinds of questions at my last festival. I will shop here agian!

I own both this Martial flow dart set, and a Vision rope dart. Even after getting the Vision set, this set gets plenty of play and hasn't been replaced to gather dust.

The Martial Flowdart is a bit lighter than the Vision prop. The tube gives it a sleek dart shape, with the two flow masses going on the outside. To accommodate the flow masses, it's long enough for either the capsules or flow lights. As a result of the masses, it is more weighted evenly, rather than towards the end like a PodPoi. I personally like the weight further down, but that's going to be a taste thing, as there is plenty of variation in shapes/sizes for rope darts and meteor hammer heads too. I still really like the long dart shape on this one.

Being lighter, I found it does benefit from a lighter leash. I got mine with the RDA style flow leash, which is a sewn ripstop nylon leash. It's a bit pricey, cause it's hand made, so I wouldn't call it 'required'. But the lightweight leash does match well with the weight of the martial dart. On a heavier dart, it isn't grippy enough to not slip, but I found it to be relatively comfortable on my martial dart, and it's found its permanent home there. I'd guess the 'default' smithy cord should be just fine for this dart.

The martial dart benefits from being much cheaper (especially when just trying it out) and comes with the capsule 2.0, which can be used in other props. I tend to take this martial dart with me because it takes up less space in my day bag, and I'm much less concerned when it inevitably scrapes against concrete during practice. That's not to say the Vision set isn't durable, but I tend to keep it for practice over grass. I still use them both and honestly have no regrets having purchased this set first.

I love this thing, I can be pretty rough and clumsy with my darting sometimes and this thing can bare it all. It's been smacked on the ground a multitude of times and still shines brightly. Very well put together, and the perfect size for continuous flow.