Master Oche - Product Review

Posted: 24.06.13 in Darts Product Reviews category

We take a look at the tournament standard dartboard stand and oche.

There is another challenger for the category “Best Portable Dart Board Stand”. The Master Oche is an eye catching piece of engineering and would be a serious contender for the aforementioned accolade!

The Master Oche was apparently designed by a former Rolls Royce engineer and it is a clever and striking design. “Old school” dart players may shudder at the fact that it doesn’t look like all the other dart board stands, to me that is a good thing, darts has moved forward in many different ways  in recent times and the Master Oche is another example of this phenomenon.

However, the modern urban look is one thing, does it work is the key question. The emphatic answer is yes. The stand arrives in a carry bag and in total weighs just 6KG. Easy to lug to wherever you want to set up.

There are 9 pieces of red metal and a chalk board. The legs and stand just push together (no tools required at all) the chalk board and dart board are clamped and then screwed in place and you are ready to go. My colleague Chris got it up and running in 6 minutes, from a standing start and we reckon 3 minutes is achievable once you have put it together a few times.

You have a decent size oche to rest your foot against and of course it is exactly the regulation distance to the board. On the back, one of the fittings acts as a rest against a wall so there is no issue if you are playing in a room with skirting boards.

The board had no wobble at all when we tested it up against a wall with skirting. Please see the video of us firing three darts at it. You can also buy a “supporting leg” or third leg as I prefer to describe it so it can be used as a free standing board. I have asked for one so I can test to see if the no wobble works with this set up too. Watch this space.

Potential Uses

I can see serious grass roots players using one of these as a home set up and with the option of a 3 or 4 minute set up then that gives players the chance to have a high quality practice set up that doesn’t need to be permanent.

Tournament wise they would be ideal too. We are seriously considering using them for the New Forest Masters tournament we are organising especially if the third leg works and we can set them up free standing.

For the pro player they could even be a contender to take over from the portable “on tour” board. The oche is so narrow that it could easily be put up in a hotel room or any other space for that matter that could double as a practice area.

Cost

As ever this is the area to make the players say oooooh! £179.99 or £189.90 with a board! This is less than the Unicorn Dart Mate Pro (around £200). The DartMate Pro has its merits too but focusing on the Master Oche you are paying for innovative design of a product that is very quick and easy to assemble and is fit for purpose. But like all great design, whether it is a piece of furniture or some darts kit, it does come at a price.

The Final Word

If you have £180 and you want an eye catching dart stand and oche you can take anywhere and that gives you the feel of a tournament set up then a Master Oche is for you!

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