Just finished my shave and first time use of the Blackland Dart. To be truthful, I did not know what to expect from the Dart as the first preliminary reviews have been all over the place from “mild, but efficient” to “the most aggressive razor I’ve tried”. Nothing to really sink your teeth into and honestly, it’s tough to go on a mere sampling of thoughts and early reports that just aren’t consistent. It seems that reports are now either the razor is to mild or it’s to aggressive. And somewhere in between those two mediums, we blurred the lines on what a good comfortable yet fairly efficient razor could or should be. Truly, YMMV is the rule when getting into a description of a particular shaving product, regardless of costs. `
Now, that being said, lets get into the Dart. And I’ll just say it outright, this thing can shave. I was shocked at how little blade reveal you see from the end of the top cap to the sb guard. Yet, you get a very good feel of the blade with just enough positive blade exposure to provide an excellent feeling and efficient shave. Finding the angle was very easy and intuitive and keeping it there during the stroke is as natural as it gets. The balance was excellent with a good feel in the hands and yet, it did not feel as heavy as I thought it would be or looked. The blade is supported rigidly and almost fully between the top cap and base plate. It’s as stable as they come with a vise like hold on the blade. The blade lines up perfectly between the 2 posts and thread stud with utter precision, aligning the blade perfectly on both sides of the head. Sandwich the blade between the 2 pieces, grab the handle and screw it into the stud with a very nice turning action and you hear the blade semi “crunch” into its ready state of reducing whiskers.
It was a 3 pass shave, one tiny weeper on my throat, the slightest of irritation on my neck near the jawline for a BBS finish. Weeper and irritation I chalk up to just getting to know the razor and I think after a shave or two that will be non existent.
This razor is nothing like a RR Gamechanger or RR Mamba. The Dart is supremely more efficient than either of them at the cost of losing a bit of smoothness to the GC and even more so to the Mamba. But the efficiency makes up for that in spades and with positive blade exposure, it’s an excellent mid aggressive razor.
I only have one other Blackland product, the Sabre with both the L1 & L2 baseplate. I love my Sabre and will never part with it. I like the Dart on the first go round and I can really see myself digging this razor too. More shaves to follow.....