Price, Performance, Reliability, get the job done just fine.

Not as smooth as more expensive forks.

I have put about 4000 miles on my Dart 3 forks, combination of rough trail and smooth path summer heat and winter cold.
I have just followed basic maintenance on mine and they still work very well. Basic maintenance is easy and not expensive. Take care of the seals, keep them clean, keep the proper oil levels with the recommended weight oil and they work the way they're supposed to after thousands miles. (In my experience)
For the price, they really get the job done. Mine have saved my arse a few times on some drops that were bigger than I anticipated.
Maybe not as smooth as forks that cost twice the $$, but they do what you need them to do at a relatively affordable price, and if you take care of them, they'll take care of you.

Held up to my riding. 3 times a week, Hard fast pace. Replaced seals after 2 seasons of MTBing

Heavy shock, but it averages out with the low price

These shocks were an upgrade from my judy shocks. Rebuilt the bike and the Dart 3's have not let me down. If I had 300 to spend I would have bought different Rockshoxs but for around 165 bucks these were great. We have a ten foot drop and lots of midsize bumps that we navigate through and these shocks keep on going. Worth the money!

Long-lasting. Low-maintenance. Strong. Lockout works flawlessly (no joke).

Flex, but whatever, just ride smarter. A little heavy, but whatever, just ride harder.

I have had these shocks for over 5 years now. I have put in over 4000 miles of mountain biking and 3000 miles of road biking with this baby. I have overhauled them twice. The bushings are now too worn, and after some winter riding in the snow, they accumulated too much dirt and snow, and locked up. I initially thought they were frozen stiff, because it was sub 20 degrees, but nope...they're sauced. 5 years of hard riding, took me everywhere from Palos, IL, to Orange County, CA, to Vail, CO to St. George, UT, and only recently gave out in my current location near the Wasatch. I am extremely pleased with their performance, and will definitely be buying another set, if I can't find any air shocks near the $150-250 price range.

has a lockout which is nice. pretty good on light cross country trails and alright on the road.

i have had these forks for 2 summers now. they came on my kona cinder cone. it was my first mountain bike. i started on light cross country trails but then started doing some downhill trails on the shore. after the first summer the lockout stopped working. after riding a few other downhill trails which this fork and my bike were never meant for the forks lost all plush feeling. they are as hard as a rock! there is dampening fluid dripping out after every ride. the forks cost more to be fixed than they are worth!

lockout breaks

not a very plush ride

dampening fluid dripping all over the fork

cant take big hits and stiffens up

overall fine for cross country or a starter mountain bike but not for an advanced rider.

works well, easy to adjust

Heavy, cheap equipment

I ran the dart 3 on my GT RTS1 and it worked great, i had a pretty hard crash one day and the lockout threads were stripped. After looking at it and realizing they were plastic threads i was surprised that didnt happen earlier with the way i ride. I just upgraded to the Rock Shox Reba RL, and now that i have the air shock i understand how crappy the Dart 3 was. If your looking for low price coil shock go for the dart 3, just don't expect it to be able to take a beating.

Similar Products Used:

rock shox reba RL

It is cheap and it does the job. Simple to adjust.

At this price - none.

What can i say - its a decent fork. I use it for xc in the Feroes islands which is pretty rough terrain. Sure the lockout aint fancy, but who needs it? It is a lot better then the old Judy i hat before.

Good for show. Good for rental bikes

WEAK, Fragile and heavy. Not plushy and smooth.

I had this fork that came with my bike and there is remote lockout!! WOW. I rode it in the trail once and it broke the lockout damper. Brought it to service and used it again. This time the fork wasnt plush and smooth even with soft coils. After serviceing, i went for a ride with it. went down a kerb and the damper shot right up breaking the lockout and the lockout cap. the repair cost me a new dart.
P.S mine is 2011. works the same eh?

Similar Products Used:

Rockshox Tora SL, Manitou Minute 1:00, Fox Talas, Sr Suntour XCR and XCT and XCM, Fox 40,

Coil Sprung makes this fork practically maintenance free. After two years of hard riding and easily over 300 miles I have had to rebuild the fork once for about $100 which isn't bad compared to buying another fork.

I haven't experienced the problems that some have had with the braking for I don't use or need a front brake. But there is some slight bit of travel when the fork is locked out like others have mentioned. Though someone should not have trouble climbing because of this small flaw unless you're a puss.

The fork is thin and definitely not as strong as some others that I have tried. But I have put tons of miles on this fork and taken it on many different trails only to be pleased with the way it has performed. It isn't all that heavy but definitely not a racers choice; it has more than enough travel for the typical XC track and even more than that. 4' concrete drops, downhill mountain trails, or even 10' jumps everything will be alright.

Similar Products Used:

Rock Shox Tora 318, Rock Shox Tora SL, Rock Shox Dart 2, several crappy Suntour forks, and Fox Vanilla R

Cheap, adjustable.

This fork will lock up after sitting in storage and in cooler temperatures. If it is below 50 degrees outside I may as well have a rigid fork. Ive heard changing the fork oil will remedy this but a brand new fork shouldnt need servicing right out of the box. Works great when warm to hot outside.

They let you ride your bike

The lock out is poor, I couldn't tell the lock was on, it felt flimsy and weak.

These shocks came oe on my gt, I am on the heavy side and with my 26" I learned that I need a good shock. I didn't do any trail riding with the dart but just from tooling around the yard I was glad that I got the Reba's to replace them. On the 29er I think that it is more important to have a stiffer meatier shock due to the larger tire.