After a recent trip to Canada, I was able to buy one of the Adventure Force 100 packs of balls at Walmart Canada. As reported earlier, Prime Time Toys is going to be bringing their, well, rival to Rival out in the United States. Two blasters, masks, and ammo will all be available at Walmart come January. As it turns out, the Adventure Force ammo is slightly heavier, but has comparable performance to Rival balls. And it comes with a better price.

Competitive Cost

The Adventure Force rounds were purchased for $25 CDN, which under current exchange rates translates to $20 USD (As per Prime Time Toys, the 25 ball packs will in fact retail for $4.99, and the 100 packs for $19.99). Already, this beats the $29.99 MSRP of the Rival 100 round packs. This also makes these rounds comparable to some online options, like Headshot rounds. Note, however, that today we’re only examining store-bought rounds.

The rounds themselves are visibly different from Rival and other rounds, as well. Instead of round dimples a la golf balls, the Adventure Force rounds feature a triangular pattern. The end result is still a pattern of raised ridges and dimples, but the attention to detail is nice.

In terms of mass, my purchased rounds clocked in at an average 1.88g each, with little variation. Rival rounds only averaged 1.83g each.

Round Velocity

For a reliable comparison of ball velocity, I chose the Dart Zone Ballistix Powerball. Soon to be rebranded as the Adventure Force Titanium, it’s hopper-fed (or magazine, if you have them on hand), and claims 100fps potential. More importantly, it’s a manual blaster that should do the same thing every time you fire it, without need to wait on flywheel revving.

After firing each type of round 100 times, the Rival balls averaged 97 fps, while the Adventure Force balls averaged 95fps. There were no outliers above 101fps or below 92 fps for either round. In practical terms, these are essentially identical performances.

Round Accuracy

The other metric to test was round accuracy. Ball rounds with hop-up have a known behavior (relatively straight flight, followed by a sharp drop), and an inherent range limit. My setup, therefore, was simply firing level at a narrow doorway 50′ away and counting how many rounds flew through. In the case of both round types, all shots fired went through the doorway (~2.5′ in width).

In addition, I did break out my modded Nemesis (up to 130 fps on a 3S lipo) to see how both rounds fared under full auto, high velocity conditions. Both clouds of ammo performed similarly, with enough hop-up to force me to aim slightly lower than level in order to clear the doorway. At least in my testing, there was no visible difference in performance between the two rounds.

Final Thoughts

The Adventure Force/Dart Zone rounds are yet to be released in the United States, aside from the eight that come with each Powerball blaster. With large amounts on hand to test, however, I can say with confidence that these rounds perform just as well as Nerf Rival rounds. That, combined with the lower MSRP and the easy access (Walmart stores), means that Nerf has have viable competition for the Rival line come January.

The post Adventure Force Tactical Strike Rounds Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

Unlike just about every other blaster currently on the market, the Monorail Blaster/Rail Raider is fed by an internal tube magazine. This is a feature that is incredibly rare among foam blasters, with the only other example that comes to mind being the disc-firing Fusefire. A blaster with such a unique and novel feature was naturally met with much hype and anticipation upon its reveal.

Disclaimer: This blaster was sent to me by Buzz Bee Toys for review. I will do my best to ensure that the review remains as objective and unbiased as possible.

The Box

Front of the box.

Back of the box.

Nothing different or special about the box.

The Rail Raider Blaster

Left side of the blaster.

Right side.

A look down the top.

Close up of the tactical rail.

Heatseeking scope on rail.

The Rail Raider is a fairly large, long pump action blaster. It is modelled after real-life shotguns, attempting to emulate to an extent both their look and function. The Rail Raider is reasonably wide and chunky, and has a single tactical rail on top. While this rail is aesthetically quite different from most of Buzz Bee’s tactical rails, it is nonethless compatible with their attachments.

Close up of the handle.

Hand on handle.

Middle finger moved to a more comfortable position.

I personally dislike the overall handle design. The handle itself is reasonably thick and of decent length, however there is a small gap between the trigger guard and the handle. This gap is large enough for a finger to fit inside, however I find it to be quite tight and extremely uncomfortable. This is exacerbated by how front-heavy the Rail Raider is, leading to a significant amount of force being exerted on the trapped finger. My personal grip position is to move the middle finger under the trigger guard. This is a much better position for supporting the blaster’s forward weight, and does not trap a finger in the gap.

Also of note is the trigger position, which is much further forward from the handle than typical blasters. I personally find it to be a non-issue as I can reach the trigger easily, however may be an issue if you have small hands or short fingers.

Close up of the pump grip.

Underneath look at the pump grip.

Hand on pump grip.

Pump grip fully primed.

The pump grip is a different story. It is quite chunky and well sized, and feels quite nice to hold and pump. The pumping action of the Rail Raider feels quite solid.

A look down the muzzle.

Close up of the jam door.

Jam door open.

The Rail Raider has a jam door underneath the muzzle. It is hinged and swings open to the left. It can be opened at any time. The jam door exposes the bolt and chamber area, allowing relatively easy clearing of any jams up front.

Close up of the tube magazine.

Close up of the dart chamber door.

Dart chamber door unlocked.

Door open.

Dart partially loaded.

Close up of the magazine loaded.

As mentioned previously, the Rail Raider uses an internal tube magazine. Part of the magazine can be seen through the clear section on top of the blaster. It uses a series of arms, small slopes and a large moving plate to pull darts forward to advance the magazine.

The magazine is closed at the rear by a dart door, which clicks into place. It can be unlocked by pulling it backwards, then lifting it up to expose the magazine. Once open, darts can be loaded into the magazine one-by-one. Loading in a new dart naturally pushes any already loaded darts forward.

The magazine door must be closed before priming to allow the magazine to feed correctly.

Dart in the chamber.

Space in the magazine caused by imperfect feeding.

The blaster operates on the two strokes of the pump. The backwards stroke primes the blaster’s plunger system, while also pushing a dart into the chambering area. The backwards stroke pushes the bolt forward, chambering the dart, and advances the internal magazine by pulling each dart forward. Magazine advancing can be a little unreliable on the rearmost dart, sometimes failing to pull it forward at all. This occurs most with deformed, thin or unusually short darts. If this occurs, it leaves a space between darts in the magazine. This would result in a blank shot.

The magazine can be advanced without firing the blaster by holding the trigger down during the pumping action, however this runs the risk of loading a dart into the chambering area before it is ready. Such an action would result in an immediate and total jam of the blaster.

A look at the iron sight piece.

Looking down the sight.

Sight mounted on the tac rail.

The Rail Raider includes a small iron sight piece that mounts on its tactical rail. It is a very simple piece, nothing special to it. It mounts on Buzz Bee’s standard tac rail design, also found on the Thermal Hunter/Interceptor and Zenith/Stryker Force.

Rail Raider Performance

First person view.

The Rail Raider averages around 70fps muzzle velocity with the darts I tried (Koosh, Precise Pro and Long Distance). With the included Long Distance darts, this translates to around 10-15 metre ranges. These darts are very inconsistent and it is not uncommon for some shots to drop shorter than 10m, or soar further than 15m.

Accuracy with Long Distance is also pretty terrible. Very few shots actually fly in the direction the blaster is pointed.

Rate of fire is limited to around 1-1.5 darts per second. The stock feeding mech is too unreliable to be used at 2 darts per second and faster, as jams become far, far more likely.

Role in Gameplay

The Rail Raider does not fill much of a practical niche. It has a very low capacity for a blaster its size, its ROF is relatively slow and it is relatively unreliable. Possibly its only notable feature is its ease of reloading. As it uses an internal magazine fed from the rear, it can be reloaded slightly more easily than a multi-barrel revolver or Smart-AR blaster. This lends to the Rail Raider having a notable niche as a scavenger type blaster. In general however, it is outclassed by many other blasters in just about any role.

Value and Summary

The Buzz Bee Monorail retails for around 20USD, while in Australia the Rail Raider is available from Mr Toys Toyworld for 30AUD. This puts it in the price range of such blasters as the Stryfe and Dart Zone Magnum Superdrum. Compared to such blasters, it’s definitely not the greatest value out there, however it’s certainly no rip-off either. While not very practical for combat use, the Monorail/Rail Raider is a lot of fun and is very different to anything else on the market currently. I’d definitely give it my recommendation if you’re looking for such a blaster.

You can find the same review on my own blog: Outback Nerf

The post Review: Buzz Bee Rail Raider (15m) appeared first on Blaster Hub.

First shown off at Hascon (late last summer), the Tri-Break is expected to hit stores in the US early next year. However, the Tri-Break is already at ToysRUs in Canada. As such, I now have one for review and light modification.

The Mega Triad

The Tri-Break doesn’t break new ground in any sense. It takes the now-quintessential “Jolt prime” method of propulsion and mates it to a three barrel smart AR. Instead of three Elite darts, like the Triad, it fits three Mega darts.

The main “gimmick” of the Tri-Break is the break-action mechanism for loading. A large plastic cover swivels over the barrels, and is released by a secondary trigger in front of the main trigger.

The front cover is completely cosmetic; in all reality, it is mostly unnecessary. Hasbro could’ve simply enclosed the three barrels for a sleeker package (and cheaper, with less plastic). Even so, breaking open the front to load the blaster is somewhat fun to do. Given the target audience (children), that part ultimately wins out. Plus you can easily swing the barrel shroud back up to close it!

Still, a sleek package, and possibly a $10-$12 price point would make this more appealing to the wallet.

Spilling the Guts

On the inside is exactly what you’d expect. An upward facing plunger feeds into a smart AR system. The plunger has approximately 70mm of draw, and the plunger head measures about 31mm in diameter. Granted, only the last 1/3 of the plunger tube is narrow enough to make a tight seal. But it’s enough volume to make the system work as intended (too much air volume in a smart AR results in later barrels firing prematurely, as well as pitifully). IT’s an impressive package for its size.

The front trigger pulls back a spring-loaded latch, which holds the hinged barrel cover in place. The main trigger, meanwhile, presses against a small sear that holds back the plunger head. There is no extra spring here – a thin strip of plastic serves to provide the spring force (of which very little is needed). There are no extra plates for holding the plunger spring in place – the handle is molded with spring rests. If you look carefully. you can see the bottom of the spring through the holes in the handle during regular use.

Stock Performance

In stock form, the Tri-Break offers decent results for firing Mega darts. Starting with the first barrel, shots were averaging 67 feet per second, dropping to 63 fps on the second barrel and 60 fps on the final barrel. The slight losses are to be expected – each empty barrel means a little extra distance for the air to travel to reach the next dart.

As a reference, the Magnus pistol tends to average around 70fps, if not a little more.

Light Modification

The stock spring, while producing respectable results, is still low in strength (as well as diameter). If you have two Maverick springs handy (or a single Glow Show Sticker Launcher spring, which otherwise has the same dimensions but twice the coils), thread them over the plunger rod. Doing only that results in chronograph readings from 80-90 fps, with the highest numbers on the top barrel. At those speeds, stock Megas are highly unlikely to fly accurately towards your target. If you still have Buzz Bee XL darts, however, you can sacrifice a few fps for decently aimed shots.

And of course, the smart AR still works as intended.

Final Thoughts

After use in a war, I came to the conclusion that the Tri-Blast was simply fun. Sure, the barrel cover is completely unnecessary and adds to the blaster cost. But in actual use, flipping the cover down with the secondary trigger, loading, then swinging the entire blaster upward to close it was fun. In addition, the performance is more than adequate for a small Mega blaster, with easy room for improvement. Granted, a $15 asking price isn’t the best, especially when it’s easy to obtain blasters like the Magnus, Dual-Strike, and Cycloneshock for $15 or less depending on store and sale. But for what it is, the Tri-Break is a fun little blaster.

The post Nerf Mega Tri-Break Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

By and large, the Nerf brand has embraced the magazine for its flagship products. Cylinders have largely been relegated to roles in pistols or specialized roles (Mastodon, The Judge, etc). In the case of the Surgefire, however, Hasbro has released a fifteen-shot blaster at a primary-type price point. It performs up to Elite standards and works well in practice, but is it too little too late?

It’s Got the Looks…

The Surgefire keeps the same form factor as the Mega Rotofury, but with a less boxy shell. There is no stock or stock attachment point; the Surgefire is very much sized for firing from the hip, almost like a Tommy gun from one of those old gangster movies where none of the lackeys know how to actually use a firearm.

The drum on the Surgefire is separate in the box, and designed to snap in (it is not meant to be removed). It’s fairly small, not adding much width to the profile of the blaster, but it seems like it could’ve held four or five more barrels with ease. However, that’s mainly from being spoiled by things like the Magnum Superdrum, which crams as many barrels together as humanly possible.

The handle and priming grip are both large and comfortable to use for extended periods.

It’s Got the Guts…

On the inside, the Surgefire has largely the same internals as the Doominator, minus of course the complicated and unreliable rotation carriage. A plastic bar extends from the top of the priming handle to the rear of the blaster. The slamfire mechanism is naturally included.

For those looking to mod, the Strongarm/Doominator plunger setup isn’t nearly as robust as those in the Retaliator and similar blasters. It works well, but doesn’t like to last with extra force.

The drum rotation seems very reliable. Even so, there’s an extra mechanism at the front of the drum for centering the barrel with the plunger tube. Perhaps that really is necessary? Hasbro doesn’t usually add extra plastic mechanisms on the inside without a reason.

The one thing I removed on the inside is this piece, which keeps you from pumping an already primed blaster. The orange lever drops down in place after priming, and then gets moved up by the protrusion above the plunger. However, I like being able to pump a blaster to rotate the cylinder, especially when I’m reloading. Why abuse the slip gear on the cylinder by rotating the whole drum by hand?

But Does It Have the Heart?

Performance is at a respectable average of 71fps, on par with Elite blasters in general. In a war setting, it performs as well as can be expected from any stock blaster. The Surgefire’s smaller size and relative lack of sound (especially compared to electronic blasters) make it useful for indoors, or any place with appreciable cover. As a cylinder-fed primary, it also has easy reloading on the fly. If you play lightly equipped (as some players do in both wars and HvZ events), you might want it.

For the price, the Surgefire is a decent stock blaster. But it seems like too little too late when there are so many other options, like the Dart Zone Magnum Superdrum (forty shots at 80fps+ for $20). The Xshot Turbo Advance has a similar setup and performance, but with forty shots, for $20-$30 depending on store and the number of darts (often over 100 included). Completely ignoring modifications, the Surgefire is already outdated.

Time will tell if the Surgefire sees widespread adoption. It does, after all, have the Nerf brand behind it.

The post Nerf Elite Surgefire Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

I’ve had the Turbo Advance on hand for nearly four months, and did a quick video review which consisted essentially of a slide show of internals and my thoughts on the blaster. I’ve waited to do a proper write-up until now because I wanted to see what I could do with the blaster, both in terms of modification and war/HvZ use. It’s a good blaster, but with some love it can be even better.

Fire from the Hip

The Turbo Advance is a forty shot, cylinder-fed blaster. I found mine for $25 at Sam’s Club, complete with 144 Xshot darts. Other packages, with 96 darts, have also been seen for various prices.

The cylinder splits the forty darts into two circles of twenty each. A switch on the side of the blaster switches between the two sections. Tiny plastic guards clip into the sides of the shell, above the cylinder, but are purely cosmetic. A pump grip serves to both prime the blaster and rotate the cylinder to the next barrel. There is no stock on the Turbo Advance; in terms of style, it’s meant for spraying foam in the general direction of aim.

The cylinder is removable, although extra drums are not currently for sale. If that helps you reload, however, then it’s just an extra bonus.

The selector switch, as it turns out, flips over the “cap” on the plunger tube, aligning the outlet with the outer or inner rings. As you can see, the “air restrictor” valve is also there, and held in by two screws. However, removing it does very little with the stock cylinder – only the very base of the barrel is tight, so extra airflow doesn’t help fire darts further.

Finally, the shell is solidly built, with a great feel to all of the plastic and detailed molding on both sides.

Inside the Turbo Advance

The Turbo Advance has a fairly simple mechanism. Due to the shell design, a large plastic bar extends through the top of the blaster to bring back the plunger. Several ridges on the bar also move the cylinder indexing mechanisms. There is no slamfire in this blaster. It should be noted that the rotation and plunger catch engaging do NOT happen simultaneously, making misfires possible. Simply priming the full distance each time, however, makes this a minor issue at most.

The plunger draw is roughly two inches, while the plunger diameter is about 1-3/16″. It should also be noted that the plunger is offset from the center of the plunger head. This does limit your ability to nest springs around the original, due to lack of space. In any case, the entire system is solidly built, and is able to support extra spring load.

In my second Turbo Advance, I replaced the spring with half a spring from an Xploderz blaster. I have lots of these, since I can find the blasters commonly at thrift stores for cheap.

Stock Performance

My first blaster averaged 77 feet per second with the included Xshot darts, and 72 fps with Nerf Elites. My second blaster averaged 75 Xshot, 71 Elites. Essentially, the blaster performs on par with most modern Nerf offerings. The included darts, however, are highly inaccurate beyond short distance. When I used the blaster for a long mission at the Le Moyne Invitational, even closer shots were easy to miss with Xshot darts. Their lower weight may make for higher barrel velocities, but they’re also lacking in balance and thus accuracy. Heavier darts like Waffle and Accustrike darts fared better.

Modification – Spring and Cylinder

As mentioned above, half an Xploderz spring will fit within the plunger tube, replacing the previous spring. Just as importantly, however, is modding the cylinder. Since only the base grips the dart, barrel replacements are needed to extract any real power. Luckily, you can remove five screws to completely disassemble the cylinder. Ideally, you need a fairly tight barrel material for a spring-powered blaster. However, since this is a blaster made for loading on the fly, being able to load darts without extra time fiddling with darts that are slightly too wide is essential.

My solution lay in a small coincidence: the grooves at the base of the cylinder that mate with the barrels are a friction fit to PETG from McMaster Carr (Item #2044T43). I made forty 2.5″ long barrels, then used a 3d printed PETG tightening crimp designed by Ryan from Make Test Battle on all of the barrels. In reality, this results in an effective barrel length of just 1.5″. However, it also means I can easily insert darts on the run, and the dart heads will sit just past the end of the PETG lengths. I used Liquid Nails to glue the new barrels in place, loaded darts, then placed the old barrels on top as a way to keep everything aligned.

With the spring and modified cylinder, I consistently hit 100fps with Accustrike darts and similar ammo. With the increased dart velocity, the forty dart capacity, and easy reloading, the Turbo Advance became a viable option for superstock wars and HvZ. It’s a different play style than using magazine-fed blasters, but the Turbo Advance still has its place. I imagine more can be done with it.

Final Thoughts

The Turbo Advance has been out for most of the fall, available at a good price and with large numbers of darts (even if they’re highly inaccurate). With such a high capacity and stock performance on par with Elite blasters, it fills a similar role to the Magnum Superdrum. (Ratings below will reflect the stock blaster). With modification, however, the Turbo Advance can be even greater.

The post Zuru Xshot Turbo Advance Review + Modification appeared first on Blaster Hub.

January 1st, 2018 brings with it many new blasters in the Nerf lineup, although there are always some blasters that pop up early. Seeing as there hasn’t been much focus on it, I thought I’d share a review of an arrow-launching blaster, the Zombie Strike Wrathbolt. For $15, it’s quite the performer – assuming you actually use arrows.

Like Father, Not Quite Like Son

There is already a Zombie Strike Dreadbolt on the market, but for a steep price. While the lever-action prime is handy and increases the rate of fire, you’re ultimately shelling out lots of money for a giant (albeit comfortable) piece of plastic.

The Wrathbolt does away with all the unnecessary plastic, though not the “cobbled together” design. A faux hacksaw serves as the lower part of the shell, and several wrenches compose the bow. There are two mechanical safeties present. The first safety prevents loading unless the elastic cord is drawn. The second, which is linked to the “loaded” indicator on top, prevents firing without the arrow in place.

(Yes, I realize crossbows use bolts. But these were all Rebelle arrows originally, and that part has just carried on. Get over it.)

In size and layout, the Wrathbolt is virtually identical to the Rebelle Secrets & Spies Courage Crossbow. However, the Wrathbolt’s cord has zero tension at rest, and the handle (while sized the same) is more comfortable thanks to not having the skeletonized design.

Finally, there are storage clips for two arrows on the bottom of the shell, in front of the hacksaw. Naturally, there are two arrows in the box.

Performace

I was pretty surprised after spending a few hours testing the Wrathbolt. It was easy to prime, easy to load, and (vitally) easy to load correctly. It simply wasn’t hard to put the arrows in the track, latch the back of them over the cord and safety, and get the priming indicator to show. That in itself is a vast improvement over previous crossbows.

Ranges were also much better than expected. None are advertised on the box (a trend with many of the oddball Zombie Strike blasters), but the Wrathbolt consistently fired arrows where you pointed them. Nerf arrows can be hard to register on chronographs due to the odd size, but angled ranges averaged about 70′, with very little deviation. Note, however, that the performace was with arrows in good condition. Arrows with bent shafts will perform worse.

Last Thoughts

Fifteen dollars for a small arrow-firing blaster that works well is well worth it. There is the obvious hurdle of using a different ammo type than darts that will prevent some adoption. You simply don’t see many oversized ammo types at Nerf wars or HvZ games, unless a mechanism for use exists (shield busting, special zombies, etc). But for the price and performance, the Wrathbolt is hard to beat, and it clearly makes the Dreadbolt a harder sell in the future.

The post Nerf Zombiestrike Wrathbolt Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

The new year has brought with it not just bone-chilling temperatures, but a cool new refresh to the Nerf blaster line. Since the Mediator is being released in three separate pieces, we’ll do the same for our review.

Mediator Barrel Review
Mediator Stock Review

The Core blaster amounts to a pistol Rampage. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

At a Glance

When my Mediator arrived back in December, it had a unique issue. The end cap for the stock attachment point wasn’t screwed in, nor were there screws. I haven’t heard of such a thing happening to anyone; just a weird occurrence.

As with most Nerf offerings these days, all the special paint jobs are only on one side. The other side is almost all white, with the various warnings molded into the shell. It’s also where the magazine slot clips into place.

In hand, the shell is quite comfortable. With a large handle and pump grip, the Modulus is the right size for both adult hands and smaller ones.

Inside the Shell

The innards are exactly what you’d expect. The Mediator is just a Rampage with the priming handle beneath it, instead of at the front.

All the necessary bits are there for slamfire, of course, and it works well.

You’ll notice there’s a sort of ratchet sitting in line with the priming handle. This type of mechanism has been used before in the Dreadbolt. It simply serves to force the user to complete the full motion, forward or back, of the priming handle. It does make more noise than normal springer-type blasters as a result, but that’s more of a minor annoyance.

How Does It Shoot?

The Mediator performs as you’d expect from modern Elite blasters. Mine averaged 71fps over several hundred shots, using Elite darts. Your performance will vary with other dart types.

In war use by itself, the Mediator excels in “run and gun” types of play. As a compact pump-action, mag-fed blaster, the Mediator is easy to use, aim, and hit targets with. You don’t NEED the stock or barrel kits, but they serve their purposes should you choose to pick them up.

As of this posting, I have yet to experience any jams with the Mediator.

Users with large hands will enjoy being able to easily remove and load magazines by simply wrapping the left hand around the magazine and pressing the button with their thumb while pulling.

Final Opinion

The Modulus Mediator isn’t a blaster we haven’t seen before, at least mechanically. But it does come in a compact size and for only $20. In addition, It performs its job well. Spring-based blaster fans should be happy with this one.

The post Nerf Modulus Mediator Blaster Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

The new year has brought with it not just bone-chilling temperatures, but a cool new refresh to the Nerf blaster line. Since the Mediator is being released in three separate pieces, we’ll do the same for our review.

Mediator Core Blaster Review
Mediator Stock Review

The barrel attachment serves as a additional shotgun blast for whatever blaster you mount it to. It works. Whether you buy it is just a matter of play style.

Splitting the Modulus

The last major Modulus release, the TriStrike, had a Mega shotgun attachment included. In a bid to (perhaps) sell attachments without the core blaster, Hasbro is selling the new shotgun barrel for $15.

The barrel attachment maintains the Mediator paint scheme, at least on the relevant side of the shell. The extended dart barrel can swing down and serve as a standalone handle, should the user desire a shotgun pistol. Why a person would do this is questionable, though, since you could just use an actual blaster.

The pump grip is used to pump up the air tank inside. The orange button, meanwhile, is the trigger. This attachment does, in fact, feature a piston valve tank (like a Hornet or XBZ tank). Technically, it features three.

How Does This Work?

Let’s look at the inside. The air pump feeds up into a fairly large but manageable pilot volume. The over-pressure relief valve sits under the barrel attachment area, and the trigger valve sits in front of that. The main tank, and the barrels, sit at the front.

On closer inspection, however, many things don’t make sense. The darts sit at the very front, with the safety valves (“air restrictors”) taking up a little space behind them. So why the three prongs?

It turns out the tank (singular) is actually tanks (plural). The main part is physically molded into three equal parts (think of the Mercedes-Benz logo – that’s the cross section). Contained in each is a rather large tube, with the piston sealing at the end, just underneath the air restrictor. It’s an interesting approach to the shotgun method of dart delivery, ensuring that all (loaded) barrels receive the same amount of power. Since all the tanks are connected to the rear pilot volume, they all trigger at the same time.

For people interested in modifying the tank, however, it might end up being a disappointment. I will be doing experiments on my own, but those internal tubes take up LOTS of space that could have otherwise helped fire darts. In terms of maximizing firing volume, Hasbro has gone the route of, well, Nerfing the air tanks. Granted, it may have been easier to mold everything this way so that it works as intended. The final product just annoys the tinkerer in me.

It should be noted that the chambers in front of the piston seals, where the safety valves normally sit, will friction fit PETG tubing from McMaster.

Performance and Thoughts

The stock barrel attachment fires all three darts with extreme consistency, perhaps too much. You can easily hit 20′-30′ flat ranges, with more distance at an angle. However, the spread depends highly on your chosen dart. The included Elite darts? Those have plenty of spread. Loading Accustrike darts? Expect a very tight grouping that’s really no better than firing a single dart from the main blaster.

For what it is, the Mediator Barrel works well. Groups of darts can be very effective if you or the target is moving, and if you’re at close range. Or, perhaps, you’re reloading but need to defend yourself. It’s a neat barrel attachment, and selling it by itself is a nice move on Hasbro’s part. Ultimately, however, it just depends on your play style.

The post Nerf Modulus Mediator Barrel Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

The new year has brought with it not just bone-chilling temperatures, but a cool new refresh to the Nerf blaster line. Since the Mediator is being released in three separate pieces, we’ll do the same for our review.

Mediator Core Blaster Review
Mediator Barrel Review

The stock is large and extremely comfortable, especially for adults. It also includes a Double Strike-type blaster that sits within the stock. A comfy stock and hidden secondary? That might be your thing.

A Matter of Size

When looking at the Mediator stock, the first thing you notice is how large it is. Compared to other attachments, it’s humongous in length and girth. As a result, it fits adult-sized arms very well. All that space is used to hold a small, two shot, hammer-primed pistol. As an added bonus, the unpainted side of the stock features a clip for your belt, allowing use as a holster.

If you care about that sort of thing, there are two dart storage holes at the bottom of the stock. They’re useless if you use it as a holster, however, since the darts will simply fall down.

On the Mediator especially, the stock spaces everything out perfectly. With the blaster set that far forward, there isn’t any cramping in your dominant arm, The rubberized coverings at the rear of the stock comfortably cradle the shoulder. And the extra pistol sits within the stock with a decently tight fit. Jerking the stock backwards will dislodge the pistol. However, if you’re doing that, chances are you’re doing something horrible wrong.

There is an extra sling point at the bottom of the stock.

The Included Pistol

The stock/holster serves as home to a Double Strike clone. It works exactly as you’d expect, with the hammer prime and two shots. It’s fairly strong as-is; my blaster was averaging high 60s fps with both shots. You could modify it further, in the same manner as a Double Strike (or Hammershot, since the priming mechanism is the same). Annoyingly, like the rest of the current blaster offerings, it has a paint scheme on only one side. At least it matches the rest of the Mediator group.

Final Thoughts

The stock is large, comfortable, and especially nice for adult frames. It also holds a decent secondary inside it, for those who like having a secondary. For $15, I would consider it worthwhile, even if you don’t want to buy the base Mediator blaster. Don’t want a secondary? I’m sure you could make the stock hold other things, like socks for HvZ or mount mag holders on the side. It has plenty of room, after all.

The post Nerf Modulus Mediator Stock Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

When news leaked that Prime Time Toys (home of the Dart Zone brand) was expanding their Rival-type product line, I was excited. The Powerball had only been out half a year, but had already proven great performance for a good price. Officially released today was not only a revamped springer, but a Zeus/Hera competitor known as the Accelerator. Available at Walmart for $28, it’s not the perfect blaster, but there are still plenty of good things to find.

What’s Inside

The Accelerator is an electric, semi-auto blaster powered by six D batteries. In one of many nods to cross-compatibility, Prime Time Toys used a similar battery tray to current Rival offerings. This allows the Nerf Rival Rechargeable Battery to be used.

The Accelerator is fed by a 25-ball hopper, which loads via a door flap at the top. The hopper is removable, and can be replaced with the 8-ball hopper from the spring-powered blasters. In addition, Rival magazines can be used.

Underneath the shell, the Accelerator has Rival-type flywheels and motors, as well as safety switches connected to a loaded hopper and a closed jam door. A simple lever-pusher mechanism is used to push the balls into the flywheel cage. Yes, it is literally a Rival Stryfe.

Hop up is provided by a plastic ridge inside the barrel, instead of a flexible rubber flap.

The shell itself is solid with plenty of textures, and the build quality is on par with Nerf. The side plates can be switched with included red and blue plates, for your preferred team colors. A nice thought, at least.

In-Game Performance

I was able to find the Accelerator in-store Sunday, just prior to an indoor war in Cincinnati. Using a partially drained Rival rechargeable battery, I still managed to do well.

Among the things I noticed:

• Shots tended to fire downwards. When you’re used to the extra hop-up from modified Rival blasters and thus aim down a bit anyway…you tend to have many shots hit the floor. Aim up five degrees from level.
• The hopper worked well if you were running around. Being pinned in a spot and not moving, however, meant no agitation to help the gravity-fed rounds.
• The blaster is meant to take Rival mags, but the spring force from the mag is enough to prevent the pusher from returning to the rest position. Which makes their use essentially pointless in stock form.
• Picking up rounds from the ground, the Accelerator fired all ammo types – included, Rival, Headshot, etc. Simple feeding mechanisms mean no worries about ammo compatibility.

Overall, however, the Accelerator held its own, especially considering the superstock nature of the war. It works great with a dump pouch full of balls for feeding between skirmishes. The cross-compatibility is hit-or-miss, as demonstrated by the mag issue, but the battery tray and ability to use virtually any Rival-type ammo are both good touches.

Balls had an average velocity of 93 fps, using a fully charged Rival rechargeable battery.

Thoughts on Modification

Separately from the actual blaster quality (good) is what we can do with it. There are no boards to desolder from the motors, and the circuit itself is very simple.I would expect this blaster to perform as well as any other Rival motorized blaster with heavier wiring and a 3S lithium polymer battery.

In addition, the simple trigger mechanism lends itself to the possibility of a motorized adaptation. It would not surprise me to see full-auto kits made for this blaster. Whether the motors can keep up with full-auto fire is, of course, another matter.

If you want to use Rival mags, you NEED a stronger return spring on the pusher.

Finally, the hopper at the top could be expanded to hold more ammo. Conversely, it would be extremely easy to make some sort of adapter for a continuous feed mechanism, a la the HIRricane modded Zeus.

POST-REVIEW MODDING EDIT (01/18/18)

After rewiring an Accelerator and adding a connector for a 3S battery, my Accelerator averages 120fps, with the motors revving up extremely quickly after each shot. In addition, I replaced the extension spring attached to the white lever arm on the pusher. With a stronger spring, Rival magazines are now usable; the pusher can retract against the force applied by the magazine spring. Finally, the noise is less than that from Nerf Rival blasters similarly modified. Time will tell how well the motors hold up to the extra power.

The post Adventure Force Accelerator Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

Along with the release of the Accelerator comes the Titanium, a reshell of the Dart Zone Powerball. It maintains the same basic form and function, but with a few differences. And it still works well as a low-cost alternative to Nerf Rival spring-based blasters, especially now that expanded hoppers are a thing,

New v Old

The Titanium is essentially the same as the Powerball, down to the MSRP. Aesthetically, there are some differences. The vertical pump grip has been replaced with a shotgun-type grip. The housing for the handle and trigger now includes a hand guard. The shell itself has a bit more of a sci-fi future styling to it, as well. As with the Accelerator, there are interchangeable tags for identifying with red or blue teams. It’s a nice touch, and still allows for fairly easy identification. Even if the majority of the blaster is still green.

Internally, you’ll find the mechanisms are largely the same as well. The springs are physically different, although the level of power still feels roughly the same. The Titanium also lacks the ratcheting mechanism from the Powerball – you have to prime the blaster all in one shot, so decent arm strength is required.

The most important difference is the presence of an actual air valve (“AR”) and a pin that opens it up when a ball is loaded for firing. The Powerball simply elected to have a padded plunger and hoped for the best in terms of durability. While mine have yet to show visible damage, Prime Time Toys went with the “cushion of air” method to slow the plunger once the round is fired.

In case of jams, there is an orange tab on the left side of the shell that allows you to pull back the pump grip.

One Annoying Thing, and a Shameless Plug

Prime Time Toys STILL HASN’T REPLACED THE LOADING TAB. This was an issue in the Powerball that caused double feeding with Rival mags, and I drew up a quick replacement for 3D printing. I did a redesign, however, and posted here. It works in both the Powerball and Titanium, and should solve the issue once and for all. Mainly, I redid the curve at the end, and widened the pivot hole slightly so that it fit correctly.

Performance

On my chronograph, my Titanium averaged 90fps. Still decent performance, although I’m used to the Powerball (which shoots faster). As an experiment, I removed the air valve in one Titanium, and the result was in fact Powerball-level velocities. I’d still recommend leaving the valve, however. The newer plunger isn’t padded, and the little bit of extra velocity isn’t much of a gain compared to the internals slamming against each other constantly.

In addition, I had a Titanium out for use at the recent BG Undead indoor war, floating around and being used in various game types. It worked the entire time, and the new loading tab had zero issues. With the 25 round hopper from the Accelerator added, it can basically fulfill the role of an Artemis for much less – the inherent movement involved means the hopper stays agitated.

Final Thoughts

Prime Time Toys has a viable alternative to Rival in their lineup, and having the Titanium (as well as the Accelerator) as part of Walmart’s Adventure Force line could mean great success. Thankfully, the Titanium is a good blaster. It’s not without issues, but it’s a solid alternative to Rival springers, and holds up well in stock and lightly modified settings, as well as HvZ-style games. For $16.88, it’s well worth the money.

The post Adventure Force Titanium Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

Before all the secondhand news from Toy Fair kicks in, I thought I’d try to get out some reviews of the newest pressurized water blasters this season. Hasbro is content with piston-type blasters for the Super Soaker line; this leaves smaller competitors the chance to shine with high-performance, budget-friendly blasters. In the case of Zuru, that means the Xshot Pressure Jet.

A Different Feel

The Pressure Jet (listed as the Hydro Jet on the Xshot website) is an interesting mix of plastic. The main body and pump grip have a cheaper feeling, like you’d find from some discount store toys. The reservoir, front, and main parts, however, are molded from better plastic.

Regardless of the plastic feel, the blaster as a unit feels solid, with plenty of room for your dominant hand. The shoulder rest molded into the back of the reservoir is adequate.

Opened up, you can see that the blaster is incredibly simple. After you fill the reservoir, you put on the cap, pump it full of air to pressurize, then pull the trigger. The trigger swings a small ball valve, with a long tube leading to the small nozzle. A tube inside the reservoir enables full use of your load of water.

Naturally, you should always depressurized your blaster before refilling the reservoir. Not doing so may result in a blast of air to the face, if not a the cap.

Blaster Performance

Compared in size to the Water Warriors Python 2, and a Nerf Hyperfire.

The Pressure Jet holds 1360mL in the reservoir, as advertised. Shot times, however, are highly dependent on the reservoir level and the air pressure levels. Early shots will require fewer pumps for full strength, but have shorter duration. Medium to low reservoir levels will require lots of pumping for the same pressure, but will result in shot times easily exceeding half a minute. It’s just the nature of pressurized reservoirs this size. The small nozzle, of course, favors shot time over shot power. The thin stream is very consistent, however, nearly to the end of its range.

In terms of ranges, I was hitting 35′ with angled shots and quite a few pumps. The longest duration shots stayed at this distance for several seconds, and even after were hitting 25′-30′ for quite a while until the pressure dropped.

Final Thoughts

I’m still deciding a good way to do rankings for water blasters, compared to how I usually rate dart blasters. In the meantime, I’ll say this: the Xshot Pressure Jet is a great blaster, especially compared to the large number of pump-and-shoot blasters available on the market. Ignoring the neighborhood kid that has a CPS 2000, this would do decently well in any sort of soaker war. What it lacks in sheer power, it makes up for in endurance.

The post Xshot Pressure Jet Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

The next pressurized water blaster up for review is the Battle Monster, made by Prime Time Toys and available exclusively at Target. It’s made to operate as a standalone blaster, but can also be powered by a garden hose. More importantly, it does both well.

This sample was provided to me. Big thanks to Prime Time Toys!

Old v. New

The Battle Monster is a fairly large blaster, similar in size to last year’s Adventure Force Super Storm, also made by Prime Time Toys. In fact, it works mostly the same way, with a rubber bladder serving to store the energy for firing. There are a few changes to note, however, between the old blaster and the new.

Whereas the Super Storm held 2000+ mL in its reservoir, the Battle Monster holds around 1300mL. It’s a rather large decrease in capacity, but it makes sense due to making room for the secondary firing mode. In addition, since this blaster is made without a shoulder stock in mind, extra weight would make you tire out faster.

Internally, the bladder is roughly the same size as before, with ~80mL per shot. One area that has been improved is the trigger valve. On the Super Storm, the large surface area of the valve face meant you couldn’t close the valve once it opened. That’s been corrected here, and applied to both valves. Yes, the two systems are separate, and can be used at the same time if desired. Or just one at a time – if you’re hooked to a hose, do you really need to use both?

The trigger handle is on the smaller end, but should still fit most hands. The secondary trigger (for the hose) lies under your middle finger. Both triggers are easy and comfortable to operate. The pump grip is comfortable to use. The shell feels solid, and the styling has a nice aggressive look to it.

The nozzle has six positions, but three types of nozzle: narrow, wide, and four-stream spray. This allows for both firing methods to use the same settings, be it two streams, or a large spray.

Pressurized Performance

The Battle Monster hit fairly consistent ranges with both single stream settings, around 35′ at an angle. Box claims are for 38′, so my sample was not far off of those claims. The thinner stream lasted about four seconds, while the large stream and spray settings lasted for only a second. Shot times are limited when you only have a small capacity in the pressure chamber, after all.

It took me 9-10 pumps before the pressure relief valve audibly opened, signaling the pressure chamber was full. It’s a bit on the small side in terms of pump volume, but it’s adequate (as well as easy to do for younger users). The pumping works best with the blaster held up at a slight angle, to account for where the internal reservoir hose sits.

Getting Hosed

The last major hose-capable blaster on the market was the Super Soaker Flood Fire, which for $25 offered fairly poor performance. It also was only capable of a single stream, one which didn’t hold together very well. It came with its own hose adapter.

The Battle Monster also comes with a hose adapter, which plugs into the bottom of the blaster and feeds the lowest nozzle. Performance will obviously depend on your water pressure, but in my case the pressure from the well back home was enough to match the manual portion of the blaster. There were no leaks among the various fitting connections.

On a separate note, it feels really silly to be testing water blasters when there’s a nice layer of snow on the ground. I realize this is when store shelves change over, but it still makes you question your sanity!

Final Verdict

The Battle Monster is a great water blaster, especially compared to most blasters now on the market. It features two firing modes, and doesn’t have to compromise the performance of either one. At $20, it might be one of the best deals on store shelves this spring and summer for kids and parents feeling a need for water warfare.

The post Tidal Storm Battle Monster Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

The last of our trio of pressurized water blaster reviews focuses on a Buzz Bee Toys-produced blaster. The Power Raider features a large reservoir, separate pressure chamber, and a red dot sight that fits recent Buzz Bee blaster rails. However, there’s a flaw that keeps the Power Raider from achieving greatness, unless you feel like opening it up and correcting it.

Utilitarian Design

The Power Raider isn’t the most beautiful blaster on the block, but it’s the result of a no-nonsense approach to its design. It has a solid shell with stiff plastic, and feels like any other Buzz Bee blaster you’d find, firing water or darts. The boxy design allows for a large reservoir, holding 1800mL of water. The front grey area, meanwhile, is a separate pressure chamber that is around 125mL in total volume, but realistically takes around 90mL of water. This is hard to determine, however, for reasons I’ll soon get into.

The Power Raider, as a bonus, comes with a red dot sight (seen as a standalone item at this year’s Toy Fair). If you look at the top of the blaster, you’ll see a tactical rail. This is the same type of rail as seen on recent Buzz Bee dart blasters, including the Thermal Hunter and the Monorail. It takes two AA batteries, and due to the design has to be held up at an angle for the light to line up properly. A nice touch, considering water and darts obviously follow projectile motion. It’s rather large, but endearing in its cartoon-like appearance.

Overall, the Power Raider is solid, sturdy, and comfortable to use.

Performance Issues

It’s in use, however, where the Power Raider’s flaws become apparent. The reservoir drains through a flat bottom (in the middle, as well), which makes draining the reservoir a chore if you aren’t holding it level. Most blasters have a low spot to drain from, and often have a hose to feed from there.

On the topic of hoses, the hose within the pressure chamber is stiff enough that it sticks essentially straight back in stock form. This is ok, if you’re firing vertically. In regular use, however, it means that after the initial pumping of the blaster, you only expel so much water before getting a mist shot. You end up leaving the bottom of the chamber filled with water, and effectively reduce your chamber volume by a substantial amount. Instead of 6-7 pumps to fill the tank, 2-3 now triggers the pressure relief valve. Pitiful streams result, with 20′ max distance and little volume expelled. It’s a far cry from the 40′ range claims on the box.

Fixing The Blaster

It’s possible that this isn’t an issue for all Power Raiders, but given the stiffness of the tube and it’s short length, I wouldn’t be surprised if many blasters have this issue. Fixing it requires unscrewing the shell AND breaking the solvent welded pump cap and tactical rail. On my blaster, this took quite a while to work loose without damaging the shell.

I used a heat gun to soften the plastic hose in the middle, and bent it down. With the end of the hose in this position, the blaster works spectacularly. Not only could I pump the chamber full every time, I could drain the entire load without any mist shots. Even better was the fact that angled ranges were up to 45′, as opposed to 20′.

The ranges were 40′-45′ for both the thin and thick streams. The third option, a four-stream spray, doesn’t go as far, opting for an area effect.

Final Thoughts

The Power Raider isn’t the most beautiful blaster, but it has high capacity and is capable of great performance. However, in stock form, it just doesn’t reach its potential. The reservoir draining issues are annoying, but the pressure chamber firing issues are horrible. If you’re ok with opening the blaster to fix it, then by all means buy one. Doing so will make it of the best new blasters of the season. If you don’t want to do all that work, however, other options are available.

The red dot sight is a nice touch, and works with several Buzz Bee dart blasters. I guess that’s a positive?

The post Adventure Force Power Raider Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

As is tradition, Hasbro is releasing blaster-related gear for the next Marvel film. In keeping with tradition, it’s also as bad as almost every other Hasbro movie tie-in. We’ve fallen a long way from the days of Iron Man Magstrikes.

Today’s review focuses on the Iron Man version, but all versions will have similar features.

Avengers: Modulus Edition

All the Assembler Gear is able to interlock or stack with each other, thanks to miniaturized versions of the classic Nstrike rail. In addition to that is the presence of barrel attachment points, allowing blaster sections to be connected, barrels to be put in place, etc. The potential for pretend play is very high, considering the number of sets available. And they all have the same sturdy plastic construction. In that area, Hasbro didn’t cut corners.

Unfortunately, these blasters and accessories exist in a different universe than Nerf blasters. The barrel adapters have differently shaped tabs, as well as a wide casing, compared to Nerf barrels. The mini-Nstrike rails can haphazardly attach to blasters at best, or not at all, depending on the blaster. We can debate the usefulness of modifying these things, but ultimately Hasbro missed an opportunity. Nerf Avengers gear that’s fully compatible with your blasters? Little kids excited about an IRON MAN IMPROVED BLASTER? At the very least, a tie-in that doubles as fun accessories would have been interesting.

A Blaster to Die For (aka It Stinks, and You Died)

The blaster unit itself is nothing you should want to have in your collection. On the plus side, it does have its own trigger. That’s really the only plus to it, though.

The blaster is single shot, front-loading, and ONLY primes after a dart has been inserted. None of those are bad things (even if the last one is annoying for people who prime a blaster with the expectation of picking up or scavenging darts, just so one step is already out of the way). It does call into question why you’d want any sort of barrel attachment, however.

When you open up the blaster, you find a direct plunger mechanism. Not the kind you’re hoping for, however. The plunger directly acts on the dart, without a plunger tube to speak of. The previous Iron Man/War Machine wrist blasters that tied in with Civil War operated in a similar fashion. Really, there’s nowhere to go with it, and average dart speeds were only 30 fps.

If you want performance, buy something else.

Final Opinion

Movie tie-in products are almost always a disappointment. Either they perform but are far too expensive (some Star Wars blasters, for example), or they don’t perform well and are still pricey. In this case, $25 buys a blaster unit and accessories that really only combine with the other Assemblers products, and not standard Nerf. And the blaster itself performs poorly.

If a child wants this, or you’re really into collecting, then by all means buy one. But you’ve been warned.

The post Avengers: Infinity War Nerf Assembler Gear Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

This year at Toy Fair, Zuru showed off their entire product line, with much of it in the new blue and white color scheme. The colors, range claims, and shells have all been updated. In the case of the Reflex 6, a slightly larger shell and better internals make for an overall improvement over previous iterations.

Family Ties

The Reflex 6 has a proud heritage, starting with the Bug Attack Rapid Fire (sometimes abbreviated online by the unfortunate acronym BARF). The Excel Reflex Tk-6 came next, with a slightly larger grip and more serious shell (no “bug splat” pieces) but identical internals. At the same time, range claims have increased. Original Xshot ranges were set at 55′, increasing to 80′ with more recent packages. The newest version of the Reflex features 90′ claims.

The shell of the Reflex 6 is longer, and has a longer priming pull. When opened up, the blaster also has a longer plunger tube. The diameter is the same (about 27.5mm), but there’s an extra 20mm in length. It’s enough space to fit a proper spring inside, should you choose to do that. As before, the cylinder rotates on the prime.

The shell is less detailed than offerings from Hasbro, and it’s only in solid colors (no paint). That said, the entire paint scheme looks nice, and the plastic is sturdy.

Power and Performance

The Reflex 6 actually shoots as well as its 80ft range claim predecessor. Most shots fall into the 75-80fps range, using the included Xshot darts. They’re lighter darts, so they’re easier to propel to high speed. While accuracy with these darts at distance is highly lacking, some shots do reach 90′. I would classify the newer 90′ range claims in the same manner as Nerf’s “XD” until further notice. The blaster shoots the same, but cherry-picking data lets you claim better ranges. I’ll have to test other new Xshot blasters to see if that is the case.

The main benefit I can see from the new version is the extended plunger tube and the dart cylinder. This version’s cylinder actually comes apart, with the center screw holding the barrels onto the base. Using longer barrels (of a different material) as well as a properly strong spring would be enough to make this a worthy NIC secondary.

There is no slam fire, but I can comfortably fire two darts per second just pulling back the plunger and immediately firing.

Conclusions

The Xshot Reflex 6 performs roughly as well as its immediate predecessor. However, the insides feature several improvements that can potentially extract a lot more power from the design.

The post Zuru Xshot Reflex 6 Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

Possibly the most common Xshot blaster I’ve seen in stores is the Micro. It’s easy to find in various dollar stores, as well as the “cheap toy” section of Walmart. It’s small size makes it comparable to a Nerf Jolt. However, newer packaging has increased the range claims to 80ft. Is that much performance possible out of this blaster (with the included darts)? The answer is, surprisingly, yes.

A Quick Note Concerning Xshot

I’ll admit, I don’t usually read the fine print on blaster packaging. After all, it’s typically things like company contact information, disclaimers, patents pending, or similar bits of info. However, I noticed on the back of the Micro’s package that Zuru listed their testing methods.for their blasters! I went back to the Reflex packaging to check if it was there as well (it was). 40% of shots in testing meet or exceed the claim. As always, other external factors, other darts, etc. can affect firing distances. Now I know!

Old V New

As mentioned above, the Micro has been around for many years, in different colors. I happened to have one of the original Pink Series ones on hand. (Review on my old blog for reference). The shell itself is the same. And there are slight differences on the inside. However, those differences do quite a bit.

The rather unique plunger setup is still present – it’s still a real plunger tube, but the plunger itself is wide enough to fit the barrel inside. It’s halfway between a regular and reverse plunger, but it works for a blaster this size.

The springs, however, are different. On the newer version, there are fewer coils present, and the spring is noticeably stiffer. So over the same draw length, you have more power.

Inside the plunger tube there is another difference. The old version had a very short spring inside, acting as a plunger cushion, but only a dart peg in the barrel. The new version does away with that extra spring and adds a real safety valve on the barrel.

Downsides: THE BLASTER IS TINY. Even kids may be lucky to fit two fingers under the trigger. The shell is solidly made, but the small size is uncomfortable.

But Does It Shoot Harder?

Using a proper chronograph, the old version of the Micro (also called the Mini) averaged 58fps with Xshot darts. The new version averaged 73fps. That’s actually quite impressive. Outside, that does roughly correlate to the 80′ claims as explained on the back of the packaging. Granted, Xshot darts aren’t exactly a paragon of accuracy, but the claim stands.

Conclusion

For $3 each (or $5 if you find a two pack at Dollar General), the newer Xshot Micros are the real deal. They’re easy to hide in your pocket, and pack better performance than the Jolt, the nearest comparable blaster. If you can get over the issues of comfort, it’s an effective blaster for stealth or desperation.

The post Xshot Micro (2017/2018) Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

Apologies for the lack of postings as of late! Any time not spent working has been spent driving to and doing HvZ Invitationals, or otherwise prepping for them. Which means I’m behind on reviews and video editing and game reports.

However, I will post an update on the Sure Shot darts – they did arrive, and they’re very promising!

The Dart Dissected

The Sure Shot darts are similar in size and shape to the current Super Darts, with a relatively small head. They also have a very small stem on the dart head, compared to other dart types (Accustrike, Waffles, etc). Even so, the darts are solidly glued together, without excess glue on the sides.

Stock Super Darts weigh roughly 0.97g each, according to the last time I weighed out darts. In comparison, the Sure Shots weigh 1.03g.

The dart head is similar to “brick” type tips and Knex darts, but it is a physically different design, with lots of squish to the head. These darts also tend to bounce very well off of surfaces.

The packs retail (currently) for $15 per 100, provided you can find them. I got lucky with an early Amazon listing.

Performance

The Sure Shot darts are much better than regular Super Darts. They make the same range claims (up to 90ft), and with two Dart Zone blasters on hand (the Quatroblast and Dartstorm), the distances traveled were more or less identical (and in line with box claims). The big difference, however, was in consistency. Super darts have ZERO consistency, somewhat like Nerf Elites. Sure Shot darts were tightly grouped.

The darts also worked in various branded blasters without issue, from Retaliators to Thermal Hunters to Stampedes. u/abquintic also got some of these darts and did far more extensive testing.

Finally, I tested out how well the darts held up in a basic superstock blaster, hitting 140fps. Using my Stryfe and a partly drained battery, I aimed at a target 50′ away – a sheet of printer paper taped to the tailgate of my truck. Keeping the blaster as steady as possible, I hit the target 48/50 times, with the two misses only being off by inches. The Stryfe was using Cyclones in a 43mm cage, for reference.

I will be testing these darts further in a serious setting this Saturday at the Penn State HvZ Invitational, but I expect similarly stellar results.

Final Thoughts

These darts are the real deal in terms of improved performance over the original. And at $15 for 100, they beat Accustrike darts in price (75 darts for $20 is the best I can recall seeing, outside of sales). Of course, online bulk is still the best option for large amounts of darts (Accufakes, Waffles, etc). But for store-based sales and immediate needs, these darts are an excellent value.

The post Dart Zone Sure Shot Dart Review appeared first on Blaster Hub.

Of all the things to show up on my birthday! Getting a message from Fedex that a package was ready for pickup was nice. Then I opened it up and found the newest versions of the Pyragon and Vigilon! Since we’re on a roll here, I may as well do a review of the Pyragon first, comparing it to the old version and doing an actual review.

As expected for a Vortex blaster, it’s lots of fun (even if it’s not always competitive in superstock settings). It’s just a matter of whether your desire for a unique take on a formerly discontinued product outweighs your budget concerns,

New v Old

The VTX Pyragon is the exact same as the last release, in terms of form and function. That’s really what it comes down to – Hasbro saw a demand and an opportunity for a store-exclusive rerelease (at Target here in the United States), and broke out the old molds. The paint scheme is much simpler this time around, however – while the shell details are still present, the colors have been reduced to mainly blue, with green stripes. It still looks nice, though.

The drum, meanwhile, is the same as the last one, just in green and grey. You load 19 discs, then flick the drum loading lever three times to load the last 21 discs, for a total of 40.

I would open up the blaster for internal pics, but literally everything feels the same, from priming force to the velocity of the discs at launch (if memory serves, stock Pyragons shoot discs out at around 60fps). As such, I’ll leave it to Google to provide you such pics. In any case, it’s the same basic propulsion mechanism as most Vortex blasters – a throwing arm hits the inside of the disc to fire it forward, with a large torsion spring providing the energy storage.

And yes, slam-fire is STILL built-in. You can spam clouds of discs to your heart’s content.

Discs Everywhere

If there’s one thing to be happy about in this rerelease, it’s the availability of official Vortex ammo. Reproductions available online from various sources tend to be hit and miss in terms of compatibility. Sometimes the flexible plastic inserts are too large or small and don’t properly engage the safety mechanisms within the blasters. Other times, the disc tolerances are too great for complicated blasters like the Revonix 360 to handle without jamming.

The new VTX discs, however, are NICE. Light green foam on the outside. Slightly translucent blue plastic inserts. They’re very pleasing to the eye, and easy to track when you fire them.

Final Thoughts

Vortex blasters are a niche breed in the toy blaster population. The discs actually glide instead of following the (roughly) parabolic path that darts do. You can put up clouds of ammo that your opponents find hard to dodge. And while Vortex is a rarity in superstock settings, it’s still a fun and usable platform in everyday use, and especially in HvZ settings (I ran a Pyragon roughly half the time at my last HvZ Invitational).

The only issue with this Target-exclusive reproduction, however, is price. The original Pyragon retailed for $40 on release. This time around, the MSRP is $60. A 50% increase isn’t a small chunk of change, especially when upcoming blasters like the Infinus are expected to retail near $70. I’m not sure of the reasoning for the price increase, especially when there’s essentially zero development cost (perhaps Target wanted a limited run to keep shelf space open, as opposed to the overwhelming flood of merchandise that sat on shelves and killed the line last time?).

If you’re a big fan of the Vortex, brand, however, the Pyragon works well and is a joy to fire, both with single shots and with slam-fire walls of discs. Expect to see them on Target shelves soon!

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The Regenerator is Xshot’s budget answer to the idea of Nerf Modulus. Modeled similarly to the Nerf Battlescout, it features its own version of tactical rails, accessories, and barrel attachments. For $30 and decent [upgrade-able] performance, it’s not a bad option. It just has the unfortunate luck to have appeared on ToysRUs shelves right after bankruptcy was declared.

L33T Tactics

The Regenerator (shown here in the pretty new blue and white color scheme) comes with a large number of accessories. Two barrel extensions, a bipod, a pump grip vertical handle, a fake scope, a “reflex sight”, a stock, two five-dart ammo holders, and two horizontal mags (ten shots each). If you’re an accessories enthusiast, they’re a great value for the price, and made of high quality plastic. Be aware, though, that they are NOT compatible with other blaster accessory systems.

The blaster itself is essentially a Nerf Battlescout, though it has stylistic differences. The grip has a nice feel to it, even if there’s a hole in the center for attaching the vertical grip. The magazines are removable (though none are sold seperately), with storage for one in the stock. You can then reload the mags from the extra dart storage. Already, that’s progress over the Battlescout.

Unfortunately, it’s very easy to shove the magazines in one or two barrels too far, skipping those darts. It’s something you easily get a feel for after use, but in the heat of battle can be frustrating.

The Barrel attachments functionally do nothing besides provide additional attachment points. Due to the inherent accuracy issues with Xshot darts, however, they can hit the sides of the extended barrels, hurting ranges.

On the Inside

Opening up the blaster reveals a simple setup. A priming bar pushes back against the plunger rod (or at least an attached arm). The spring load and plunger size are essentially identical to that of the Turbo Advance. The plunger tube has an orange cap that can be removed to expose the safety valve. This, however, is highly unnecessary in stock form. After all, the effective length of the barrels (at least the tight fitting portion) is only half an inch. Unless you rebarrel the magazines to better harness the available (or extra, if modding) power, there’s no point in its removal. You’re just putting extra stress on the system for little to no benefit.

Performance

In testing, the Regenerator averaged 68fps with the included Xshot darts. This does in fact translate to the 80′ range claims on the box. Xshot darts, after all, are lightweight darts that tend to stay airborne longer, albeit at the cost of accuracy. Expect slightly less velocity with other types of darts.

There is no slam fire in the Regenerator, but it fires quickly enough without it.

Final Thoughts

The Regenerator is a great blaster for a budget, even if the dart velocities are on the low end to start with. With a bit of work, it can be a great blaster for HvZ or superstock games, despite it’s limitations in ammo capacity. It has plenty of customization possibilities. It’s built quite solidly. It’s just unfortunate that it had to appear on ToysRUs shelves right before they closed. On the plus side, most blasters are discounted 30% at minimum now. IF YOU WANT A REGENERATOR, BUY IT NOW.

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