It seems strange that, in all the years since Dart Zone began making Pro blasters, they haven’t had a “regular” semi-auto blaster available. There have been blasters with semiauto modes, yes (looking at the DZP Mk3 and the Dart Zone Max Omnia), but not what hobbyists would consider a normal semi-auto entry. Even so, given that everyone from Xshot to Nerf is finally jumping on the “Pro” train, now’s as good a time as ever for the Maxim Pro to arrive.
In the technical sense, the Maxim Pro isn’t anything special. It has one job: be the next step up from the Adventure Force Spectrum. And it does that well, all while sporting a cool shell and coming with features that make it appeal to regular consumers and hobbyists alike.
Translucent Orange is the New Black
The Maxim Pro starts things off by just…looking good. Dart Zone went with a translucent shell to show off the guts of the blasters, from the flywheel cage and motor boards all the way back to the rev trigger. They also included a lightly bulged-out battery door (more on that later) and paint applications that evoke the camo version of the classic Adventure Force Nexus Pro. All this, plus the black accents and adjustable stock, make for a stunning blaster. The translucent purple magazine doesn’t hurt, either.
Also, that muzzle is sick.
Regardless of looks, the Maxim Pro appears to have the stats to back it up. The blaster runs on 8AA batteries in stock form, but has the option to remove the battery tray and instead use the hidden XT30 connector to plug in the rechargeable battery of your choice. The trigger is smooth. The rev trigger is, uniquely, at the rear of the grip. It’s not the same as the grip rev on the Venom Pro, which gets pressed in by the webbing of your hand. Here, you’re pressing the rev trigger with the meat of your basal joint. It’s a much more involved hand movement, which may turn off some users. However, given the two-handed nature of the platform, it’s unlikely to throw off your aim when you get the motors turning.
The safety is at the base of the grip, well out of the way of any gameplay hand motions. It’s ideal.
The adjustable stock is in two pieces; the base clips onto N-Strike stock attachment points, and is itself a buffer tube for attaching traditional stocks.
The magazine is removed with a traditional thumb lever that you can depress while pulling down on the magazine.
Performance and Gameplay
The Maxim Pro is super easy to use in foam combat, especially when using a rechargeable battery. In stock form, I averaged 151fps with alkaline batteries. A 2S lipo saw averages of around 145fps, but the spin up time was far better. 3S improved velocities to 158fps average, but that doesn’t seem like a large enough increase to care about (be that due to the circuitry, flywheel cage setup, etc.).
Rate of fire is as fast as you can pull the trigger – five darts per second is easy to achieve. Again, using alkaline batteries will result in velocity dropping off when firing rapidly; rechargeable battery packs are what make this blaster truly better.
Internals and Modification
The Maxim Pro has a very tight motor spacing at 39mm, with slightly concave wheels. It’s highly likely that better velocity numbers could be seen with the motors slightly further apart, using more concave wheels a la Daybreaks or Banned Blaster wheels. More testing is needed.
Interestingly, there are unused screw post pairs within the shell. There are also gear teeth on the pusher arm that aren’t being used. The reason? Dart Zone intentionally made it so that, if the user so desired, they could install a Worker full-auto Stryfe kit within the Maxim Pro.
Now that’s cool.
But…
There’s one small but, one that I and several other people in the hobby community have noticed: there might be an issue with the PTCs (Positive Temperature Coefficient thermistors).
In my case, it was a hot day in a warehouse arena that isn’t climate controlled, mag dumping darts out of a few magazines until I found the blaster stopped working. And this was while running on AA batteries – not exactly a powerhouse in terms of current. After putting the Maxim Pro down and finishing the rest of the round in melee, I picked it up to find that the blaster was working perfectly again.
Perhaps there’s some variance in PTC quality, or they’re underspecced for the possibility of consistent current pull you’d get from mag-dumping? That, or the hot day reduced the temperature increase needed to trigger the PTC? In any case, the possibility of the blaster “breaking” is there, even if it’s just a protective element in the circuit tripping. Hobbyists will simply bridge the PTC or otherwise omit it altogether, but it’s an issue the average consumer might come across, as well – this is a product on store shelves, not one on hobbyist-centered websites. For that reason, I’m lowering the build quality score, and may adjust things in the future as more info becomes available.
Last Thoughts
The Maxim Pro does nearly everything it should for $40. More importantly, it has features built-in for hobbyists to further improve the platform, should they choose. Overall, Dart Zone needs to keep this up…and double check those circuitry components.
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