The Nerf and Super Soaker Thread

[MisterWaffles]

On another note, I got one of these just yesterday!
View attachment 970181
Haven't tested it outside yet, but I have fired a few shots and unsurprisingly, it hits very hard! My only complaint really is that it's a top prime and is difficult to pull back as a result, but fortunately I think theirs a 3D printed piece you can buy that makes it easier. While I do prefer the Nexus Pro over this, it's pretty solid overall and I am excited to see what they do next with this line.

That's cool. I'm glad you've been enjoying your purchase.

When it comes to the pro line here, I'm not really sure how much Dart Zone can really innovate here. Pretty much every "competitive" nerf blaster nowadays is either a LIPO flywheel or pump-action springer.

When it comes to what I see them maybe doing, perhaps they'll release a flywheel LIPO blaster in the Pro line inspired by the competitive builds, I can see that being incredibly popular.

What Dart Zone would do if they were real madlads is create a modular turret attachment for the line. Something that you can mount on either side of a flywheel primary and has a really fast DPS and shoots really hard. Something similar to those Rapidstrike tri-integrations would be really cool but incredibly expensive I'd imagine.

Other than that, maybe some kind of shotgun? A double-barrel Nexus Pro? Walcom covered this crazy flywheel shotgun recently and if they made something like that I'd totally buy it.

I mean, as much as I want Nerf back on top, this is really interesting stuff. I really wonder what Dart Zone will do now that they have this market attention and engineering capability.

 

[Sonygamer455]

When it comes to the pro line here, I'm not really sure how much Dart Zone can really innovate here.

Neither am I, people in Walcoms Discord seem to feel the same as well, but I have confidence they'll surprise us somehow.

Pretty much every "competitive" nerf blaster nowadays is either a LIPO flywheel or pump-action springer.

Yea nowadays that's the way to go.

When it comes to what I see them maybe doing, perhaps they'll release a flywheel LIPO blaster in the Pro line inspired by the competitive builds, I can see that being incredibly popular.

Yea I and many others think a flywheel blaster in the line is something it needs. I think it should probably come with a proprietary rechargeable battery pack like the Nerf Rival Prometheus did because given the special care lipos need, I think it'd be a reckless decision to make it require one since not everyone is accustomed to using them. However, I do think it would be a great idea to have it lipo ready out of the box so that way people can use them if they choose to do so. All they'd really need to do is give it high gauge wiring, high amperage switches, beefy motors and of course a battery connector people are familiar with and it'd work!

What Dart Zone would do if they were real madlads is create a modular turret attachment for the line. Something that you can mount on either side of a flywheel primary and has a really fast DPS and shoots really hard. Something similar to those Rapidstrike tri-integrations would be really cool but incredibly expensive I'd imagine.

Ah, you're talking about those side mounted Swarmfires people like Coop772 did. That would be cool for sure, but I doubt they'd do that.

Other than that, maybe some kind of shotgun? A double-barrel Nexus Pro? Walcom covered this crazy flywheel shotgun recently and if they made something like that I'd totally buy it.

So would I, it wasn't too long ago I watched his video about it I think. A shotgun is a very sensible choice, either have it similar to Nerf's Roughcut or Twinshock or maybe something that takes two magazines like Nerf's Double Dealer. Either would work for me.

Some other ideas I think they could do is:

• A small, single shot pistol like Nerf's old Nite Finder.
• Perhaps a sniper of sort that has an extra 25+ fps from the other Pro blasters and an actually useful scope.
• Some kind of full auto flywheel blaster with select fire with all the things I said earlier about the flywheelers.
• Of course some kind of semi automatic flywheeler with the things I mentioned earlier as well.
• This might be a little on the obsolete side, but an air blaster of some sort, with a rotating turret, a nice air pump and a powerful air tank would certainly get me going.

That's just a few ideas I have.

I mean, as much as I want Nerf back on top, this is really interesting stuff. I really wonder what Dart Zone will do now that they have this market attention and engineering capability.

So do I and I really hope responds to this with something of their own because competition is good thing and having the two compete would only encourage them to try even harder.

 

[Sonygamer455]

So this is a thing:

 

[MisterWaffles]

They’ve also announced a pistol that loads with stripper clip looking things like a Steyr M1912. Only takes short darts so that’s a pass from me unfortunately.

I’m assuming these two with their takedown pins and red scheme are going to be in the significantly more expensive neck of the woods.

If I’m going to buy one of these wannabe Airsoft guns, it’ll probably be the Nexus or Aeon although they aren’t available in Canada for whatever reason yet.

 

[Sonygamer455]

That’s what I was talking about, the pistol. I am not too hyped for this pistol either because:
1. Like the Aeon Pro, its top prime, which I find very uncomfortable to pull back with high spring loads, which it will undoubtedly have.
2. If its anything like the Dart Zone Pro 1.0 and 1.1 (which it seems to relate to the most), it’ll probably be prohibitively expensive.

Not bothered by the short darts because short darts are awesome, until you need to retrieve them anyhow. The internal magazine is a good idea, but I doubt I’ll be able to get this one.

Regarding the Nexus and Aeon Pro, I heard they were going to make them available in Canada, but not sure if they have yet or not.

 

[MisterWaffles]

Something interesting. This topped r/Nerf today. The post is called “r/Dartzone when?”

This is so surreal that even the memes about nerf being garbage now have been meme’d themselves.

 

[MisterWaffles]

Price of the Mk2 DZP internal magazine/stripper clip pistol was announced today.

It’s $80 US which is $105 CAD. So yes, it is ridiculously expensive for a pistol. Even if it shoots really hard.

You can get a Kronos for WAY less money and that’s probably the gold standard of sidearms right now.

 

[Sonygamer455]

Something interesting. This topped r/Nerf today. The post is called “r/Dartzone when?”

View attachment 971393
This is so surreal that even the memes about nerf being garbage now have been meme’d themselves.

Wow. I think they made a typo though because I am pretty sure the Nexus Pro shoots farther than 12 ft. I think they meant to say 120 ft.

Price of the Mk2 DZP internal magazine/stripper clip pistol was announced today.

Yep, saw it in Walcom's Discord. It also has a muzzle break and a holster. A nice touch, but I stand by what I said earlier about it. I'll give it the benefit of a doubt though, it might surprise me once the reviews come.

You can get a Kronos for WAY less money and that’s probably the gold standard of sidearms right now.

Yea, it's become quite a hit since it's release and already has a ton of parts available for it. However, some people (namely WalcomS7) don't prefer Rival, but they have some short dart kits for it if you wanted to use short darts and you don't pay much more for the kit and the blaster overall when compared to the MK2.

First issue, Nerf blasters are for 8-year olds so I doubt Hasbro is going to make them shoot any harder than 70FPS anytime soon.

I didn't realize this until after I replied, but Nerf actually already has with this years Ultra blasters. Ultra One and Two don't really shoot harder than that, but the Ultra 3 and Ultra Pharoah do, I can't remember if the others do or not. Mind you, unlike Rival, these are for ages 8 and up.

I must admit, I kind of like the Ultra Pharoah and the Ultra Two and I think they're a pretty good concept overall, the fact they shoot Ultra darts is my only issue really.

 

[MisterWaffles]

Wow. I think they made a typo though because I am pretty sure the Nexus Pro shoots farther than 12 ft. I think they meant to say 120 ft.
Yep, saw it in Walcom's Discord. It also has a muzzle break and a holster. A nice touch, but I stand by what I said earlier about it. I'll give it the benefit of a doubt though, it might surprise me once the reviews come.
Yea, it's become quite a hit since it's release and already has a ton of parts available for it. However, some people (namely WalcomS7) don't prefer Rival, but they have some short dart kits for it if you wanted to use short darts and you don't pay much more for the kit and the blaster overall when compared to the MK2.
I didn't realize this until after I replied, but Nerf actually already has with this years Ultra blasters. Ultra One and Two don't really shoot harder than that, but the Ultra 3 and Ultra Pharoah do, I can't remember if the others do or not. Mind you, unlike Rival, these are for ages 8 and up.

I must admit, I kind of like the Ultra Pharoah and the Ultra Two and I think they're a pretty good concept overall, the fact they shoot Ultra darts is my issue really.

Sorry, I should have been more specific when I was saying “Nerf blasters are for 8-years olds.” What I meant by that are the elite and other related micro dart series that have that age range printed on the box. I think the Ultra is slightly higher with their age range and Rival is something like 12-13+ I think (even though I’ve seen kids much younger using Rival).

But yeah; while the DZP Mk.2 seems mechanically interesting from a pistol perspective, I think the Kronos with modification is still a better option. Plus it looks a whole lot cooler and there’s a huge aftermarket.

 

[MisterWaffles]

I must admit, I kind of like the Ultra Pharoah and the Ultra Two and I think they're a pretty good concept overall, the fact they shoot Ultra darts is my only issue really.

I wanted to comment on this point you made. From what I’ve seen from reviews and posts, the Ultra Pharaoh is actually a really good blaster that shoots hard and (mostly) solved the Ultra accuracy issues.

It’s too bad that everyone’s dicking on Nerf and Ultra because the Pharaoh is kind of being slept on right now. It’s nowhere near as bad as the stigma that surrounds Ultra and if Nerf releases more blasters in the future that are on par with the Pharaoh, Ultra could turn out to be a pretty decent line with a rough start.

 

[MisterWaffles]

Also, update on the Turbine/Spectrum shipment. That won’t arrive until next Thursday (estimated) so it’ll still be about 10 days.

 

[MisterWaffles]

Alright. Turbine and Spectrum are in. Time for a review and versus:

Remarkably, they’re both very similar in overall profile. Short stocks that are impractical, similar barrel length, both are narrow, both have angled front grips (when you take the VGF off the Spectrum). These two blasters hold very near identically to each other.

Despite everyone saying how garbage the build quality is on Elite 2.0, I’d still say that the Turbine has superior build quality over the Spectrum despite the Turbine’s flimsy but easy to reattach jam door cover. So surprisingly, the Turbine wins over the Spectrum in build quality. The overall feel of the plastic on the Turbine is sturdier and the Spectrum’s included foregrip and magazine are a little flimsy.

Now onto the controls of each blaster. The Turbine has a very crisp trigger pull that feels excellent. The Spectrum has a much longer pull and feels less refined. The spectrum has a better feeling rev trigger though and the magazine release on the Spectrum is better. You can gravity drop magazines on the Spectrum and due to the paddle control, you can reload it AK-style. For the Turbine I actually find the magazine release to be fine if you use the thumb of your off-hand to strike the top of it. It’s not hard at all to do it for me and makes reloading using that stiff button-style release much easier than using the back of your trigger finger.

Onto the firing performance. With their respective included ammo, they both have no problems feeding reliably (also no problems when swapping ammo). The Turbine shoots way faster than the Spectrum but at the cost of not shooting nearly as hard. It’s kind of a trade-off between speed and distance/precision between these two. The Turbine is much better for saturating an area with foam quickly, but the Spectrum is much more reliable for single hits and conserving ammo.

Overall, like I said I thought I would before, I like both blasters. The Turbine is nowhere near as bad as people say it is. The plastic has typical Nerf sturdiness, it shoots really fast and it’s darn good at doing it. Not going to completely replace my Rapidstrike but totally a fine complement.

The Spectrum on the other hand certainly feels cheaper. The plastic is a little creaky, the included foregrip is wobbly and the magazine is of lesser quality. However, the firing performance and magazine well itself are excellent. The experience of using this blaster is certainly enjoyable.

Overall, both are perfectly adequate blasters that perform their designed tasks very well. I’m very happy I was able to snag both when the Turbine was on sale. Both are certainly getting a recommendation from me.

 

[Sonygamer455]

Sorry, I should have been more specific when I was saying “Nerf blasters are for 8-years olds.” What I meant by that are the elite and other related micro dart series that have that age range printed on the box.

I figured you did, but I thought it was worth noting how Ultra is for ages 8 and up.

I think the Ultra is slightly higher with their age range

Actually, it is for ages 8 and up believe it or not. I checked at Wal Mart the other week and just last week and it says that on the box. I have some Ultra darts and given how soft the dart heads are, it actually makes sense, even with the high velocities of the newer Ultra blasters.

Rival is something like 12-13+ I think (even though I’ve seen kids much younger using Rival).

14+. Though I do feel plenty of the Rival blasters could be used by younger people with little to no issue as long as they aren't irresponsible with them.

But yeah; while the DZP Mk.2 seems mechanically interesting from a pistol perspective, I think the Kronos with modification is still a better option. Plus it looks a whole lot cooler and there’s a huge aftermarket.

Something I forgot to factor in though is for the Kronos to shoot short darts, you also have to get the darts and magazines to use them, so that's more to the cost than I thought. After seeing Drac's review of the blaster, I feel it really depends on what you're going for. You can't exactly holster a Kronos like you can the DZP MK2, so if that's your thing, it may be different for some.

I wanted to comment on this point you made. From what I’ve seen from reviews and posts, the Ultra Pharaoh is actually a really good blaster that shoots hard and (mostly) solved the Ultra accuracy issues.

It’s too bad that everyone’s dicking on Nerf and Ultra because the Pharaoh is kind of being slept on right now. It’s nowhere near as bad as the stigma that surrounds Ultra and if Nerf releases more blasters in the future that are on par with the Pharaoh, Ultra could turn out to be a pretty decent line with a rough start.

And I agree with everything you said here. The Mega line didn't have a great start either with the release of the Centurion, but the line eventually got to where it was really good and people like it now. (myself included) Ultra has some good things going for it, like the motors on the flywheel blasters can take a 3S lipo and they don't need to be replaced and the springers are very powerful out of the box and can take even heavier spring loads. Like I said, the fact they are made for Ultra darts is my only issue with things like the Pharoah and the Ultra 2. I can't blame them for not liking the Ultra darts, theirs too many things I could write about why I dislike them here.

I kind of think Nerf needs to ditch the Ultra dart and just repurpose the future Ultra blasters to shoot Accustrike darts instead, but leave everything else in the blaster untouched. One could argue it would be a proper Elite 2.0 line.

Despite everyone saying how garbage the build quality is on Elite 2.0, I’d still say that the Turbine has superior build quality over the Spectrum despite the Turbine’s flimsy but easy to reattach jam door cover. So surprisingly, the Turbine wins over the Spectrum in build quality. The overall feel of the plastic on the Turbine is sturdier and the Spectrum’s included foregrip and magazine are a little flimsy.

Nerf almost always has better plastic quality than the other brands, but I should note that the Nexus Pro and Aeon Pro feel roughly similar to what Nerf does currently though. Haven't handled anything else from Dart Zone yet though.

I do wonder what some of the other Youtubers mean when they talk about the build quality though, might be missing something here.

The Turbine has a very crisp trigger pull that feels excellent. The Spectrum has a much longer pull and feels less refined.

To be fair, full auto blasters have shorter trigger pulls because all they have to do is depress is a small switch to activate the pusher motor to launch the darts. Blasters like the Stryfe and the Spectrum use the triggers to manually push the pusher forward, so naturally the longer trigger pull is normal. However, I think I recall someone saying the Stryfe had a smoother trigger pull than the Spectrum. (I could be wrong)

The Turbine is nowhere near as bad as people say it is. The plastic has typical Nerf sturdiness, it shoots really fast and it’s darn good at doing it. Not going to completely replace my Rapidstrike but totally a fine complement.

Don't forget though, it has those plastic leaf springs on the triggers and mag release which like I said earlier, they're going to wear out faster than normal and getting into the blaster to fix it is not easy. Not trying to discourage you, rather I am just helping you prepare in case something breaks, which I think that's something to think about and it's one of people's biggest problems with the line. Here's a video showing how to get into it.

 

[MisterWaffles]

Welcome to another episode of my terrible purchasing decisions. This time featuring the Nerf Infinus.

Damn boi he thick.

I both love it and hate it at the same time. Bought it for myself while I was out Christmas shopping for my family/friends and wow is it so cool. But it was also 90 dollars. I’m still processing this.

 

[Sonygamer455]

Got the Nerf Rival Prometheus for Christmas! Was going to get the Mega Motostryke originally, but I was amazed to see it was only $75 on Walmart.com and I simply could not ignore it!

Played around with it some and I have to say, I love it! As others have noted, it comes with 200 rounds, but it can easily hold more than that with ease, which is a good thing! 👍 It's great it included a rechargeable battery because I hate dealing with D batteries and plus this one yield better results anyways. The rate of fire is pretty darn fast and it's reminiscent of a modded Nemesis running on a 3S lipo, I would know because I have one. Ergonomics, while far from the worst I have seen, I can't say I am a huge fan of this configuration, but it was going for that minigun sort of feel and it certainly achieved it. Overall, it's a fantastic blaster and if you can get it for cheap, I highly recommend it!

Question is, does it replace the Nemesis? Stock, yes. Even with the rechargeable battery you can get for the Nemesis, the Prometheus totally outguns it. A modded Nemesis on the hand? Not so much. If I was planning on running around a lot, I would probably lean towards my modded Nemesis instead the Prometheus. While the Nemesis has half the capacity of the Prometheus, the weight and ergonomics is what really sets it apart from it and it's the one thing it does better. With a 3S lipo, you get similar rate of fire to the Prometheus anyways. Though if I was in a smaller enclosed area and wasn't planning on running, Prometheus all day!

Going to modify this one eventually though and see what it can do then. Should be epic!

 

[Sonygamer455]

Been forgetting to post this lately, but I finally got the Adventure Force Villainnator a while back.

After watching several reviews of this, I just had to get one and I am so glad I did! Blaster has pretty good ergonomics, plastic is of decent quality and has a 40 dart capacity and even comes with 40 waffle head darts. I think the drum is even detachable too! Coop mentioned it had a heavier spring load than most Nerf blasters and I sort of noticed it at first, but when I started to slamfire it, that's where it really became evident to me. The priming weight is not bad by any means, but it is certainly heavier than something like the Nerf Raider CS-35 by a little bit and it's going to wear you out faster if you slamfire a lot, but it's not alienating though and the performance makes up for it. (and I am pretty weak) The blaster is of course pretty accurate thanks to the darts, so much so even my sister, who isn't really into the hobby, noticed it and that's something I really like about this!

So, is it as good as they say it is? Yes, yes it is! Good ergo, huge capacity, 40 darts with great accuracy, slamfire and 90+ fps, all for only $20?! It's a great deal, it's the best pump action drum fed springer I have ever used and unless 90+ fps is too hard for you, I can't think of any reason to avoid it! 👍

 

[Sonygamer455]

https://blasterhub.com/2021/01/worker-ultra-pharaoh-short-dart-kit-review/

Well this has finally become a thing as of recently! While I have never used the Pharaoh, I did say earlier I like the concept of the blaster, the fact it shoots Ultra darts is my only issue with it really. Fortunately, this kit fixes that and converts it to shoot short darts, which I really like. The reviewer says he averaged at 168FPS with the stock spring, which is higher than a stock Nexus Pro! I think the Pharaoh also has sturdy enough internals to take a heavier spring, so who knows where it can go from here?!

I kind of wanted one of these at first, now I am really wanting one since this exists.

 

[Sonygamer455]

So MisterWaffles, serious question, but what do you think of what Nerf is doing in 2021 so far?

 

[MisterWaffles]

Hyper is pretty cool. I like the aesthetic and the pistol seems like the new broken sidearm of the competitive community. If you’re talking run what you brung pistols only that thing destroys the DZP pistol.

The feeding seems pretty inconsistent and I think the thing turning me off from wanting to actually buy one is the ammo is ridiculously small so good luck finding it after you shoot it, and it doesn’t evaporate or biodegrade so that will be a problem for sure.

The dinosaur themed Nerf blasters are all really cool. The T-Rex Stryfe reshell in particular looks like a lot of fun.

That Rival Curve-Shot sub series is pretty neat too in my opinion. I quite enjoy the aesthetic and the more primary-sized one looks like something ripped straight from Halo.

So yeah the last few things Nerf has launched at the start of this year all seem pretty good to me. I think the Hyper series has some potential if they can work out some of the quirks, the new Rival stuff is cool and the Dino blasters are fun.

Meanwhile in Elite 2.0 land the mag release on my Turbine has started to squeak and I mean quite loudly. It’s a shame if that’s a sign of it wearing out because I’ve only had the thing for about half a year and I have a lot of fun shooting it. So yeah if that ends up breaking I may end up going and buying one of those T-Rex Stryfes, but hopefully it doesn’t come to that. The thing still works for now but I don’t know what loud squeaking really entails for a plastic leaf spring.

So, yeah a shame about the Turbine because I actually think it’s better at being a Rapidstrike than an actual Rapidstrike, at least in stock form. I also have that elephant in the room, the Infinus to fall back on that I still haven’t gotten around to buying batteries for. I should run to the store this week and try it out for a bit sometime.

 

[Sonygamer455]

Hyper is pretty cool. I like the aesthetic and the pistol seems like the new broken sidearm of the competitive community.

The community seems divided on Hyper and for good reason too. Me however, I think Hyper is one of the most exciting things to happen in Nerf in years. In fact, I find the 3 they revealed to be more exciting than nearly everything they put out in 2020. Large capacity in a small package, paint on both sides, high firing velocity, and probably the most aesthetically pleasing color schemes I've ever seen in Nerf. If you ask me, this proves Nerf has still got it and they can in fact do better than what they have been doing.

If you’re talking run what you brung pistols only that thing destroys the DZP pistol.

Not sure I agree with that or not. The DZP MKII has higher, more consistent performance than the Rush-40. Though I think the large capacity of the Rush-40 would give it a serious advantage over it in battle.

The feeding seems pretty inconsistent and I think the thing turning me off from wanting to actually buy one is the ammo is ridiculously small so good luck finding it after you shoot it, and it doesn’t evaporate or biodegrade so that will be a problem for sure.

Yea the feeding definitely isn't the greatest and I hate that, but I think Hasbro will eventually get that worked out. In the case of the Mach 100, I feel like the 6 D batteries are not providing enough power to the blaster, and rewiring for lipo could fix that. OutofDarts and American Foam are already on that thankfully, so hopefully we'll know if this is the case soon enough.

Yea the size of the ammo has been a huge concern for me too. Rival rounds are bad enough to retrieve as it is, but these are going to be even worse. However, American Foam revealed the rounds do show up if you shine a black light on them, so it's not as bad as it could be. A good touch! Hasbro was obviously aware of their small size being a problem, so they did this.

The dinosaur themed Nerf blasters are all really cool. The T-Rex Stryfe reshell in particular looks like a lot of fun.

Yea I do like the cosmetic work on them. The Rex Rampage looks pretty cool and would be fun to do cosmetic work on, especially the eyes. My only problem with it is the price tag and flywheel cage being molded to the body. I want to like the Stegosmash, but its performance is a little under par and it's made worse by the fact they pulled an Elite 2.0 with this one. I don't care for the Tricera Blast at all, never have been a huge fan of hammer primes and smart AR systems.

I am optimistic this line may be like Zombie Strike and it might put out something innovative we haven't seen before. Looking forward to seeing what they do next.

That Rival Curve-Shot sub series is pretty neat too in my opinion. I quite enjoy the aesthetic and the more primary-sized one looks like something ripped straight from Halo.

Yea the Curve-Shot line, while not super exciting in my opinion, they have a nice gimmick that actually works that could be useful in some cases and the aesthetics are pretty nice and after what 2020 was, it's very refreshing to see that. 👍

Meanwhile in Elite 2.0 land the mag release on my Turbine has started to squeak and I mean quite loudly. It’s a shame if that’s a sign of it wearing out because I’ve only had the thing for about half a year and I have a lot of fun shooting it. So yeah if that ends up breaking I may end up going and buying one of those T-Rex Stryfes, but hopefully it doesn’t come to that. The thing still works for now but I don’t know what loud squeaking really entails for a plastic leaf spring.

Sorry to hear that about your Turbine. I hate to tell you this, but I think it is starting to wear out and I don't think it's going to get any better the longer you use it. If you're feeling courageous though, their are some videos on Youtube showing how to get into it and hopefully do something about it

So, yeah a shame about the Turbine because I actually think it’s better at being a Rapidstrike than an actual Rapidstrike, at least in stock form.

It really is a shame. I really want to like the Turbine, it has higher rate of fire than the Rapidstrike, and it could have been a proper evolution to it had it been done right. Instead, they cut corners where they shouldn't have and made it a blaster that people would be reluctant to buy despite its decent stock performance. I really wish they would remake it and fix everything they did wrong with it. I'd actually buy it if they did.

I also have that elephant in the room, the Infinus to fall back on that I still haven’t gotten around to buying batteries for. I should run to the store this week and try it out for a bit sometime.

As an owner of one, I think you'll be impressed with it. The rate of fire is better than a Rapidstrike, but not as much as the Turbine and the rear loading feature works very well, though it's kind of slow. It's a good one to fall back on when you're Turbine fails though.

 

[Sonygamer455]

When it comes to what I see them maybe doing, perhaps they'll release a flywheel LIPO blaster in the Pro line inspired by the competitive builds, I can see that being incredibly popular.

Looks like it's finally happening.
https://dartzoneblasters.com/post/dart-zone-mk-3/
Don't know what is going to power this thing, but I am very curious to find out what it is. It can't be alkaline's because they cannot provide enough power to achieve pro-level performance. I personally speculate it will be a proprietary Nimh battery of some sort kind of like how the Nerf Rival Perses and Prometheus were.

I love lipo's, but as someone who has used them for a few years now, I still think it would be a reckless decision for Dart Zone to make it require one, and I sincerely hope they don't do that with this one. Now if it was compatible with one out of the box, but doesn't strictly require it to run, then that would be fine. Just don't limit it to only that.

 

[Sonygamer455]

So after months of putting off on it, I finally got a Motostryke just 2 days ago! Wanted one ever since it was teased, but the price put me off for a while and so did the fact bigger and better blasters later came. I nearly considered getting the Rush-40 over this one since it just hit my local Wal-Mart, but I decided on this one because I got tired of putting off on it and wasn't sure how much longer it'd be around.

Had some time to play around with it and here are my thoughts on it.
The Good:
1. I love the grip and stock, and that foregrip feels almost as if it was made for me. The ergonomics overall feel very good!
2. Performance is pretty good as well, though it feels slightly underpowered, it's not too bad. It's at least passable.
3. Magazine is a good capacity and it feeds well. It's nice to finally have more Mega magazines!

The Bad:
1. My biggest problem with this blaster is the trigger. The trigger is everything Coop772 said it was, it has one of those stupid leaf springs in it like the Elite 2.0 blasters did and they simply are not strong enough to push the trigger forward effectively. My trigger tends to struggle a lot on the first few shots, making my rate of fire very sluggish. Sometimes even jamming because of this. Once I get past those first few darts, it works better, but given the nature of leaf springs, it's only going to get worse in time.
2. The mag release, while not the worst, it's also a leaf spring that will eventually give out, or in Walcom's case, break instantly. It requires a little more pressure than most other blasters I have used and could have been better.
3. Something about inserting the magazine just feels "off". It feels a little harder than it should be to get it in there, possibly because of the issue above.

Overall, I like the blaster, a mag-fed Mega flywheeler is something we have needed for a long time now and it's great we finally have one now! However, those stupid leaf springs really undermine what could have been a very solid blaster had Hasbro not cheaped out in all the wrong places and it's unfortunate too because I know they can do better than this. Because of this, I wouldn't want to use it in a war due to the trigger spring being way too weak, but it's still a fun blaster and one I am still happy to own.

Fortunately, this thing can be easily opened, and most if not all of my biggest problems can be fixed with a little modding as others have shown. At the end of the day, I knew what I was getting myself into with this one, and thankfully I never intended to leave it stock anyways. Going to be modifying this thing pretty soon and hopefully fix the issue with the springs and rewire it for my 3S lipo. Can't wait to see what it'll be then!

 

[Sonygamer455]

Well it's done! Took a little longer than expected, but I finished it yesterday and did some testing. First time I have modded a motorized blaster in 2 years.

Spoiler: Mods I done

1. Full 18 gauge rewire and lock removal. I kept the trigger lock so the pusher won't move unless the flywheel motors are running.
2. Replaced the original switch with a 15 amp microswitch.
3. Cut part of the trigger back, drill holes in two places, then attached a retention spring to help the trigger return faster. Dr. Flux was where I got the inspiration from since he did something similar to this. However I was skeptical at how well the plastic post would hold up over time, so I decided to use screws instead.

4. Followed a tip from Project Nerf and carved away some plastic around the mag well so the magazine will go in easier.

5. Removed the battery terminals and took out pretty much everything to make room for my lipo.

Originally, I wanted to keep the terminals and just solder new wires and XT-60 connector to them so I could still use C batteries if I wanted. Sadly I ended up taking it all out since my lipo needed the space to fit. As you can see, theirs no way I could have kept them since mine is so large.

Fits really well! Didn't even have to trim the battery cover!

And here's the firing demo!

I forgot to lubricate the moving parts and make a picture of all the internals when I was done and I might experiment with other retention springs later on, but for now, I'm calling it finished here!

The only regrets I have is I was unable to keep the ability to use C batteries, I think I filed down the mag well a tad too much because now it wiggles some, but fortunately, it's not too problematic. Overall, I am impressed with it! It's got a lot of power, the magazine is much easier to insert now, the trigger pull is a little heavy but it returns like it should now and it seems to feed better than before. I definitely recommend modifying the Motostryke because while it's not bad out of the box, it certainly could have been better and it was not one I would use in an actual war, but with these simple mods, it can be and it's not hard to do either!

 

[Sonygamer455]

So I learned awhile back the Dart Zone Pro MKII actually got an orange release on Walmart.com and despite what I said here:

I am not too hyped for this pistol

...I finally decided to get one. And here it is in the box:

And here it is out of the box, with and without the muzzle:

Despite kind of wanting it, I didn't bother with this blaster at first because it was expensive, being sold at a place I don't live near and my family refuses to support, and the fact it was top prime with a heavy spring, a combo I hated with the Aeon Pro. But I caved in once I saw it was available at Walmart and after seeing reviews. After playing with it some, I am actually blown away by it and I like it way more than I thought I would!

My thoughts are:

• Performance is just what you'd expect from a Pro blaster and the priming weight is not nearly as bad as I feared. It's tolerable and is actually lighter than the other Pro blasters I've used.
• The holsters for the blaster and speedloaders work as intended, no complaints here.
• The speedloaders themselves also work pretty well as long as you don't push them in too quickly, but loading by hand is a breeze if you ever need to do it.
• The grip is alright, but I would have preferred a different style that is less blocky, but it's not terrible and totally usable.
• I didn't think I'd like the muzzle much, but I do, more than expected. It gives me a place for my other hand so I can steady the blaster and it feels good!

The only complaints I have, other than the cost, is:

• That bulgy part above the grip directly below where it says "powered by PT DZ" kind of rubs against my thumb and while it's not obnoxious, I'd be happier if it wasn't there.
• The edges of the priming slide I feel could have been a little softer because I have found them to be slightly irritating sometimes. Most of the time it won't bother me though, but I do think it could have been rounded out a bit more.

I might be forgetting some things, but overall, I like this blaster far more than I thought I would! All the power of a Pro blaster in a small package that isn't as hard to prime as the Nexus and Aeon Pro blasters. Although it is expensive and I think could be cheaper, you get a lot for it and it's my favorite one from the Pro line I've had yet!

 

[Sonygamer455]

So Hasbro announced this yesterday:

Nerf Sharp92 Retro Blaster

The Nerf Retro line celebrates 30 years of dart blasting, paying tribute to iconic blasters from the past! The Sharp92 blaster brings back the Nerf Sharp Shooter, which was released in 1992 and was the first Nerf blaster to fire the now iconic Nerf foam darts, launching a whole new way to blast...

hasbropulse.com

What we are looking at is a rerelease of the Sharpershooter from 1992. It's said that it will have upgraded performance and be made to meet modern safety standards and the darts appear to be redesigned.

My thoughts?
Pretty excited about this one because I own and have modded a few vintage blasters, and although I don't have this particular one, I certainly appreciate this! However, seeing what Nerf has become nowadays, I can't help but be a little pessimistic about how they're going to redo this one. I have no doubt it will perform better than the original and have better air delivery instead of the prong barrel the original had, but if the Icon Longshot is anything to go by, I fear it will come at the cost of having a smaller plunger tube and maybe a weaker spring. So when rebarreled for standard-sized darts, I doubt it will hit as hard as the original if this is the case. And another thing that crossed my mind is leaf springs, their is a chance it may have them and I really hope they don't, but I doubt they will because I haven't been seeing them as much lately. My prediction is it will have performance comparable to that of a modern mega pistol like the Bigshock, if not slightly worse.

This is all speculation though, until it comes out, I don't actually know what it will be like. I am honestly pretty hyped for it despite my concerns and unless reviewers have something very concerning to say about it, I will probably get this one! I might even get the original for comparison sake. I just wish this rerelease was a bit cheaper and I didn't have to wait until next year to get it. 😫 Really hope this one is good and we get much more rereleases like this, I'd take that over a lot of what they do nowadays.

 

[Sonygamer455]

First issue, Nerf blasters are for 8-year olds so I doubt Hasbro is going to make them shoot any harder than 70FPS anytime soon.

Of course, if we're talking about Pro performance, they certainly couldn't do that for people of that age, they'd have to create a whole new line for ages 14+ and up due to how hard they hit and how much strength is required to prime them.

Well, it looks like Hasbro finally did it:

I have a lot of thoughts good and bad on this blaster, but I am glad to see they're joining in on these kind of products. Seeing how Dart Zone has been making some great Pro blasters for years now, X-Shot recently jumped in on the action and Buzz Bee is rumored to do the same thing, it was about time Nerf finally did too. What a time to be alive! 😎