New Blasters announced

Nerf have revealed images of two new blasters coming on the horizon in 2015.

First up is the Nerf Rotofury a new addition to the Mega line

This blaster will be slam fire capable with 10 mega darts ready to be fired at your opponents.  The addition of slam fire to the Mega range is exciting as the darts have so far lived up to the distance claims (unlike the Elite range which still under-performs).  the biggest talking point is the lack of stock or apparent ability to attach a stock, but the sling points mean this can be stored on the back ready for long range grenade launcher type attacks.

The second blaster revealed seems to be the reveal of the big announcement from around christmas time.

Thanks to Outback Nerf for the image, this blaster has a bit more mystery surrounding it but seems to go along the theme of grenade launcher, featuring a revolving 24 dart chamber, front grip and knuckle style prime.  More info will be added as it comes apparent.

Changing the Review Process

In an never ending search for the perfect review style I have undergone another change in the way I review a blaster.  This came about when the scores from the accuracy test were driving down the overall score that the blasters were receiving.  While reading through a magazine (Airsoft Insider) from my other hobby Airsoft it struck me that their way of reviewing guns was informative easy to read and most importantly discussed the feel and operation of the gun.  They also use a range graphics for quick identification of key facts, as well as providing a pros and cons list and a final star rating.  I believe that this is a fairer overall way to review the blasters.  So the Rapidstrike is the first blaster to receive the treatment below.  Be keen to hear some feedback as I hunt for the perfect review style.

Nerf N-Strike Elite Rapidstrike CS-18

The arrival of the Rapidstrike, on the blaster scene created a lot of excitement, here we have a blaster that is compact and easy to hold and still provides the fully automatic fire that the Stampede provided in the past.  The blaster features a range of tactical options and a large 18 dart clear clip making it a formidable option in objective based games. 

PERFORMANCE

General Feel : The Rapidstrike is another example of a well made Nerf blaster, featuring high quality plastics and solid feel in the hand.  The pistol grip is comfortable for an adult hand and features a sling point on its rear.  The acceleration trigger needed to engage the flywheels is well positioned and requires the use of your middle finger to operate it.  

The shoulder stock is collapsable and can be set to the position best suited for the shooter.  The stock has a slight flimsy feel to it when fully extended but does allow for increased control of the blaster.  The front of the blaster is comfortable with a slight indentation for the hand to sit but attaching a front grip is recommended for better performance .

The magazine is a clear 18 dart version excellent for checking current ammo rates, but has the disadvantage of your opponents also being aware what ammo you have left.  The magazine release is in front of the acceleration trigger and is easily released by pushing your middle finger forward and pulling the magazine with your non shooting hand.

The blaster is amazingly well suited to tactical loadouts featuring a rail on the carry handle for scopes and front barrel top and bottom rail for laser sights and front grips as well as side rails for mounting of accessories as you see fit.  The barrel also has the option of adding an extension or a suppressor for that special ops look.

Control Operation: The Rapidstrike is very usable, despite being lighter than its older brother there is still enough weight to make this feel like your carrying a powerful assault blaster.  The firing of the blaster is straight forward and is similar to the Styrfe and Rayven requiring the acceleration trigger to pulled followed by the trigger itself.  The trigger pull is responsive and is meet by the firing of a dart.  One (long) pull on the trigger fires in semi-auto mode and continued pressure results in automatic fire.  The pulling of the acceleration trigger results in the loud whirring noise heard from other blasters which cuts down the stealthiness of this blaster.

Aiming down the sights in stock formation requires the the shooter to look through the carry handle which features a small diameter circle at each end this can then be lined up with the front iron sights.  Addition of a scope needs a slight change in aiming trajectory, as it will be mounted fairly high up on the blasters carry handle.

RANGE/ACCURACY

In short not great in both areas.  Despite featuring claimed Elite ranges of 15m the Rapidstrike maxed out at 12m with a minimum distance of 8m.  It quite consistently hits around the 10-11m mark making this its best engagement distance.  The accuracy of the blaster was inconsistent in both automatic and semi-auto firing.  After sending a total of 36 darts down the range 7 didn't reach the intended target and 12 hit the backing board.  Only two darts hit the target resulting in an overall accuracy rating of 1.5/10.  Although this is low the Rapidstrike is intended more to lay down cover fire and can be counted on to hit a human sized target at close range if required.

WARP UP

The Rapidstrike is a premium blaster with a premium price tag and overall it meets the requirements of most Nerfers.  The multitude of tactical options and the ability to fire the blaster automatically are big pluses.  Despite not being a great performer the design and ease of use of this blaster make it a must have in your Nerf Armoury.

BoomCo. Farshot

The Farshot is a single fire pistol from the Mattels range of BoomCo blasters, the new kids on the block

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Usability

Its been awhile since Nerf have had any real competition in the blasters market and Mattel, Hasbros biggest competitor has arrived on the scene with their BoomCo range of blasters.  The biggest calling card being the smart stick darts that will stick to the packaged targets.  The first point of interest with this blaster is the darts, which are quite unique.  The darts are made of a hollow plastic (kind of like a straw) with a sticky tip that allows it stick the BoomCo target.  And boy do these stick! But unfortunately only to the official targets and not anything else.  They perform fairly well and are easy to use.

The Farshot itself is a very easy blaster to use.  You load one dart into the barrel pull back the slide and fire.  The trigger is reponsive and dart flys with a good amount of velocity.  Reloading is as simple as pushing another dart into the barrel and repeating the above process.

The biggest issue with the Farshot is its size,  the makers have developed this for kids which is fine but it becomes hard to operate for AFON (adult fans of Nerf).

 The pistol grip only takes up about 2/3 of my palm and just feels small.  When I purchased this after reading reviews from other bloggers I was blown away by just how small it is.  This small size also means that priming the blaster can be difficult as often on the first grasp your hand grips the entire top rather than just the slide itself.

The Farshot also features a pop out blaster shield which is covered in the super sticky target material allowing the user to catch opponents darts in the heat of battle.  The shield needs to manually pulled out and isn't a quick process and to be honest doesn't really add much and is more of a hindrance than a help.

Usability Score 6/10

Styling

I am undecided about the styling of the Farshot, the makers have gone for a cool "I'm a skateboarder who enjoys blasters" look.  The packaging is covered in edgy, graffiti like graphics and the blasters features bright reds and blues.  The blaster looks best with the shields down as it provides and an extra cover over the blasters body and has a cool looking target graphic.

The grip is also able to be used for dart storage and features a cool spiderweb type of feature that when the darts are loaded into it adds to the overall look of the blaster.

The addition of a top tactical rail is a neat addition but as of yet there are no BoomCo attachments available in New Zealand to try out on the blaster.

Styling Score 3/5

Performance Distance

Now this is where the Farshot greatly surprised me.  The Smart stick darts which are propelled with good velocity due to their design and simple plunger design of the Farshot blaster lead to an average distance fired of 14.3m (46.9 ft).  This makes it the 9th furthest firing blaster well ahead of the Nitefinder and Strongarm.  It had a maximum distance of 20m (65 ft) which was staggering and a minimum distance of 11m (36 ft).

Performance Distance Score 8/10

Performance Accuracy

The Farshot is an accurate blaster with all 3 darts hitting the intended target.  All darts were within the target rings and the overall score is the highest so far.

Performance Accuracy Score 3.5/10

The Farshot is a good blaster that adds some innovation into the blaster market, the overall size of the blaster is a big negative but its performance statistics are worth looking further at this blaster.

Overall I give this blaster a score of 20.5/35