Thorns First Post- Nerf Guns: How Many is Too Many?

This is Thorn's first post for The Nerf Blog, and I am thoroughly impressed. Be sure to leave him feedback below!

Okay, I know the obvious answer is “You can never have too many Nerf guns”, but beside that point, it's something that runs through nearly every nerfer's head once they collect more than a couple – which ones do you pick for tomorrow's war, and how many?

Ultimately, it will depend on a number of factors. First is what kind of game and where. Inside or outside? Long range or close? HvZ or free-for-all? Assassins or Capture the Flag? Will the games be played in short rounds (so you can re-fill clips), or does the game go all day?

This should dictate what your essential, first pick is – the blaster you own which is most suited to the role.

Further choices will depend on what your first pick is. You might pick something to cover the primary's weaknesses, or carry something similar so you can keep firing when it runs out.

In principle, you can keep picking blasters until you're carrying everything you have.

Then consider how you're carrying it all. There are a number of options, ranging from the Nerf-produced bandoleer kit and vest kit, to army-issue load-bearing vests, home-made holsters and the like. I've even seen crazy schemes where someone had six Reflex pistols velcroed to a dart tag vest. If you really try, it's more than possible to carry ten blasters. In practice, though, I rarely see anyone carry more than two or three. Why? Despite (mostly) being lightweight, Nerf guns are bulky. The KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle also comes into effect. Just remember – the more foam weaponry you carry, the less space to carry ammo.

Then there's your “spares”. What if someone else needs to borrow one? Maybe the game changes as the day goes on? Fortunately, you don't have to carry these around during the match, so you've got a bit more flexibility with their type and size. The only limit on your spares will be how many you're willing to load in your car or can fit in a bag.

But I've gone on enough – how many do you guys take to wars, and how do you carry them?

Fishpond.com.au- Best for blasters?

Recently, Fishpond.com.au has had a major overhaul of all it's Nerf products. Many new blasters have been added, and all the prices have dropped significantly. I must say that the majority of the blasters are cheaper in store, but many blasters are not available in Australian stores. So does this mean Australia's blaster availability if going to get better?

Firstly, the service at Fishpond.com.au is excellent. Everything was tracked via an easy to use system, postage was free, and item I ordered was yet to be spotted in Australian stores. The item was delivered around the date it said it would, and despite the post-Christmas sale, the date it arrived certainly wasn't bad. I found that the box even had the packagers name written on it. It made the service seem very personalised, and like you order wasn't one of the couple hundred they would have inevitably packed that day.

Also, many previously unobtainable blasters are easy to get on Fishpond, with even some brand new BBBs on popping up from time to time. I also found that there is a fantastic amount sales, so if you really want something, just add it to your wish list and then wait for your item to come on sale. It's an easy way to always save some money on  your orders, and with common Free Postage offers, often your item can be obtained for a lot cheaper.

So, does Fishpond stack up for Australian Nerfers as a place to obtain blasters? In my opinion, it does, but it you can readily get a blaster in a store close by to you, then it wouldn't be worth paying extra for the convenience of it being delivered to you, a week after you ordered it. So, technically it is a good site, but use it sparingly and to your advantage!

Weekly Poll Results

This weeks poll was a little different. It was more of a question than an opinion, but after seeing all about these two brands on Urban Taggers, I couldn't resist testing you on these two brands. The answer was True, and 76% of you got it right. Not to shabby. I promise that this weeks poll will be a true opinion poll. So, thanks to all who voted!

Cheers,
Dylan

Nerf vs Buzzbee- My Opinion

I didn't tell you guys, but recently I bough a Buzzbee Double Shot. And I must say that it was the biggest piece of junk I ever bought. Because of this it is currently on my workbench, in pieces, in no hope of ever being reassembled. So, why do I think this? See my answer below!

Firstly, it's performance was absolutely dismal compared to it's Nerf counterparts. It was lucky to shoot 15 feet and even that was a bit of a stretch. It also made such an unsatisfying sound when fired, sort of a twang, compared to a Nerf brand blaster, which makes a nice solid thud. But for the worst performance aspect, I have to give this blaster the title for the worst darts ever. That's right, out of all the darts available on the market, I would have to rate these stone dead last. On first inspection, they look like the foam is more dense and of better quality, but that just makes them heavy, which limits range. And they still get torn up the same.

It also had just about the scrappiest paint job I have ever seen on a toy blaster. It looked like Buzzbee had given some apes a computer, and told them to use the fill bucket on Microsoft paint to try and colour the blaster. Then they must of said: "Ah, the kiddies will like it now because it is colourful". But if you keep on using that formula, it would be a good idea to make toy cars colourful, but if you painted them the same shades as this, young children would just be repulsed. It just looks dim and dull, and looks a bit like it's come out of the 70's. And brings us to what you should do if they see this blaster in a store. Run. Like hell!

Well, you may ask, are all Buzzbee blasters like this. Well I'm certainly not willing to waste my money and effort to find out. In my opinion it's Nerf or Nothing!

Nerf Event Winnings

Today I went to an official Nerf event hosted by Toys R Us stores across Australia. To be honest, it was pretty lame, with some under-trained staff running it. You just got to shoot some heavily used Recons and Mavericks. But they did offer some prizes for getting it in (which was certainly not a difficult feat) and I got some!

All my winnings!

Window Stickers!

Clear Mav. size comparison to mini Stampede

Competition Winner!

This post is to inform all of my followers and viewers of who won the competition. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who entered, as it means a lot to me that you cared enough about my blog to put together a piece of writing for the comp. But there could only be one winner, and that was Thorn. His writing was really impressive and I think that the topic was great. Sorry for everyone else that entered. Expect some more excellent writing from Thorn in the near future!

Cheers,
Dylan

Competition Draw

My competition here has finally finished. It seems to have generated some great writing and really got the creative juices flowing. I received five excellent entries, although one person was out of the running, as they forgot to follow the blog on Google Friend Connect. This left me with four people to choose from, and the choice was hard. The winner of the competition will be notified by email a couple of minutes after this is posted. Thanks to all who entered, as they were all great entries. Before I announce who won officially, the person must reply to my email, then I will post their Internet nickname in another post. 

Cheers,

Dylan

Weekly Poll Results

This is an update on my weekly poll. So tell me guys, What's your favourite Nerf line?

As this small screen shot shows, N-Strike was the clear winner, with 85% of the votes. Surprisingly, N-Force, which I predicted to get no votes got a single vote. I think whoever voted for that just did it for kicks! But, regardless of that the poll went pretty well. The next poll will be up within a few minutes of posting this, so stay tuned and vote there as well!

Storing Your Collection

My Nerf collection used to be randomly strewn across our garage. It had bits everywhere, and if you needed to get to anything Nerf, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Virtually impossible is what I'm trying to say. I was also just sitting on the floor ready to be stood on and smashed to bits. So, today, I had a brain snap. I had to get all my Nerf stuff off the floor and store it somehow. I began to work by sorting it into piles. It then became clear that most of it would fit in some Styrofoam boxes we already had. So I got to work and I managed to get the whole thing tidy, protected and put away in a matter of minutes.

All my accessories fit perfectly in this box! 

My blasters box is a a perfect fit

My ammo box- Buzzbee shells and darts for sale at wars

The whole collection packed away!

Nerf N-Strike Camo Ammo Review

My camo darts finally arrived! Well I'm sure none of you knew they were on their way, because I never told anyone. But anyway, I ordered them about a two weeks ago from from Fishpond.com.au, so this post is not only going to be a review on the product I received, but also of the service from Fishpond.


To begin with, I'm going to get the Fishpond service review out of the way. Firstly, the user interface on their site is great, and even as a person who has never ordered from an online store before (n00b!), I found the whole experience very easy. I even got five dollars credit discount for reviewing miscellaneous stuff I didn't even own and also got free postage for ordering between Christmas and New Year. I paid using bank account transfer and the whole process was very easy. I received an alert email when I ordered it, one to tell me when the payment went through and a final one to tell me that it had been dispatched. I must say the postage times were a little disappointing, but with the whole rush of the festive season sale bit, what can you expect, really? The whole thing was packed in a overly large cardboard box, with a whole bunch of these big air cushions, which make great pranks for people to sit on. The box looked a little battered when it got to me, but that was the fault of Australia Post.

Now, on with the product itself. The Camo Ammo bag as I like to call it, is just about the most pointlessly fun thing Nerf has ever made. It may have some shortcomings, but I like to think of it as a fun but pointless addition to my Nerf collection. The bag itself seems to be made of a thin and light rip-stop nylon, which while it is adequate, could have a had stitching of a higher calibre. It is held shut with some nice, descent Velcro closures, that are more than good enough for the job at hand. The bag can hold 4 clips and fifty darts, 7 clips or 100 darts. It's all up to you.

The darts are amazing! Although I got 50 suction darts in the pack, I just want more! They are just normal darts, but whip these out when your friends are over and your gonna be the coolest guy out. Just don't use them outside as even when I know where I have shot them, I just can't manage to find them. Well I do eventually, as I still have all 50, but that's beside the point. The digital camo pattern, which in the case of the suction darts is woodland camo is very descent, but I have heard reports from Urban Taggers that the camo pattern can eventually rub off, leaving you with some nifty looking brown darts. But that's ok, as these are mainly going to be used in my blaster photo-shoots to look awesome.

So, in conclusion, I think that the Nerf N-Strike Camo Ammo is a great addition to anyone's collection. It's got some extra darts, a cool bag and a sweet price tag, as it's only $35 AUD normal price on Fishpond.com.au and $29 in store. I highly recommend you go and pick up this great piece of gear. 

Weekly Poll

You may have noticed, in the sidebar, I have posted a poll. This is going to be the subject on my new weekly segment. I will post a poll in the sidebar, and it will last for one week. Then, I will post the results and put up a new poll. I'm not sure how it's going to go, but I hope it will help to mix it up a bit.

Competition!

So, I've decided to have a competition. But it's a rather unusual one. The idea is that you enter (I'll explain how below) and I give you the opportunity to write a weekly skit on my blog on anything Nerf related. That's right, you get to have YOUR writing on MY blog weekly. It can be funny, informative or just a rant. To enter, simply write a short piece of writing below (in the comments section) to impress me with your writing skills. Make sure you read the conditions of entry below, and at the beginning the comment, you must write- "I have read the conditions of entry and promise to adhere to them."

The conditions of entry are as follows:
-All entrants must 'Follow' The Nerf Blog via Google friend connect.
-No major spelling errors, course language, text talk (eg. SK8TING RULZ - this makes all entries easier to read) or any insults
-Entries must be in 300 words or less
-Each entrant may only enter once
-All entries must include an email address to contact the entrant if they win (they can be written like this- sydneynerf at hotmail.com, to avoid Internet trawlers don't end up with your email address.)
-Failure to adhere to these rules will be result in deletion of the comment and immediate disqualification.

The winner will be chosen in on the 20/1/11. Any entries received prior to that date will not be counted. If you win, you can email me your skits and I will post them to the blog the same day I receive them. That's up until the time where I may eventually make you a site admin. So if that sound like good fun to you, please enter.

Good luck,
Dylan

Nerf N-Strike Magstrike AS-10- Review

The Nerf N-Strike Magstrike AS-10 is the fastest firing Nerf blaster ever! Sound good? Well lets dive into another Nerf blaster review to find out what makes this blaster so good!

The Magstrike is an air powered monster! It may look quite ugly, but peel away the massive shell and you almost expect to see C4, but the internals are actually quite mundane. So, on with the review. The blaster works in a very basic way, which is nice, as my one didn't come with any instructions. All you have to do is pump the handle 22-32 times and pull the trigger. Simple. But it's simplicity is deceptive. This will shoot all ten darts in around 1.7 seconds. That's about how long it takes to read this sentence. When you think of it that's actually pretty quick. It also uses clips for a fast reload, but only one is actually supplied, but we will get into that later, as not to spoil the pros. 

This blaster has it's definite pros, most notably it's fast rate of fire and clip functionality, but it certainly has it's limitations. The biggest stuff up of them all is the fact that it is only supplied one clip. That's right, you can use a fast reloading special Magstrike clip, but you can't do a fast reload because you only get one of the stupid things. And unlike Titan missiles, you can go to Hasbro and say that you lost your Magstrike clip and they will send you one. For a fee. It also takes 22-32 pumps to fill it's air bladder, which completely defeats the purpose of using the clip. Another epic fail is that when you attach a scope or a light to the top mounted tactical rail, it beam/line of sight is blocked by the rapidly rising clip.

Despite it's pitfalls, performance on the Magstrike is actually awesome. It consistently shoots ranges of about 30-40 feet, which is a fair bit over the usual stock blaster ranges. As mentioned before it shoots it's load of ten darts in around 1.7 seconds. This blaster preforms great, but with a few minor practicality issues, users might find it difficult to use in a Nerf war. I know some people do, but I'm just saying...

All in all I'm very happy with the exceptional performance of the Nerf Magstrike AS-10. Despite it's small practicality issues I think it's a great, fun blaster. I give it a  8.9/10.0. This is Dylan for The Nerf Blog, Signing off.

Nerf N-Strike Barricade RV-10- Review

The Nerf N-Strike Barricade RV-10 is a new concept for Nerf. It uses a completely unconventional set-up to produce amazing results. So, let's get this show on the road, and find out what makes this blaster the cream of the crop!

To start with, the Barricade looks very bold. Some will love and some will hate it. That's the way it goes. But personally, I think that this blaster kicks ass in the looks department. In out-of-the-box for, it is looks like a futuristic plasma pistol, from a game like Halo, but with the Tactical Rail and stock-attachment point, it is insanely customisable.

It also has some pretty cool features, like a jam door, which I have
never had to use and a 'Safety' type on off switch. The jam door is of a large size, with a nice click-in mechanism at the front. It can be opened at any time, but if the motors are spinning when you open the jam door, they will stop so little kids don't get their fingers caught in the flywheels. The ON/OFF switch is pretty cool, as it looks and functions just like a real firearms 'Safety' mechanism. It not only controls the motors, but also physically stops the trigger from moving when in the OFF position.

The flywheel system that the Barricade uses can be very advantageous to have. But on the flip side it has it's definite downers. To start with, it's rapid fire system would not be possible without the flywheel system. It basically has a dart pusher that pushes the dart into the flywheels and the flywheels fling the dart from the barrel. So it basically fires as fast as you can pull the trigger. It is also very easy to over-power the motors and make the blaster shoot further. On the down side, it is reasonably noisy, although the videos on YouTube do over-state this. It also requires 3 AA size batteries, although so far I haven't had to replace them once!

Ranges are between 25-30 feet, which is basically par to the course in stock Nerf blasters. Ranges are moderately consistent, as shooting lightweight foam darts is never going to get entirely consistent shots. Speaking of the function of the blaster, it is extremely accurate, as once you have locked onto a target, you can just pull the trigger and hit the target every single time, with no guesswork involver.  Even when you shoot from the hip, you can get an extremely consistent and tight shot-group.

Finally, I think that the Nerf N-Strike Barricade RV-10 is a real bargain, considering it awesome functionality, spectacular usability and also the very nice price-tag of $35.00 AUD. So, if you have been considering purchasing a Barricade, I would immediately jump at the opportunity and go and pick up one of these badboys. This is Dylan from The Nerf Blog, signing out!

Nerf N-Strike Blaster Abbreviation Cheat Sheet

What do all those funny letters and numbers after Nerf blaster names mean? It's a question that's plagued many a Nerfer for years. And now there's finally an answer! To start with, the first 1-3 letters are an abbreviated form of the firing mechanism type. Here is the list of abbreviations.

• 
  
• RV - Electronic Revolving Barrel
• CS - Clip System
• ECS - Electronic Clip System
• EX - External Mechancism
• IX - Internal Mechancism
• REV - Revolving Barrel
• EBF - Electronic Belt Fed
• AS - Air System

The next 1-2 digits are the stock dart capacity. So, if you use my formula, a Nitefinder = Nitefinder- blaster name, EX = External Mechanism and 3= Stock dart capacity. I know some of you will already know this, but I hope that this will help a few of you more inexperienced Nerfers.