A unique disc shooter takes the prize.
Although Blaster Labs has only existed as a formal entity for a few months, our crew has been collecting, comparing and battling with all manner of foam blasters, laser tag and water guns for years decades, really. Although our standard testing processes and procedures have only been used for a few months, we still feel that we have enough experience to make a judgment about what we believe is the best product.
First, a few words of qualification. For award consideration, a product must be widely available at retail, must have received a full test by our team, and must show superiority in at least one of our key test criteria-range, accuracy, rate-of-fire, value or fun. For example, while we absolutely love Ubisofts Battle Tag system, and it performs beyond anything but pro-level laser tag gear, it is almost impossible to actually purchase, and is therefore inaccessible to the majority of our readership. It is therefore ineligible despite its outstanding performance.
Here, then, are our finalists for the Blaster Labs 2013 Product of the Year:
Tek Recon Havok
Oh, Tech 4 Kids, how we so desperately wanted your Kickstarter-funded, awesomely branded new line of toy blasters to shake things up in 2013. In fact, we wanted so badly for Nerf to be upset from its de-facto status as king of the blasters that we included you in this list if for no other reason than to encourage you to give it another go in 2014.
We ended up with a pair of blasters in the Hammerhead and Tek Recon Havok products this year. They looked great but have a lot to learn. The Kickstarter images were great, but neither product lived up the promise of the Kickstarter images. Even worse, neither product lived up the promises of the campaign. Instead, the blasters had a somewhat 2nd-rate build quality, the app was basically pointless (the radar being a notable exception), and the NRG rounds were neither fun to use nor superior in any way to the dart and disc-based ammo used by the competition. In fact, this was one of the first times we can remember actually returning an item to the store because it performed so badly relative to our expectations (so long, Havok).
We don’t want to end on a bad note. Rather, we wholeheartedly applaud Tech 4 Kids on attempting to do something new in the category, for creating a brand that looked the part, and for creating the retail relationships that should allow it to continue releasing new products into 2014 and beyond. Tech 4 Kids Tek recon Havok was not awarded finalist status for the blaster’s actual performance, but rather for the potential it holds for Tech 4 Kids in the future.
Nerf N Strike Elite Stryfe
We admit to being lukewarm on Nerfs flywheel-based blasters in years past. Although the Barricade RV-10 was a favourite among some of our staff, it didn’t shoot as far as other blasters and the constant whirring flywheel made stealth impossible. With only 10 darts per charge, frequent reloads were necessary.
But the Elite Stryfe changed all that.
The Nerf N-Strike Elite Stryfe essentially took everything we liked about the Barricade and made it better, all while eliminating most of its shortcomings and coming to retail at a price that was a real bargain. We didn’t expect much when we first bought our stock Stryfe (and later a Mission Kit-equipped model for less than Kohls‘). We were wrong. The Stryfe ripped out shots that were consistently in the 30-12.2 m range, with shots in the upper-50s achievable when the flywheel was allowed to reach top speed. The Acceleration Trigger eliminated the need for an on/off switch in the Barricade. Also, the flywheel’s speed-of-recovery was faster than its predecessor.
We found the Stryfe’s only problem to be the small, 6-disc capacity stock clip. This clip is severely under-specified for a blaster that can hit up to 2 shots per second. And though easily remedied with any number of other clip options, this oversight (intentional or otherwise) was enough to move our feelings from surprise of the year to more of a well, thats unfortunate kind of attitude. And thats not enough to win our top honor, despite this blaster being a terrific value, and a fun surprise overall.
Nerf Vortex 360 Is The Winner
We understand what you are thinking: The Revonix Seriously? What about the Pyragon? My Pyragon is my favorite blaster! Yes, the Pyragon blaster is great. The Pyragon has a 40-disc storage capacity, great Slam-fire capability, and good range. Heres the thing: The Revonix 360 basically does all that and, according to our tests, does it better.
Our Revonix outperformed our Pyragon, for one. Call it a ringer, but our particular Revonix hit mid-18.3 m ranges flat from chest height, over and over again. We were able to easily reach the 21.3 m range with a slight incline. This was in a hallway measuring only 2.4 m wide. They must stay on course to achieve maximum ranges. But apart from outright performance, we also like how easily the Revonix can be reloaded.
A Pyragon needs a large drum or at minimum a few disc clips. The Revonix keeps it all on the blaster-just reload as you go-no stopping to switch clips or refill a drum. Oh, and like the Pyragon, the Revonix can slam out shots over and over again, with no jams in sight, despite its relative complexity and somewhat rough-feeling (and sounding) priming action.
You can call it over-engineered or loud. But it’s still elegant. We wouldnt disagree with any of those criticisms. Nevertheless, when the Revonix comes out to play, people scatter. It’s a powerful, sturdy, and formidable blaster that can be used to refill large capacities on the fly. Although it isn’t as powerful as other Vortex blasters, it has some rough edges. But its still unique enough-and fun enough-to have earned our nod for the Blaster Labs 2013 Product of the Year.
