Sunday 27 February 2011

Nerf Nitefinder EX-3 Review

Today, I'm going to go back to a relatively old, but good blaster: the Nitefinder EX-3. It's a single shot blaster with immense potential thanks to a direct plunger system. It's usual packaging comes with 3 suction darts and a target stand, while Target NFs have been found with 6 suctions, and some with no stand. Mine didn't come with a stand, m'fraid, so I can't review that. What I can say, though, is that the NF is excellent.

The NF is very easy to use. It's simply a matter of pushing a dart into the barrel, pulling back the orange cocking ring thingy all the way, then pulling the trigger. After that, you simply get another dart from your dart storage to reload and fire again. It's jam-proof and even a 2 year old could use it. Maximize usage tips here.

The NF's handle is comfortable, but I don't like the way Nerf has designed the rear part of the handle, which is disappointing because the front part is very comfortable. The pull-ring is very comfortable to use.

The NF is fairly powerful and very accurate. It can shoot 10m with the included suction darts. Also, because it uses suction darts, it is very accurate. The NF cannot use Streamline darts due to the length of the peg.

NOTE: More recent purchases have shown that some stock NF's can reach 14m flat with suctions. The sort of power you get only from mods.

The NF is a very popular blaster for modders, as it can reach excellent ranges through simply an AR removal and spring replacement. It is also more reliable than any CS or AS blaster as it cannot jam and is spring-powered.

The reason why the Nitefinder is named the 'Nitefinder' is because of a built in light. It is powered by 2 AA (i think) batteries and is really dim. It is only accurate to around 5m, and really just adds weight to the blaster. I took it out of mine and used the battery slots to hold darts.

The target holders are very basic. They're merely small pieces of plastic which hold small cardboard targets. However, they are useful if there isn't anything else to shoot, as the fall over easily (denoting a hit), don't break easily and are easy to fix.

Because the NF is a single-shot, you must reload a dart every shot. This eliminates any chance of a rapid-fire ability.

Overall, the NF is a good single-shot sidearm, and is affordable at only $10, but don't use it as a primary. Unless you're sniping with it. That's a different story.
Even with the Elite line out, the NF is a very decent blaster, with competitive ranges to our weak downtuned Elite blasters, and superior accuracy with its suction darts. They are also easier to mod than Firestrikes, although they are not as good looking or as sleek and easy to holster.

Pros:
Power, accuracy, price and availability, modding potential, size, dart holders, dart holders can be removed and hot glued onto any other blaster (if desired), light is fun to use and useful in dark conditions
Cons:
Generic single shot blaster cons, light can give away position and target, dart holders and light make holstering quite annoying

Power: 6/7
Accuracy: 5/5
Value for Money: 5/5
Usefulness: 3.5/5
Rate of fire: 1/5
Overall: 3.76/5

Personal Rating: 4/5 - at its price it's hard not to like it. It's fun and easy to mod, and is fantastic for the new modder.

Great value, great fun, great power.

5 comments:

  1. Something interseting I found. You can slam-fire the nite finder. Simply load in the dart, pull down the trigger and pull the priming mech back and forth quickly. You can also use the nite finder as a bow. Load in a dart, pulldown trigger and pull back the priming mech, then simply let go of the priming mech.

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    Replies
    1. That's not really slam-fire. The point of slam fire is to allow rapid fire that bypasses the limitations of having to use a trigger. Since the Nitefinder is a single shot, any attempt to slam-fire is pointless, and will probably result in reduced range. You can do the same "slam fire" thing to a variety of manually primed blasters, but none of them will actually benefit from "slam fire".
      As for the bow thing, you can do that with a huge variety of manually primed blasters that aren't bows. The Heartbreaker and Blazin' Bows both work on that same principle, of simply pull and release with no trigger.

      Delete
  2. you can actually use elite darts in the nite finder. i have one that is about 5 or 6 years old and i lost the darts. i now fire elite darts out of it and fires the same if not better

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  3. Exactly! I have a 5 to 6 year old blaster, lost the suction darts and use elite darts. It has better accuracy and range.

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