Nerf Vortex Praxis Review

 

Goodbye AT and Furyfire as my favourites. You are now being replaced by this. Well whaddya know. AT and Furyfire are now my favs again. Now the Praxis is an equal favourite with the others. The Nerf Vortex Praxis is the second most expensive Vortex blaster so far. It is the cheapest one to use disc mags. The Praxis is supposedly the most popular of the Vortex blasters, because of all its factors put together.

Firstly, the Praxis' aesthetics. From the side, it looks epic, seemingly being designed to be like a sci-fi blaster, being nothing like any modern weapons. The mag from the side appears similar to N-Strike clips (mags), and at first I thought the pump was a little short and too fat. Also, while the stock looks great from the side, from the top it looks excessively undersized, with the Praxis being as fat or even fatter than the Proton. The stock is about the same dimensions as the Recon stock, and as such is extremely undersized compared to the rest of the Praxis. Without the stock attached, the Praxis appears and feels similar to a double barreled shotgun, and you feel cool just holding it.

Now, on to the feel of it. Like I said in the Proton review, I disliked the curved handle at first. but like the Proton I really like it now, with it being very comfortable. The pump grip is also comfortable, being less wide than the barrel, which in my opinion looks best and also feels best to grip. The lip at the back allows for better grip. The Praxis, though light, also feels like it has a good weight in it. Unfortunately, the Praxis's feel is ruined by the stock. It is like the Recon stock - good looking but flimsy. It doesn't even hold an extra mag.

Now on to operation.

The Praxis is shotgun gripped and is hence easy to use. The mag can also be inserted or removed at any time, allowing for 11 discs to be loaded instead of 10. The mag is released by a small switch above the trigger. This is probably due to my being used to CS blasters, but I at first found it a little annoying that the mag flew out of the mag dock, and the position of the switch a little odd. After a short while though, I started to like the way the mag flew out of the mag dock, making it easier to reload. More tips on how to use it here.

The Praxis fits all other Nerf stocks, and it's stock fits other Nerf blasters, but given the colour scheme and design, the Praxis looks best with its own stock, and it's stock doesn't look good on any other Nerf blasters (yet). The Praxis has a tac rail in the perfect spot for sights. Sights are actually quite useful on Praxis, as will be explained later. Personally I like the Pinpoint Sight most on it.

Being mag fed, the Praxis is easy to reload and is also compatible with the Nitron's 20 mag. This allows for both accuracy and spamming.

Although the Praxis does not have SlamFire, it can still manage about 3dps courtesy of its easy to use shotgun pump grip.

Now onto ranting about its stupid (but effective) safety locks and other emergency stuff. The trigger cannot be pulled except when it's primed and loaded with a disc. The pump can only be pulled back if a mag is loaded. There is a jam released button, but due to the nature of the blaster and ammo, you shouldn't need to use it unless you're experimenting or totally stupid (or have a defective Praxis, disc or mag).

Now onto the most important part, performance.

The Vortex blasters are boasted to have good ranges (for stock blasters) and good accuracy. The Praxis does not disappoint. It reaches the 60ft mark easy, with mine reaching 65-70 on occasional shots. It also has incredible accuracy considering it's a toy, being able to hit my front door handle from 9m away with relative ease. It's stock helps here too. As mentioned earlier, it has a max ROF of around 3dps which is good for a non SlamFire blaster. Like the Proton, the discs are prone to curving but mine don't seem to curve much, even at long distances.

All in all, the Praxis is an excellent blaster, with my only gripes being ammo incompatibility (impossible to solve) and it's flimsy stock. Mobility isn't an issue for me.

For 25AUD (RRP 50) it's excellent value for money. It's also worth noting that 10 disc mags are (meant to be) available separately to amass a bunch of disc mags cheaply.
Even compared to Elite blasters, the Praxis has superior range, so is still a useful blaster in the Elite age. Although why you'd use a Praxis instead of Pyragon is beyond me.

Pros:

Range and accuracy typical of Vortex, operation is easy, ROF is decent with shotgun grip, shotgun grip is comfortable, handle is comfortable, stock attachment allows use of any N-Strike/Super Soaker stock, sights are useful due to accuracy, mags allow for easy reloads, possible to load 11 into Praxis (chamber a disc, then reload the mag), looks awesome

Cons:

Included stock is pathetically thin and flimsy, disc projectile speed is not quite capable of matching darts, low capacity

Power: 7/7

Accuracy: 4/5

Value for Money: 5/5

Usefulness: 4.5/5

Rate of fire: 3.5/5

Overall: 4.4/5

Personal Rating: 4.5/5 - until I get a Pyragon this will remain my favourite Vortex blaster.

Great looks, great performance, nice price.