Tuesday 24 April 2012

Comparison: Nerf Rayven CS-18 vs Stampede ECS


This is a comparison of Nerf's two electronic CS blasters.


Aesthetics:
The Stampede resembles an Assault Rifle when stripped down, and an LMG with enough attachments.
On the other hand, the Rayven resembles an SMG stripped down, and an Assault Rifle or LMG with enough attachments. IMO they both look great.
Accessories:
The Rayven comes with itself, a Firefly Tech 18 clip (mag), and 18 GITD Streamlines.
The Stampede comes with itself, 3 18 clips (mags), a 6 clip (mag), a foregrip/bipod, shield and 60 Streamlines.
Obviously the Stampede wins by a large margin.
Power:
The Stampede (at least mine) reaches 8-9m stock. The Rayven stock can easily obtain up to 12m.
Obviously the Rayven wins.
Accuracy:
The Stampede has terrible accuracy, with a spray radius of up to 2m, depending on ranges. It really is terrible in accuracy. The Rayven on the other hand has a 1m spray radius.
The Rayven obviously wins this one too.
Usefulness:
The Stampede, in my experience, is ridiculously heavy with its 6 D batteries. Because of its firing mech design, there is also a slight delay between trigger pull and firing. This can be potentially fatal in a quick reaction match, despite it being full auto and easy to fire with one hand. On the other hand, the Rayven is very light, and fires on trigger pull, but the rev up time can also be fatal in a quick reaction match. Because in my experience the Rayven pretty much doesn't jam, and the Stampede jams often with bad darts, the Rayven wins this round.
Rate of fire:
The Stampede has a consistent ROF of 3 dps with good darts, while I've managed up to 5 dps with the Rayven. The Rayven wins this round.
Capacity:
The Rayven has a capacity of 18 in its single clip (mag).
The Stampede has a total capacity of 60 in its 4 clips (mags).
Obviously the Stampede wins by a massive margin.
Value for Money:
The Rayven is available for $40 from BigW and Target, and more from other stores.
The Stampede, on the other hand, is available for $50 from BigW and Kmart.
Because of the vast amount of extras the Stampede comes with, it wins this round.

The Stampede has won 3 rounds, the Rayven 4. Therefore, I declare the Rayven CS-18 the winner.
If you analyse which rounds each has won, the Rayven has won those to do with the blaster itself, while the Stampede has won those to do with the stuff it comes with. The Stampede is a great blaster in certain situations, such as defence and suppression fire because it's full auto. It's also great for bolstering your other blasters, such as getting more clips (mags) for your other clip (mag) system blasters.

14 comments:

  1. I don't agree totally with this you are reviewing two very different guns here. The stampede is a full auto assault rifle and the rayven is an smg now if we were in close quarters combat I would choose the rayven for it's compact design but if we were is a larger space I would go with the stampede. Also they do different jobs like the rayven is a blaster that is designed for quick movement but still having great range and accuracy ( sorry if I spelled that wrong) it is a great gun but the stampede isn't designed to be small it isn't meant for close quarters it is however designed for larger spaces it also has the option of taking a vulcans job in being stationary and if you want to be offensive you can pick up and go. They are both great guns but you are comparing apples and oranges two different guns both are like I said great but not comparable. Sorry for the wall of text.

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    1. Stampede vs Rayven in a large space still results in the Rayven being the superior blaster, because of its superior range and accuracy. The Stampede's main role is a suppression/assault blaster because of it's ease of spamming (full auto). The Rayven is meant more for a compact rapid fire blaster, but not consistent spam.

      But I can see your point.

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    2. Disagree with the bit about the stampede not being meant for close quarters, as it is still quite compact. It's about 70cm (give or take 10cm) long, so it's around the same length as a real M4 with a 10 inch barrel.

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    3. The Stampede is a lot more bulky than the M4, and in no way is it compact. The M4 doesn't have a giant 2x3 D Battery Tray in the stock, neither does it have to support a dart tooth and 6 tactical rails, several in awkward positions. It also doesn't have to handle ~7cm long foam darts with giant clips/drums, instead handling much smaller rounds in thinner mags. Not to mention Nerf loves adding large shell pieces, resulting in lots of deadspace in the shells of Nerf blasters.

      Length is not everything in maneuverability. Saying length determines maneuverability is like saying the tallest tennis player will win. Sure, it contributes (height helps when serving), but it's not the be all and end all, as players like David Ferrer can attest.

      Back to the Stampede. The design of it, having the main weight in the rear of it, requires a lot of support to have control over the Stampede. This imbalance in weight is very difficult to get used to, because pretty much all other blasters have more central centres of mass. It also means maneuverability is more difficult because you have to drag the weight along to get proper aim and stability. With other blasters you don't need to because their weight is distributed evenly, allowing them to be turned and moved faster and more controlled.

      There's also the firing mechanism design to consider. The M4 can fire almost instantly when the trigger is pulled (as can most Nerf blasters), but the Stampede requires a 'rev up' time in which the motor engages the breech and plunger system. This takes around half a second on the stock 9V. Half a second might not sound like much, but to put this in Nerf context I can get off 3 discs from a Pyragon in half a second. A Magstrike can get off 5 darts in half a second. Even with slow reaction times, a half second delay is more than enough for a person to spot you, aim and fire (assuming they're paying attention). In this way, if you don't know where your opponents are you're very vulnerable with the Stampede for that half second delay. Considering that close quarters battles are usually spontaneous potshots and you don't know exactly where your opponents are, the Stampede is unsuited to CQC because you won't be able to get any shots off against an alert opponent.

      Now if you would, please keep all firearm related talk to firearm forums and discussions, to others who care about firearms, or to yourself. Firearm talk does not belong on a Nerf blog (or forum or discussion for that matter).

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  2. by the way a raven at target were i live is 25$

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    1. Do you live in the US? If so, I kindly direct you to the top left text box.
      If you live in Aus, you're lying.

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    2. It's currently $25 at my local K-Mart

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    3. Yep, thanks a lot Kmart clearances.

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  3. thats why i said were i live i dont care about aus prices

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    Replies
    1. And that's why I said to refer to the top right hand corner, which says "So think twice before posting info specific to other countries, unless it's important or special (e.g. release of Elite blasters before the official release date). Information from Aussie stores is acceptable."
      And because pricing of the Rayven is 'unimportant' because it's mainstream available, there is no real point in your comment.
      For others thinking of posting comments like this, please refrain from doing so because it wastes my time and effort.

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  4. mines at $58 but im gettin it (only one toy shop(island))

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  5. With the newest version of the Rayven elite, it is just as accurate as the original Rayven but with far better range and adding on the pinpoint scope and the retaliator barrel accessory it makes a great assault rifle and a decent sniper rifle.

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  6. The rayven is totally superior.

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  7. Lol time to spark up this flame war.
    the Stampede is better than the Rayven if you are being a blind firing asshole like me. You haven't even talked about modifications, because with skilled hands, the 1995 Crossbow can shoot up to 110-120 feet. The Stampede is just more practical for mods with an automatic plunger system, than some pathetic plastic flywheels.

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