Nerf Elite Dart Review/Test Results

While out shopping today I managed to pick up some of these:

At a local Target. Normal price is $12 but they have a 30% off Nerf so I got it for $8.40. Not bad for 30 darts.

The back of the box. Notice how under the 'works with .....' statement it has a 'does not work with Maverick or Nitefinder'. This is WRONG, at least for the Maverick. I haven't got a stock Nitefinder to play with at the moment, but I'm assuming Elite darts will work in the NF.

 Out of the package, the good stuff.

 Compared to a Streamline. Major differences are colour (duh), hole in head is smaller, weight and weight distribution (see Modworks for full details), and Elite darts are marginally longer. This produces some ill effects, but only in one blaster.

 Loaded in a Clear 6 clip (mag) from the N-Strike Tac Vest. I must say they look pretty good.

You can't really see it, but it has a 'J.' on the head, the same way Streamlines have K or A or whatever.
From what I can tell the foam is marginally tougher (not really noticeable) and the tip is noticeably tougher. That could be due to just being new though, none of my Streamlines are close to new condition.
Of course, there's no point having an all new fancy dart if they're not any better or have no special feature. As I don't have any Elite blasters to test them with, I tested them with a mix of N-Strike and Dart Tag blasters, both modded and stock.
These were the results.

EDIT: Don't pay too much stock to the actual numbers for ranges, rather look at the differences. A lot of these tests were likely done at not-quite-flat.

Blaster: DT Sharp Shot
Mods: None
Original Darts: Dart Tag Whistlers
Original Ranges/Accuracy: 14-15m+/pretty good accuracy
Elite Ranges/Accuracy: 14-15m+/darts swerve after ~10m so not good
Recommended Darts: Dart Tag Whistlers - much better accuracy

Blaster: DT Snapfire 8 (on power mode)
Mods: Barrel pegs removed
Original Darts: Dart Tag Whistlers
Original Ranges/Accuracy: 10-12m/not great accuracy
Elite Ranges/Accuracy: 11-15m+/not great
Recommended Darts: Elite Darts - extra ranges well worth slight decrease in accuracy

Blaster: N-Strike Spectre REV-5
Mods: AR removal, spring precompression
Original Darts: Whistlers
Original Ranges/Accuracy: 12-14m/great accuracy
Elite Ranges/Accuracy: 13-15m+/darts swerve after ~10m so not good
Recommended Darts: Whistlers - accuracy is much better and ranges are marginally shorter

Blaster: N-Strike Maverick REV-6
Mods: None
Original Darts: Whistlers
Original Ranges/Accuracy: 10m/pretty good accuracy
Elite Ranges/Accuracy: 13m+/not good
Recommended Darts: Your choice - good ranges or good accuracy? I'd personally go Whistlers for accuracy.

Blaster: DT Furyfire
Mods: None
Original Darts: Dart Tag Darts
Original Ranges/Accuracy: 11-12m/great accuracy
Elite Ranges/Accuracy: 11-13m/reasonable accuracy
Recommended Darts: Dart Tag Darts - accuracy is better and ranges are barely different

Blaster: N-Strike Recon CS-6
Mods: None
Original Darts: Streamlines (shudder)
Original Ranges/Accuracy: 12-14m/typical bad accuracy past 9m
Elite Ranges/Accuracy: 14-15m+/bad accuracy past 10m
Recommended Darts: Elite darts - extra ranges and slightly better accuracy
Note that in the Recon because the Elite darts are marginally longer than Streamlines they may cause jams. These are extremely easy to fix because they aren't as bad as Streamline jams can be, and can be avoided by slamming the slide forward upon priming. The jams are caused by the Elite dart catching on the dart tooth. The dart tooth pushes the dart into the breech and lowers for firing, but because Elite darts are a tiny bit longer the dart tooth retracts too late.
If you're a fan of the Recon your best bet is to upgrade to a Retaliator, which I'll be doing.

Blaster: N-Strike Alpha Trooper CS-18
Mods: None
Original Darts: Streamlines (again, shudder)
Original Ranges/Accuracy: 11-14m/reasonable accuracy
Elite Ranges/Accuracy: 13-15m+/reasonable accuracy
Recommended Darts: Elite darts - extra ranges and no compromise in accuracy

Blaster: N-Strike Alpha Trooper CS-18
Mods: AR removal, spring replacement
Original Darts: Streamlines (once again, shudder)
Original Indoor Performance: At 8m range, darts go all over the place
Elite Indoor Performance: At 8m range, darts go reasonably straight
Recommended Darts: Elite darts - much better accuracy with seemingly no loss of range

Blaster: N-Strike Stampede ECS
Mods: Increased voltage
Original Darts: Streamlines (as usual, shudder)
Original Ranges/Accuracy: 7-9m/terrible accuracy
Elite Ranges/Accuracy: 8-12m+/terrible accuracy
Recommended Darts: Elite darts - much better range with little compromise in accuracy

Blaster: N-Strike Longstrike CS-6
Mods: AR removal
Original Darts: Streamlines (and again, shudder)
Original Ranges/Accuracy: 11-14m/reasonable accuracy
Elite Ranges/Accuracy: 12-15m/reasonable accuracy
Recommended Darts: Elite darts - extra ranges and no compromise in accuracy

Blaster: N-Strike Rayven CS-18
Mods: None
Original Darts: Streamlines (urgh)
Original Ranges/Accuracy: 10-11m/ok accuracy
Elite Ranges/Accuracy: 11m/good accuracy
Recommended Darts: Elite darts - no lost ranges and surprisingly good accuracy.

Blaster: N-Strike Rayven CS-18
Mods: 12.6v instead of stock 6v
Original Darts: Streamlines
Original Ranges/Accuracy: 20-23m/not very good
Elite Ranges/Accuracy: 18-20m/not very good
Recommended Darts: Streamlines - seem more stable than Elite darts

Blaster: N-Strike Deploy CS-6
Mods: AR removal
Original Darts: Streamlines
Original Indoor Performance: Not very accurate, darts go everywhere at 8m
Elite Indoor Performance: Not very accurate, but clustering is a little better
Recommended Darts: Streamlines - no jamming issue, performance is barely worse
The Deploy has the same issue as the Recon, sometimes jamming due to the dart tooth and the length of the darts. Again, the main fix is slamming the priming grip forward really hard. I'd personally stick with Streamlines to avoid the jams completely. It's also very easy to mod the blaster so it doesn't jam as it does with Elites, and this applies to just about every N-Strike clip (mag) system blaster that suffers from this problem.

Blaster: N-Strike Raider CS-35
Mods: AR removal
Original Darts: Streamlines
Original Ranges/Accuracy: 8-9m/clustering isn't good
Elite Ranges/Accuracy: 8-9m/clustering still isn't good
Recommended Darts: Streamlines - seemingly no performance difference, Streamlines won't jam as much
The Raider has the same issue as the Recon and Deploy, jamming due to the dart tooth and the length of the darts. I find slamming the priming handle doesn't help, and your only choice is to manually push the dart into the breech. Solution? Get a Rampage.
I personally hate the Raider so it's not a biggie for me, but fans of the Raider will want to upgrade to Rampages.

Blaster: N-Strike Longshot CS-6
Mods: Brass breech, OMW 5+kg spring added, double o-rings, beefed up catch springs
Original Darts: Streamlines
Original Indoor Performance: several darts helicopter, some 'pop' out (bad dart-barrel seal), horrid accuracy
Elite Indoor Performance: all 6 fired out properly, little deviation in flight path within 8m
Original Outdoor Range/Performance: 20-30m+ inconsistently/can't hit a barn at 10m
Stefan Outdoor Range/Performance: 30m+ consistently/very accurate
Elite Outdoor Range/Performance: 27-32m/fly all over the place
Recommended Darts: Stefans for brass breeched Longshot, Elite darts are better than Streamlines

Blasters to use Elite darts in: DT Snapfire 8, Maverick REV-6 (within reason), Recon CS-6 (within reason), Alpha Trooper CS-18, Longstrike CS-6, Stampede ECS
Blasters not to use Elite darts in: DT Sharp Shot, Spectre REV-5, DT Furyfire, Deploy CS-6, Raider CS-35

Blasters with 'within reason' in brackets mean that you can use Elite darts in that blaster, and it has benefits, but there are also issues related to Elite darts that are not apparent with their original darts.

My opinion? I like the Elite darts but I'd much rather they fixed accuracy instead of boosting ranges. Although they've lightened the darts to make them fly further in stock/lightly modded blasters as well as minimised the hole to reduce inaccuracy, they haven't removed the hole which would result in much better accuracy. The universal compatibility is nice because it allows everyone to use one dart type at wars instead of having to carry Streamlines AND Whistlers/DTs/etc. I'll be getting more Elite darts, but primarily because most of my Streamlines are worn out and damaged and I absolutely HATE Streamlines.