Nerf Vortex Proton Review

After months of relative quietness, I have something interesting to say!

  

That's right, I now have a Proton!
Quick background on the new Vortex series.

Vortex is a series of Nerf blasters (officially released on 10/9/11, or 9/10/11 to you Americans) which fires discs, not darts. This is not a one-off set of blasters, due to the advertising of 'N-Strike vs Vortex'. Vortex was initially heavily criticised for its use of discs (despite the accuracy at 40ft range and range of up to 60ft) because people wanted darts. A fewmonths before the official release date, Nerf released several short videos showing off the Vortex range and accuracy, as well as showing off the Proton and Praxis in extra detail. Vortex blasters hit the shelf a little early (I think August) and the 10/9/11 (or 9/10/11) kind of failed. Nevertheless, they recieved generally good reviews.

Stampede Mods

I've done the following mods to my Stampede:
-AR removal
-Air release hole filled
-'Servulus' spring (10+kg load)
For indoor wars, I use the stock spring (no need for epic ranges).

Ranges:
Stock spring:
Streamlines: 13-14m
Lite/Heavy silis: 14-15m

Serv spring:
Streamlines: 25m
Heavy silis: 30m or so

I highly recommend the Serv springs, which can be purchased off Oznerf from 'Servulus'.

4B Shotgun Attachment

The promised shotgun attachment using the stupid Tek 3 turret. Only gets 30 ft per dart at 4 pumps. I believe its due to the turret.

EDIT: With paper barrels and whistlers, this setup gets 20m per dart.

Nerf Dart Tag Furyfire Usage Tips

Some usage tips for my new favourite.

Nerf Dart Tag Furyfire Review

The Furyfire is a 10 dart revolver. It is under the Dart Tag range, hence the odd colours. It also comes with 2 vests (in green and orange), 2 DT safety glasses and 20 DT darts (10 each). This is definitely my favourite revolver.

The Furyfire in my opinion looks excellent, although the choice of colours in my opinion wasn't the best. They look rather like miniature revolving grenade launchers.

Nerf Longshot ACOG Scope Mod

This is a better looking ACOG than my toilet paper roll one.

Materials:
Plastic cutting tool
Hot glue
Hot glue gun



Oh yeah, an LS scope.

Instructions:
1) Cut wherever there are coloured lines. Black means remove the piece, and the different colours correspond to different parts in the scope.

2) Assemble and glue the parts like this:

Click the pictures to view a larger image.

You're done! It's really that easy. It's actually more complicated, but I forgot to take pictures during the process. Sorry. Basically, you avoid cutting into the plastic lenses.

4B Revisited

When I received the Foam Sports Sample Pack, I decided to use the PETG barrel for my 4B. Here are some pics.

Don't ask me what the coupler thingy is - I have no idea.I just found it at a hardware store for $3.
Shotgun attachment possibly coming - make use of my Tek 3 turret.

And now some ranges, because everyone loves ranges. All were done with Foam Sports' heavy sili darts:
2 pumps:
40m - 131'
3 pumps:
45-47m - 148 - 154'
4 pumps:
50m - 164'
Again, these ranges are probably rubbish.

Foam Sports Sample Pack

As you may or may not know, I ordered a sample pack from 'Foam Sports' VelocityTag (aka Oznerf member informer, aus_nerf_supplies on ebay). In it contains 5 small 'snap caps', 5 large 'snap caps' and 5 heavy silicone tips. It also contains 15 pieces of what is simply known as 'blue foam'. The pack includes a small piece of a barrel material known as 'PETG' approx 3 inches long (10 or so cm), as well as hot glue and super glue for assembling darts. My pack came with extra snap caps, extra blue foam, 5 pieces of pink foam and 3 light silicone tips.

Obviously the left foam is the pink, right foam is the blue. This foam is stiffer and tougher than Nerf foam, as well as being slightly thicker, making it ideal for Nerf blasters.

This is a picture of all 4 different darts. From left to right, they are: Small Snap Cap, Large Snap Cap, Light Sili Tip, Heavy Sili Tip. I believe they are also suited to blaster of proportionate power - weaker blasters on the left, the most powerful on the right.
Snap caps are small pieces of plastic shaped similar to a dish, such that it can hold a weight inside it. Should the snap cap break off, the weight breaks off with it. They are quite hard.
The sili tips are tips made of silicone (ORLY). They have been designed specifically to provide the optimum weight and shape for Nerf blasters.
In my snap cap darts, I've pulled off the tip of a streamline dart and used that as a weight. As a result, it provides an ideal weight for low power blasters. The two silicone darts are highly accurate and also provided a decent range boost.

In conclusion, I think this is worth your ~$10 - about $5 of it is shipping.