Nanofire in the Wild

The wifey found the two colors of Nanofire out in the wild at ALDI here in Iowa just after Easter.

The Nerf N-Strike Nanofire is a new release this year. They've got it in blue and green. There are two holes on the top for horizontal ammo storage.

The official description: 

This compact Nerf blaster lets kids take it almost anywhere to start blasting almost anytime! Load 1 dart into the barrel, pull down the priming handle, and pull the trigger to fire. Reload and fire again! Storage for 2 darts on the handle. Comes with 3 Elite darts. Available in 2 colors: blue and red (each sold separately).

Yeah, you read that right. It says the two colors are blue and red. So the question is, will we see a red one, too?

Many will just write these off as Jolt repacking, and that's not totally untrue. To be exact, this is a repackage of an older repackage of the Jolt. The blaster was called the Dart Tag Stinger that came out in 2013. The biggest draw I see is that you're getting good, usable blasters for family wars or single-shot-only games for 4 bucks if you get them at ALDI.

If you're not lucky enough to have an ALDI nearby, they're going for 10.99 on Amazon.com at this writing. Better yet,  go to www.hasbrotoyshop.com and get it for the MSRP of $4.99.

Sorry for the short blurb. Today, we're heading out for an anniversary game at Carnegie Stout Public Library in Dubuque, Iowa. We'll be recording a review on the road, finalizing interviews for our new series we've been promising and playing in two hours of non-stop Nerf action among the stacks in an actual Carnegie library!

I love this job! ~CJ

Holy Blasters, Batman!! . . . and Lumitron Un-boxing

Yesterday we got a great surprise from our friends at NERF! A package was waiting at the shipping company -a much larger package than expected. When I first opened it in the car, I thought there were a couple of blasters (which is great) and a lot of packing. Imagine my shock and surprise when I got home to find that there were 5 blasters in the box!!

So a huge thanks to NERF for the great blasters! Several reviews to come! Speaking of which, check out the Lumitron un-boxing video below! As reported, this is essentially a Praxis repaint, but with firefly tech included. I can't tell you how stoked I am about that. Well, I guess I could, but it might take a while. Suffice it to say, the camera didn't do it justice, but we'll be shooting more demos soon. ~Chris

Integrated Clip Systems -Dart Tag Only.

by Chris Jacobs

Just last week, foam warriors saw NERF's new Dart Tag line of blasters trickle into stores. After getting our hands on the new toys, we realized that there are a couple of big things that set apart this new series of blasters.

NERF Speedload 6. (Image from nerf.com)

The new tech found in the integrated clip is a great concept in and of itself. The inclusion of a self-contained clip that allows you to load multiple darts which are essentially ready to shoot is a step forward in the eyes of many NERF enthusiasts. This new approach eliminates two issues for the average user. For one, you no longer have to carry around extra clips to load which can be cumbersome and difficult to keep track of. Second, you get the convenience of not having to load a dart every time you fire your blaster. This is already a benefit to other clip system blasters, but many didn't consider that an advantage because of the loathed streamline darts.

On another hand, not having clips to remove can be seen as a down side. Having preloaded clips that you can quickly replace is seemingly a quicker way to reload than manually replacing darts in the integrated clip during a battle.  During the often short rounds of Dart Tag, this may be a non-issue. It'll be an interesting trade-0ff to observe whether versatile ammo in the integrated clip or a ready supply in the older clip systems win in longer term foam applications such as long-term battles or 'Humans versus Zombies'.

Mod to carry ammo. (Image by beerhandconners2, Youtube.)

Based on our own review of the NERF Dart Tag Speedload 6, the new integrated clip blasters should stay in the Dart Tag arena. They don't come with blaster accessories, tactical rails or even the eye gear that they recommend wearing at all times. They also don't come with any semi-convenient way to hold extra ammo. It seemed that NERF was on the right track last year when they released the ammo rail with the Barrel Break blaster. While we don't advocate mods, someone posted the idea to glue and velcro an ammo rail to the Quick 16 to allow for extra storage. Not a bad idea, but yet again spending more money just to get an adequate supply.

Overall, the line of Dart Tag Blasters look like they'll perform just as they are marketed to do. We can see how they'd likely operate well within the Dart Tag arenas that were seen in last year's Championships. Though, without serious modifications, they seem like they'll operate at a disadvantage in the rest of the realms a foam warrior would take them into.