Review: Nerf Elite Alpha Trooper

As promised, the review for one of my new guns, the Elite Alpha Trooper. Fans have awaited this blaster due to the great predeccessor, and finally it was there. First, the outer appearance. The gun does look pretty great. There are some similarities between it and the normal AT, the orange parts and the grey handle. The EAT's stock adapter on the back is actually orange instead of the standard black. Other than that, the shape is exactly the same, no shell differences between them. The equipment is new, the EAT now has a nice 12-dart clip instead of the old 18-dart one. It's a downgrade by 6-darts, but I think this is still good since the 12 clip is one of the best mags, it doesn't jam up as much as some 18 mags and still has a decent capacity. To the performance, a big improvement which I instantly noticed is that the Elite version doesn't jam as much as the original one. It nearly never jams, actually. Ranges are basically... Elite. Nothing significant, it just shoots like any Elite blaster. But it's nice to see an Alpha Trooper shoot that far. The cool part about the Alpha Trooper is the insane rate of fire, that could possibly even beat some semi-auto guns. So all in all great primary gun, great looks and recommended for anyone looking for a new primary with fast ROF.

Rapidstrike Pictures released!

Rabysong posted these Rapidstrike pictures on Baidu. The Rapidstrike first leaked on soundmedia.ch is real!

Pretty interesting pictures, huh? You can see it has a rail like the Stampede on top, but in my opinion a much better sight. There's also an acceleration trigger and a clip-release like the Stryfe and the barrel extension muzzle. What I think is interesting is that the battery tray goes into the front. All in all it looks a little more compact than the Stampede. Here the box:

The Rapidstrike box states a 75ft range and shows the clear 18-dart mag. However it says nothing about if it's semi or full-auto, only motorized rapidfire, but that might mean fully-automatic.

Leak Updates: Revonix360 new description, with stock?

Thanks to Basic Nerf for this information. There's another leaky swiss website called shops.ch, which had released a description of the Vortex Revonix360 earlier, saying it shoots 3 discs at once. Now they've updated that description here. They removed the silly 3-disc shooting statement and now say that it shoots over 20m/65ft and even comes with a stock. Now you might wonder how that stock may look like, well the Nerf Wikia got this picture from somewhere:

It looks pretty interesting, and fits the design of the gun pretty good. However, what I also noticed was that on the german version of the article page, the description states nothing about a stock, only the long range. Both also state a 30 disc capacity of the gun. This looks pretty interesting, and I'm very curious how the loading mechanism works, since the discs are being loaded into the drum horizontally, and can't be fired from that position. What are your thoughts about this gun? Let me know!

Leak Updates: soundmedia.ch Releases More Pictures; Double Jolt; Mega Javelin?

Remember the website soundmedia.ch, with the Rapidstrike and everything? They have released some more pictures now, like this one from the Mega Centurion:

This is more detailed than the box image. You can see it has a bipod, an unusually formed clip and a cocking mechansim like the Longstrike/Longshot. After browsing on their website a bit, I also stumbled upon this. It's from the Rebelle line, and says "Doppel Jolt", which means double Jolt. This is interesting, since Nerf has a Jolt and a Triad, so are they planning to release something like a "Duoad"? Another interesting leak was found by Klaus Hausner (mentioned in MyLastDart's post), which reveals a Mega Javelin on ExLibris.ch. There is a real weapon called Javelin, too, and it's a rocket launcher. From these facts, the Mega Javelin might be an improved Elite Titan. The website will release it around august this year. 

Mod Guide: Nerf Elite Rayven

Since the Elite Rayven isn't really outstanding in stock condition, I modded mine. Here's the guide to tweaking your blaster. We'll be covering lock removals, overriding unnecessary switches and voltage mods.

1. Prepearation

Necessary tools and materials:

-Your Rayven

-Screwdriver

-Sandpaper

-Soldering Iron

-Trustfire Li-Ion Batteries

Remove all screws in the shell, open the blaster and get familiar with all the internals.

2. Lock removals

This first lock right below the trigger to remove keeps you from pulling it when the acceleration trigger isn't activated.

Remove the screw and take the upper plate out, then remove the main trigger.

Now remove the lock itself. Notice the little notch up there? 

There's another one on the main trigger, too. 

Sand both of them down a bit and you should be fine.

Put it back together and check if it's working fluidly.

The second and last lock is in the back, right above the clip-release button. It prevents you from pulling the trigger when there is no clip inserted, so remove the screw, take it and the plate that's sitting below out.

3. Overriding switches and Thermistor removal

You'll want your soldering iron for this part. There are much more cables than in the Stryfe, and I've spent some time trying to figure out which cables are relevant and how the circuit is working. To start, take all switches and cables out of their place to get a better overview.

The jam door is first. Remove all cables (red, pink and blue) on the switch and also take the blue cable off its pole. You should end up like this:

Now the clip detector switch, take off all cables (red, red and white). Also remove the white cable on the pole. Your setup is now:

The thermistor stops your current at higher voltages (in this case at about 11V-12V), so it needs to be removed, too. To do this, take it out of place first.

Note the soldering spots and melt both cables off.

Finally, just solder both yellow ends together.

We need the red cable just a little longer to reach all the way until the main switch slot. You'll need your red cable which you took off earlier now. Solder both red ends together.

Finally, solder the red end to the lower pole of the switch. The yellow cable should still be in place.

Your finished internals should look like this picture (I forgot to put some parts in here). Make sure to route the cables neatly and nothing is in the way of any moving parts.

When you have finished reassembling everything, take the other shell part and screw everything together again.

4. Voltage mod

This mod is quite easy, take your Trustfire Li-Ions and drop in how many you want. You can use any voltage now since the thermistor is removed. Be sure to check out my Basic Voltage Modding Guide for this. I decided to use 2 of them for a total of 8.4V and overrode the 2 other slots with cables.

Done! Congratulations to you for your newly tweaked Rayven. Go out there and dominate your friends now!

You probably noticed that the Elite Rayven also decelerates faster if you either remove the clip or open the jam door. However, I haven't found a method of a Fast Deceleration mod yet. I've tried everything, even accidentally shortened the circuit and almost fried the whole thing. If you have any idea/solution for it, please inform me. Also drop a comment on your thoughts on your "new" Rayven.

Nerf Rapidstrike CS-18: The Elite Stampede?

This listing recently showed up on the swiss shop soundmedia.ch, which normally sells media stuff. According to the description, the so called Rapidstrike appears to use batteries and on the photo it's shaped a little like the Stampede, so could this be the long-awaited Elite Stampede? Also, the earlier spotted clear Elite mag comes to action here. Nobody knows yet if this is real or just a photomontage, but by customer reviews, this even seems to be a trusted shop. What's definitely weird is the spot for a barrel extension, since the blaster already looks large. What surprises me even more is that they already have listings for the recently leaked Mega Centurion, Vortex Revonix and the Rebelle line, too. I'll be watching this rumor.

Updates - Snipercreep is now DarkLime! 1000 hits!

So I thought I'd make some updates for you to avoid confusion. First off, as you might've noticed, I changed my name to DarkLime. I mainly did this for the incredible number of 1000 Pageviews! This blog is up just a month and It's already got over 1000 hits by you! Thanks to everyone for this great event.  Stay tuned, once I hit the next milestone there might be a giveaway... Anyway, when I saw that 4-digit number pop up, I decided to finally choose a unique name. Snipercreep was my beginners name, and after some thinking I chose DarkLime. So don't think that someone else has taken over this blog, It's still me. Also, some things have been updated, added and changed, for example the reviews and mods pages and the other blog's list on the right. Over the next few months, I'll probably focus more on mod guides once I'm through with all Elite reviews. I also have a secret modding project going on which might be done next month. Keep up to date!

N-Strike Elite Mega Series: 100ft Blaster?

MyLastDart posted this on his blog, and there was a whole mess after it. He misunderstood the rules of his NDA and accidentally posted it. When things got cleared up, he deleted the post, but the Internet is now crazy about it and you see posts about it everywhere. Anyway, let's go on to the blaster itself. It looks like a new series red sniper-style weapon featuring a bipod, a cocking mechanism like the Longstrike/-shot and an unusual clip. On the left of the box, it shows a dart and says "actual size". So since the blaster looks big, it must be a big box, and if it shows the actual size, I assume the dart must be pretty big. Could this be the long-awaited Elite version of the Longstrike? It also says "up to 100ft", so this gun must be pretty amazing. Any more information will be posted up directly, and I'm very excited about this, too.

Review: Nerf Elite Rayven

The N-Strike Elite Rayven is the successor to the Rayven. It comes with a glow-in-the-dark "firefly" 18-dart clip and glow-in-the-dark darts. In total, it uses 7 AA batteries, 4 for the gun and 3 for the firefly clip. The Elite Rayven is flywheel powered, thus being semi-automatic. This blaster is also customizable, featuring 2 tactical rails and a place for a barrel attachment. Different from other Nerf guns, it has a bullpup-style design, so the clip slot is behind the grip. I think the clip release is not placed very good, it's actually a little button behind the clip. Performance-wise, the Elite Rayven has the same motors and voltage as its predeccessor, just some voltage regulation tweaks. It does not fire that far, and my range tests had only results up to 45ft/13m flat. Even 45 degree angled it barely reaches 56ft/17m. Another downside is that it jams fairly often and a dart gets stuck every 8 shots. All in all I do not reccommend to buy this blaster, except for the looks. It has bad performance and jams up, and you can get the same results with a tweaked N-Strike Rayven.

Double Dart Firestrike "Pro"?

News 'n' news this month... One listing revealed, TRU has put up another Double Dart (and this time they've typed it correctly) offer, the Elite Firestrike Double Dart. The reason I post this probably expected listing is that if you look closely into it, you'll notice the description saying "NER FIRESTRIKE PRO". Typically Toys R us, a typing error (Ner instead of Nerf), but what does the "Pro" mean? Some special blaster edition or an introduction to a new series (or another typing error)? We'll look forward to the revelation of this product mystery.

Lots of new Vortex Discs

Much Nerf news recently, and now this and this was published on the hungarian site "Tulli.hu". First, the uniquely colored discs with the new Vortexes on the Toy Fair, and finally red and blue camouflaged ones. I personally think it makes no sense to produce camo discs, the standard greens are hard to find anyway, but these are in striking colors. Let's keep up to date and look for these on TRU or other sites.

Nerf Strongarm Double Dark revealed!

I've been informed about a picture release of the Nerf Strongarm Double Dark listing, so I looked up again. And there it was! It might actually be a typing error, because there are double the Darts and almost no trace of "dark", except for the grey symbols on the darts. These are special edition darts, as listed on the box. For almost the same price and double the darts, this looks like a good offer, even though I had expected a little more from the name.

Toys R us: Nerf Strongarm Double Dark listing?

This listing recently popped up on the Toys R us Website: Nerf Elite Strongarm Double Dark. Another secret Nerf gun or just a typing error? Is it a repaint in darker colors? "Double Dark" is a strange name for a blaster. However, no image has showed up yet, and I'll keep you up to date about this. You can even order this already. So what do you think it looks like? Drop a comment!

Mod Guide: Basic Voltage modding for everyone

To make some things easier, I've decided to make a basic guide to voltage mods with electronic blasters. I'll tell you what you need and should be careful with.
For all Voltage mods, I use unprotected Lithium-Ion Trustfire 14500 3.7V batteries, which you can get either from here or your local electronics store.

Also be completely sure you have a Lithium-Ion Charger (Yes, they need special ones), otherwise your batteries might even explode. These rechargeable batteries are good, because they have the same size as an AA battery, but higher discharge rate and voltage. With these, you can just replace your AA's in the battery tray with your Trustfires.

Trustfires are not essential, you can just as well use RC-Battery packs or else. 

Sometimes, you want only a little higher voltage (Picture: 8.4V), and not all battery slots filled with Li-Ions. This could be either because you think the motor is too loud with the maximum voltage (which is often my reason) or in stock condition, the Thermistor blocks any higher voltage. In that case, you can just put some connection in the slot to bypass it. I only use isolated copper cables, but for better safety dummy batteries can also fit in.

Full-auto blasters only have space for C size batteries. Then, either battery packs (like in the picture) or AA to C converter shells come into action.

Now that you've been informed about Voltage mods, you're good to go!

The section below is for all questions or comments!

Mod Guide: Nerf Elite Stryfe

This first mod guide is for the Stryfe, one of my favorite Nerf guns. We'll cover lock removals, voltage mods and how to make the motors decelerate faster. Let's start...

1. Preperation
Materials and tools you need:
-Nerf Stryfe
-Screwdriver
-Soldering Iron and filler metal
-Trustfire Li-Ion Rechargeable Batteries

Start by removing all 14 screws.

Open the gun and take a look at the internal mechanisms and how they work.

2. Lock removals
We'll start with this lock. It's the dart tooth, and it prevents you from pulling the trigger when no dart is in your clip. Also, with this lock, most non-Elite clips won't work with the Stryfe. So simply remove it.

This one doesn't let you pull the trigger when the acceleration trigger isn't pulled. Remove it in the following steps.

On to the next lock. This blocks the trigger if no clip is inserted. Unscrew the plate and remove the piece, the switch will be dealt with later.

3. Fast deceleration and Thermistor removal
You might have noticed that by opening the jam door the motor decelerates faster. This is because the switch is directly connected to the motor. You'll need to remove the trigger for the next steps. Unscrew the 2 lower screws and remove the mechanism.

Take all switches out of place and you should end up with something like this.

Sorry, I didn't take a lot of pictures here, but you'll want to have the jam door switch as your main switch. To achieve this, you need to remove the main switch and the clip detector switch. Take off the cables, you'll need them later. Now take off the red cable on the jam door switch and solder the blue, long cable to the end to make it longer. Then place your switch in the place of the main switch, solder the white cable to the bottom pole. Finally, solder the blue cable (which is connected to the red one) to the middle pole. The green cable stays. If you were able to somewhat follow me, your setup should now look like this:

Lastly, the Thermistor has to be removed. This piece doesn't let you use any higher voltage than 12V.

Unscrew and remove it, then take off the black and green cable and just solder it to the pole.

Now slowly start reassembling your internals, until you are finished. Make sure to route the cables neatly and nothing is in the trigger's way.

4. Voltage mod

This one is really easy, just open the battery tray and put in your Li-Ion Batteries. Check out my Basic Voltage modding Guide for this. I use Trustfire 14500 3.6V Lithium Ion batteries, which I get from dx.com. For the mod, I decided to only use 2 of them (8.4V) and put a cable in to bypass the other 2 slots. But now that the Thermistor has been removed, you can use any voltage.

If you've followed the steps correctly, you now have a modified Stryfe! 

Are you experiencing any problems or have a question? Just drop a comment!