Review: Nerf Secret Strike AS-1

Ok, so here goes my first review. I thought I might start with something simple, like

this, the Nerf Secret Strike AS-1.

This little air powered dart blaster can be picked up in almost every department store in Australia for about $4 AU, and for the price is not a let down. In the package, you get the blaster and two suction cup darts, which if you're like me you will lose pretty quickly so I would recommend also buying a ten pack of suction darts to go with it.

Unboxed, it's very small, and easily fits inside of your hand. It is operated by first priming the air pump located at the front just under the barrel seven times, inserting a dart, then pressing the trigger button on the top. The blaster comes with a hook attached, which is very handy. This hook can be attatched to various places on your other blasters, making it a great little backup within reach, however it doesn't have a place to hold spare darts, nor any tactical rails (not that you would need to attach anything anyway).

Performance is not too bad, stock it can reach anywhere between 15 and 25 feet (about 5 to 7 metres), however priming it is a little time consuming. It can be slightly modified to reach 35 or 40 feet (12 metres) by removing the air restrictor, via careful drilling or other means.

However, when doing this, be careful to not damage any internal components located just behind the restrictor, and also be warned that when modded, it can sometimes tear a hole up the side of darts due to the more sudden pressure spike. As stated before, it can make a great backup, and it can be moulded in to other blasters with some decent modding experience.

All in all, for $4 AU, this is definately one that all Nerf collectors should have in their kit, either for intergrations or as a back up. 7/10.