Nerf Elite Triad and Jolt review

Battle of the mini side arms: Elite edition? Today I've got the elite Jolt and Triad for review, both have very similar styling and operation, and both pack a punch in a tiny package. What do I think of them? Well I'll start with the Triad.

When I first saw pictures of the Triad, I thought it looked like some kind of franken-jolt. In person, it's larger than I had anticipated, and not nearly as ugly as I first thought. The ergonomics are a bit off though, it is definitely not the most comfortable blaster I've held. There are many edges that jut out  in to your hand, the main one being the base of the plunger tube where the screw port is. I feel like this could have been avoided if that area was smoothed out some more.

The function of this blaster definitely makes up for the poor ergonomics however. The Triad features 3 barrels, which cleverly utilise the air restrictor system to fire one dart at a time, and block off air flow to barrels that don't have a dart loaded. This means you can stick a dart in any barrel and it will fire with full power first time no matter what. So, unlike other barrel loaded blasters, you do not have to load another dart for each shot or twist a turret or barrel selector, you just cock the blaster via the rod at the base of the handle, pull the trigger and repeat for the next 2 shots. Drilling out the air restrictors would make it a pocket shotgun, making all 3 darts fire at once with reduced power.

Ranges aren't bad, considering this is a grey trigger model, it still makes 50-60 feet with elite darts, but the accuracy seems to be a little lacking when compared to the Jolt or Firestrike for some reason. Still, the Triad makes a great side arm based on range and refire rate. if it were coming up against any other barrel loaded blaster, it would stand a good chance.

On to the Elite Jolt. I'm not really sure you could actually call it an elite Jolt, to be honest. compared to the original Jolt there has only been cosmetic changes, most notably the colours, and a barrel tip. The elite jolt I have hits the exact same ranges as the original and functions no differently. I would have liked to see a dart holder or something, but I guess that defeats the purpose of being the most minimalistic blaster in the range.

But, the colours are really nice and there has been no price change. True to the Nerf Elite styling, the blaster is mainly blue, with a white stripe and grey and orange accents. What I found strange was that the Nerf logo on one side of mine was painted black, but not on the other side.

To answer something I always wondered, yes, the Triad's plunger tube is indeed bigger. This means that turning it in to a single barrel blaster would make it a kind of "super jolt", although I'm not sure anyone has attempted this yet.

Although Nerf does not make any accessories for either of these blasters, Slydev does. These include dart holders and rail connectors. Holsters for these are also available from various third parties from what I'm told, I'll update when I find these.

Slydev: Rail adapter for Nerf Jolt

Slydev is run by Oznerf forum member Joey and has recently started developing small parts for foam dart blasters, from rail accessories to additional glue-on rails. The other day, I saw that he had posted about some Jolt related products, and a Jolt to Nerf rail adapter exactly what I needed so I ordered one through the online store.

It cost me a tiny $3 including postage and I must say, it is pretty sturdy.  The 2 part mechanism attaches to any Nerf rail via a small screw which pulls the 2 parts together to clamp on the the rail and your Jolt just clips in to the holder. I used mine to add my Jolt as an under barrel foregrip blaster for my Gear Up Recon. Unfortunately, shipping is only available Australia-wide at the moment, however international shipping may be available in the future. If you have a buddy in Australia but you live overseas, it's probably worth asking them if they can have it sent to them and then ship it to you.

I'm hoping to see a ton more parts from the Slydev Store, as I feel like the quality will improve even further as time goes on. So if you're Australian, head to Slydev store and have a look.

Review: Nerf Jolt

It's been quite a while since I've done a review so I thought I might take another crack at it, this time with the Nerf Jolt. This thing is packs a pretty decent punch in a tiny package and by far outclasses Nerf's previous mini blaster, the Secret Strike.

Check out that stylish font...

In the package which you can pick up for a tiny AU$4, you get the bright orange blaster and two whistler darts. It is a simplistic design resembling something like the repair tool from Battlefield: Bad Company 2 or the noisy cricket Will Smith brandished in the movie Men In Black. Thankfully, Nerf seems to have ditched the tacky yellow colour scheme and gone with a flashy orange, grey and black colours for the Jolt. The quality of the build is also fantastic, especially when these are retailing for pocket change. Unfortunately, but not unlike other mini blasters, it features no attachment rails, not dart storage and no loops for straps or hooks. So far, it's a very nice looking mini blaster, that is built really well, but very minimilistic.

 Interestingly, this is not a mini air blaster, but rather a direct plunger springer. The plunger is actually inside the handle with a pull down priming rod at the base. The trigger and trigger catch are the same piece and act on the plunger directly to hold it in the primed position and the outlet of the plunger system feeds directly to the air restrictor and barrel with very little dead space. Powering the system is a relatively strong spring, so I was expecting some decent ranges from this blaster which is so tiny. It's only a little larger than the Secret Strike, but still fits in my hands pretty well.

How does it perform? Extremely well! Ranges of 40+ feet were an unexpected surprise, and it has a nice little kick to it as well. Even though it has only a small direct plunger, it's still much more efficient than any reverse plunger system due to the minimizing of dead space and aligning the barrel and air restrictor so close to the plunger outlet. I must say, however, the great accuracy of this blaster is a little bit of a waste. Being such a small blaster, it is difficult to aim and that opens up a window for human error, even though the blaster itself is wonderfully on the mark. I can't help but feel that a rear sight would solve this problem to some extent. 

Modding potential for performance is limited, but also a bit redundant anyway. It is possible to remove the air restrictor, and a spring replacement would be a quick and easy way to get a slight improvement on power, but I would only expect a range increase of about 10 feet anyway. Cosmetically, this holds a little more potential. it could easily be integrated in to another blaster, or be used as a platform for great sci-fi or steampunk mods.

In summary, this is a fantastic little blaster, and while not everyone needs a mini blaster, I would recommend the Jolt over the Secret Strike any day. It outclasses any other mini blaster I have seen in performance, ease of use AND looks, despite it being one of the most simple and minimalistic blasters available. Couple that with a tiny price and you get a mini blaster worth a 9.5 out of 10 from this humble blogger.

New Nerf N-strike: Jolt EX-1

This has popped up without warning in the last couple of hours, a new Nerf blaster appearing on store shelves as the "N-Strike Jolt EX-1". By the looks of things, it's going to end up being the replacement to the Nerf Secret Strike. What's awesome about this, is that it is a direct plunger system, and apparently hits ranges of 40+ feet. not bad for something so small!

On the packaging reads: "This blaster packs a powerful punch in a super stealth size. Hide it in your pocket to get the drop on your unsuspecting target!"."So, does this mean Nerf are finally listening and giving their dart blasters more power? I sincerely hope so, because if they are, that will make the next major releases of N-Strike blasters more interesting. Perhaps in the near future the won't be much need for modifying Nerf blasters, unless you're taking to the extreme. Who knows, but what I would like to see is Nerf catering for a more grown up market as well, say, larger, more comfortable stocks and grips, and maybe a lot more power to entice the older crew to get on board?