Just in time for summer, my family was given the opportunity to try out a few new Nerf blasters. We like to put anything Nerf through its paces and that means testing its distance, ease of use, and (in some cases by accident) the pain factor. When it comes to the Super Soakers, we enjoy seeing just how wet we can get in a quick game of soaking.
Nerf Zombie Strike FlipFury Blaster
The Nerf Zombie Strike FlipFury Blaster is all mine. Mine. Mine. And I’m not sharing it with anyone in my family. Of all the Nerf blasters I’ve tried out in the past, this is by far my favorite. I love the ability to flip between two rounds of ammo and the cool sound it makes when you switch between them. It’s almost like a warning to anyone who messes with you to stop or pay the price. Each round holds seven darts, with a combined total of 14 before having to reload.
I tested the distance of this blaster one morning when trying to get my son up for school. He refused to get out of bed, so I shot at him from the living room (over 20 feet away) and hit him dead on. He got wise and went for cover under his blankets, which didn’t save him much from my Nerf parenting style. A flip change later, and he was getting up while waving a white flag of defeat.
As long as your aim doesn’t stink and you shoot the darts below the face, it doesn’t hurt as bad as the massive Nerf N-Strike Elite darts. If you happen to be in the sight of an opponent who doesn’t understand the words “NOT THE FACE” ::cough::my son::cough::, watch your language and be ready with some ice, because these darts will leave a welt (as my husband can attest to).
Recommended distance from opponent: 5 feet or more to avoid injury.
Retail: $19.99 (and worth every penny)
Nerf N-Strike Elite Mega CycloneShock Blaster
When it came to testing out the Nerf N-Strike Elite Mega CycloneShock Blaster, I had to add a new ground rule when these are in use. Since the Nerf Elite Mega blasters have darts that look more fearsome than anything else Nerf has put out, close range combat was off limits. The blaster holds six mega darts that have a diameter almost twice that of a normal dart. The power behind this one can launch those suckers up to 90 feet.
Despite having a “no close range” ground rule, that doesn’t mean anyone listened to it. With that said, each of my family members can attest that these suckers hurt when shot. I’d almost say that any Nerf gun with these Mega darts should be off limits to anyone who doesn’t listen to the rules (and considering that my mother’s pups listen better than my 9-year-old son or my 42-year-old husband, it’s safe to say I’m the only one that can play with these now).
To avoid injury, make sure your target is at least 10 feet away when firing.
Recommended distance from opponent: 10 feet or more (preferably more) to avoid injury.
Retail: $21.99
Super Soaker Testing!!
Now, to introduce the Super Soaker part of this review, here is a music video featuring my brother and my son. At one point in the video, my son felt that his Uncle Doug wasn’t getting wet enough with the blaster in hand and resorted to using just the hose on him. Of course, Uncle Doug paid him back for that later.
Nerf Super Soaker FloodFire Blaster
My brother is using the Nerf Super Soaker FloodFire Blaster. This blaster is unique because it allows you to hook it up to a hose and have an endless supply of ammo. Using the hose attachment almost feels like cheating, but who really cares about that in a water gun fight? It’s reach was pretty impressive and it was able to soak my son quite well with little effort on my brother’s part.
Pay attention at the :20-second mark in the video and you can see my brother turn the hose feature on and off. He remarked that you can only keep the hose on for a minute and after that you need to turn the function off or the blaster won’t work properly.
The only issue I have is if you are running around the yard and attached to a hose, it creates a serious safety issue. Because of that, I would say if you want to use the hose attachment feature, make sure your shooter stays in the same place (or only moves from side to side).
Recommended distance from opponent: None. It’s water, so you’re not as likely to hurt someone with this one.
Retail: $25.99
Nerf Super Soaker ZombieStrike Splatterblast
In the video, my son is using the Nerf Super Soaker Zombie Strike Splatterblast water blaster. This blaster can produce four streams of opponent-soaking water at once. I found that some of the nozzles were glitchy, depending on the water level in the gun. However, if you aimed it up a little when shooting, you could get a good stream each time. It was the easier of the two guns for my son to hold and he loved being able to run around with it.
A cool feature of this blaster is with a couple batteries and the push of a button, the water tank can light up. Making this worth the batteries would mean playing at night though, so we are ignoring that feature for now.
Recommended distance from opponent: None.
Retail: $21.99
GeekMom received this item for review purposes.
