Foam Dart “Attack Blaster” with Rapid Refill Cartridges by Dimple, Includes 40 Aerodynamic Soft Foam Darts, 2 Magazine Clips, Clip-on Scope & Extendable Body (Red)

This is a Nerf-compatible “Flywheel” Blaster. The “Iron Man”-like Red/Gold paint scheme (the natural color of the cheap plastic used) was the only difference from the previous blaster I purchased from Newisland (New-Island). Their blaster rocked a patriotic Red/White/Blue color scheme. I can only assume that Newisland’s rights to sell this blaster have gone to Dimple. In contrast to the closest competitor on the market, this “new” battery-powered, 4x 1.5 AA alkaline batteries (not included) flywheel blaster has all the bells and whistles of Nerf's Modulus ECS-10 (last generation’s flagship Nerf Blaster from which it imitates design cues) and then some. Replacing the Newisland logo is the word “Blaster.” I suppose that is the name of this blaster. Their Dimple logo is found further back and only in one side of the blaster, but the nice metallic silver trim behind it is painted on both sides (painting only one side of blasters just to save money is a problem that Nerf is becoming notorious for as of late). At first, I did not expect Nerf accessories to fit because other aftermarket blaster manufacturers have never made their products compatible with the exception of Buzzbee's Air Warriors, Dart Zone, Worker, and a few others with the same-sized compatible and interchangeable darts. Well this blaster has interchangeable magazines and comes with a gold 10-dart banana mag (that works) and a spare 6-dart straight mag (that has a chronic jamming issue and does not feed darts unless you remove the magazine and squeeze the sides for each dart; it is completely useless). The mag-release button feels unrefined and clunky when pressed. Instead of 10 suction tip darts, Dimple gives you 40 “stinger” rubber bullet-tipped darts. There is what seems like an optic sight or scope, but is actually a surprisingly bright flashlight that emits a blue light when the on/off button (located smack-dab in the center of where the eye-piece should be) is pressed. There is a gunmetal and gold iron-sight attachment with a tactical rail that is compatible with most Nerf tactical rail accessories, although, some may be too tight or loose-fitting depending on the individual attachment; Most of my attachments work. In addition to stealing the design cues from the Modulus ECS-10, this particular double-rail attachment is also blessed with styling cues from 2 other generations of former Nerf N-Strike flagships, the Stampede, with it's pipe-like sight holes and twin-split sling mount at the rear, and the Rapidstrike’s carry handle. Like I noted with the Newisland blaster, the location of this golden sling mount seems foolish to me for 1 reason: If enough weight is applied, the sling will pull the attachment right off of the tactical rail. Luckily, there is a more stable rail mount under the pistol grip. Anyway, once the large gunmetal tactical rail attachment is removed, the blaster does look fairly different. In fact, the main body of the blaster has a top front and top rear tactical rail attachment point. If this is not enough, there are 3 more tactical rails: one on the left side, one on the right, and a mini one (that seems like an unusable mistake to me since no attachment can fit in such short a space) for an under-barrel attachment. The front barrel is specifically designed for Nerf front barrel attachments, but it is a gold barrel, not an orange one. My primary complaint with blasters from other countries is that they have a different set of rules, and so they don’t make a toy barrel that is Safety Orange in color, which is required by law to avoid confusion between a firearm and a toy. Moving on, you will find a shoulder-stock attachment point in the rear for the blaster’s mock Modulus ECS-10’s shoulder stock. You can fit any Nerf dart mag in it for storage, and it has an additional stabilizing bar shaft that runs through the middle, one-upping Nerf with their failed ECS-10 shoulder stock’s design flaw. I have tested all of these attachments for compatibility and they all seem to work with official Nerf products and vice-versa. I recall that my Newisland blaster also came with a small screwdriver but this set does not. After revving it up, I was pleased to have heard the unmistakably familiar sound of Nerf Stryfe motors, possibly meaning that it was pretty much the same Mabuchi motors housed inside this cheaper-plastic shell. On my ProChrono Digital chronograph I was able to measure the speed of the darts fired by this stock blaster at an average of 80 feet per second (FPS) using Nerf Elite darts (it is capable of shooting any standard Nerf Elite darts; blue, green, white, orange, purple/grey, StarWars, Accustrike, and decorated Rebelle darts), and the rubber bullet-tipped stinger darts that it came with had a slightly lower average of 74 FPS. Here is the kicker... I popped in *2X button-top AA 3.7V Efest IMR 14500 batteries and 2 AA placeholder dummy batteries and it’s rating jumped from 80 FPS to an average of 100 FPS. That is a 20 FPS jump with no other modifications than the added voltage. Dimple states specifically that there is an electronic limiter that cuts power off when the blaster has too much power, but I am willing to bet that there are no electronic locks or limiters in this blaster (if anything, there may be an electronic stabilizer near the motors, but I did not detect a thermistor throughout my testing). The only lock I can detect is mechanical, and that was the trigger-lock, which understandably needs to be in place for children who like to pull the trigger before the acceleration (or rev) trigger. The said main trigger has a smooth trigger-pull so it seems to be improved upon since it wore the Newisland nameplate. I am hoping the rev/acceleration trigger was improved upon because I have found that my Newisland blaster’s one **needed some physical modifications in order to work properly over time (it sank too far in and lost connectivity with the electronic lever). The battery tray has fixed AA cell dividers, so there is no play at all for the batteries to to move (unfortunately, you need to snap off these dividers if you plan on using the Efest batteries because the button-top does not reach over the divider, nor will it fit). The location of the heavier electronic internal parts are all in the front, making the balance naturally front-heavy just like the Modulus ECS-10, and the battery-cover doubles as a place to hold up the blaster. The handle grip is on the smallish side and is stubby, yet otherwise it is ergonomically pleasing and would have been perfect if it were not for the aforementioned sling-mount attachment point located under the handle (even copying one of the tiny flaws of the Nerf blasters it was modeled after). There is a fairly long flip-up front iron-sight incorporated above of the blaster's front barrel. Of course, it is also made of cheap plastic and seems likely to break if left in the open position or could become a hazard since it sticks out... but never does. This set also comes with a cardboard-cutout target (I give it honorable mention despite it’s uselessness). In conclusion, this blaster is not without it’s quirks: Nerf Magazines may have a tight fit but they do work are interchangeable. The mag-release button feels clunky and unrefined. The lack of an orange barrel is frowned upon, but none of these issues are a deal-breaker. Official Nerf attachments, darts, and accessories were all designed for cross-compatibility with this Dimple “Blaster.” Improvements have been made off of both the Newisland toy line and the blaster that it was modeled after. The Blaster retains it’s aesthetically pleasing flagship look while performing exceedingly well. There is a one year warranty that Dimple offers with the Blaster, provided that you did not modify it or increase the intended voltage. As it was with the Newisland company's full intention to capitalize off of Nerf's product line, the Dimple company has my full attention, as it may also have the attention of Hasbro's legal personnel. I would like to see the price drop to more affordable levels, but wow what a great value that this blaster has to offer so far. The reliability or longevity factor may be an issue down the road, but we will have to see how much usage [or abuse] this aftermarket knock-off can handle (before it is dead). In all honesty, the Newisland blaster already outlasted and outperformed my Nerf Modulus ECS-10s with equal usage, so this blaster is looking to obliterate the competition. Only time will tell for certain if this reiteration can walk-the-walk. Until then, this Dimple Blaster gets a full 5-star rating from me. I will return and update this review if I find that there are any such issues that deserve mentioning.*Efest 14500 IMR batteries, like all lithium batteries, will need a special charger. I would use a Nitecore D-4 charger. Use of such a battery should shorten the life of your motors, but you will see much better results in velocity and spool-up times while it lasts.**My electronic acceleration/rev trigger lost contact on the Newisland blaster after a year of use, so the Dimple blaster may or may not have improved on the issue of a weak rev trigger compartment. The area of the shell that holds the electronic lever pushes in over time, but it can be repaired with a strong adhesive (or spacer) to keep the lever closer to to the rev trigger, and a stronger return spring to prevent the trigger from getting stuck in place when pushed.

This functionality of this gun is awesome. This probably the coolest design for a foam dart shooting gun ever. My boys love it. My only critique is that the battery cover screw should not screw into the plastic body of the gun. There should be a metal threaded seat imbedded into the gun for the battery cover to screw into. I stripped the plastic screw hole already and had to tape the battery cover back on.

We bought this for our son for his 4th Birthday. Him and his older brother LOVE playing nerf. Then shoot mostly targets and not each other. This one looked kinda large and I was thinking it would be too heavy but it wasn’t too heavy at all! The only thing is these darts do hurt a little more than reg nerf darts so if you get hit with one, BUT you can just use your regular dart in this instead!

It did not work; it’s jammed and doesn’t shoot out. Stick with the original brands people!

The foam darts constantly get jammed in the feeder. Great idea but doesn't work.

I LOVE THIS! I recommended you buy this. I am not ashamed to say that I got two of these so my wife and I can have mini Nerf wars in the house. Excellent. Great Christmas gift.

Selected this "Attack Blaster" for the design, which is superb.

gave it a 4 because i didn't kno it needed batteries...