OldNoob (/u/foam_data on reddit) from FDS kindly sent me a Blastersmiths UK Rapidstrike kit to review.
It includes precut wire and everything you need for a fire control group aside from the trigger and rev button, i.e. a 3D printed switch mounting plate, a 3D printed cycle control follower, and 3 Cherry mini microswitches.
I'm not sure what I will put this in or when but expect a review.
Next up, this one:
$36 from Newegg, which is just a partnership program with Banggood (currently out of stock). Ordered around Christmas. This did take over a month to arrive and was shipped by unregistered airmail after a restocking delay. A bit sketchy and I was sure I had been scammed at one point or my package lost in the mail, but in the end it arrived 20 business days after shipping.
No trademarks and zero use of the term "EOTech" anywhere unlike some past clones. L3 has been going after trademark misuse.
Typical of clones, the NV button switches to a green reticle rather than infrared. The green reticle on this unit is brighter than the red.
My battery box is a bit sharper cornered than the real deal. It also uses AAA cells instead of the proper AA. Why, I do not know.
Tool-free battery access
By the way, this unit doesn't drain the batteries quickly if they are left installed. That was a complaint with some airsoft holographics.
Important notes: One, it isn't holographic. Like most of these, it's a disguised red dot sight. Two, it is properly adjustable, unlike some of the worse airsoft clones. Three, the railgrabber is compatible with Hasbro rail out of the box.
However, out of the box, this one wouldn't be grabbing any rail types, because the clamp block was flipped upside down. That required fixing.
By the way, there is a lot of metal involved. The hood and the chassis are aluminum.
Note typo on laser warning decal (CAUTON)
There are a number of overall rough edges with these units including the battery terminals and the buttons which have no tactile feel at all. There is a bit of a ghost image of the reticle, and a small amount of red light escapes the muzzle end. All typical and expected.
And hooked up on some guns:
Tacmod prototype
Vulture PDW
No images of the sight picture. It is impossible to get a clean image of the reticle with a camera. It is the standard ring/crosshair and single center dot reticle though I do think it is smaller in angle than the real deal and the ring is not 65MOA. If it was that, it would be perfect for what I have observed the maximum practical accuracy of kooshes to be (about a degree of deviation).
Note coated front glass.
RapidSwarm
Works out nicely. It does beg for a flat top Tacmod variant to get the mounting height a little lower.
Yes, this is mostly to be tacticool but recently I played commercial laser tag on a small speedball type field with limited range. The guns had red dots, and I really liked them for the sort of ranges you see in stock class where nerf darts shoot flat and aimable. This sight will thus be used as an honest test of whether optics like that really have any place over point shooting in pro stock for picking up targets faster. I have it mounted on the Tacmod and dialed in at 35' for 115fps koosh, although where I zero it may be changed after next game, as well as what games I use it for.
I do have a concern about reticle brightness in day games. Modding may be required.
In the end, though, what it boils down to is that above optic beats the crap out of a $40+ Nerf Pinpoint Sight by any possible standard, and there are of course many generic red dots under $30 as well. Sometimes closer to $10.
Are you still finding the sight useful? Was it a good buy?
ReplyDeleteYes, it has been great, held up great, still on the same set of batteries, and has become a fixture on my primary. Reticle brightness concern is addressed by using the green reticle for outdoor day games. If I was going to get another optic it would be another one of these.
DeleteAny cheap red dot ought to do fine for nerf though. There are a lot of other sights that are more available. These are not easy to find and that is probably the biggest issue with them.
As with any sight (optical or iron) on a nerf gun it is useful if you don't expect to magically hit people you couldn't before. Some people like them and some would rather save the weight. A functional optic will always beat a Nerf mockup one though.