 |
| Nerf Vortex Pyragon against the Lumitron and a Clear Raider |
|
Ah,
the Nerf Vortex Pyragon. The Nerf Raider CS-35 ended up being one of
my favorite blasters, I would decimate entire teams with the right
timing to apply the slam-fire. Would the Pyragon match it in utility,
and even outdo it in range and reliability?
After the break-
TRICKS:
REVIEW:
A
couple of outdoor games with this, and it is definitely worthy of
standing next to the Raider, if not outright overshadowing it. Even the
Rampage pales in comparison to what the Nerf Vortex Pyragon brings to
the table. It was impressive enough to see in action
at the Nerf Elite Hailfire release party earlier this summer, but of
course there's no substitute for having the blaster in-hand :)
So
let's get down to it! The Nerf Vortex Pyragon comes with the Pyragon, a
40-disc capacity drum, manual, 40-discs, and your hopes and dreams. No
scopes, no stocks, no blast shields. It's $39.99 at most retailers.
Thanks to Nerf, I got a sample. Would I get another one from the
store? Most likely :)
FUNCTION:
It's comfy. In particular with the lightningstorm stock, as pictured here:
And the foregrip fits nicely for adult hands. Ergonomic is the Pyragon's middle name, from what I can tell.
The
Nerf Vortex Pyragon can be considered the Rampage/Raider/Alpha Trooper
of the Vortex line, due to the slamfire capabilities. Advantage to
Vortex on this one though, because the slamfire on the Pyragon is
smoother, more robust, and more reliable than the slamfire on the
N-Strike blasters. Just a cloud of discs all flying at you in a matter
of seconds. It's firepower, it's elegant, it's reliable. A winning
combination.
The drum is piece of work as well.
There's the stem which serves as the main chamber, but then 4 auxiliary
chambers inside the drum. And when one empties, it automatically
rotates to the next chamber until empty. That's why you'll run out
really fast, but maybe not before you tag an entire team with just one
drum.
A lot of people liked the Praxis, but the Pyragon
has it and the Lumitron beat in spades. What it trades in a little bit
of width is more than made up for in reliability and slamfire. Not to
mention the drum serves as its own turret mount :)
Quick
word of warning... use caution if you put the Pyragon drum into a
Lumitron or Praxis. I found the priming arm triggered the mag release
mechanism and inadvertently dropped my drum a couple of times to the
ground because of this. I didn't have an issue using the drum with a
Nitron, but the Nitron does admittedly fire slower than the Pyragon.
Also,
I tried attaching a sling to the Pyragon, but it looked a point of attachment was not
available on the Nerf Vortex Pyragon. With that much awesome, I'm
thinking the design team figured no one would want to carry anything
else if they had a Pyragon, hehe.
Range-wise, the Nerf Vortex Pyragon hits pretty much what you'd expect from the Vortex line. I'll let the video do the talking here.
Anywhere from 50-70'+ depending on angle. I had a slight breeze, which could attribute to the slice my discs were experience. That being said, I was very pleased taking it out onto the field a couple of times and taking care of business. It is still small enough to be mobile even with the large disc drum. I crawled and roadie-ran through a few jungle gyms with it during games and didn't feel the pinch for mobility at all. The thumb hole in the foregrip feels more secure when holding the blaster, especially when using slamfire. And as proven, it'll fit grown hands -
 |
| Thanks Rogue! |
In any event, the Nerf Vortex Pyragon is a solid buy. Between the drum and the improvements over the mechanisms introduced with the Praxis it's a good upgrade/addition to your playstyle if you favor a heavier hitting kind of mentality with a shock and awe approach to unloading a swarm of discs, or just having a lot of ammo on-hand for surgical strikes. The drum is designed with a lot of nice touches (etched numbers, a snazzy logo) and it's just satisfying to keep hearing that click when you decide to unload the entire thing. Cleanup is not as much fun, but when is it ever?
Run out and get one, seriously. You'll feel better about yourself. :)
Labels: discs, drum, n-strike, nerf, outdoor, play, playground, pyragon, raider, Review, slamfire, toy, vortex
