9 replies to this topic

[Griever 2112]

OK, so I picked up a cheap $5 Air Zone blowgun... main reason was I wanted the dart holder, but I digress. A small bonus was I got 6 of the "new" Air Zone Darts. (The Gray and Blue ones that come with the TRU branded blasters)

They are maybe an 1/8 or so inch shorter than the Nerf suction cup darts.

The gray foam feels much the same as the nerf foam, but at that same time more flimsy. Yet what really intrigued me was when I disected the AZ dart.
The Nerf suction cup dart tips are nothing more than silicone rubber. Like most suction cup darts we know. But I noticed something different with the AZ Darts.
The weight of the tips had me puzzled because the it seemed more solid that the Nerf Dart. and thats when.

It took a lot of slicing with a old box cutter (this was at work, but I wanted to post it) I found the AZ Darts have a plastic disc weighting the front of the dart. Exposed like this the weight is miniscule, but with the silicone rubber, covering it, you can feel the difference.

The darts overall kinda suck, they have poor barrel fit. Feel flimsy, the suction cup suck (like all really do) but I am going to see if I can take the tips and somehow utilize them for a replacement for some of the blanks I have at home or see if the have a CPVC fit. If I can get these to work, or fail I will update this.

[TagMaster247]

I got a Quickfire 12, and I found out that something was down the dart hole. Looks like a straw.

[Draconis]

'Griever 2112', on 11 Apr 2012 - 5:25 PM, said:

The Nerf suction cup dart tips are nothing more than silicone rubber. Like most suction cup darts we know.

No they aren't. Silicone is far more expensive to manufacture parts from than the meltable, injection-moldable Thermo-Plastic Elastomer (TPE) that these companies use. TPE is not a chemical name like Polyethylene (PE) or Polyurethane (PU), but rather a class of flexible plastics that range in consistencies from the gel that window clings are created from to the flexible yet strong dart heads. On a large scale, a much better material to use than silicone.

[Griever 2112]

No straw in these. Only the small discs... I want to get a Quickfire 12, just can't justify the $20 for it right now... Those are the non-suction tips right. I was looking for those specifically but my TRU only sells the suction tip darts. I would need to shell out a min of $20 for a blaster with those.

[Griever 2112]

'Draconis', on 11 Apr 2012 - 7:39 PM, said:

No they aren't. Silicone is far more expensive to manufacture parts from than the meltable, injection-moldable Thermo-Plastic Elastomer (TPE) that these companies use. TPE is not a chemical name like Polyethylene (PE) or Polyurethane (PU), but rather a class of flexible plastics that range in consistencies from the gel that window clings are created from to the flexible yet strong dart heads. On a large scale, a much better material to use than silicone.

Thank you Mr. Wizard.... Nah but seriously, I had no idea what they were made of, I went with what it felt like.

[mysterio]

The only thing "new" about these darts are the colors, which I must say are quite nice. The disks you speak of are were included in the previous generation of buzz bee darts, only with yellow foam attached. No huge design changes have been made.

[TagMaster247]

'Griever 2112', on 11 Apr 2012 - 7:39 PM, said:

No straw in these. Only the small discs... I want to get a Quickfire 12, just can't justify the $20 for it right now... Those are the non-suction tips right.

It's great! Correct.

[Griever 2112]

'mysterio', on 11 Apr 2012 - 9:12 PM, said:

The only thing "new" about these darts are the colors, which I must say are quite nice. The disks you speak of are were included in the previous generation of buzz bee darts, only with yellow foam attached. No huge design changes have been made.

:: Checks old BB dart:: ... damn...

Truth be told, I never actually dissected the old BB darts... thanks for that heads up.

[waffleman]

Personally, I like the older Air Zone darts more. I bought an Airzone X Shot Dual and my older Airzone darts work better. It's kind of weird but the older ones get like, 5 extra feet for me. I don't know if its just my darts, but if you try doing this with your old darts compared to your new darts in a gun please tell me what happens.

[mysterio]

Waffleman, older air zone darts were wider, and would subsequently have a better fit in crappy loose stock barrels.