ElliottW

Sorry to join this conversation so late.  As Arctic Hunter eluded to, the problem with IMRs is the amount of instantaneous current they can supply.  Beefy 130s and most 180 motors want to draw much more current than IMRs can provide. I suggest going straight to LiPo if you're using anything larger than a 130.

Related to that, the second factor is the milliamp hours rating of your IMRs.  Generally, but not always,  an IMR with a higher mAh rating can provide more current at any given moment.  Cheap IMRs produce about 5 amps, and many can produce 10 amps for short periods of time.  If you're sticking with IMRs, I suggest looking for batteries with a minimum of 2000 mAh. Anything less than that will be disappointing.

The third factor with IMRs is the voltage.  Fully charged, they produce 4.2 volts for a short period of time.  Under load, the voltage steadily decreases from 3.9 to 3.0 volts, and the current remains relatively constant.  But as Meaker VI mentioned, there are some dangers associated with unprotected IMRs.  If the voltage falls below 3.0 volts, even for a moment, it starts a catastrophic exothermic chain reaction. Sometimes it can cause a fire.  For those reasons, don't buy unprotected IMRs. 

Unless you're very careful, it's highly likely you'll end up with imbalanced flywheels.  At stock speeds, it probably won't be a big deal. But if you've done any battery/motor mods, they won't be usable.  It would be much better to simply buy some vented flywheels, like a pair of Artifact Alloy Rifled flywheels.

There is also another downside to consider. Removing mass from the flywheels reduces their momentum, meaning the flywheels will have less energy to transfer to the darts, and slow down more between shots. In a stock blaster, it isn't the torque of the motors that pulls the darts through the flywheel cage and flings it out, it's mostly the energy stored in the rotational inertia of the flywheels.  The motor's job is simply to bring the flywheels up to speed.  Less mass  means less momentum, less energy available to impart to the dart, and ultimately lower FPS.

Generally, you only see vented flywheels in blasters with upgraded motors and better batteries.

I have several modified Stryfes that utilize all three types of Worker flywheels on the same basic motor/battery platform.  Although I'm not able to quantify it with meaningful data, I prefer the diagonal grooved flywheels.  They are generally more consistent with all dart types, with fewer shots headed off into the weeds.  I have found no significant difference between the white and black versions of the straight groove flywheels.  The white ones appear to spin up a tad bit faster, but the extra mass of the black ones performs better when firing in rapid succession, most likely due to the minor difference in momentum. For casual Nerfers who don't have high performance blasters, there is probably little appreciable difference.

Generally I find that none of these Worker flywheels have any foam buildup.  I don't believe this is a factor with this type of flywheel.  On smooth flywheels, a good coating of foam increases the coefficient of friction.  On grooved flywheels, the mechanical locking of the grooves and the foam provides equal, if not better friction. My experience has been that most darts exhibit less wear and tear with the Worker flywheels.  I attribute this to less "dart burn" than conventional flywheels. The long-term difference is quite noticeable.

All in all, I think any of these three Worker flywheels is a good choice. We could spend hours splitting hairs, but the bottom line is all of these are better than stock flywheels. You will be happy either way.  Especially with the diagonal ones.

Well Elithenerficorn, the only way you're going to find out which darts work best for you is to buy some and try it for yourself. Depending on your blaster and its idiosyncrasies, and its owner and his idiosyncrasies, you're going to find some darts work better than others.

Consequently, some AccuFakes work way better than others. Buy a few. Do a few tests. Let us know.

My personal experience has been that AR removals on the StrongArm and FlipFury are largely unnecessary. In fact, air restrictectomies on Elite and XD-Elite blasters often have a negative impact on performance, which is in direct conflict with advice the NIC has traditionally provided about removing air restrictors.

To unravel this mystery, you need to understand what the AR is actually doing. The key is the length of the AR posts. Not the dart post, the fingers on the AR itself. Typically there are three. The length of these fingers determine how long the AR remains open while the plunger descends down the plunger tube and the dart moves forward. The longer the posts, the more energy gets transferred into the barrel, and by extension to the dart.

Older N-Strike blasters typically have relatively short AR posts. As a result, a smaller amount of air is transferred into the barrel before the AR closes, often before the dart has exited the barrel. Translation: shorter range.  On newer blasters like Elite and XD-Elite, the AR posts are longer. This allows more air from the plunger tube to push the dart forward. As a result, you get better ranges and better velocities.

The second part in understanding this phenomenon is realizing that shortly after a dart has exited the barrel, the transfer of energy to the dart effectively stops.  For instance, you could have a blaster with a 9 foot plunger tube. But once a dart has exited the barrel, the remaining air and kinetic energy of the spring is lost. It just dissipates into the space behind the dart as it moves ever forward. For clarification, when I say "barrel" I mean the part of the cylinder/breech/chamber that has direct contact with the dart and is responsible for transferring kinetic energy to the dart itself. Faux barrels and Nerf barrel extensions be damned. That's a whole 'nother conversation.

As it turns out, when you remove the AR from older blasters, you allow more air from the plunger tube to push the dart out of the barrel. As a result, you see a dramatic increase in the performance.  But in newer blasters, the length of the AR posts is more closely tuned to the length of the barrel.  All of the air that can propel the dart forward is being released while the AR is still open. Effectively, the air restrictor is now functioning as a brake for the plunger, gently gliding it to rest at the bottom of the plunger tube after the dart has exited.

Hasbro's initial design for the Air Restrictor was to limit the performance of blasters.  But over time it has morphed into a way to extend the life of the blaster and improve performance. A subtle, but distinct difference. The folks who advocate for removing the AR on older yellow N-Strike blasters are correct. But the folks that say leave them intact on Elite/XD-Elite blasters are also correct. For entirely different reasons.