Nerf Zombie Crossfire Bow Dart Blaster

There is now a red Toys-R-Us exclusive Crossfire being sold without the bow arms and elastic band under the name XD Blazefire, which boasts distances of up to 90 ft. I was able to record the dart shots between the green and red blasters for no noticeable differences. The draw weight of the orange priming lever for both are a lot easier to pull back than I had first imagined; so unmodified, it is somewhat easier for younger kids to operate. The bow arms are optional and has next to nothing to do with the operation of the product, hence the new (at the point in time of this review) Blazefire, but you can attach the Crossfire's bow arms to the Blazefire if you want (the Blazefire still has the words "Zombiestrike" embossed on it's shell). The Nerf smart AR (air-restrictor) system is used in this blaster and holds up to 4 Elite darts (the blue, green, white, orange, or colorful Rebelle darts too) and ensures that the darts are fired in succession from top to bottom and not all at once. You can put a dart in any chamber and it will only shoot one dart. It is of interest to note that the upper-most chamber is the strongest of the four and when testing the dart velocities on my ProChrono Digital chronograph, my Crossfire/Blazefire blaster's first chamber occassionally hit 71-74 fps (feet per second). Firing all chambers in succession, I had an average of 60 fps. Aside from performance, these blasters are actually a bit oversized despite being rather thin in profile (it's flat; not round). It takes up even more space with the bow arms attached, and can become larger since it has a tactical rail above the priming handle and a place to attach shoulder stocks from most other Nerf blasters. There are noticeably a lot of holes and empty spaces on the blaster for no logical or functional reason. It was later that I discovered that it has the most functional reason via an elastic band booster mod, so just by tying an elastic bungee from a Crossbolt (or your local thrift/hardware store for a dollar) through the front hole, the FPS average jumps to 84 on the first chamber). It's sheer size keeps the Crossfire and Blazefire from being a useful sidearm; it is so bulky, it might as well be used as a small shield. The ergonomics are comfortable enough for me when I am holding it, even with the cool-looking finger guard taking-up more space. The small 4-Victory blaster in the first picture has the same dart capacity, stock velocity rating, is a one-handed priming blaster, and both will be overpowered by someone using a flywheel blaster like the Stryfe. For the modifying community, it is possible to upgrade the crossfire using a spring upgrade from Orange Mod Works, but mine could not handle the spring pressure and would not prime past 4 times in succession (it simply did not catch). What was interesting, was when I first tied my stock Crossbolt bungee cord through one of the lower holes (I didn't need it because I upgraded my painted Crossbolt's string; see picture), and not only does it boost the dart velocity to 84 FPS on the first chamber, but it actually helps the catch handle the added pressure. However, the string mod also makes the draw weight of the priming lever difficult for the little ones to pull back. As a disclaimer, keep in mind that the internals were not intended for the increased KG (kilogram) pressure, nor is the smart AR designed to fire an more than the exceeded amount (also, removal of the AR system will divide the air pressure by four and ruin your dart ranges). In conclusion, I think these blasters are surprisingly easy to mod and are exceptionally accurate for a Nerf blaster. It is definitely a cool-looking gift and good entry-level blaster for the young Nerfer, and now that I posted this, for the young modder as well. Seriously, all you need to do to get it to 80+ FPS is to thread an elastic bungee cord through some holes and tie it.

My daughter is a huge Walking Dead fan, and decided she too needed a crossbow like Norman Reedus aka Darryl Dixon. Within seconds of opening the package, she shot me, her sister and one of our dogs. Twice. Having been nailed in the side of the head with one of the "arrows", I can say that while it made me go into a Zombie-like rage, it drew no blood and caused no lingering pain. It did, however, cause my daughter to get increased exercise as she ran from the house and far out into the yard to avoid me for the next 10 minutes.It is a great toy. Due to the plastic tips on the darts, kids must be reminded not to shoot near face, but for younger kids (mine is 13) I'd suggest Goggles to be smart and safe. (Give the Goggles a cool name to encourage use.) This bow held up under intense use. A few, literally 2 or 3, of the darts have torn, probably due to rapid re-loading. I got the Nerf Zombie Strike Dart Refill Pack with about 30 extras, and didn't think I needed them once we opened the crossbow package. But they disappear and turn up in the oddest places. Grab a refill pack while you're at it.The only con to purchasing this Nerf Zombie Crossbow is that we were then required to make an emergency Target stop the following evening to purchase 3 more Nerf guns to be able to fight back. In my Living Room. Which means more mysterious dart appearances. Honestly, I think it was well worth the money.

I bought this toy as a birthday gift for a disabled child that has limited mobility. It's not as well made as the dozens of other nerd products that we own, but it does work reasonably well. The string broke during the 1st 10 minutes of play, but we were able to replace it with a different string (550, also known as paracord or parachute cord) that we had on hand. Pay particular attention if the description says "standard packaging". I didn't think about it, but the item inside of the shipping box came in a plain cardboard box with no markings on it. Once you open the plain box the product is secured to a slide out cardboard section just like most toy items are. Of course it's only cosmetic, but it can make a difference if Santa wanted to display this gift under the tree. It took everyone a minute to figure out what the product was after opening the box because there's no picture, description or anything to tell you what the product is. I have seen this product in retail stores for around the same price, but I order most things like this through amazon. When buying a gift through amazon I don't have to worry about anyone that's shopping in a retail store with me seeing the gift ahead of time. I recommendthat buy the extra "darts" to use with any nerf gun or crossbow. It's just more fun to have a larger supply of ammo :) it's also easi for someone with limited mobility if they don't have to retrieve ammo after a few shots, but can fire the darts in a large number and retrieve them all at once. The darts are easily seen indoors and outdoors unless they end up in bright green grass or plants. I also bought several of these crossbows for a few feisty men in the Veterans hospital. They have enjoyed using it to "shoot" each other when passing in their wheelchairs and have really enjoyed friendly competition by shooting for points at a nerf target that I brought with the crossbows. This toy is suitable for girls and boys. Fans of Darrell on "The Walking Dead" will get a kick out of this toy too. I would not hesitate to buy this product again and I will recommend the product to anyone that is looking for something like it. You usually can't go wrong when buying a nerf product. I hope this review is helpful.