Of all the things to show up on my birthday! Getting a message from Fedex that a package was ready for pickup was nice. Then I opened it up and found the newest versions of the Pyragon and Vigilon! Since we’re on a roll here, I may as well do a review of the Pyragon first, comparing it to the old version and doing an actual review.
As expected for a Vortex blaster, it’s lots of fun (even if it’s not always competitive in superstock settings). It’s just a matter of whether your desire for a unique take on a formerly discontinued product outweighs your budget concerns,
New v Old
I would open up the blaster for internal pics, but literally everything feels the same, from priming force to the velocity of the discs at launch (if memory serves, stock Pyragons shoot discs out at around 60fps). As such, I’ll leave it to Google to provide you such pics. In any case, it’s the same basic propulsion mechanism as most Vortex blasters – a throwing arm hits the inside of the disc to fire it forward, with a large torsion spring providing the energy storage.
And yes, slam-fire is STILL built-in. You can spam clouds of discs to your heart’s content.
Discs Everywhere
The new VTX discs, however, are NICE. Light green foam on the outside. Slightly translucent blue plastic inserts. They’re very pleasing to the eye, and easy to track when you fire them.
Final Thoughts
The only issue with this Target-exclusive reproduction, however, is price. The original Pyragon retailed for $40 on release. This time around, the MSRP is $60. A 50% increase isn’t a small chunk of change, especially when upcoming blasters like the Infinus are expected to retail near $70. I’m not sure of the reasoning for the price increase, especially when there’s essentially zero development cost (perhaps Target wanted a limited run to keep shelf space open, as opposed to the overwhelming flood of merchandise that sat on shelves and killed the line last time?).
If you’re a big fan of the Vortex, brand, however, the Pyragon works well and is a joy to fire, both with single shots and with slam-fire walls of discs. Expect to see them on Target shelves soon!