I’m late posting this – I imagine plenty of other Nerf news sources have beat me to the punch. Such is life with a regular job, furry children to take care of, and a wife who has flown halfway around the world for a month, leaving me a bit depressed XD
Even so, blasters are being released, and new darts to boot!
Also, if you want to look at the 3D model, follow this link.
Competition in the Competition Space
The DZP Mk1.2 was an interesting, if flawed, development. Many nice ideas were implemented, from easy spring swapping to better takedown ability. However, the feeding issues were problematic; the end users shouldn’t have to fix the product in order to make it truly competition worthy. In addition, the newer Bamboo 2.0 darts were extremely light. This gives higher initial fps numbers, due to basic physics (Force = Mass x Acceleration^2), but resulted in less accurate than desired shots. Especially out of a relatively short barrel.
During the same time period (Endwar 2022), the Gameface Trion was being shown and promoted, with a short dart-only magwell, spring spacers for adjusting fps, and several other features. It finally got released earlier this year, to near-universal acclaim (some production models ended up having issues with the slamfire/trigger/cath interface, which were understandably frustrating). Dart Zone may have proved the market for competitive blasters on store shelves existed, but they were no longer alone.
Now, as per the page available exclusively to Dart Zone Vault members, we have a new competitor. The Mk4 (both in traditional red and a limited edition blue version) offers a pump action platform with options for sights, barrels, AND spring swapping.
The blaster is short dart exclusive, so full-length darts are no longer a concern. In addition, the breech is designed to allow magazine swapping whether it’s open or closed. The stock, while still using an NStrike attachment point, allows for easy spring access for swapping between high and low fps options.
Even more interesting is the front of the blaster. The Mk4 comes with a long barrel for high fps (similar to the Adventure Force Deuce Pro, but for more power). It also comes with a SCAR barrel for spinning darts/relieving chamber pressure and keeping the darts centered and accurate upon leaving the blaster. What the different combinations allow remains to be seen. But the wide variety of options does make this a true competitor, pending a confirmed price point,
There’s a preorder on Dart Zone’s website, starting on 04/03/23. Whether that’s in time enough to push out the competition is another matter.
New Darts, Too?
I’ll simply leave the video link below, but the Mk4 comes with the new Bamboo 2x darts, which are heavier and meant to alleviate the issues the
Mk1.2 had with Bamboo 2.0 darts. They’re the same idea, but 0.85g in weight instead of 0.75g in weight. We’ll see on release whether that’s good enough to use them instead of other aftermarket options!