Dart Zone Max Omnia Pro (Gen 2) Review

Author’s note: Of all the months to be so busy to not post…why did it have to be DECEMBER???

Earlier this year, the Omnia Pro was released on Walmart’s website, only for consumers to find a number of problems. Dart Zone took note, making revisions for future runs while pledging to ship new blasters to those who had bought the first wave of blasters. This week, most people got their replacement Omnia Pros, just in time for us to see whether the improvements make the blaster worth the $90 MSRP (or at least the $60 Black Friday sale price, as it turns out).

The new Omnia is definitely an improvement over the original, between the reduced shot delay, the various quality of life tweaks, and proper flywheel cage alignment. Even so, while it’s a great full auto blaster, it still doesn’t get select fire quite right. That being said, it might be worth a peek, depending on both your budget and your control of your trigger finger.

This Looks Sorta Familiar…

First things first! Externally, there’s not really a visible difference in the newer blaster. As per Dart Zone, the newer Omnia Pro comes in a package with range claims of 150ft. Which SHOULD be what you get from Walmart now, though a few people have still received Gen 1 Omnias. By the time of this posting, though, that should be fixed. Granted, they’re also out of stock. But not having any available means all the new ones are Gen 2, I guess?

As many hobbyists have noted, the Omnia Pro has a look similar to the venerable FDL3. In many ways, it’s trying to fulfill that role in foam combat – a high performance blaster with multiple firing modes and options for attachments. It has a constant dart velocity (brushed motors, no mechanism for speed control), of course, but otherwise it’s meant to be the next step up from other flywheel blasters, including the Dart Zone Pro Mk3.

The blaster comes with two magazines, along with enough Ruby darts to fill them. There’s an adjustable stock (that’s more sturdy than the one that came with Gen 1), sight attachments, a 2S Li-Ion pack with an XT30 connector (the same battery used in the various Hydro Strike/Gel Zone blasters), and a charger. The battery itself will last a good while, even if you try to spam all of your magazines at full auto. Considering how limited in current 18650 cells can sometimes be in relation to a Lithium Polymer pack, it leaves me impressed. The battery circuitry will also shut off power if the voltage gets too low, so that part of battery safety is covered.

Select Fire – and Select Delay? (Also, Internals)

The old Omnia Pro had several problems, but the most egregious was the the severe delay in firing darts. With an all-electronic system, there’s going to be some delay, but it was especially bad in that case. The updated version has some updates to alleviate the issues, though not all things are fixed to my liking.

Firstly, the default pusher position got moved much closer to the back of the next dart in the magazine. With physically less distance to rotate, that automatically helps the issue a lot. Next, some parts on the control board have been modified to allow for more aggressive motor breaking, so that the pusher wheel can land in the right spot without anything jamming.

The end result is better, but not completely where it should be. Full auto works beautifully, with reasonably fast firing of the next dart and seven darts per second rate of fire. Semi and burst, though, still suffer. Semi-auto sees a quarter second delay (burst slightly less), and there is no ability to quickly fire off more darts if needed; if you hit the trigger while the wheel is still cycling, you don’t “bank” that trigger press to fire another dart/darts. You have to wait for the cycle to fully complete before you can fire again. This makes follow-up shots far harder to do in the timeframe you might need them.

There are some other gripes – the magazine release, while better adapted for Talon magazines, is still awkward to press. The flywheel cage is now properly aligned (an error in the mold needed fixed), but the tight cage and wheel type wears down darts.

Honestly, had all the firing modes worked at the same speed (semi goes as fast as full-auto, even with a gap in firing due to completing the process), the blaster would rate higher. As it stands, I can’t score the blaster without acknowledging that the select fire feature isn’t great.

Performance and War Use

The blaster performs great, all things considered. The rate of fire on full auto is the advertised seven darts per second. Even when spamming darts, I averaged 159fps on the chronograph.

In foam combat, it’s best to leave the blaster on full auto while using the necessary trigger discipline to not unload all of your darts. Even so, at least against a 200fps limit, the Omnia Pro fared just fine.

Final Thoughts

The Omnia Pro leaves me conflicted. I want to like it, but there are obvious deficiencies. It seems like Dart Zone tried to do too much, too soon without community input. Seriously, they could drop prototypes on CANE or other clubs partway through development to get feedback before production happens, and get a better product in the end.

If you get the Omnia Pro on sale (it’s been at $60 for the holidays), it’s a nice deal, assuming you stay on full auto. At the $90 MSRP, you’re starting to enter the same territory as the $120 Nerf Pro Stryfe X – and whatever your thoughts on that blaster might be, it simply works.

This is a fun rating to make! It’s cheaper, but not everything works as it should? Ultimately, the choice is up to you, but I think it depends heavily on what price you’re paying.