Q-Factor QR-Stryker Pro Blaster Review

Some blaster designs don’t die off of shelves that easily. The original Nexus Pro hit shelves in 2021, and the slight refinement that was the Max Stryker followed at Target soon after. Years later, the design has resurfaced at, of all places, Bass Pro Shops and Cabelas, where Dart Zone is now selling copper-motif blasters under the “Q-Factor” label.

The Q-Factor QR-Stryker isn’t radically different, but it does have some nice quality of life improvements. And at just $30, it’s still quite a steal for the blaster collection sitting at home.

Look, Ma! New Skin!

You’d be hard-pressed to see any real differences from the outside, aside from the copper plastic and bright highlights. You still have the same priming grip, faux barrel, iron sights, adjustable stock, and body. The original “Dart Zone Max Stryker” molding is still on the side of the blaster; a “Q-Factor” sticker on either side is all that indicates the blaster came from a store-label line. The original large faux scope is missing, but in the grand scheme of things, that’s an easy piece to toss aside.

The QR-Blaster handles just the same as before. There’s a bit of slop on the priming motion, due to the way the blaster is designed to accept both full-length and half-dart magazines. Which, by the way, look great here in neon green. That, along with the light grey and orange plastic accents, helps break up the more “serious” color scheme.

Spring removal consists of a single screw retaining the spring rest. Yep, we know this drill.

One notable change? The breech is skinny now! The old design required you to open the breech before removing the magazine. Here, with the pusher fitting between the lips of the magazine, you can just take the magazine out when needed.

Interestingly, the blaster still uses the old-style Dart Zone short magazines. But that adapter will use Talons just fine.

Performance and Gameplay

The QR-Stryker hits much harder than it has any right to. With the included Nitroshot darts, I was averaging 176fps, well above the velocities of the original! Using a PCAR (not included) for increased accuracy managed to bring that down to 158fps average, enough for me to use the blaster at a 160fps cap war. I have yet to try a BCAR to see how that affects velocity. In any case, that’s a notable power increase, so be aware!

The blaster was perfect for casual high-fps gameplay, and as good as I remembered. One dart per second is…admittedly outdated at this point. But not everything has to change, especially when you’re feeding darts this reliably.

Internals

Inside the blaster is largely the same. Aside from that skinny breech, everything else seems largely the same, aside from that slightly more powerful spring. Just as before, if you add spacers, you can easily boost the fps by a large margin (or adjust both ways when you use printed tuning caps).

Last Thoughts

The QR Stryker shows that designs even a few years old are still viable on today’s playing field, and at $30 it’s a good deal. If you somehow missed the old one (or feel like having a little nostalgia), grab one at Bass Pro Shops or Cabelas.