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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Review- Nerf N-Strike Barricade RV-10


The Nerf Barricade RV-10 is the new foam dart blaster in the N-Strike range; however it is currently only available in Taiwan and readily available worldwide. In the past it's hype has been mainly through rumours and product leaks with much speculation and debate over what it can actually do- and how good it does it. No official press releases or launch parties meant the Barricade has been one of the most talked about blasters of the year, but does it really deserve such press?



(Picture wise, there's not a whole lot I can add to the pic spam I did the other day, so I'll just post a few of my own but you've already seen how priddy it is from the other pics and this video)


It has been suggested the Barricade is a juiced up version of the Maverick REV-6, or the little brother of the upcoming 9-9-10 blaster in the Stampede ECS. I'd suggest it's both; like the specs for the Stampede, it's a battery powered blaster with no manual firing mechanism- no batteries and you're a sitting duck. It's similar sizing to the Maverick and has a rotating barrel that supports 10 foam darts (suckers and whistlers are fine) but you don't need to prime it each time you fire a round. The Barricade is completely electric and uses a flywheel mechanism-as said before there's no manual priming or ability to shoot without batteries. The battery compartment is on the left hand side of the blaster; a phillips head screw driver pops it open and you can fit your 3 AA's in nicely.

Loading your darts is simple with no sliding mechanisms to pull the barrel out, just slide them in (much like the Dart Tag Fury fire) in the side of the barrel and manually rotate. Of course, the Barricade has the all important tactical rails on top of the blaster and can also support N-Strike stocks like those of the Recon, Raider and Spectre which is sweet, but probably unnecessary.
"are you looking at my butt?"

The blaster is surprisingly light and feels pretty solid and well balanced. On the side, the blaster is clearly labelled the "Barricade RV-10" RV being similar to an REV in the Maverick and Firefly I assume.

To power the blaster up, there's a small switch under the battery door to pull back. It's only on one side, so this is clearly a right handed blaster if you're expecting to be dual wielding:) When the blaster is not switched on, the trigger cannot be squeezed back. The Barricade is semi automatic- one squeeze of the trigger shoots one round.

So why have people been waiting for this blaster for so long?

PROBABLY because it's new:) And.. one of the real issues with Nerf blasters is the difficulty to support dual wielding, or one blaster in each hand, John Woo style. Nerf blasters traditionally require two hands; the other hand to prime the blaster unless you want to attach your trackie daks drawstrings to the back of your Mavericks and pull (that sounds worse than it really is!). With the Barricade RV-10 being fully automatic, you can Inspector-Tequila to your hearts content:)

With Raider stock and Shotblast scope

Performance-wise, it's better than I thought it would be. Darts soar with power and more accuracy than any flywheel blaster i've used before. Rate of fire is as fast as you can pull the trigger, I was expecting some sort of delay between when you pulled and when the round is discharged, but it's pretty quick; so long as you don't have any jams, you can very quickly pop out 10 rounds in no time.

It's almost art! Close up down the Barricade barrel. Vertical flywheels.
My two main beefs with the Barricade RV-10:

1) It's noisy. Being a flywheel mechanism, switching it on has the motors literally roar to life like an angry mosquito. The entire time you're using it, that noise just grates on you and there's no chance of sneaking up on anyone unless it's your 80yo deaf grandma. You're basically just saying "I'm coming, get ready"

2) The trigger has a weird habit of jamming. I'm not sure if it's deliberate or not, but if you don't pull the trigger firm and hard, it sticks half way and then you have to squeeze it again to release it. I browsed the manual (OMG!) and there's nothing in there about it.

More colour blind joy:) Red Recon stock + Pinpoint sight

To be honest, while I do genuinely believe the RV-10 is great, making it automatic sort of takes the fun out of Nerf blasters a little. It's sort of like old school arcade machine shoot-em-ups- while it's easier on the hand to just hold the fire button down, the fun part is still constant mashing; just like with Nerf blasters I find the fun is in the priming and readying your blaster to offload a round. It's a great blaster, but makes the whole Nerf experience a lil.. almost boring if that makes sense.

In Australia they're going for anywhere between 29-39 dollars AUS which I guess isn't too bad for what it is. The Barricade RV-10 is popping up all over the world, and is perhaps the first blaster I've heard of that has been released first in other countries OTHER than the US. I'd probably recommend it; but you'll probably need to pick up two to really gain the dual wielding-akimbo experience.. which we of course did:)

26-8-10: UPDATE: Another video of the Barricade RV-10 using dart tag ammo

Usability: 8/10
Out of the box performance: 8/10
Cool factor: 7/10
Price point: 7/10 (was updated from 4/10 when we purchased our first blaster on the grey market, but it's much more reasonable now)

41 comments:

  1. The motor noise is like the wail of the banshee foretelling infoamination of the enemy. Either that or there is an air-raid happening.

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  2. Not exactly a fan of it. Looks effective and all... but it looks like you're right when you say it takes away from the feel of Nerf. It doesn't fire fast enough to be like a Magstrike. And it doesn't require priming like a Maverick. Nerf may soon lose its touch and fall victim to a generation of dualwielding, fly-wheeling maniacs.

    I'll take a Maverick or a Magstrike over it any day. That or I'll just continue with the Spectre I got in the mail yesterday >=D

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  3. I think if I was into outdoor wars and all, I might like the Barricade more- it's effective, you can offload rounds nice and fast and your other hand is free to.. hit them with a baseball bat or something:) But For that "fun" element, I'd suggest my Alpha Trooper, Raider and Barrel Break are much better choices.

    I hopefully will be getting my Spectre in a few weeks:)

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  4. Outdoors is probably better for the Barricade. They can hear you but you can be anywhere! But I prefer my nerf inside. I lose less bullets that way... I think.

    I really want the Alpha Trooper. Currently waiting for it to come out in Singapore. I refuse to pay $110 for something that I can buy from Singapore in a couple of months for about $55. It'll probably be cheaper than the Aussie release too- if that ever happens haha.

    Lol baseball bat! I need to get my hands on one of those. Just to bash someone over the head. Just once.

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  5. I am so glad to finally read some solid info on this gun. I hope you don't mind that I linked to your review since its the first real review I've read. This blog rocks by the way.


    NerfMods&Reviews

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  6. Jay,

    No problem, and thanks for visiting; your blog is one of my fav's.. ahh if I was only practically minded and not such a goober with mods...

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  7. Nice gun. This would really be a good sidearm with the stampede. Although they would probably kill through batteries fairly quickly...

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  8. Will this fit in the holster on the N-Strike tactical vest?

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  9. Just checked- The barrel of the Barricade is rather fat and does jut out; therefore it will NOT fit in the tactical vest pocket that is normally designed for the Maverick/Spectre.

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  10. Pretty sweet but I used a maverick from the first and probably will continue to :-)

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  11. Just realised, because this is a semi-auto blaster, you could dual wield them...if you can be bothered getting two.

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  12. does this fit in the holster on the tac vest?

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  13. can you put a barrel attatchment on the front?

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  14. HOW DID HE GET IT IF IT DONT COM OUT TILL NOVEMBER

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  15. the barrel doesn't support any attachments unfortunately.

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  16. When something comes "out" is subjective. If I waited till Nerf officially came out with blasters in Australia, I'd still be sitting on Mavericks and Recons. So most of my gear is from around the world, and I was lucky to have people in China and Taiwan who could readily get a Barricade for me.

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  17. HOW DID HE GET IT EARLY

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  18. Um.. cos its available in Taiwan + China and hence not early for them.

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  19. how do u order it if u live in America

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  20. I keep hearing a November release in the US and this rumour is spreading like wildfire but not sure where that's ACTUALLY coming from because Nerf are officially pretty tight lipped about it all.

    I've established a few contacts around the globe that also work in the toy industry so I just lean on them to help me out.

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  21. Why didn't Nerf just make the wheels "fly" at the trigger pull instead of a switch. I think that would be a lot more sensible.

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  22. Hey, great review.

    I was wondering if the Barricade fits in the Tactical Vest's holster. If so, it would be really cool to see it in there with the Spectre stock & all.

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  23. when does this come out in the u.s.??????

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  24. On the 'first blaster to be released first outside the US', the Deploy was released in Singapore first.

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  25. I hate to correct you but the pin-point sight goes the other way.
    Also I really want ot know if it fits in the tactical vest holster.

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  26. Haha:) Oops.. musta been a particularly scattered day when I took that pic:P My Bad:P

    It's too fat m'fraid to fit in the holster of the vest- I think it's due to the barrel.

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  27. dude this gun would rock if u went double handed on someone but that buzzing noise would give away your position if u were inside

    P.S - UR BLOG IS AWESOME!!!!!!!

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  28. for all the people that keep asking does it fit in the tactical vest,NO IT DOES NOT!!!!!

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  29. my bro got it for me for a early Christmas present i love it i don't have 2 rite now sow no duel-wielding but im askin for another for Christmas right now i use recon stock and pinpoint sight but of course i won't use them in duel-wielding. its a bit heavy for me and im 12 but i have little hand so it not as easy to use but the stock help and for those of you that play mw2 its kind of got a vector use and look to so its really fun so i give it a 9/10 just because its a bit hard to use for younger Nerfers

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  30. well i give it a 10/10 because what u said was bull crap plus im younger than u and i can lift it

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  31. I dont really get why everyone complains about the noise. If your tying to sneak up on someone then dont turn the gun on till the last second. Its also a great gun for younger kids who have trouble priming guns (or guns with extremely weird loaading systems like the Barrel Break). All in all i think the gun is prettty good but i wish it used an electronic plunger syste like the vulcan instead of a flywheel. But still two of them is pretty sweet.

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  32. which is better for the price, the barricade, the alpha trooper or the spectre????

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  33. the spectre definently its good with range,power,and accuracy.....well thats my opinion

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  34. Alpha Trooper is epic win.
    The half-way-trigger=-sticking-thingy is like the half-way cock lock of an Alpha Trooper or Deploy. Just pull the handle half way back and you'll see what I mean. I just removed it from mine.

    You know, the noise isn't that bad. Well, it isn't after you've put 9+ volts through it.

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  35. if i had a million bucks buzzbee wud be ice tea

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  36. Does anyone know where you could buy a stock attachment? I don't want to buy another gun just to get the stock. I just want the stock.

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    Replies
    1. I believe either Target, Amazon, or ToysRus was selling the Barricade with a yellow version of the Raider stock for just a few dollars more.

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