Thursday, November 10, 2011

Nerf N-Strike Jolt EX-1: Noisy Cricket


It's absolutely tiny, and came out of NOWHERE; the Jolt EX-1 is pretty close to being the smallest Nerf blaster available (The Secret Strike..mmm maybe smaller? But it doesn't really look like a gun!) and for what it is, it's pretty damn impressive. It's a single shot direct plunger piece that we really liked the look of.. did I mention it's absolutely tiny?!:P Thanks to Jerm from Nerf Mods + Reviews for this!



 The Jolt EX-1 comes in a small blister pack with two whistler darts. It is mostly orange with grey and black accents- in  fact whack two stripes onto it and it could easily be a part of the Gear Up range:D  You can see by the photo the blaster isn't that much larger than the darts.


 There aren't a whole lot of "bits" to the Jolt relying on a lot of molded plastic. The design of this blaster looks fantastic and it's hard to not love it on looks alone; it resembles anything from some sort of kids power tool to the top of a hair dresser's spray bottle to some sort of garden hose attachment.

 It's as simple as sliding a dart down the barrel of the Jolt and pulling the cocking arm located in the bottom of the blaster.
Down the barrel- customary dart peg
The Cocking Arm
I've got pretty small hands so the size of the blaster really didn't bother me; I was just still pretty amazed at how little the Jolt is. Which is why I was very impressed with it's performance out of the packaging; quite the minimalist design and it was getting some pretty decent above average (over 12 metres) ranges given there's not much to it.


We love the way it looks, and we're impressed with the performance for such a little size. But here are the downsides for us- it's pretty uncomfortable to hold. Because of the "open" style design around the grip, holding the Jolt cuts into your hand and doesn't feel particularly ergonomic. The trigger is also one large piece that goes into the grip and it's basically releasing a catch rather than be a smooth gliding trigger in other Nerf blasters.

Close up of the grip of the Jolt. 

The back of the blaster is a square block that your thumb doesn't sit very well around, or over, it also pushes into your hand and doesn't feel particularly good either.


The other gripe we had was the practicality of the cocking mechanism. Like with the Lanard Rotator X-8, priming the blaster is pulling the arm DOWN below the grip of the blaster. Cocking a blaster by pulling BACK is intuitive and comfortable and with practice you can rapid fire with decent results. Pulling down is counter intuitive and not the most comfortable; It's also quite a stiff arm and therefore not the easiest to prime quickly. The blaster may be pocket sized, but it'd be unwise to prime it before you hide it away as it'll jut into your hip/side.

On price (around 5 bucks US) , size, aesthetics and ranges- this Jolt EX-1 is AWESOME. I love this thing, it's little and deceptively powerful for such a tiny thing.

On ergonomics- Personally I gotta say it's pretty bad. It doesn't feel nice in the hand, is awkward to use and the cocking mechanism doesn't allow for quick intuitive fire.

That all being said though, it's probably not meant to replace your Nitefinder or Scout- it's size lends itself to being a stealthy "last resort" style piece. We still love it and I would definitely recommend it, but think of it as something to just carry on you that won't take up space but can get you out of a pickle.

16 comments:

  1. It's also like a noisy cricket in the fact that I can never find it anywhere no matter how hard I look. :(

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  2. Here's a range test video for the Jolt:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_htt0qFyik4

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  3. Now you've gone and given me that Gear Up painting idea... As for the problem of the cocking mechanism jutting into your hip/side, if you really want to make it a concealable you can take the plunger arm out and simply rotate it 90 degrees (no hard modding needed). That makes it fit in my cargo pocket pretty comfortably, after 15 minutes or so I've forgotten it's even there.

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  4. jerm never mentioned it being highly un ergonmic, huh

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  5. solution: loosen your grip

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  6. Simple solution that I think even the UT guys would attempt: Sand down the grip to your liking. With a dremel, it's fast and easy to make this little fella comfy for us bigger folks.

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  7. This or the secret strike?

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  8. It's more comfortable than a Secret Strike. In my opinion.

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  9. jolt > secret strike. way better ranges

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  10. Love it. I bought 2!

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  11. Are they at Target stores or just online yet?

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  12. it shoots everything including streamlines

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  13. I bought two of these on Black Friday - In a decade of nerf guns since I was 5, someone finally made one right!

    Alone they don't make a lot of sense. When dual-wielding they work great.
    The bottom cocking mechanism makes sense when holding two at once and shooting in all directions - you can aim one while resetting the other like a Wild West gunfight.

    You can't modify these a lot - the gun post and air restrictor are sealed in - but I found out removing them doesn't improve performance at all.
    The restrictor actually protects the gun from piston slam if you fire it without a dart - the piston is that powerful.

    The piston air chamber holds more volume of air than the barrel.

    They can take a m90 airsoft spring cut to size if you want to modify them - I can shoot 80 feet and at 50 they fly really fast.

    For a tiny nerf gun, these can stand up to the big boys.

    And for ergonomics - anyone with small or artistic hands will love the feel and intuitive accuracy

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  14. hey mate i'm just wondering where to buy this here in aussie... i can't bloody find it
    i want the fracking thing for nerf wars as a hidden weapon haha

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  15. Well, Kroger here in Texas seems to have them. Went two two Krogers this week for different reasons and both had them in stock. Bought one today and love this little guy.
    I'm just waiting till the release of the new Elite varient

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