First things first, if you're reading this with anticipation of buying this gun, look at this item (with the 40 bonus darts) and the set without the bonus darts (Nerf N-Strike Stampede ECS). I was lucky, in that they were the exact same price, and therefore bought this one. If the set without the bonus darts is cheaper, you'll have to make that assessment of which one to buy. Keep in mind that 40 darts cost about 8-10 bucks.
Okay, on to the real review.
This gun is amazingly fun. It's also amazingly well designed and constructed. A summary of innovations:
-From a safety point of view, there's a on/off switch (looks a lot like a single/auto fire on many machine guns), as well as two other safety fire controls: 1) It won't fire without an ammo clip in place. 2) It won't fire when the un-jam slide cover isn't closed.
-The numerous hold positions (main grip, barrel grip, long top grip, and bipod/grip) make holding this gun easy, and the design of the main grip balances the heavy battery decently.
-The 18 round clips are relatively easy to load, and haven't jammed yet in about an hour's play.
-The bipod/grip attaches easily and sturdily, and the bipod deploy button is easily triggered with your thumb.
-The gun has a clear plastic panel on the right side of the gun, which allows you to see the machine operate as it spits out nerf bullets.
-The included blast shield secures easily onto the barrel of the gun.
-Numerous attachment points, 5 if I remember.
As great as this gun is, a few areas of improvement exist.
-Blast shield slips off a bit too easily, just incidental bumping can dislodge it.
-The blast shield blocks the aim hole (not a real scope).
-Nerf doesn't sell spare 18 round clips or the 35 round barrel separately, so what you have is it.
-No way the spare clips can be attached to the mount points.
Gun is heavy but not too heavy, even my 9 year old daughter was able to hold and fire it easily. Good aim, decent distance. The streamline darts sting very slightly. Gun fires about 1 every second, with about a half to 1 second delay from trigger pull to shoot (as opposed to pressure operated Nerfs like the Rapidfire 20, which have no delay). So yes, if you need to unload 15 rounds ASAP, the Rapidfire 20 (which is my second favorite Nerf) will win out, since that sucker fires at about 3 per second when fully pumped, but in an extended Nerf war, the Stampede, which comes with 3 18-round clips, comes out ahead.
Overall, highly recommended. We have a little over a dozen nerfs, and this one definitely is the best one to date!
Hey, Nerf/Hasbro. Can you work with SuperSoaker? I've been waiting a long time for a 6D battery operated SuperSoaker for a while now!
[UPDATE 11/02/2010: As stated in a comment posted by me, if you like this gun, it's even better with a 35 round drum magazine! The only problem is, the only way to currently get the drum is by buying the Nerf Rapidfire CS-35 (Nerf N-Strike Raider Rapid Fire CS-35 Dart Blaster). I bought one, just to try it with the 35 round drum (it works well!) but would prefer to buy a few more spare drums. Hopefully Nerf will relent and sell the drums separately, or at least the 18 round clips separately (only place that I know that has the 18 round clip is via this Stampede, although I think there also exists an 18 round drum).]
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2010
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