A modern review of the Nerf N-Strike Recon CS-6

The Nerf Recon CS-6 was released in 2008 and is still today the second best selling Nerf blaster in the UK. Most reviews of the gun do not take into consideration the multitude of new comparable foam blasters since the Recon was released, and I hope therefore that this review can be useful to anyone considering buying one (or another one) in the near future.

All images with the sgnerf watermark are used with permission from SG Nerf, you can read his review here.

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Introduction
The Recon is a modular Nerf gun, which can hold 6 (or 7 if you squish them) foam darts in removable orange magazines. It is primed by sliding the large grey top section of the blaster backwards and then pushing it forwards again. The Recon is very comfortable and easy to use, even for people with massive hands due to it's slightly-larger-than-children's-toy size. The average firing range of the Recon is around 25-30 ft, a perfect combination of distance vs "ouch you hit my nose" (I.e. not painful at close range) for indoor wars. This range can be increased significantly above even 80 ft with modifications which will be covered in another post.

Attachments
The stock which comes with the Recon can hold an extra ammo clip, (which must be bought separately - more on this later), and is more sturdy than it looks. The extended barrel has been found to very slightly decrease the blasters range, but also adds two tactical rails to the front of the blaster for other attachments. The red dot "laser" attachment requires two AAA batteries and emits a weak red light. This piece is almost useless unless modified due to the red-dots near invisibility in bright light, and the fact that you can aim a Nerf blaster well enough by eye. There is also a small aiming-piece included but this suffers from the same "un-needed" issue as the red dot part.

Comparisons
The Recons biggest rival, is the slightly cheaper, best selling Nerf Maverick. Most experienced Nerfers see the Recon as a straight up upgrade from the Maverick, as the Recon has slightly longer ranges, more customization and modification options/potential, and has removable magazines that can be switched much faster than reloading all 6 chambers of the Maverick. That being said, the Maverick is a better blaster to start modding with because of it's more simple firing mechanism, lower price and the amount of very basic mods that can be done to it - like making the barrel swing out further.

A more recent competitor to the Recon is the Nerf Barricade RV-10,this blaster suffers the same downsides as the maverick in terms of range, modability and lack of removable magazines (or not), as well as being noisy because it is an electronic fly-wheel blaster. However the Barricade does have the huge advantage of being able to be dual wielded.

The Recon can also be compared to the Deploy CS-6, Alpha Trooper CS-18 and Raider CS-35, all of which have "shotgun" grips rather than the on-top-pistol system. These blasters are quicker to fire, with the Raider and Alpha Trooper being able to achieve a great rate of fire because of the "slam fire" function and ammo capacity. The Recon, however, is significantly smaller than all of these without it's attachments (or not, again), and is more modular and much easier to open up and modify. I also find the Recon to have a more sturdy feel than the Deploy.

Customization
The Recon can use nearly all of the Nerf N-Strike accessories, most importantly, I highly recommend getting extra 6-dart clips, or even trying to get hold of an 18-dart Stampede clip or two off ebay.

The Recon can use the Raiders collapsible stock - which is widely regarded as better than the Recons usual - as well as the Raider's awesome 35-dart ammo drum. The Raiders drum is too heavy to allow some people to use the Recon as a pistol with it attached, and it is also slightly uncomfortable to use with your hands on the extended barrel/red dot attachments because the drum sticks out so much to the side.

Below are a couple of examples of how I use my Recon. The first is using the Stampedes front grip, making it more comfortable to use the Raiders drum mag. The second includes a high-powered extra-shot hacked into the red-dot attachment and a modified, easier to see through sight. I'm hoping to get some paint on this thing soon, so look out for it!

Conlusion
Overall, I would reccomend this blaster to anyone. It's design has stood the test of time (not as much as the Longshot of course), and it's versitility makes it suitable for people new to shooting eachother with foam, Nerfers with several blasters, and even new or experienced modders who may be trying to get huge ranges (visit Orange Mod Works if your one of them).

Pros:

• Cheapest and easiest to modify clip-accepting blaster.
• Smallest and lightest clip-accepting blaster.
• Range is better than the Maverick, and similar to larger blasters.

Cons:

• High cost if buying more clips is taken into account.
• Pistol-priming slower than pump-action"shotgun priming".
• No slam fire.
• Low capacity clips (6 darts).
• Stock is not as sturdy as the Raiders.
• Attachments have limited functionality.

Have you got anything to add to this review? Maybe you've got a picture of an extravagant attachment "loadout" or mod for the Recon? Post a comment!