Light it Up

The Light it Up series was released in March 2012 and introduced two new blasters featuring 'Firefly Tech'.

Firefly Tech is the name given to the new Nerf technology which features Glow in the Dark ammunition. This effect is achieved through specialised magazines and ammo. In essence, the magazines contain ultraviolet LEDs that charge the special glow-in-the-dark ammo so that they glow when fired. There isn't really anything special about the blasters themselves other than an evocative colour scheme. These magazines are actually compatible with any of the other Clip System/Vortex range so you can use the technology with your other blasters

This effect has not been seen since the Nerf Firefly REV-8 which was released in 2003 and is believed to be the origin of the name 'Firefly Tech'. I'm glad to say that Nerf has greatly improved the technology with this new range, the Firefly REV-8 was a bit lacklustre.

There are currently two blasters in the Light it Up series:

Rayven CS-18

The Rayven CS-18 is an electronic semi automatic blaster. The darts are propelled by an electronic flywheel system, much like that of the Barricade RV-10. Unlike the barricade, there is no 'On/Off' switch. This has been replaced with a second trigger underneath the main that is pulled with the middle finger. The Rayven comes with the special 18 dart Firefly Tech magazine but is compatible with all other Nerf clips including the 18 and 35 round drums. As with many of the electronic blasters, the Rayven is full of electronic safety locks preventing the blaster from firing unless everything is done correctly. The blaster will not fire until the magazine is inserted and the jam door is closed. Only then will the flywheels spin when the second trigger is pressed. The main trigger can only be pulled, firing a dart, when the flywheels are spinning.

The Rayven CS-18 is an interesting design for a Nerf blaster. The style is what is known as a 'bullpup' design. This means that the magazine and firing system are located behind the handle allowing for a compact blaster with a relatively long barrel. This of course doesn't really mean a great deal in terms of performance for a flywheel blaster. The barrel isn't a tight fit with the dart so a long barrel is relatively useless but it does look cooler than Christmas.

The Rayven CS-18 is about my favourite blaster ever. It's powerful, light, compact and of course accepts clips. It is also very easy to mod. You can achieve ranges of around 100 feet simply by increasing the voltage and you don't even need to open the shell. The colour scheme is pretty cool and makes a nice change from the yellow and orange of the N-Strike series. The trigger pull is a little 'clunky' and jarring but there are things you can do to change that. All in all, well done Hasbro.

Lumitron

The Lumitron, despite it's super swanky name, is simply a repainted Vortex Praxis. It functions in exactly the same way and the performance is almost identical. The only real difference between the two is that the Lumitron comes with a Firefly Tech 10 disc magazine. The Lumitron uses special glow-in-the-dark XLR discs which I might add, look awesome when fired at night. Much better than the darts because they are bigger and move slower. The Lumitron does not come with a stock although, all current N-strike stocks are compatible. This isn't really any real loss. The Praxis' stock was awful.

Currently I don't own a Lumitron and I don't have any inclination to buy one. There isn't really anything different here although the colour scheme is better than that of the Praxis. I like it, but not that much.