Nerf Electric Eel Review (4/10)

It won't bite.

I remember jerm781 mentioning this blaster on his blog a while back noting how it shattered like glass when he dropped it. Either way I picked an Electric Eel up off eBay and despite it's age and somewhat sub par performance, it's one of most innovative blasters I've used,

Size compared to a Cycloneshock.

I managed to snag this thing totally complete, even with the old glowing mega darts. As far as it's looks go, this has got to be one of the craziest, coolest looking blasters out there. It's not exactly comfortable since the grip is oddly shaped and a bit small plus loading the clip is bit difficult if you don't know how to line it up. The black line on the clip should line up with the bottom of the blaster. So it looks cool but feels a bit off, that's a shame.

Muzzle flash in action.

This is the very first blaster to incorporate "Firefly" tech, which was a holy shit type of thing back in 1998 when if first came out but nowadays is more of a gimmick. I still find it pretty cool since its muzzle flash is a bit brighter than my old Firefly. If you hold your ear up to it and activate the flash, you can hear the flash capacitor charge up like the Noisy Cricket from Men in Black. Pretty neat, and a good way to give your position away.

Someone else's internal shots since I can't get mine open.

It operates like a Nite Finder with a clip mech built in. This is one of Nerf's first clip mechanisms and it's slightly better than the very first one on the Sawtooth but it still jams every now and then. Stock, my gun got barely 20 feet. I soon discovered the air seal was crap from a dried up gasket. I couldn't open it and re-greese because of the screws. Yep, triangle head security screws. And mods were nearly non existant back in 1998. How funny of you Hasbro. I decided to go amp up its current state of uselessness and slap some CPVC barrels on the clip. Gets pretty solid ranges with Streamlines for some bizarre reason, 50 plus feet and good accuracy with a bad seal, that's really surprising. Just don't dry fire this thing since it has no air restrictor.

The Electric Eel is a pretty neat blaster, even today. For being one of the first clip fed Nerf blaster's in history, I wasn't expecting it to be very good at all stock, and I was right. It's not particularly comfortable, it jams up a bit, and it shoots absolutely terrible. My CPVC hotfix somehow worked wonders for this thing and its a pretty solid backup if you can find more clips for it. Despite it's downfalls, there just a certain appeal to thing because there's isn't really anything else like it today. Sure, it's modern counterparts are much better but first timers aren't always perfect. Stock, it's worthy of a 4 out 10 which is pretty mediocre but it's almost impossible to hate it.

The Verdict
Class: Clip Fed Pistol

Range: Crap, barely 20 feet.

Size: A bit bigger than a stripped down Recon.

Reliability: Gasket plunger head's don't last the test of time, and dry fires as prone to busting the plunger tube, be careful.

Ammo: 4 Glow in the dark mega darts

Modding: CPVC E-Taped in the clip will do you fine.
Value: At $25, it's a cool but mediocre performing blaster.