Larami SuperTech 9000 Review (7/10)

As rare as it gets.

There's always a rarest something for everything and for dart blasters, this rule stands true. While the rarest dart blaster to ever hit the market is debatable, it tends to fall to Larami who built an increasingly obscure lineup in the early 90's before they were bought by Hasbro. Several of those blasters are highly illusive to this day but they've surfaced a few times over the years. This just so happens to be one of them, the SuperTech 9000. One of of the rarest dart blasters ever built, and I'm now the proud owner of one. Let's take a look at the myth and the legend.

The full set with the flashlights and darts. Apparently found at at a Savers for $5.99 once. God dammit.

Alright, let's stop sugarcoating and actually get serious with this thing. The history of the SuperTech 9000 is pretty much unknown. It showed up for a short period of time around the late 1990's in a box set that was entirely separate from the main SuperMAXX line. Along with the rifle, the set also comes with a repainted SuperMAXX 500 and both blasters come with top mounted flashlights. It's short production run, paired with the somewhat poor track record that air pressure blasters have for long term reliability have made these blasters as rare as hens teeth. Nowadays the ST9k shows up less often than even the Crossbow and by itself can go for hundreds of dollars on eBay. If there's a dart blaster "Holy Grail", this is probably it.

Next to my brass breached SuperMAXX 5000. Note the resemblance.

You may notice something peculiar about the SuperTech 9000 though; it looks an awful lot like the SuperMAXX 5000. Yeah the SM5k was never just a Nerf creation, that thing had been around for nearly half a decade by the time it came to store shelves. The SuperTech 9000 is just one of the many pre-Nerf variants of the SuperMAXX 5000, all of which are were still made by Larami. Apart from a different shade of radical 90's coloration, the shell is the exact same but the ST9k takes it even further by adding a stock. The result is one of the most comfortable shells out there with large grips and a very comfortable layout. This was what I was shooting for with my SM5k and I came pretty damn close. Also, build quality is relatively sturdy for something this old too. Good marks overall.

Barrel is still removable like it is on an SM5k.

The barrel is also removable like it is one the SM5k but this is unnecessary as there are no other barrel attachments that come with the SuperTech 9000. Because it has no attachments, the mounts found on the SM5k are now gone, also meaning there is no on blaster ammo storage. However you can still use the SM5k's ball and arrow launcher on the ST9k without issue.. I will note that this barrel was largely designed with aesthetics in mind and is unnecessarily long, thus creating a good amount of dead space before it hits the air restrictor. Above the barrel shroud you there is a mounting point for the flashlight. I don't have this but it runs off regular bulbs and is activated on the trigger pull by and additional mechanism inside of the blaster, and that's where all the differences end.

Internals are identical to the SM5k.

So I busted out some Larami Darts, charged up tank with five pumps and let it rip. The SuperTech 9000 fires roughly 45 to 55 feet with respectable accuracy. For a blaster this old, that's excellent and it's nothing to gripe about today. The problem is the ST9k has pitiful reload speed being single shot only meaning that this blaster is relegated to sniper duty or anything where you're less likely to get shot while pumping. Now one of the common myths about this blaster is that it's more powerful than the SuperMAXX 5000. This is blatantly false as inside you'll find the exact same internals as an SM5k, meaning it performs exactly same firing darts. This isn't a bad thing because if you're familiar with the SM5k, you'll know that they are monstrously powerful when modded right. The SuperTech 9000 is no exception to that, although done before it would seem almost criminal to mod something of this rarity. This bad boy is staying stock.

Unfortunately mine started developing crippling air tank problems before I could get a firing video filmed so I need to find a SuperMAXX 5000 to swap parts with. Honestly though, what can you expect, it's two decades old. On the whole though it's a very solid stock blaster with it's biggest downsides being reload speed, no ammo storage, and potential reliability problems. As a result the SuperTech 9000 earns an 7 out of 10 for being a solid overall blaster. You can expect to find the same performance out of a SM5k for a whole lot less money but despite that, there's just something about this legendary blaster that no SM5k can match. As a blaster, it's not as special as some would lead you to believe but it still gave me a strange sense knowing that this is one of the very few left in the world, and that alone is very special indeed.

UPDATE: I just sold this blaster recently after getting it back into working order since I no longer have any use for it. A week later by complete coincidence I saw a post on the Nerf Reddit from Yvelios about a SuperTech 9000 and lo and behold, it was mine. The guy I sold it to gave it to Yvelios as a graduation gift and needless to say, I wasn't exactly surprised seeing it since the ST9k is a bit of a legend in the NIC. I figured whoever was buying it knew exactly what they were getting, and acquiring one of these is kind of a big deal. That being said, I'm glad someone else gets to experience this blaster now since there aren't many of them and I'm glad that it's in good hands. 

The Verdict

Class- Air Powered Rifle

Range- Good, around 45 to 55 feet with great accuracy

Size- Similar to a Longshot without the front gun.

Reliability- Leaks are a possibility, especially considering age.

Ammo- 1 Larami Dart

Modding- Same as the SuperMAXX 5000, immensely powerful.
Value- Unknown, but most eBay examples fetch several hundred dollar price tags on exclusivity alone.

Is It Better Than?

SuperMAXX 5000- Depends, both blasters are identical in most aspects with the exception that the SM5k lacks a stock and comes with a bunch of gimmicky barrel attachments. Apart from that, it has no glaring disadvantage. As an edge for the SM5k, it can be had for much less money than the SuperTech 9000 for the exact same performance and modding potential. You really should buy one.