NERFRival Helios Outdoor Blaster

First of all, there are way better blasters in the nerf rival line up. This blaster, the Helios, is a direct successor to the Apollo blaster. It is a 7 round (upgradable to 12) magazine fed, spring powered blaster. Keep in mind the rival line up now has a full-auto 200 round hopper fed blaster (Prometheus) so the Helios will not be the baddest blaster on the block. What the Helios does offer is a well built quality blaster at a great price. This blaster is perfect for a group of kids running around the neighborhood with a bunch of spring powered blasters. It's a lot of fun and accurate. But in the hierarchy of serious nerf blasters, this is just a little fish. Still, I think the quality and overall feel of this blaster is incredible. Just don't compare it with the other high capacity full auto offerings in the nerf rival series like the Nemesis and Prometheus.

My ProChrono Digital chronograph measured the speed of the Rival rounds fired by this stock Phantom Corps Helios blaster at an average of 94 feet per second (FPS). The standard average velocity of a Nerf Rival blaster is 100 FPS, so the Helios’ velocity rating is just under the average, but just remember that for a “springer” type blaster, typically the stronger it is, the harder it will be to prime (to compress the internal spring enough to operate the blaster). Younger “Nerfers” should have a harder time using the blaster but I believe the new auto-return priming “bolt” handle should help a bit with the overall operation. The blaster was designed for teenagers, after all, and it is still easier to operate over the awkward top-priming Apollo. The closest related blaster to the Helios happens to be the Apollo. In fact, one could argue that the Helios is the Apollo MK2. The Helios comes with a detachable priming handle (for lefties, righties, or ambidextrous people), a 7-ball magazine, 7 balls (including the display ball embedded in the standard packaging), and 2 Rival flags (1 red and 1 blue). Minimalistic, but for the money, I suppose it is a decent deal. The Helios is compatible with the same Rival 12-round magazine that the Zeus, Hera, Apollo, and Atlas can use, so coming with a small magazine is not a big concern for most people. It’s body frame and tactical rail location are close in size and placement to the Apollo, but it is a bit thicker and the tactical rail is twice as long as the Apollo’s. The detachable handle is a great innovation so long as you do not lose it. It allows the user to switch the handle from left to right and vice versa by pushing a hidden lever at the base of the priming handle area and pulling the priming handle out. As far as ergonomics go, the size of the handles may be a bit too much on the thick side for people with smaller hands, but I have no qualms about the pistol grip because I feel that it needs to be big enough to fit a magazine inside of it. The Helios’ trigger-pull is nice and smooth. It does not have a Slam-fire function (which it does not need to have, by the way), but the auto-return on the priming handle is a very nice addition. Nerf Guru, Coop had discovered that if you Prime the Helios (like an Apollo) by pulling back and pushing forward on the priming handle instead of letting it automatically return on it’s own, that it actually might jam. He was able to deduce that the auto-return function might just be interrupted by the user’s operation and cause a jam. I had not had a jam, but it is good knowing that bit of information (and so now you know about it; pass it on). The Jam-access door is on the left side below the priming handle, and it is very small. How small? Well, you can barely fit a Rival round through it, so IMHO: it is too small. There is an orange anti-lock release lever located on the left side in close proximity to the thick rear lower sling/ flag or team-color mount. This location for a flag mount is probably the hardest flag location for people to see, but whatever. Anyway, the anti-lock release lever may come in handy at some point if your blaster gets stuck, but mine has yet to seize-up. The other sling mount above the barrel is thin and flat and pretty much unusable (actually, come to think about it, I don’t think it was designed to be one). There is a trigger-lock lever or “safety” lock above the main trigger on both sides of the blaster. The magazine release button is located on the back of the base of the pistol grip. I find this mag-release to be slightly difficult to press and the 12 dart magazines seem to have some sort of awkward resistance whilst pulling the magazines’ out for a reload, kind of like it’s Phantom Corps brethren, the Hera. In conclusion, keeping the price low and the benefits high is a plus for the Helios. I know that those who love “springers” were itching for a legitimate replacement for the awkward mid-top-hook-Prime Apollo. They will be happy to know that the Helios fills that void quite well. For the time being I feel the Helios deserves a 5-star rating. For now, anyway. This is obviously subject to change if I discover any severe flaws or critical shortcomings and I will return to change my rating and explain my findings in detail (time of this review dated 12-19-2017).

The media could not be loaded. Nerf has definitely stepped their game up since I was a kid. When I first saw a Rival blaster up close, my inner child had me feeling both nostalgic and eager to get one of my own.This Helios XVIII-700 was easy to assemble. All I had to do was slide the priming bolt into the side of the blaster (can be inserted on either side, for righties and lefties alike), load the magazine, and slide the magazine into the handle.Operation is simple. Flip the trigger lock, slide the priming bolt back and release it. An indicator on the side will show that the blaster is primed. Once it is, just aim and pull the trigger.I did manage to get a jam after a few minutes of use. While the instructions to clear it seem pretty simple and straightforward, the actual process was challenging in that I had to use a bit more force than I assumed the blaster primer could handle in order to clear the jam. A testament to its durability perhaps? I suppose time and useage will tell.The Helios fires with a speed and power that I did not expect, given my previous experience with Nerf blasters. Even with soft foam ammo, the sound of impact is impressive.The magazine holds 7 rounds and protrudes about 2 inches from the handle when fully inserted. I believe there are larger (12 round?) magazines available for purchase, and while the longer magazine could extend your play, it would also protrude much further from the handle and make the blaster less compact.Based on unboxing, assembly, and a few minutes of play, I give it 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Awesome addition to the Rival line. Wish I could give 4 and a half stars. This is what the Apollo should have been. Priming is super easy - pull back the bolt and it slides forward on its own. In limited testing, it appears to be getting similar performance to other Rival blasters. Bolt can be inserted on either side of the blaster (and can be switched fairly easily). Inserting and removing the included 7 round magazine is easy. The 12 round magazine inserts easily, but catches a bit when removing. I think its catching on the attachment points molded into the 12 rounder for snapping into the clips on a tactical rail. Not game-breaking, but a bit clunky. Just the one tactical rail on top, but with the priming handle on the side, it is much larger than the rail on an Apollo - much more useable. For the entire Phantom Corps line, I wish Hasbro had come up with something better than the flags to join the red or blue team. Perhaps some snap on color panels. Again, not game-breaking, but something better would have been nice. Hoping these will go on sale sometime so I can get more to replace some of the Apollos I use in Nerf Wars for the Youth group at my church.