Buzz Bee Toys' Tek Ten (vs. Dart Tag)

With all the buzz surrounding the range and capacity of the NERF(TM) Dart Tag set (10 shots) and the NERF FireFly, it is worthwhile to see what other competitive products are on the market. One brand that you may have seen at some toy stores (including certain supermarkets) is Buzz Bee Toys. Before Hasbro made a NERF gun that had an 8-shot and 10-shot capacity, Buzz Bee Toys in fact already had a 10-shot capacity gun: the Tek Ten.

The Tek Ten is a cock-and-fire (single action) gun that is front loading. Each time you cock the gun, it rotates the cylinder to align the next foam dart.
Here in the office I generally achieve a 20-25 foot distance with the Tek Ten, but in certain cases it will go approx. 30 feet. Your mileage will vary. It doesn't feel like much but when fired side-by-side with the NERF Maverick Rev-6, their darts both similarly achieved almost equal distance and traveled at the same velocity (in a firefight the Tek Ten's darts felt "slow" but obviously the dart speed is very similar to the Maverick.) Firing it side by side with a Dart Tag, the Dart Tag exceeded the Tek Ten's rage by 10 feet. And that's firing it straight.

The foam darts look like NERF darts from a distance but the are certain differences: The hole of hollow core the Buzz Bee darts is wider than that used by NERF guns. This dart in particular has a soft yellow foam body but just before you get to the purple suction cup head, there is a length of dense purple foam. The denser foam does not feel like it is of sufficient weight to drive the foam dart farther as per my firing tests. I can only surmise they did this to keep the dart from coming apart; some of my Nerf ammo's suction cup tips are coming off of their foam tubing; the glue remains with the rubber tips but breaks away from the foam. The Buzz Bee darts's rubber suction tips have a stem that is inserted securely into the denser purple foam, and that purple foam is in turn glued to the yellow foam (a 3-piece construction).

The Tek Ten, like others in its family, seems to be patterned after a "bee" with highly contrasting colors. The design motif focuses on a lot of curved contours and surfaces. In some way it looks like it is part pump-action shotgun, part bee abdomen -- for a lack of better words. It looks bulky and is slightly tip heavy though the "abdomen" can be supported by your second hand. It is cocked by the gray colored slider on top of the gun. The grooved surface of the slider makes it easy to grip, and the slider slides back without too much effort.

The Tek Ten's bulky and toyish looks is provided by three different colors of plastic: grau, orange and black, with contrasting yellow paint over the black. Overall I find the plastic to look cheap, and the paint job further reinforces a cheap toyish appearance. The advantage of the aesthetics is that it is highly unlikely this would ever be mistaken for a real firearm. The grip isn't all too ergonomic and I found it short for my medium-sized grown-up hands. Its ten-round capacity is very respectable.

An examination of the cylinder is interesting. A key difference between NERF and Buzz Bee is while NERF guns channel a blast of air into the hollow of a dart to propel it forward via the base of the dart, Buzz Bee instead has the darts fit over narrow tubes within the cylinder (like on the Nerf AirTech 1000 which has very limited range). Visually both look very similar but that's where the similarities end.

In terms of modification potential, I have not yet taken this apart at the time of this writing. Each of the tubes has a very long tip that allows you guide and slide the darts onto the tube; two small holes on either side through which air exits. Most modders of NERF guns remove this fixture to increase airflow, but the problem is on the Tek Ten this fixture *provides* airflow. Because cylinder's chambers are wider than the dart, sawing off this tip might make it difficult for the darts to find their way onto the tubes unless you further modify the gun to narrow the chamber walls. Is it worth it? You decide. Once again, because the darts.

The disadvantage of this design -- which is not Buzz Bee's fault -- is that the gun has a difficult time firing NERF ammo. In a firefight against NERF owners, if you lose all your 10 rounds, it's over. A NERF owner can fire your own Buzz Bee ammo back at you! I in fact inherited this from a coworker who saw the fallacy of his desire in trying to one-up us all here at the office, as we standardize on the NERF Maverick Rev-6 (6-shots). Even though he had a 10-round capacity, we ended up firing all his ammo back at him, and he was absolutely helpless even when he had all our ammo!

In order to adapt the Tek Ten to fire NERF ammo, it may require removal of these air tubes altogether. However, as I look down the cylinder into the chambers of each round, I see holes leading to the core of the cylinder. If you removed these tubes, air could potentially travel into these holes and thereby robbing you of air pressure. These would have to be sealed up somehow. If you did this in conjunction with narrowing the chamber walls, it is possible you can accommodate Hasbro's NERF darts.

It would not be fair to judge a foam dart gun because of its lack of compatability with that of a competitor. In all honesty, if your group or office standardizes on one brand, STICK with that brand because in a firefight it always helps picking up darts off the floor and firing it in your gun. If your group standardizes on Buzz Bee, then the Tek Ten (street price: $8-10??) is an affordable 10-round gun that will give you "ownage" over your opponents inasmuch as you have Buzz Bee ammunition (I have not yet seen Buzz Bee foam dart ammo packs at Toys R' Us and do not not know if they exist.)

If your group standardizes on NERF, then my recommendation is to stick with the NERF brand for now due to dart compatability issues.

If I had a choice between the two, I'd go for the Dart Tag. (Unfortunately you're forced to purchase that as a set. It is my hope that Hasbro will come out with a variant 10-shot, or they will make an N-Strike gun with a 10-round capacity). Hasbro puts more into their design, materials, aesthetics and execution. You definitely get what you pay for.

AESTHETICS: 4 HANDLING: 5 OFFICE RANGE: 7.5 ACCURACY: 6
OVERALL: 5.5