Nerf N-Strike Maverick - Colors May Vary

This review is from: Nerf N-Strike Maverick - Colors May Vary (Toy)

I'm the dad of a 7 year old boy who has two of these, he received his frist one when he was about 5. He has more fun with them, making this a good value for the dollar. The gun itself is fairly durable being able to withstand being stepped on, thrown against either a hardwood floor or a wall (as hard as a 7 year old can throw it). After over a year of use, one of the two guns did experience a failure with the recoil spring and although I was able to fix it (after an hour), I don't think the average person could have fixed it. After several months of use, the darts have a tendancy to enlarge around the base, causing them to fail to fire unless the dart is pushed in firmly which negates the "rapid fire" feature of the revolving gun compared to similar single shot guns where you load a single dart after each shot.

As far as safety, yes, little 7 year old boys will run around with these and attempt to shoot each other. I've been hit scores of times, at less than 5 feet, in the face and even a couple times on the eyelid and IMHO I would be hard pressed to believe that even a direct hit in the eye could cause lasting damage. Bottom line, it's the best toy dart gun I've seen for little kids, a great value but I wish the darts (of which you can buy tons of spares) were a little more durable.