We’ve been clamoring for a half-dart edition for almost as long as Dart Zone has produced the Spectrum. It’s finally here!
While not an absolute duplicate of the Spectrum, you can see the influence here. The shell is primarily sturdy orange translucent plastic. The black pieces are all separate parts making this an easy-to-paint design. The left and right sport the Arcade Camo that has become synonymous with Dart Zone’s Adventure Force products, with the right side being a removable panel and the left the battery door. As with the APX and NPX, this game has a thick, textured feel you love or hate. Unlike most recent Dart Zone designs, the Maxim is rounded and beveled in places that would frequently be squared off sharp angles. This leads to a look that might remind you more of the Ballistix designs like the Quantum or the Titanium. The grip is adult-sized and fairly comfortable, depending on where you sit on the rev trigger. It’s not quite as comfortable as the Venom but doesn’t dig into the hand as much as the design appears. I expect smaller hands will find it more comfortable. The trigger lock placement on the bottom of the grip is one of the best-placed I have encountered. It is nearly impossible to unintentionally activate. The design sports two unable sling mounts, one above the stock point and another embedded in the handle. A standard N-Strike stock attachment point. Due to the upper sling mount, this may make it incompatible with some stocks. The design isn’t perfectly symmetrical, with a small bulge on one side for the battery tray cover and a similar one for the motors on the opposite side. Both sides provide motor venting via a gridded set of square holes.
Opening the battery cover we find a tray for a whopping 8 AAs. But remember, this design is very hobby-informed. Removing a single screw releases the tray and reveals the tray is connected to the power with an XT-30 connector, just as the Omnia and Venom use. You should be able to fit a good-sized battery in there – we tested with the Venom’s battery and it has room to bounce around.
This is just the beginning. Opening up this delight we find a pile of features made to enable a full auto a reality with such ease one has to wonder if this is a gift or a scaled-back product, particularly considering the use of 18 gauge silicon coated wiring…
The cage is a top/bottom clamshell with a nice game to remove the wheels – if you’d want to! These translucent wheels are amazing and I bet could manage a light kit if someone was motivated.
We took a crack at the conversion using parts from the off-the-shelf Worker Full Auto Stryfe kit. Admittedly, we didn’t use it as intended and the wiring is a little ugly, but it works. Someone with more practice will be able to make this look nicer. Below are the results of swapping out the provided switch with one from the kit, disconnecting the trigger-to-pusher linkage, and finally adding the gearbox and two additional switches in your standard 3-switch Rapidstrike style configuration. My soldering and wire lengths here are not optimal, I’m certain we’ll see better guides shortly.
How does it do? Judge yourself.
How does it perform? Judge for yourself.
The first batch is with fresh Aldi AAs. The second with the Venom’s battery.