Authors note: this early review is thanks to a free sample sent by Dart Zone. Thank you for the blaster!
Monolith: A monolith is a product with a consistent, massive, redoubtable or inflexible quality.
Does that fit this blaster? It is a bastion in the blaster world that can take on all challenges. Not quite, but for the price, its pretty good.
Scaling Down A Heavyweight
We saw the Adventure Force Quantum on shelves at Walmart three years ago. It was comparable to Nemesis (plus 6 D batteries), held 100 rounds, and averaged three rounds per minute. The new Monolith shrinks everything; the price, shell size (Perses size), and hopper (40 rounds each) are all smaller.
Even with a smaller blaster there is still plenty of power. After all, its still running on 6 D batteries. The blaster is still quite thin. It does have that Monolith feel when it is held up on its end.
The Stock and bottom of the grip have rubberized parts, just like the Quantum. The grips, meanwhile, are nicely textured (with MAXX GRIP embossed on the thumbhole stock). With the battery weight in the back, the Monolith is easy to hold and quite comfortable. It comes with a rev trigger and a standard trigger the former is a tad small for my taste, but it works.
The blaster can be loaded via a sidedoor, which opens by an orange sliding tab to the left. Sorry, lefties, but youll find it awkward to reload. The door only springs open slightly due the the safety switch, but its enough to grab and open. Personally, I would have preferred that the door be spring-loaded so that the user could pull on the tab and throw in some balls before closing the door. Regardless, its easy to use, and wide enough for loading ammo.
If you wish to use them, there are several sling point locations around the blaster’s exterior.
Performance
The Monolith essentially matches the Quantum in performance.
The blaster averaged 98fps under full-auto fire at three balls per minute. There are some hiccups when loading the balls. Sometimes they fire very quickly (close to 3.5 balls per seconds) and sometimes slower (around two). Rate of fire seems to get better as the hopper empties. This makes me wonder if there is more space. Later testing.
Internals
Within the shell, you can see the vertically set flywheels and the agitator/conveyor mechanism. The latter appears to be shorter than that in the Quantum, so the fact that its averaging the same rate of fire is impressive. The agitator consists of a flap that moves up and down as a plastic impellor lifts it from below.
The flywheel motors appear to be standard Rival-size motors, but the agitation motor is a simple 130 motor. Should that burn out for some reason, it can be replaced. You can also pull it out without removing the gearbox (picture attached for reference).
Should You Buy?
Although Hyper is gone, Rival blasters still exist. The Adventure Force Monolith fills the void. Although the rate of fire is not as fast as Nerf full-auto Rival blasters (especially favorite favorites like Perses), it’s still a great option. Indeed, for that reason alone, it might be worth buying. At a 40-round hopper with decent rate of fire is at least worth trying, and especially as a project blaster, should you plan to ditch the D batteries completely.
