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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Buzz Bee Tommy 20 - Review!

Inspired by WWII movies featuring the famous Thompson SMG and its drum magazine?

You will like the new Buzz Bee Tommy 20!

The Buzz Bee Tommy 20 reviewed here is the newest 2nd generation version, which can now fire foam darts in full-auto mode, along with a new green colour scheme (the 1st generation version was only semi-auto with a yellow colour scheme).

The Tommy 20 uses a fly-wheel based firing system, this is different from the usual spring plunger or compressed air systems usually found in Nerf blasters.

Fly-wheel based systems do not use air pressure to fire a foam dart, instead it utilises 2 fast-spinning motorised wheels at the front of the blaster to "throw" the foam dart out of the barrel, similiar to tennis ball launchers.

To operate its full-auto firing mode, the new generation Tommy 20 now features a motorised dart pusher to push darts forward in sequence into the 2 spinning wheels, with the drum magazine rotating in sync to position a new foam dart after every shot is fired.

The Tommy 20 comes packaged with 20 foam darts. It also requires 3 x AA Batteries to operate.

Point to note: Buzz Bee foam darts are shorter in length than Nerf foam darts and the Tommy 20 drum magazine feed gap is quite narrow, therefore although its possible to use Nerf foam darts, you might have to trim them shorter to fit properly.

With fresh batteries, the firing distance of the Tommy 20 can average around 25+ feet, and the average rate of fire is approx. 2 rounds per second or 120 rounds per minute (RPM)!

Review:

Buzz Bee Tommy 20 - Box (Front)




Buzz Bee Tommy 20 - Box (Back)



Buzz Bee Tommy 20 - Un-Boxed & Assembled
 



Buzz Bee Tommy 20 - Fly-Wheel System (Close-up view from Front Barrel)




Buzz Bee Tommy 20 - Nerf Foam Darts vs. Buzz Bee Foam Dart (Yellow)





Buzz Bee Tommy 20 - Scale Comparison with Nerf Maverick




Buzz Bee Tommy 20 - Test Fire






Note that the Tommy 20's firing performance depends on battery power. If battery power is low, firing distance will decrease and the rate-of-fire becomes slower, so make sure you stock up on fresh AA Batteries (or use rechargables/alternative power sources).

Overall, the Tommy 20 definitely offers an interesting alternative to the conventional spring plunger or compressed air firing systems.

This blaster is compact in size and provides a steady rate of automatic firepower... very suitable for close-quarter skirmish games! :)

18 comments:

  1. if you use batteries with higher voltages, will the power and RoF increase?

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  2. Yes, with higher voltage to speed up the motors, both the firing distance and RoF will increase.

    Check out the Tommy 20 Increase RoF Mod over at my modworks blog site:

    http://modworks.blogspot.com/2009/04/buzz-bee-tommy-20-increase-rate-of-fire.html

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  3. how heavy is it? if so, is it possible to dual wield these blasters? (abit like double shot vulcans?)

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  4. Its abit front heavy, but if you have enough wrist strength, its possible to duel wield 2 x Tommy 20 blasters. :)

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  5. Do shortened darts work in normal nerf guns well? I was thinking about going to a nerf dart tag game or organising one, and breaking out one of these.

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  6. Has anyone seen the Tommy 12 anywhere? I saw it on the Buzz Bee site.

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  7. Shortened darts should still work in most normal Nerf blasters, but do test out a few first before proceeding to shorten the rest of your darts.

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  8. So far i have not spotted the Tommy 12 before at any stores in SG. Though i have seen it avaliable for order from online merchants like Amazon.com.

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  9. Can you mod it, like you do with nerf blasters?

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  10. Yup, a common mod is to increase just the battery voltage, gives it faster RoF and better range. Check my Mod Works blog for a mod guide on it. :)

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  11. i got mine for only $9.99 at target yesterday thats sweet compared to what the price of the vulcan edf 25 which was $50.00

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  12. how loud is it? My brother needs an efficient quit gun for stealth. And he ALWAYS gives himself away when he pulls the trigger. Do you know any other dart blasters that are quiet/silent?

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  13. Shnowman,

    Its quite noisy, due to the two "fly-wheel" electric motors that spin during firing.

    If you are looking for quiet blasters, then i guess most stock spring or air-powered Nerf blasters would be relatively quiet.

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  14. how much is it and can you buy it in vivo TRU?

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  15. BM sec 1 floorballers,

    Last I spotted a week ago, Tommy 20s were still in stock at TRU Vivocity, currently on special promo at SGD$49.90.

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  16. this gun is good but its accuracy is horrible and it jams alot. I htink the nerf stampede a much better choice

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  17. I got this gun from mi friend and it is great for hit n' run games. short battery life though.

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  18. Don't bother buying a Tommy 12, it's garbage.

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