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Last updated: September 6, 2023
Released in 2018, the Nerf Laser Ops Pro home laser tag concept was Nerf’s latest attempt to breathe life into the concept of smartphone laser tag.
While I personally have my reservations about playing laser tag with smartphones, Nerf Laser Ops Pro is a surprisingly fun laser tag set.
In this review, I am diving deeper into the features of Laser Ops Pro and will reveal how it stacks up against other popular products in this genre.
But I will tell you now that Laser Ops Pro is included in my list of best home laser tag sets on the market today.
You can purchase Nerf Laser Ops Pro on Amazon.
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A Bit of History
Famous for their foam shooting blasters, Nerf released the Laser Ops Pro home laser tag set in the middle of 2018. It is the successor to the Nerf laser tag series known as Lazer Tag.
The Phoenix LTX Tagger from 2008 was the most popular laser tag blaster in that Lazer Tag series. This product is still available for purchase on Amazon, even though it’s been around for such a long time.
That goes to show that the Phoenix LTX was, and still is, one of the best home laser tag blasters ever made. Boom, big call, but that’s what I honestly think.
If you’d like to know more about this blaster, check out my review of Nerf Lazer Tag Phoenix LTX for all the details.
About Smartphone Laser Tag
Laser tag and smartphones are a difficult combination. Smartphones evolve continuously, and that new iPhone you bought yesterday will be outdated tomorrow. Not to mention all the different brands and models.
Smartphone laser tag guns and their apps will need to evolve continuously with that smartphone market, otherwise they will end up being outdated and incompatible.
Playing laser tag with smartphones can also be risky, especially when augmented reality is involved. Imagine running around on the streets or in the park while continuously looking at your phone screen.
The other reason I don’t like smartphone/augmented reality laser tag is that I’m just a bit old school. The fun of laser tag is shooting each other without all the unnecessary tech. You grab a laser tag gun and start scoring points by tagging your enemy. Simple and fun.
Nerf Laser Ops Pro
The Laser Ops Pro series consists of two blasters:
- The AlphaPoint:
A smaller pistol-style blaster. - The DeltaBurst:
A sniper rifle type blaster.
They are purchased separately, but obviously, they can work together in a home laser tag battle. It’s no surprise that there are a lot of similarities between the two blasters, which I’ll cover below.
With both blasters, you can use a smartphone (iOS or Android) + app to enhance your laser tag battle experience.
The Smartphone Aspect
Let’s get one important thing out of the way. You don’t actually need a phone to play with these blasters. Using a smartphone + app is 100% optional. You can play a full-on home laser tag battle with Laser Ops Pro without using mobile phones.
This is great and also a clever business move, in my opinion, and keeps old-school people like me happy.
If you do want to try out Laser Ops Pro using your smartphone, you will need to download the app. It’s available for free on the App Store and on Google Play.
You can either attach your smartphone to your arm or wrist via the armband, or attach it to the front of the blaster with the phone mount.
The app allows for single-player and multi-player battles and is quite intuitive to set up. In multi-player mode, you can differentiate between single-device and all-device. This means that not all players need to have a smartphone. Using single-device mode means that all blasters in the battle will sync to that one smartphone via Bluetooth technology.
In all-device mode, all players in the battle will need to have a smartphone with the app installed. In other words, it’s either one person or all players using a device. There’s no middle road.
Using all-device mode, each device syncs to an assigned master device, which means that one player is essentially the host of the game.
The app is relatively easy to use and tracks the duration of the game and the scores of each player. It does add great value to the game, but as mentioned, it’s purely optional.
1. AlphaPoint Blaster
The AlphaPoint blaster is the smaller of the two blasters available in the Nerf Laser Ops Pro series, and it is a semi-automatic pistol-style blaster. It comes with an instructions manual, a rubber armband, and a mount attachment to hold your smartphone. The AlphaPoint requires 4 AA alkaline batteries, which are not included.
The laser beams come out of the barrel at the front. The laser beams are infra-red, which means you can’t actually see them, and they are perfectly safe. Located above the barrel is the target receiver, which registers hits against you. This also means you don’t have to wear any vests to play laser tag with Nerf Laser Ops Pro.
It’s important to point out here that you don’t need sniper skills to be able to hit that small target. Don’t ask me how it works, but it’s actually quite easy to score points. I’m guessing that the blasters emit very wide laser beams, making it easy to hit the target receiver.
Overall, using the blaster is a pretty straightforward process. Pressing the power button at the back of the blaster activates the device. You then have to select the team you want to be in; purple, red, or green. Choosing the purple color essentially means free for all, shoot anyone you like, no teams. Choosing red or green means you can only shoot players with the other color.
Firing is simply a matter of pulling the trigger. There’s no need to prime like you’d have to do with conventional Nerf blasters. An indicator at the top of the blaster tells you how much ammo you have left, in addition to a health status. But running out of ammo is not a big drama. All you need to do is reload via the button at the bottom of the blaster, and you can continue chasing and shooting your enemies. It’s just a fun element.
Like with other home laser tag guns, there are lots of sounds you will need to get used to. Each action will have its own sound, which can be helpful in better understanding what’s going on. The sounds cannot be turned off or down, so it is a matter of getting used to.
2. DeltaBurst Blaster
The sniper rifle style DeltaBurst blaster comes packaged with the blaster itself, an instructions manual, a rubber armband, and a phone mount that can be attached to the front of the blaster. The DeltaBurst requires 6 AA alkaline batteries, which are not included.
The DeltaBurst essentially works the same as the AlphaPoint blaster; it’s just a different type of gun. Because of that, the various buttons are located in different spots. The indicator also works a bit differently in that it tells you in numbers how much ammo you have left, as opposed to using colors with the AlphaPoint.
Both blasters work amazingly well as laser tag guns. But not just that, Nerf has tried its best to make them look cool. And they’ve succeeded in that. Both the AlphaPoint and DeltaBurst have great looks, which is important.
Also worth noting is that both blasters have an advertised firing range of 220 feet or 68 meters. This is pretty impressive, but I don’t think you’d ever need it.
Final Thoughts
I like Nerf Laser Ops Pro, and I would say it’s one of the better laser tag sets you can get your hands on. Both blasters in the series work well and don’t have any significant flaws that are worth mentioning.
As someone who is not at all a fan of the concept of laser tag with smartphones, I do like the app and how it’s designed to work with the blasters. I still wouldn’t use the app, but that’s only because I’m old school.
If you’re like me and you’re not looking for a smartphone laser tag set, you can still go for Nerf Laser Ops Pro. The app really is 100% optional, and the blasters are just as awesome without using Bluetooth and mobile devices.
| Review: | Nerf Laser Ops Pro |
|---|---|
| Summary: | The Nerf Laser Ops Pro home laser tag concept is Nerf’s latest attempt to breathe life into the concept of smartphone laser tag. The blasters (AlphaPoint and DeltaBurst) have an ergonomic design and are easy to use. While the app certainly adds great features, using smartphones is entirely optional. Overall, the Laser Ops Pro blasters perform well, are quite robust, and are reasonably priced. |
| Author: | Thomas Dunnett |
| Rating: | 4.4 (out of 5) |
Can I just ask, is Bluetooth range an issue if you wanted to use say ten blasters on one device? Would all players have to remain within a certain radius of the host phone?
Ah, good question. In multi-player/one-device mode, shots simply won’t register if a player is too far away from the host. I would have to do another test to find out how far away a player can go, but knowing that Laser Ops Pro has a pretty decent range, I wouldn’t worry about this being a problem at all.
This review and comments are great! Exactly the conversation I have been scouring the internet for. I have read that the LTX has much greater range and haptics but the look of the Laser Ops is really hard to pass on (especially the rifle). Ultimately, I am leaning LTX but am still wondering just how accurate either set is. In other words, how focused is the IR emitter on both of these models? Are they roughly the same? My concern is that I do want to actually use a bit of aiming skill in a game and not just use the shotgun approach. Any thoughts on LTX / Laser Ops regarding this would be great.
Hi Steve, thanks for the kind words.
You’re right, the Laser Ops machines look really cool, and perhaps the LTX looks a bit dated, which is not surprising since that model has been around for such a long time. If you’re purely going for performance, I would say go for the LTX, which I do find to be more accurate than Laser Ops.
Thanks so much for all the great feedback! It is GREATLY appreciated.
We really really really enjoy the LTX:
* Feel/ruggedness.
* Reload action with cartridge is fun and we like that you have to do a real action to reload.
* The range and accuracy seem great – amazingly great (actually we have played a few times and the range is 30 yards or more).
* Display for ammo and life are good – we like the bars.
Do you think Laser Ops will measure up? I don’t think they will but the may be worth getting as:
1. Options for single user game play.
2. Cheaper – 1/2 the cost of the LTX, so can be used for parties without as much concern for replacement (thinking of a b-day party with 8 kids, so maybe use Laser Ops for that and keep the LTXs for our family play).
3. Newer – Imagine the app will get upgraded to be better as years go by but we don’t plan to use that much (or at all) now.
*I will be very surprised if we will like the feel (reload action or display for ammo/life) as much with the Laser Ops, and guessing the range/accuracy isn’t as good as the LTX, but maybe worth a shot!
Cheers,
JB
Honestly, I think you will like both. Range and accuracy wise, the Laser Ops blasters won’t disappoint you.
You may be a bit like me though, I personally like that robustness of the LTX, feels very solid in the hands. The Laser Ops blasters perhaps have a slightly more plastic feel, if you know what I mean. But overall, I’m pretty confident you will like Laser Ops.
Maybe just get two AlphaPoint blasters to try them out, let the kids have a play with them. If you like them, get six more, or if not then just stick with the LTX. At the end of the day, this is often a matter of personal preference. Let me know how you go!
We did exactly what you recommended. You are right.
We all like the haptic action and robustness on the LTX a lot more than the AlphaPoint. The action of reloading, the Shield functionality, the haptics and sound of getting shot, the readout of shots and life points are all better on the LTX. The AlphaPoints do feel like space laser guns. So, if you like the space/alien theme, they are good. But, the readout isn’t as fun and getting shot doesn’t make much of a sound or give a shake, so it’s not as jarring when in a fight. We all get a little rush when we get shot on the LTX and sometimes don’t notice when we get shot on the AlphaPoint.
The Augmented Reality in the AlphaPoint is actually pretty cool. We all like it and I imagine it will only get better as the tech evolves, but the feel of the gun and the action of the gun fight is definitely diminished. I guess hooking it up to the app is pretty cool too; haven’t explored that as much. Still not sure what to do! Investing in 4 more LTX’s (more expensive) or buy 6 AlphaPoints! We may have to splurge on the LTX’s, even though the future is with the app on the AlphaPoints!
Thanks so much Jason, that’s excellent and very useful feedback for everyone.
Sorry I meant to say it seems the AlphaPoint is 1/2 the price of the LTX. We bought four LTX and they seem pretty cool. We were going to buy 4 more for a party, or we could buy 8 AlphaPoints, not sure which to get at this point. I see in your review that you have LTX as 4th place.
Gotcha; you will probably be happy with both models. The main reason Laser Ops outranks the LTX in my list is because they are newer and they have the smartphone option. But they’re not necessarily better overall, if that makes sense.
1: If you had to choose between the Ops Pro or the LTX as better overall experience, which would it be?
2: Apart from the looks and color indicators mentioned, would you recommend the handgun or the rifle for the Ops Pro?
1. Probably the LTX still, I’ve always been a big fan, and feels very robust.
2. I’d say the AlphaPoint handgun, but that’s really just personal preference.
I was wondering the same! I was thinking LTX too! NOTE: the AlphaPoint now sells for half price on Amazon. Do you think it is worth paying more for LTX (even though that is the older tech)? I guess, if you don’t need the smartphone app (I don’t think we would play with the app), then you don’t need the AlphaPoints gun. And if LTX is sturdier for 9 year olds to play with, then maybe worth the extra expense to get more life out of them.
Maybe get both if they’re discounted haha.
I have a bit of a soft spot for the LTX, but honestly, both blasters are pretty awesome and solid. You can use the AlphaPoint without the smartphone, so that shouldn’t need to be a reason not to go for the Laser Ops blasters.
Can you use the Nerf Ops Pro with the Nerf Phoenix Ltx?
Hello Jan, unfortunately the Laser Ops Pro blasters are not compatible with the Phoenix LTX model.