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The airsoft electronic gun (AEG) is really a fairly simple mechanical device with very little electronics to it. Using mechanical means, it can provide three selector modes: safe, semi-auto, and full-auto. But the most popular airsoft gun in the United States is the M4 (AR15 replica), which is used heavily in the U.S. military. The real M4 fires in three shot burst, a feature that is not easy to achieve in a mechanical airsoft gun with simple electronics.
That's where Burst Wizard 3 comes into the picture. The Burst Wizard 3 not only provides multi-burst features, but acts as a MOSFET, LiPO and LiFePO battery protection, a resettable fuse, and other features that only sophisticated electronics can provide to an AEG. Before we go into each of the features in detail, let's take a look at the Burst Wizard 3.
Cross-Reference
There are many uses for the Burst Wizard 3. For example, you can use Burst Wizard 3 to provide semi-auto operation on an full-auto AEG. See our Fixing Your AEG Broken Trigger Post article.
The Burst Wizard 3 came in a yellow packing envelope. Luckily, I live in the same vicinity as its vendor headquarter, so I received the product a day after it shipped. Inside the yellow packing envelop, the content is stored inside a resealable bag (see photo below).
The package includes the following content (see photo below): the Burst Wizard 3, two red wires for permanently installing the product in your AEG (optional), two shrink wrap tubes, and instruction sheet.
The entire Burst Wizard 3 unit is shrink wrapped in a black tube with a label (see photo below).
There are two ways to install the Burst Wizard 3. One, it's a plug-and-play unit where you plug it into the AEG, where you'd normally plug in your battery. Then you plug the battery into the Burst Wizard 3. One nice feature of the plug-and-play method is that you can move the unit from one AEG to another quickly. The other way is similar to the first way, except you also permanently solder the Burst Wizard 3, with the supplied wires, to the trigger connector. In this second way, you can't move the Burst Wizard 3 from one AEG to another. But it provides a few important features that is unavailable in the plug-and-play manner.
Burst Wizard 3 comes in two versions: 1) a Deans connector version; and 2) a mini-Tamiya version. We got the mini-Tamiya version. The instruction sheet says to plug the Burst Wizard 3 into the AEG first, and then plug the battery into the Burst Wizard 3. It doesn't warn or say what would happen if you do it in reverse. My guess is that it doesn't hurt because the trigger contact is open anyways.
Five seconds after plugging the battery into the Burst Wizard 3 unit, the LED stays on (see photo below) to let you know that the unit is ready for operation. If you squeeze the trigger any time within the five seconds after plugging in the battery, the Burst Wizard 3 goes into programming mode.
The Burst Wizard 3 (BW3) is a newer version of the Burst Wizard King Kong Super 2 (BWKKS2). The newer Burst Wizard 3 is the same size as the Burst Wizard King Kong Super 2 (see photo below). In fact, the two units look virtually identical. The only visible difference is the label on the shrink wrap. The Burst Wizard 3 is the size of two dimes place side by side.
Moving from the BWKKS2 to the BW3 is quite an improvement. Let's examine these improvements.
BW3 now support multiple bursts; up to a maximum of three bursts with one trigger pull. There are many ways to take advantage of this multiple burst mode. One example that the instruction gives is to use this multiple burst mode to lure the enemy from a snap-shooting cover.
The ROF setting has been improved. Using the ROF setting, you can now adjust your AEG so that it fires at the same rate as the real steel counterpart.
The BWKKS2 has 0.2 second steps to program switching to full-auto mode. BW3 cut that down to 0.1 second steps.
BW3 provides better MilSim support. It can now provide magazine bullet count in semi, burst, and full-auto mode. The older BWKKS2 can only count BB's in burst mode.
Burst Wizard 3 is compatible with batteries ranging from 7.2 volts to 14.8 volts. You can use NiCd, NiMH, LiPO, or LiFePO with Burst Wizard 3. In fact, the Burst Wizard 3 acts as a low-voltage warning device and shut-off device, if you turn on the LiPO/LiFePO feature. When the warning and shut-off feature is turned on, Burst Wizard 3 will beep to notify you of low voltage condition. With the Burst Wizard 3, you don't have to buy a separate LiPO/LiFePO battery warning device for your AEG.
With the Burst Wizard 3, simply plugging the unit inline with the battery into your gun will provide most of the features available. Only a few features requires you to hard-wire the unit into your gun.
The most basic feature is the burst fire. You can configure the unit to fire in bursts when your AEG is in full-auto mode. The unit will automatically count the number of burst and stop firing when its done. If you continue to hold the trigger, the unit will automatically fire in full-auto mode. The trigger hold delay defaults to 0.6 seconds, but you can program the delay at 0.2 second intervals. Of course, Burst Wizard 3 lets you turn off full-auto altogether. Or it lets you enable full-auto only with no burst fire control.
Another feature is the "Sniper Delay". When you turn on this feature, the unit automatically set an interval after you fire the previous shot where you cannot fire another shot. This feature allows you to make your semi-auto or full-auto AEG feel like a bolt-action sniper rifle. It's a very economic way for you to see if you like the bolt-action sniper playing style.
If you like to use real cap magazines, you'll like the "Magazine Change Delay" feature. You program the number of rounds of your magazine (between 1 and 99). After you fire that many rounds, the Burst Wizard 3 unit automatically stops firing to signify running out of bullets, forcing you to change mags. The delay is programmable at 1 second intervals.
Do you want to know how fast your AEG is firing? Burst Wizard 3 can tell you with its "Announce ROF" feature. Once you enter that mode, switch to full-auto mode and hold down the trigger. After firing 11 rounds, Burst Wizard 3 will beep and blink to announce your gun's rate-of-fire (ROF). Keep in mind you should shoot real BB's--rather than just dry-firing--to get an accurate number.
There are several features that Burst Wizard 3 supports, but require you to have some mechanical and electrical skills. You basically need to take the gun apart, and solder a piece of wire to the trigger contact in the gearbox and to the Burst Wizard 3.
One of the most interesting feature in this regard is the "Tap Burst" feature. When this feature is turned on, the AEG will fire all burst rounds even when you have released the trigger pull.
There are many other burst control units on the market. However, most other units I see costs $100 and up. Burst Wizard 3 is priced at $50. The Burst Avocado (Evike price: $40 retail, $30 sale) is the only competitor at this price range. However, the availability of Burst Avocado seem sporadic. Other more expensive units also seem to have even more availability issues.
So far, it seems that you can easily order the Burst Wizard 3 from its AEG Wizard vendor web site. It's also available on Airsoft GI, AirSplat.
The Burst Wizard 3 is small enough that it can fit into many tight locations. It's just tad narrower than a stick battery (see photo below). So I have been able to fit it into the narrow shoulder stock of the Echo1 Red Star IGOR VSS Vintorez airsoft gun.
I have just received the Burst Wizard 3 unit. So far, I have not had a chance to give it a try. I will update this section in the future when I run with it at the local airsoft field.
- Amazon User Reviews
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