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The Burst Avocado AEG Burst Regulator is an electronic device that attaches between your airsoft electronic gun (AEG) and your airsoft battery. Because it's an electronic unit, it will not work with your airsoft gas blowback (GBB) guns. There are several reason why you would want a burst unit in your airsoft gun:
Reason #1: The primary reason for airsoft programmable MOSFET burst control unit is to provide realism to your airsoft gun. The realism is driven by many real firearms that can fire in burst mode. For example, the M16 fires three-rounds burst. By using a programmable MOSFET burst control unit, your airsoft electronic gun can fire in burst mode as well.
Reason #2: The basic AEG is quite simple. Your trigger closes the contact circuitry from the battery to the motor, causing the electric motor to turn the gears to fire the gun. This simple circuit contact does not provide consistent voltage and current draw, which translates to inconsistent firing and potential burning of the electrical wiring. The MOSFET portion of the burst unit solves that problem by providing consistent voltage and current to the motor.
Reason #3: The burst unit detects battery condition to provide battery cut-off, which prevents over-discharge of sensitive batteries. This feature primarily targets LiPo batteries, where over-discharge can create a fire hazard. This cut-off is also useful for all battery types to prevent battery damage in a over-discharge condition.
Now that we have a good understanding of the purpose of a burst control unit, let's get started with the review.
The Burst Avocado comes in a nice anti-static bag, with a cardboard label. The anti-static bag has two easy tear notches on the bottom (see photo below).
After tearing the bag open and taking out the control unit, we are surprised that there is no instruction sheet. Turns out, the instruction sheet is printed on the cardboard. You have to carefully remove the staples to prevent ripping the cardboard. The easy tear notches give the wrong impression. It would have been better to remove the staples first, without tearing the anti-static bag.
The programmable burst unit, shown in the photos below, is a small circuit board encased in a hard transparent plastic. The plastic case is clear with no labeling whatsoever, allowing you to see the circuit board quite clearly. There are two mini Tamiya connectors. The female connector connects to the airsoft gun, while the male connector connects to the airsoft battery. The Burst Avocado is also available with dean connectors, but we got the mini-Tamiya connector version.
Cross-Reference
It Burst Avocado looks extremely similar to the Swiss Arms Programmable MOSFET Burst Unit that we have reviewed on this web site before: "Swiss Arms Programmable MOSFET Burst Unit Review". Unlike the Swiss Arms burst unit, the Burst Avocado has no physical battery type programming button.
The Burst Avocado programmable MOSFET unit works with two battery types:
The battery type detection is completely automatically done by the Burst Avocado unit, making this burst MOSFET unit even easier to use than the Swiss Arms burst unit. But this simplicity comes with a cost. Note that 9.6V (8 cells) NiMH batteries are not listed above. The instruction sheet states, "NiMH 9.6V (8 cells) is not suggested owning to the default battery-low setting of the device does not match."
In addition, it's not clear whether this burst control unit will work with LiFe batteries. Airsoft LiFe batteries usually comes in 9.9V (3 cells) form factor. But it's voltage is so close to the 9.6V NiMH, it may not work. We'll test it to see.
The instruction sheet states, "Operating Voltage: 7.2 ~ 11.1V". But it also shows that you can use "12V (10 cells)" NiMH batteries with it. We don't have a 12V battery at this time to test with the unit. We are pleased that this burst control unit offers such a wide range of operating voltage.
To program the number of rounds that each trigger pull will fire, follow these steps:
The Burst Avocado programmable unit will remember the setting even after the battery is unplugged.
The instruction sheet says that you can program the unit from 2 to 12 shots. That's alarming, because some of us want to use the Burst Avocado for single shot burst. That's especially useful when we use the burst unit to fix a common V2 gearbox broken trigger post problem (see Cross-Reference below). But the specification in the instruction sheet also says, 'Programmable "Burst" mode: 1 to 12 shots'. We will have to test the unit to see if we can program it to fire single burst.
Cross-Reference
This DIY article shows an excellent reason to get a burst control unit, rather than a new gearbox: "Fixing Your AEG Broken Trigger Post".
The Burst Avocado programmable MOSFET unit also support full auto firing mode, up to 30 shots. To program the unit to provide continuous firing, follow these steps:
The Burst Avocado programmable unit will remember the setting even after the battery is unplugged.
When you hear two low-frequency, long beeps, while using your AEG, it means that your battery is low in power. The Burst Avocado will prevent your gun from being fired to protect the battery. When this occurs, unplug the battery and plug in a fresh battery to continue to use your gun.
The cut-off voltages are specified at 6.6V and 9.9V. Burst Avocado will automatically determine which cut off voltage to use based on the battery that is plugged in.
One interesting thing to note in the instruction sheet is this statement: "M130 spring is suggested to be used with the Burst Wizard." It's not clear what this statement means or how the spring rate affect the Burst Avocado. And what would happen if we use a spring rate higher or lower than the M130 specified. However, this statement specifies a spring that is higher than the standard M120 spring, giving us more confidence to use this burst control unit with our more powerful electronic airsoft guns.
Connecting the Burst Avocado is pretty easy. You just plug it into the airsoft gun first (see first photo below), then plug the battery into the Burst Avocado (shown in the second photo below).
We found that, as the instruction mentioned, that it has difficulty firing more than 1 or 2 rounds with 9.9v LiFe batteries. And we weren't able to get the gun to fire with 9.6v NiMh batteries.
The unit seemed to work well with our 11.1v LiPo batteries. I took the airsoft gun to Operation: Airsoft Nation Fan Appreciation Game 2019, just this past weekend, to test it out. The airsoft gun fired just fine for about an hour in the first 2 hours mission of the day. After that, there wasn't enough battery juice to fire the gun. I unplugged the Burst Avocado from the system and plugged the same battery directly into the airsoft gun. I was able to complete the rest of the first mission in this manner. This observation showed that the Burst Avocado draws more power than the Swiss Arms burst control unit in my other airsoft gun.
The instruction sheet mentions, "If your AEG's ROF is higher than 25, there will be inaccuracy in 1 shoot. So if you want to adjust 3 rounds you have to press the trigger 2 times and so on." ROF stands for Rate of Fire and is usually specified ini rounds per second (RPS). We do not have any electric airsoft guns that fires faster than 25 RPS, so we were unable to test this feature.
Cross-Reference
The simplicity of the Burst Avocado burst control unit is sufficient for most airsoft players. But if you want more programmable features, we highly recommend the Burst Wizard 3 unit. Read our "Burst Wizard 3 Review".
Overall, the Burst Avocado programmable control unit works well and does what it claims. But we just have to figure out how to set up the entire airsoft gun system so that the battery could last all day.
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