3 replies to this topic

[David]

I won't remember everything, but here are some thoughts.

THE GOOD

Paramount Ultimate Devastation- A 200 shot, fast firing SIB, with some well timed burst at the start, with a cracklign series of mine, moving to some (slightly inappropraite) quieter effects in the middle- I think there was some falling leaves going on, but hard to tell, with two fans and a good crackle cloud for the finale. Loud, but not old-spec (pre 2007 loud).

Global 19/25 shotters and Astra Star Burstdust- forget the exact names- Woody's Something and Ultimate Something but the ones I fired were very nice- lingering bursts, and impressive and a prefinale-quality threesome.

Paramount - Magneto- Massive bursts , with an incredible handtime too. Very very good indeed.

Brother's Guinavere- 25 shots, fired in volleys of 5 - the first 5 being very bright, loud and impressive.

Marvel Hawk rocket- Burst similar to Magneto- exactly what a good big rocket should do- and for about £6- ace.

Oritental - King Cobra- noisy and powerful barrage.

Royal Party Supreme (12 pack) - pack of 12 barrages- loud enough , nice burst, many effects across the 12 different barrages and working out at £7.50 each exceptional value for money.

[David]

The BAD

Not much, thankfully..

A couple of items (Cosmos and Jamboree) from the old Cosmic range were poor, typical blackpowder stuff and could have been left out.

New spec rockets were very tame, but that was as expected, and as such I didn't use them for a crowd, just for myself before everyone else arrived.

[David]

The UGLY

Again, not much:

I had a noise section planned, with a few old spec items (including what I thought was Boom Time's version of the old Proton Bomb barrage)- which all turned out to be comets and crackle bursts. Not sure what happened there!
But these are gone forever now, so, whatever...!

Portfires let us down this year (not sure whats changed, but the ones I had were not relaible).

[Karl]

Had a few good fireworks this year, some of which really supprised me.

Brothers Tivolli - Everything is right about this cake, price, size and effects. Beautiful coloured palms from a large bore 16 shot cake.

Brothers Starring - Gives fantastic multicoloured bursts and again for the size of it, it's really up there with the more expensive stuff.

Brothers Siren Call - If you like the three-tone whistles you get from the bigger items like Tigers Revenge you'll love this one.

Brothers Ultimate Battle Of Colours - Coloured palms ending with titanium salutes, who can moan at that?

Brothers Crazy Klock - A fountain / catherine wheel in the shape of a clock? The runtime on this little beaut is great and it has a variety of different effects. Have ear defenders for the whistle part though!

Fireworks International Crazy Horses - Fired 5 of these in two displays, a slow build up with a slight pause in the middle followed by a barrage of beautiful willows.

Fireworks International Tigers Revenge - If your ready for a full on barrage of ear-abuse take this one. 168 shots in about 20 seconds?! YES PLESAE!!

Cosmic Midnight Finale - The MOTHER of all cakes IMHO. Increasing bore sizes through the fanned rows builds up the antisipation before thumping out a load of 40mm mine/bombette tubes as a finale. Loud isnt the word.

Astra Venemous Viper Rockets - I haven't a clue how it works but these things were louder than 3" ballhead rockets, by far.



The Bad -

Soverign King Whopper Rockets - Basically a 3" shell in a pretty metalic casing. The only reason these are in the bad section is because they were out performed by something half the size (venemous Vipers). They had the burst of a 3" shell but didn't have the oomph to boot. More boost in your beak next time Soverign!