So our blog entry is a little late on this… For that I apologize. The Notos G2 arrived right in the midst of preparation for the Pyramyd Cup competition. As the guy who heads up our website content and also leads our the Umarex USA Shooting Team, I dropped the ball on writing this summer in favor of getting in some trigger time with my rifles in advance of the big event in Ohio.
The original Notos launched with little fanfare. We were apprehensive about how the market would receive this bumblebee of an airgun. In fact, we all know bumblebees *can* fly. We didn’t know if the Notos *would* fly at all. Maybe consumers would reject it on low shot count, low power, some other reason. But what we found out was that airgunners wanted a quiet, accurate air rifle that was super compact and had enough power to get the job done. It turned out that the Notos was in fact a bumblebee- a creature that should not be able to fly, but does so in spite of physics, and what you or I think.
After a few years on the market, we evaluated the Notos and took your concerns into consideration for how the platform could evolve to better suit your needs and attract people who had some reservation to the Notos. Thus came to be the Notos G2.
One of the weak points of the original Notos was the magazine. At 7 rounds, the capacity was fairly low, but users found the magazine hard to load and troublesome. We could do better and we did. The new magazine is much easier to load and more than doubles the capacity of the original. The real good news is that the new magazine works on both the older version and the G2.
Another source of frustration with the original version was the flat cocking lever located on the left side of the receiver. Some right handed shooters liked the lever’s placement because they could keep their hand on the pistol grip and operate the lever with the left hand. You can please some of the people some of the time, right? The Notos G2 placed a handle on the cocking lever and designed the receiver so that the lever can be changed from left side placement to right side placement. Objections to the Notos G2 were falling left and right, so to speak.
Additional changes for the G2 iteration include a larger tank, 118CC’s over 66CCs, and a 30% bump in velocity. The integral SilencAir system was also redesigned to perform better with the additional performance capacity of the G2. This does slightly increase the overall length of the Notos G2 by 1.25 inches over the original Notos.
The Notos G2 is still super lightweight, super quiet, and super accurate. It’s also easier to use and has more shot capacity without creating a completely different airgun. A successful evolution of a product makes the things people like about it, better, or at least the same. A successful evolution of a product will address those things that could be improved. The launch of the Notos G2 this summer has been a warm one. The changes between the versions are subtle enough that the heart of the Notos has not changed. The G2 version isn’t a revolutionary departure from the Notos plan, but a smart, efficient evolution to make a more refined product for our fans.
That said, if you were on the fence about the Notos and were put off by a feature or critique of it, we invite you to re-evaluate this platform through the Notos G2. We are confident you will love it.