ChrisP

I picked up a 'Royal Party Pyro System' today for a tenner from my local specialist shop which turns out to be a rebranded BrightSpark system. Does anyone have any experience of using one of these? I really wanted to use one to launch 3 finale cakes (probably Magneto, then Dark Thunder, then Screaming Spiders) followed by 2 Absolute Panther rockets, but looking at the system I can't see how you could use it to fire a Panther rocket - aren't they too high off the ground for the E-Fuse to reach? I haven't assembled the Panther rockets yet, nor have I unravelled any of the E-Fuses but it just seems as though they won't reach.

Also, is it easy to get hold of replacement E-fuses?

Has anyone ever had Fireworks International's Tomahawk rocket pack (5 rockets, all apparently different coloured peonies)? I bought a pack for my display as the bloke in the shop said they were great, but was just wondering whether anyone has ever had them before. I've been pleased with the same bloke's recommendations before, and most of what I've seen of Fireworks International has been pretty good (notably Cheeky Cherries, which remains one of my favourite fireworks). Also, does anyone know whether these rockets are 1.3G or 1.4G?

I believe there is another rocket pack called Tomahawk by Marvel fireworks, I don't mean these. These are the ones I mean.

What do people think of Night Star's products? I've had quite a few of their pieces over the last few years as my local seasonal shop sells them and I've been pretty pleased with them. I start to wonder whether I'm the only one that buys them as you barely read anything about them on firework forums. A lot of their products look very similar to Bright Star's products and I wondered whether they might be linked in some way. They do a large fountain which is very similar to Kimbolton's Mammoth Cone.

Last year I had Cube's 'The Wall' as my finale piece and was not disappointed - does anyone know whether this firework is still available? I got it from my local (small) specialist shop but when I went back for New Year he didn't have any left.

Got a few questions about consumer rockets. In the past I've had some incredibly disappointing rockets (more of a 'poof' than a big bang and nothing more than a few stars) and was wondering how to tell a good rocket from a bad one. Basically, what I want to know is as follows:

- Can you get decent 1.4G rockets at all?
- Will a small specialist shop be selling purely 1.4G rockets? I ask because my local specialist shop (Millenium fireworks on the A3, not far from Tolworth) is rather small but they often have some impressive looking rockets in there, and was wondering whether there is any chance they will be any good.
- How are the larger Kimbolton rockets? Last year I had the Medusa pack (which the lady in the shop told me was excellent, and perhaps used to be) and the Cyclops pack, but unfortunately both were really rather weak.
- Is there any way to tell 1.3G from 1.4G from the packaging? I've seen 1.3G cakes/rockets and as far as I can tell there is no indication of their classification contained on the packaging/the fireworks themselves.

I would like some decent medium-sized rockets in my display this year, but really do not want to bother with the naff ones, as they are simply not worth their weight in sawdust! I had some excellent Lidl rockets 2 years ago (Blue Apollo I believe they were called) but I suspect they were old reg? Huge deep booms they produced, with big, bright breaks. Every other rocket I've had (supermarket ones plus the aforementioned Kimbolton packs) have been very disappointing.