Page 4 - Umarex Notos Carbine Reviews

What all those guys (and girs, maybe) said. Light weight, inexpensive, versatile, surprisingly well built for the price, very nice single shot tray, and amazingly accurate given the very short barrel. I was also pleasantly surprised in how very effective the manufacturer suppressor actually is. I was prepared to cut away the suppressor and replace it with an aftermarket model if necessary (done it before with a Hatsan Vectus. Requires a little machine work but necessary with some guns). but it is definitely in the low-moderate sound range.

Many folks have commented on the trigger. Not sure what they expected at this price point. Sure, in Umarex could install something equivalent to a Quattro trigger and still hold the price point, that would be nice. But I find the trigger acceptable and have not attempted any adjustment with it yet. If a smoother, lighter pull is wanted, learn how to take down a trigger and polish all the contact surfaces. But for a pistol type platform I think it is OK. I don't have an issue with having just one magazine supplied (my S510 only included one magazine and at $1800 you'd think two would be a given) but it would be nice if they would include open sights considering that it is a carbine configuration and that type rifle virtually always has open sights. Since the accessory sights are only $10 it seems likely Umarex makes them for a couple bucks so including them should be an no-brainer.

Now a report of the problem I did have when this gun arrived.
First fill streamed right thru the tube and out the transfer port, Having experienced this with another gun I figured that the hammer might be bearing on the valve and holding it open, so I cocked the gun and tried filling. That eliminated the flow-thru issue, but an hour later it had bleed out completely. I filled again and this time I could hear air leaking out the fill valve. Unwilling to give up I cycled the rifle thru a fill quickly and refilled and cycled it a couple more times. Figured maybe the seals on the fill valve needed to seat (same with the seals on the regulator valve and transfer valve) and cycling several times might do the trick. AND, it did. I was totally happy since the pellets I had put thru it to that point indicated it was a really accurate little gun. To their credit, the folks at Pyramyd Air had responded to my early report of an issue with an RMA, no questions asked. But not needed!

I wanted a PCP pistol so this is why I got it.. I never put the stock on, just the pistol grip and open sights.. it seems very accurate, I have tried two different pellets.. jsb 18 and the heavy redesigned jsb.. I was actually surprised that the magazine accepted the heavy redesigned since they are longer.. shot a 3 inch spinner at 40 yards and very accurate.. function very well and very quiet, the redesigned jsb is the quietest of the two.. but it is a lot quieter than the blitz and the avenger.. also it's one of only a few PCP guns that have a option for open sights.. it's ok to have the rail for a scope but I think all PCP guns should at least be like this one so you have the option for open sights

length.. I really wanted the attaman ap16 compact.. but it's a lot of money and apparently no longer available because of the war.. the moderator I is permanently attached, I'm assuming for import reasons.. it should be able to unscrew to make it smaller.. seems for the money to be a good gun. especially since it's regulated.. also I have read and responded to several people on the airgun nation forum that said the rear sight is junk and just falls off.. unfortunately with no instructions on installing the sight it would be easy to assume that.. but there's tiny set screw in the front sight and if you put the rear sight under a magnifying glass it's got two tiny holes to access the set screw underneath but they only align up if you first adjust the sight all the way down before installing it

this gun has what all PCP guns should have.. at least the option for open sights.. the fiberoptic really gets light and easy to see.. I don't think you can get a better PCP pistol for the money.. it's very similar to the snow peak 750 but the moderator is outside and permanent and it's also holding on the shroud that's inside the housing.. it apparently doesn't have a front guide, or sleeve and has a little side play but it doesn't seem to affect accuracy.. very accurate and it's a good pistol. from what I have seen it's better quality than the snow peak 750 pistol

Weight! My wife needed a gun that was easier to work with, this is perfect.

Loading and cocking from the left seems odd but workable.

I am getting better power than spec. 760 fps with 14.3 grain.

Inexpensive, lightweight, accurate, quiet, fun to shoot, easy to fill even with a hand pump.

10 shot mag would be better. Extra magazines are 20 bucks, twice what they should be.

Lightweight, little bug buster 4-12 power scope naturally lines up with the eye with some lower rings I had laying around. Delivers 750-770 fps with crosman 14.3 gr premiere pellets. At 25-30 feet in my basement the gun is more accurate than I am, and I can drill 1 hole with it, but it's bigger than a figure 8. Doesn't seem to be picky on pellets at this distance in controlled conditions. It's a fun piece to shoot, and it looks really cool. I was worried how I would like the side lever cocking/cocking on the "wrong" side of the gun, but it's light enough to easily hold with your right hand in the shooting position and cycle with your left.

Most of my other pellet guns have marauder in the name, this trigger is not that. The first stage has a distinct click to it, followed by the second stage that will give your trigger finger a workout. Once you get used to it, it can be shot accurately, but a lighter or more adjustable trigger would make this thing a proper tack driver. The magazine retention via a magnet may have looked good on paper, but the first shot is almost always fiddly to get in the barrel. After the first shot I can usually run the mag out without have to fiddle with it again, but it's not a certain thing. This does seem to be getting better as the gun breaks in. A higher capacity mag, and/or another 1-2 mags with the gun would have been nice. The cover on the mag doesn't have a detent that holds it in place while you drop in the 1st pellet making it hard to hold the tiny mag and cover while you drop the round in.

I have about 1,000 rounds through it so far and not disappointed in the least with the purchase. It's quiet enough to play int he basement while watching tv and not going def. I get 4 full mags of shooting before I refill, may have run more than that a few times. At the short basement distance I"m shooting at now, 3600 fill to 1000 psi shoots all the same to me.

This rifle fills very easily and quickly. I initially filled the rifle with my tank for first round of shooting, then after 3 mags I use my Umarex Ready Air to refill. It only takes about 2 or 3 minutes; Love it. Here's the average velocity reading of the following pellets I used. I did not make any adjustment to the hammer spring on my Notos. This was out of the box shooting. Air Arms 13.4 gr. 802 fps JSB 14.3 gr. 783 fps H&N 14.6 gr. 780 fps RWS 14.5 gr. 786 fps Benj HP 14.3 gr. 751 fps Air Arms 18 gr. 726 fps The pellet that out did them all was the Air Arms 18 gr. A seven shot group at 25 yards, can be covered by a dime easily. The two other pellets that did well, are the JSB's 14.3 gr. and the Benjamin Discovery 14.3 g

Not sure if I would change anything. May consider a wrench for the rear stock if you don't have an AR stock wrench

The gun for the most part cycled the pellets very good, however there were a few that seem to not cycle as well as others; the H&N Barracuda 15 gr. and the Field Trophy 14.66 gr. with the 5.53 head seemed to not cycle very good. Be careful that you do not double load a pellet.

Slim design and very light and quiet

Light weight, very quiet, more power than I anticipated, easy to transport, minimum loss of air (I checked after 4 days), well constructed. Support from PA is phenomal.

I would like a removeable moderator to shorten overall length. A way to change the stock / grip removal / installation, include iron sights in package.

One of the most enjoyable platforms I have to shoot. Easy learning curve. A lot of fun, no disappointments

Light and maneuverable. Decent shot count and higher than rated fps. Easy to fill with a hand pump. Overall great little Air Rifle out to 50 yds for sure.

Needs a foster fill fitting instead of probe and maybe a little larger tank and a little more barrel (like 3 inches). Also wish it excepted Marauder magazine instead of magnet.

A little rough when loading a pellet into chamber with or without magazine.

This is very nice, Im happy I finally got one. The price is good for it shoots with a punch and is accurate, the H n N hornets and Gamo red fires move through magazine so thats a plus, its a great little carbine for what it is.

Nothing the gun is what it is.

The magazine does have a little friction when cocking it to load at first but breaks in after a while.

So this is a great PCP compact rifle/pistol! super light weight and super super quite as well. I have the hatsan Jet 2 as well and I have compared the 2 side by side. And even though I lov ethem both I fell the Umarex Notos beats the HAtsan jett 2 hands down when it comes to distance and accuracy. Both are well build and both will have a place in your PCP collection but if you are looking for a compact carbine that is light and accurate at 30yrds or 30yrds then this is it! I currently am running a red dot on it and can easily shoot quarter size groups with a red dot at 30yrd with this using JSB 15.89gr pellets which is what I am using in this gun. The hatsan jet is only really accurate up to 20yrds after that the groups start to spread out way to much for me. But the Notos can reach out a lot further with great accuracy hands down. I can get 21 good shots out of mine no problem and so far I am loving it.

I would like to see a bigger air cylinder so we could get at least 30 to 40 good shots in .22cal and a metal top rail as well but other then that nothing as this PCP carbine is pretty sweet!

Make sure to cock it when you first try and fill it with air as it will not fill the first time without doing that.
Red dot site works great with this set up but I think a nice little scope will allow you to really reach out to a further distance with great accuracy. I plan on throwing a UTG bug buster on mine and seeing how far I can really shoot tight groups at.

Surprising build quality for the money Accurate shot count expectation from Umarex Adjustable hammer spring and stock length. Regulated!!! Comes with magazine and single shot tray

Nothing. For the money I would say this is this pcp is the buy of the century-not the avenger. Sorry Tom. Trigger is adequate, not great. Umarex nailed this gun like none other.

Long term function and reliability is yet to be determined but from the quality so far, I really dont anticipate a problem.
I keep pinching myself about the gun. Ideal backyard plinker.

Small and light weight. Nice, comfortable pistol-like hand grip. Similar magazine to Diana Stormrider. Reasonably low sound footprint. Solid cocking lever (heavy metal and firm cocking action). Shoulder stock is adjustable and comfortable . Smooth trigger action. Three full magazine (21 shots) with a little gas to spare. This carbine is very accurate at short distances (10 to 15 yds) and has nice groupings even further. Performance is very good. Specs were measured th an FX Crony. Specs using Using RWS Hobby 11.9 gr Wadcutter pellets: Hi Velocity = 817 fps , Lo Velocity = 810 fps, Mean Velocity = 813.0 fps, SD = 2.46 fps, fpe = 17.47. Using 14 gr Meisterkugen Wadcutter pellets: Hi Velocity = 786 fps., Lo Velocity = 779 fps, Mean Velocity = 782 fps, SD = 1.7 fps, fpe = 19.02. Using JSB Jumbo Heavy Diablo Domed 18.13 gr pellets: Hi Velocity = 721 fps, Lo = 701 fps, Mean Velocity = 711.33 fps, SD = 6.54 fps, fpe = 20.37. Factory specifications are very conservative at 700 fps max.

Installing the shoulder stock is VERY difficult due to overly tight fit. I would have provided front and rear sights. A small carbine begs for close range and steel sights. I see that they are available now on PA but sold separately. I would have preferred a standard NPT fill fitting like the Avenger. Lever action feels as though the probe is not exactly centered with the magazine holes. You can feel the resistance when pushing the pellet into the receiver. Same resistance with the mag provided and with my spare. This may get better with use and wear but initially is noticeable. As one reviewer mentioned, the cheekpiece is too high on the stock for a level veiw with a scope. I added a Picatinny Riser to bring my scope center to 1.5 inches. The provided rings only raise the scope 1" which is not high enough. You really have to stretch for the center FOV. The air pressure meter at the end of the barrel and the air cylinder is never a good idea.

I found myself needing a large "C" clamp to move and draw the stock assembly onto the Notos in order to align the holes in the stock with the threaded holes in the Notos. I added a 6x24x50 (Yes! Overkill) CVlfe Scope, since I will be doing some close to moderate distance shooting.. The magazine is a very loose fit in the breach. I found tipping the front of the magazine down when sliding it into the breach made the process much smoother. Having to refill the air chamber after 3 magazines is something that you can get used to but I suggest you buy 2 more magazines to be able to continue shooting until the air pressure is low. The small air tank keeps the rifle light but the air doesn't last long. My overall opinion of the Notos is that it is a great buy and a great performer. I'm glad I watied for the carbine to become available. At close range, this is a tak-driver and a lot of fun to shoot. As the adverts from the airgun shows said, "This is a great back door gun".

Lightweight and sturdy feeling. It is definitely a better build than I expected. It is also SUPER DUPER QUIET. Loving this thing.

I have had multiple issues with rough loading. Sometimes the pellets feed well and sometimes it feels like they are binding up. I think its the magazine although I cant see anything thats obviously wrong. You only get one magazine with the Notos and it does not take long to go through 7 shots. If I had to change anything it would be throwing in an additional magazine. The scope rail is plastic and I think that should be metal as well.

I am using JSB 18gr and they are grouping pretty well but I think the 15s might do better. The Bugbuster scope looks right at home on the NOTOS. This is a 20-40 yard gun if using it for hunting. Just plnking at cans and paper targets you can connect much farther. Im hitting aluminum cans at 60 yds with it but its kind of lobbing it at that distance.
At the muzzle it is making 700fps with 18gr JSBs.

Excellent bang for buck - similar to the Gauntlet. I received mine today and ran some tests. 14 shots before it falls off the regulator which is convenient for the 7 shot magazine (order a spare). Regulator performs very well keeping CPHP pellets between 771-778 FPS for a surprising 19 FPE! Exceeds the 700 FPS rating. Also, there is a hammer spring adjustment screw that the manual states will vary the performance by up to 200 FPS per turn. Have not messed with that yet as I am pleased with performance out of the box. From 3500 psi down to 2200 psi it provides 14 regulated shots. Very easy to hand pump. I generally fill using a 4500 psi tank and found that I had to be very careful not to fill too fast because the cylinder is so small. Side lever is pretty smooth. Report is generally quiet - about the same as my MRod25 but not as quiet as my mrod22. It is small and lightweight very easy to maneuver. Initially planned to put a red dot on it groups 1/4 inch at 12 yards. Accuracy is great!

Another mag and an adjustable cheek piece. The carbine will require high scope rings to be able to raise the scope so it aligns with the eye. Note the magnetic magazine has a bit of side to side movement. Not sure if that helps or hurts with trying to align a pellet into the chamber. However I did notice pellets resisted loading the first few times using the magazine. Seems to improve with use. Single shot tray is a nice feature too but could stand to be slightly shorter as it forces both the bolt and the pellet upward - seems to cause some pellets to bind.

Mine arrived with no pressure and initially I couldnt get it to hold pressure. However I cocked the bolt back and that did the trick. Perhaps the bolt was pushing on the valve. Thankfully it held air after that and I didnt have to repeat that for future fills.
I am really impressed with both the features and the (over)performance of this little thing.