Soaker Dissection: Water Warriors Orca

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isoaker
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Soaker Dissection: Water Warriors Orca

Post by isoaker » Wed Jul 02, 2008 1:10 pm

Preamble: This type thread is meant to be used for members to discuss and make suggestions on various stock water blasters past and present. Each thread will look at a particular stock soaker and members are invited to give their input on what they consider works well for the blaster as well as what areas could have used some improving. As opinions on how good a particular blaster is may vary, please be open to others' opinions. If you think something is good about a blaster, give us your reasons why you think that way. As well, if you think there are aspects that could be improved, give suggestions on what sort of improvements you think would have made for a better water blaster.

Water Warriors Orca
The Water Warriors Orca is the largest single-piece HydroPower-based water blaster Buzz Bee Toys Inc. has released. It features five nozzles: four stream settings and one fan-nozzle. The stream nozzles produce a solid water stream though the largest setting seems to lack enough 'oomph' for its size. The fan nozzle works well for its design, though, offering good coverage, though obviously more limited range than the stream settings. Pumping is easy and the Orca also features an electornic pressure gauge that is activated by pressing a button on the side of the blaster. The original Orca had its reservoir cap on the bottom side of the reservoir; this position resulting in funny bubbling, almost whale-like noises during pumping. Thankfully, the 2008 version moved the reservoir cap to the top-side of the reservoir. Other stats and pictures of the Water Warriors Orca can be found on the iSoaker.com Water Warriors review page. Internal pictures can be found on the Water Warriors Orca Internal Images page.

What are your thoughts on this blaster? Love it? Hate it? What makes it good and what could they have improved in its design? Share your thoughts and soak on!

:cool:
:: Leave NO one dry! :: iSoaker.com .:

HBWW
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Re: Soaker Dissection: Water Warriors Orca

Post by HBWW » Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:17 am

This is just on the 2007 Orca since I haven't handled the 2008 one... yet =) It seems to be on the heavier end when not loaded, but the extra weight isn't as noticable when loaded. While the Orca is the most powerful WW available, its power still feels lacking compared to the Flash Flood and to simiarly sized CPS's such as the 1000, 1200, etc. The nozzle options given are very nice though, with exception of the fan blast which ought to be drilled into a shower or riot blast. I guess its also because I've never been a "fan" of fan blasts given how useless they are in most situations. Even if you can soak 2 more more people in one area, or if you tilt the gun sideways, it still doesn't provide as much soakage as even the smallest stream. Which reminds me of something interesting on the blaster: the fact that one can shoot the small stream while pressurizing.

iSoaker, I assume you never had to deal with any trigger leaks on the 2007 Orca, which is odd because all 3 Orca's I've seen and/or handled have developed that problem to the point where the blaster is basically unusable. (unless you snap the trigger shut, which is annoying to have to do) 1 on mine which I returned, 1 on a friend's, and 1 on Evangel's at the Aquatic vs. Mizukage war. One thing I'm curious about is whether or not they fixed this leaking on the 2008 Orca, though I could fix it myself without too much trouble.

Electronic pressure gauge. We all know by now that its pretty useless for most of us, and after opening a friend's Orca to do a repair, I found that the pressure gauge works quite simply. A flexible tube from the PC area leads to a spring-backed piston, with the spring having response that correlates with the PC's pressure. As the piston moves back, a tab to the side moves up with it and pushes metal pieces so that they go together and complete the respective light circuits. This proves that a normal pressure gauge would not only be possible, but it'd be cheaper than the electric. (and obviously more useful) However, can't blame BBT for this given market conditions. Plus, modifying the gun to show the actual gauge shouldn't be too difficult: just cut or drill a hole in the casing, bring the gauge out, and duct tape it to the case. Here's a picture that ought to explain how the gauge works. It doesn't show the gauge very well so I apologize, but it was the only clear picture I had of the area. It also shows the repair on the leak.

Image

This isn't the first time I've posted about this, so hopefully it'll be helpful.

As more comes up, I'll be sure to post about it.
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isoaker
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Re: Soaker Dissection: Water Warriors Orca

Post by isoaker » Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:25 am

@C-A_99: actually, regarding valve sticking, I actually did notice some vale-sticking problems on my Orca (2007) when doing some field testing with it. However, after the valve arm split and needed repair, I haven't used it much since then. Of course, my blasters likely don't see the same amounts of use as your guys' blasters do. Hopefully they've fixed or at least reduced the problem in the 2008 model.

:cool:
:: Leave NO one dry! :: iSoaker.com .:

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