Latest Soaker / Water Blaster

[SEAL]

Black Six: You going to get back into soaking now? It looks like there will plenty of wars to attend in 2013, some very close to your area...

[marauder]

I drive right past Bel Air on the way to Scotts or basically whenever i go up north.

[Black Six]

I make no guarantees. My free time tends to go away pretty fast.

[SEAL]

My brothers got an MD 5000 from a friend, the same color as the one I had back in '02. Unfortunately the pump is broken (it just freely slides with no resistance). I'm guessing the seal is faulty, but I probably won't attempt to fix it until I get done with my other blasters. Now I have the entire Max-D series, haha. I'll be interested to see if the 5K can outperform the 4K. There isn't much of a gap between the 4K and the 6K for it to fill. I have a feeling that if it had a real seperate PC, it could've been a great gun, as it's pretty compact. I would even count it as a pistol.

[soakinader]

Time for a legit post.
So, over the past 24 hours, I have visited 5 value villages, 3 salvation armies and two other thrift stores (though I saw even more that were closed).
On my pillaging conquest, I came across many different items. Among them are two of my latest and greatest trophies.




These arent them. Many of the items I found had to stay, unfortunately. A 1$ MXD 2000 was too small and uncomfortable for me; a MXD 3000 that I really liked and was comfortable (and powerful!) but had a 4$ tag on it that I just couldn't buy (on principle), and an ultimate renegade (also 4$) was abandoned as well.

However, I did have room in my collection for two very special blasters:



A BNIB Speedloader 2000! For 10$! It's dusty, but like new and still has a sticker on it for 30$. This is the second generation "Loads 4X faster" version with the SPDL 1100/1600 on the back. This thing can rock some socks. If it works, of course.



The second I saw this 2nd thing, I knew what it was, but I had to get closer in order to be certain. And I was out of my mind with happiness. It was big, it was bulky, it was yellow:



A Hydra Pak, for 5$! I have wanted one for a looong time, and I can't wait to test this little beauty out. It looks like it was never used, and it does shoot a good burst of air. After a closer inspection, it does appear to have a small leak somewhere inside. I can't wait to test it, fix it, and maybe even modify it. I'm thinking of buying some balloons....

-And this is why I don't buy online (much;) anymore. I get what I want for dirt cheap through patience and vigilance. The Hydra Pak is one of many things that I wanted to buy for big $$$ that I have ended up getting for under 10$. Eventually, I figure I will get everything I want. XD
I wonder what I will find next week...

[DX]

So Savers and Value Village are the same company. The stickers on your VV finds are identical to the ones that Savers uses here in CT. My Super Savers club card says it's good for Value Village too, but there are none anywhere to be seen around here.

Nice Speedloader, is that the first water gun you've thrifted NIB? I've never encountered a NIB soaker while thrifting, only NIB nerf guns. Thrifting is so awesome except that you can't get something specific except through dumb luck. Sometimes a store produces a motherlode, then busts 5 visits in a row. M4 and I hit up a Savers and scored a longshot, BBB, and first gen NF (nerf guns) then next time I swung by there were no toy guns of any kind.

[marauder]

Pillaging conquest lol. Thrift stores suck in the Raleigh are. I have not found a single thing. We have 2 in Clayton andI go about once a month. When I lived in Charlotte I found a CPS 1000 and a Storm gun but other than that I struck out. On my drive back from CT I found nothing until I came to my last stop where they had an IM2, black widow, md secret strike, storm 2, and 2 nerf guns. Whyd you leave the renegade?

[Fishfan]

Same here. I asked at my local Goodwill if they get them in, and she said she refuses to put up any type of gun, because kids will take them off the shelves and play with them. I've had no luck with garage sales either, only finding a couple squirt toys.

[marauder]

Garage sales used to be the way to go back in the day, but now we have ebay, craigs list, and thrift stores are more popular too. Plus... I'm just not a morning person.

In my experience Good Will has the worst toy selection out of any Thrift chain I've been to. Both of the Clayton Good Wills have only stuffed animals and crappy little plastic toys for toddlers. OH! Speaking of stuffed animals, I have a confession to make. I took my ex gf (of 3+ years) favorite stuffed bear that she had received as a baby to Good Will after she broke up with me over the phone. Payback is a *****

[soakinader]

@DX, this is the first NIB water gun I have bought/seen, but I also bought a 50oz Aquapack NIB , and have seen a nerf magstrike, bought a nerf recon, and a longshot NIB while thrifting.
Also, there was a BBB and an AT4K at the place with the MAX-D 3000 and the ult renegade; but I already have tons of those and no one to sell them to.
@marauder-Why would I want the Ult. Renegade? I thought it was a subpar blaster... hmm, it doesn't look bad, but the small PC puts me off. I have so many better guns it's not funny...
Also, I have found about 5X as many nerf guns as water guns, and bought approximately 147 (last time I checked) from thrift stores. I probably have bought around 30 water guns. 31, counting that 1$ MAX-D 2000 I bought yesterday along with a 3$ Speedload 6. Also spotted were a broken wildfire, 2X RF 20's, and a working Stampede the same place as the Hydra Pak. They were gone when I returned the next day.
I can confirm from checking my local stores like clockwork, that the best month/s of the year for value pillaging/saving guns for my army are January and February. I found some receipts last year and I bought an awful lot of guns in the first week of February. Every day or second day there is some kind of new nerf/super soaker/lazer tag gun on the shelf. I go three times a week, minimum.
@Marauder again, goodwill can be hit or miss but I remember several members of the NIC talking about getting good stuff at goodwill (everything from Splitfires to NF and BBB)
VV FTW. Talize is OP, and SA is well... SA. Only things I have bought at SA was my first minty CPS1000, the SPDL 2K NIB ^above, and a few random XP's and classic SS, along with a handful of nerf guns. Of course, living very close to a good thrift store is the key to some lucrative finds XD.

[marauder]

The fact that you own 2 vaporizers and 2 helixes doesn't exactly say, "I'm picky about the waterguns I buy." =P

[Fishfan]

Grrrrr... I don't have any Value villages around here. Not even in Orlando, and Orlando has almost every store you can possible find it seems.

[DX]

I can confirm from checking my local stores like clockwork, that the best month/s of the year for value pillaging/saving guns for my army are January and February.

That's very interesting, because I've noticed the water guns decline to 0-2 per trip and nothing legitly in the medium class. There's still a lot of wintertime left, but the fall is when water guns poured in at my stores. Nerf guns, of course, come flying in around the clock. I wish I could experiment with one store and study its inventory every day, but it's not cost effective where I live. I have more of a "smash and grab" campaign that relies on volume and checking out as many stores as possible in one long string of visits. It's the only way to offset the gas. The Conn route checks up on 5-7 stores and uses up to a half a tank of gas. The Tristate route checks 12 stores and uses 3/4 to a full tank of gas. My prospective New England route hits up some 17 stores for a full tank of gas, but it will probably take all day, so I haven't tried it yet.

Other observations:

- Best clean-outs have come at unpopular times. Middle of the day on a weekday, morning on a weekend. An empty store is less likely to be picked over.
- Avoid sale days or be prepared to hit the early AM. The crowds are large and the shelves are empty.
- Come prepared. You will find guns you're never heard of or seen before. Don't pass up something great by mistake. I grab the item, look it up on my phone, and then make a decision. Always take possession of the item while looking it up.
- Come with a list of prices in your head. You should have a general idea of how much you'll pay for various blasters. I hit up Ebay on my phone when unsure.
- Dissuade kids who grab something before you get to it. Tell them how much it sucks, point out that it's broken, missing accessories, etc.

[Fishfan]

- Dissuade kids who grab something before you get to it. Tell them how much it sucks, point out that it's broken, missing accessories, etc.

Lol

[soakinader]

The fact that you own 2 vaporizers and 2 helixes doesn't exactly say, "I'm picky about the waterguns I buy." =P

There are so many things wrong with this statement.

1: What does? How about all of the Kryptons, EES Turbines, Shot Blasts, Bottle Blitz and other no-name crapola I didn't buy? Not to mention the Thunderstorms and Electrostorms everyone at the VAW had.
2: Don't you dare make fun of the Helix. They were 1$ and 3$ when I bought them, and I would much rather buy a 2$ Helix than a 30$ Tornado Strike. (Yeah, that's how much they cost up here!) -And the Vaporizers make great loaners to little kids, as they are virtually indestructible.
3: The Helix/Vaporizer are actually pretty legit guns. Compared to the piston-based crap nowadays, they are actually quite well designed.

No, these 4 are not my best guns, but they were cheap, and they were bought at a time when either A: There had been nothing else to buy for weeks, or B: I had no idea what they were but they looked alright. I never intended to buy the second Helix but it was attached to an Aquapack XD.

[mr. dude]

1: What does? How about all of the Kryptons, EES Turbines, Shot Blasts, Bottle Blitz and other no-name crapola I didn't buy? Not to mention the Thunderstorms and Electrostorms everyone at the VAW had.

I don't appreciate the EES Turbine sideswipe! Dat ain't gon' fly up in here!

Also, I've always been really fascinated by the Helix. At the end of the day, it can soak a large area pretty quickly, and range doesn't suck.

[soakinader]

- Dissuade kids who grab something before you get to it. Tell them how much it sucks, point out that it's broken, missing accessories, etc.

See, this is why it's good to be strong and tall. You just tackle, grab and run. If people are in your way, they move. Or they learn.

Then again, I would punch a toddler in the face for a CPS 2000.

[soakinader]

I found an air hogs warpstream today. It appears to have a pressure leak, and I have no idea yet how to detach the rocket from it, but it looked pretty unique and I wanted to see what I could do with it. Anyone here have one or have fired one or maybe modified it or something, post away.

[isoaker]

I found an air hogs warpstream today. It appears to have a pressure leak, and I have no idea yet how to detach the rocket from it, but it looked pretty unique and I wanted to see what I could do with it. Anyone here have one or have fired one or maybe modified it or something, post away.

See: Air Hogs Warpstream
Definitely fired it and it's a fun toy, but no real soaking capabilities (well, the launcher gets a little bit wet). Lost one rocket to a tree, but picked up some spares. You should be able to detach the rocket if you hold it really upright, pull the trigger, then push the rocket in and pull it out. Of course, if some of the internal clips no longer move, it may be jammed and require opening.

Mine's in deep storage, though, so I can't take a pick of the actual launch port, though there is a picture (overexposed) of the Vector's launch port which shows part of a clip and the locking mechanism. See: Air Hogs Vector images.

[soakinader]

Well, thanks for the reply. Did you actually measure 130 feet or is that just a good guesstimate/box claim?
I doubt the rocket would still be with it if it was easier to detach lol.
The thing I like the most is the metal pump shaft. That sucker won't break easily.