What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Discussions of all varieties of stock water guns and water blasters.
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isoaker
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What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by isoaker » Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:39 pm

There are many varieties of water blasters on the market; some are more fondly looked at than others. Some water blasters seemed to have had more potential, but then ended up not quite living up to expectations. Thus, to mirror the What makes a great water gun / water blaster thread, this thread is for discussing the aspects of water blasters that just drive us nutty!

What things do you feel can ruin an otherwise promising water gun? Is it just a performance / output / range issue or do other things bother you about some blasters as well? Feel free to give examples if possible and offer ideas on how manufactures could remedy such problems.

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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by HBWW » Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:49 pm

-A bad pump (usually one thats too short and/or lacks pump volume, there are exceptions of course, for pistols)
-Range sacrificed for gimmicks/marketing (i.e. HydroBlitz)
-Simply lack of range, options for larger nozzles, etc.
-Unreliablility; guns intentionally designed to break within a few months or a year of use. (i.e. cps4100 trigger, most max-d valves)
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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by mkhadem » Wed Aug 27, 2008 2:46 pm

- Gun should have a decent sized nozzle.
- Shouldn't leak or break very easily.
- Small resevoir and PC (you can have the most powerful gun in the world but if the reservoir and pc are tiny, you've virtually got a useless gun.)
- Lack of decent power and range.
- Practicality of water gun (e.g. you have a huge powerful water gun but with no strap and no extra handle.)
- Maneuverability

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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by Sun » Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:18 pm

-cheap ripoff
-bad triggers that break easily
-water guns that can't be opened
-bad range
-pump easy to break or doesn't work well
-bad range
-small reservoir/pc
-blows up when you pump it
-hard to pump(i.e Hydro Blitz)
-bad output

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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by isoaker » Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:44 pm

Some of my thoughts on the matter (many of these have already been noted):
- problematic pump (either too small, leaky, awkward to use, or all of the above)
- poor pressure: either due to an over-active pressure release valve, leaky joints, or weaker CPS chamber, if a blaster feels underpowered for its size compared to other similarly-sized water blasters, it probably is
- restrictive grip region: if a grip is too small or uncomfortable to hold, it detracts from the blaster
- poorly made nozzles: nozzles that spray when supposed to be a stream or vice-versa are annoying
- lack of ease of carrying/refilling: larger soakers should come with shoulder straps both for balance as well as being able to carry around more than one easily if desired; handles on larger soakers are good, too, to aid with stabilizing the blaster when refilling
- poor overall ergonomics: soakers should be comfortable to hold when full, empty, and all ranges in-between. If a soaker is front, rear, or side heavy at different times, this leads to undesired strain when using it
- badly designed nozzle selector: for soakers with nozzle selectors, they should be easy to select and easy to figure out what is selected without needing to look at the front of the blaster

There are more points, but that's what's coming to mind at the moment. :goofy:

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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by mr. dude » Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:02 pm

Other than the points already stated:
-soakers that require an effort to change the nozzles (it's a water war, not a gym workout!)
-soakers known purely for their stupid gimmicks. If they had other uses, I wouldn't have a problem, but being known just because they shoot sideways/backwards/a pulsing stream/a stream that can play any song you want (I made that last one up) is useless.
-oversized and underpowered.
-generally speaking, when your customers resort to eBay and garage sales, paying up to $300 for a soaker, something is usally wrong.

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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by cantab » Tue Mar 08, 2011 11:11 pm

Worst sin: Unreliability. Being a bit short on range or output might cost me a fight, but having the trigger stick open on the battlefield WILL cost me the fight.

Second worst: Too expensive. I don't normally want to be paying more than £20 for a blaster. If I can get it for under a tenner, I'll be a lot less fussed about flaws, and if it's less than a fiver then as long as it's not completely dire I'll be happy.

Third worst: Leaks.

Otherwise, if the power is good (considering the size), then I can usually tolerate other faults; while I'll criticise them, I don't think they make the blaster bad.

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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by HBWW » Tue Mar 08, 2011 11:37 pm

I almost always carry a sidearm, so that if the primary malfunctions (which plenty of CPS's still do despite the fact that most of them were properly designed), I still have a little PR to use for the rest of the match.
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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by Naugh » Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:06 pm

cantab wrote:Worst sin: Unreliability. Being a bit short on range or output might cost me a fight, but having the trigger stick open on the battlefield WILL cost me the fight.

Second worst: Too expensive. I don't normally want to be paying more than £20 for a blaster. If I can get it for under a tenner, I'll be a lot less fussed about flaws, and if it's less than a fiver then as long as it's not completely dire I'll be happy.

Third worst: Leaks.

Otherwise, if the power is good (considering the size), then I can usually tolerate other faults; while I'll criticise them, I don't think they make the blaster bad.

Absolutely agree on the first point. There is nothing worse in a blaster than it working the way you expect it too (especially when performance is below expectancy. (This includes being poorly designed /poorly made)

The second one is not being powerful for the given size (the reason why I don't really like the Super Soaker Monster /Monster XL and have a hard time understanding what prompts people into paying incredible sums for these blasters)
Last edited by Naugh on Mon Sep 12, 2011 11:42 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by wetmonkey442 » Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:37 pm

The biggest problem for me is capacity. Manufacturers have moved towards a design mentality that emphasizes style at the expense of capacity rather than the earlier styles which worked around the natural shapes of the water blaster.
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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by isoaker » Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:11 pm

wetmonkey442 wrote:The biggest problem for me is capacity. Manufacturers have moved towards a design mentality that emphasizes style at the expense of capacity rather than the earlier styles which worked around the natural shapes of the water blaster.
While this may be true for the Super Soaker brand water blasters, I still think the Water Warriors brand blasters still have capacity and performance rated higher than style. While there are a few Water Warriors blasters that have limited capacity, I'd say none of the performance and/or Ultimate lines have forsaken capacity. Any capacity reduction in the current models are due to manufacturing cost increases.

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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by marauder » Fri Aug 26, 2011 4:12 pm

I've never had a problem with capacity in Water Warriors. The larger guns always have smaller nozzle options which allow for conserving ammo.

I do like the extra water backpack that Super Soaker released a while back, that allows you to carry extra ammo for the Flash Flood, Defender, etc. I keep saying this, but XN suggested these things many years ago. I'd definitely agree that the new Super Soakers suffer from lack of capacity, and so it'd be nice if they had the ability to use the backpack, but there are so many other things wrong with them, performance wise that I wouldn't purchase them to begin with.
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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by cantab » Fri Aug 26, 2011 4:37 pm

The Aquapacks were never quite as good as they could have been really. The smaller shoulder-strap one only held 1.5l, which isn't much. The larger backpack one, not so widely available (but it was supplied with the Overload blaster) held 3l, OK but not huge. The blasters they fed were for the most part fairly small; I found the backpack and hose an unwanted encumbrance with them.

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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by Naugh » Sat Aug 27, 2011 6:11 am

cantab wrote:The Aquapacks were never quite as good as they could have been really. The smaller shoulder-strap one only held 1.5l, which isn't much. The larger backpack one, not so widely available (but it was supplied with the Overload blaster) held 3l, OK but not huge. The blasters they fed were for the most part fairly small; I found the backpack and hose an unwanted encumbrance with them.
I beg to differ on a few points.

While the backpack the Max Infusion Overload, isn't large, I feel it should be seen in relation to the soakers that you are attaching it too. An FF may be great, but it is certainly no CPS 3000. A main advantage of the FF is that it grants the user high mobility and that the main nozzle conserves water automatically. Therefore, a large backpack would, in my opnion, prove to be counterprcoductive.
Also, during my water wars, when I wear the Max Infusion Overload backpack, I certainly feel no encumbrance. I am not a body builder at 5" 6' and about 105 lbs, but the backpack poses no problem. It also doesn't limit mobility (i.e. you can move your arms freely and stuff). Perhaps I feel this way because I'm short and slim enough to still wear the backpack comfortably?

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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by marauder » Sat Aug 27, 2011 12:24 pm

Naugh wrote:
cantab wrote:The Aquapacks were never quite as good as they could have been really. The smaller shoulder-strap one only held 1.5l, which isn't much. The larger backpack one, not so widely available (but it was supplied with the Overload blaster) held 3l, OK but not huge. The blasters they fed were for the most part fairly small; I found the backpack and hose an unwanted encumbrance with them.
I beg to differ on a few points.

While the backpack the Max Infusion Overload, isn't large, I feel it should be seen in relation to the soakers that you are attaching it too. An FF may be great, but it is certainly no CPS 3000. A main advantage of the FF is that it grants the user high mobility and that the main nozzle conserves water automatically. Therefore, a large backpack would, in my opnion, prove to be counterprcoductive.
Also, during my water wars, when I wear the Max Infusion Overload backpack, I certainly feel no encumbrance. I am not a body builder at 5" 6' and about 105 lbs, but the backpack poses no problem. It also doesn't limit mobility (i.e. you can move your arms freely and stuff). Perhaps I feel this way because I'm short and slim enough to still wear the backpack comfortably?
Exactly. Unless you are only using your flood nozzle on the FF or AB you really don't need a 3L backpack or whatever. I like to think of capacity in terms of burst shots per tank, not overall oz. This is something that I am currently writing an article on, however it won't be out until October.
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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by Impending Flood » Sun Aug 28, 2011 6:51 am

One thing I hate: Tiny nozzle. I'm serious. Whilst most people wouldn't think it's too bad, for me it's really annoying. I had a pulse strike and it literally gives 1ml per second. Another thing is unreliability, which someone mentioned earlier. I hate it when my Arctic Blast's valve (which was previously broken) decides to get stuck in the open position and make it impossible to build a reasonable pressure in the PC, which in turn means I get a 2m range when pumping furiously. What's worse, is that I'm not a big person (don't get me wrong, I don't mind being small), and I favour travelling light, so I usually don't carry large backups, so I'm practically toast when my blaster gives out.

Another thing is those stupid caps that are glued on. They make dismantling so hard. Speaking of which, does anyone know how to pry the nozzle cap thingo off the pulse strike. It seems to have sprung a leak. This brings up another point. I also hate terribly built guns which spring leaks (yea I know my pulse strike is faulty so don't take this as a black mark against the pulse strike's name).

So hopefully there will be better guns in the future. :cool:
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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by atvan » Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:21 am

Good point. I hate the ones that don't work. :p

WW is slightly more prone to leaks, simply because they lack the $$$ to use thw same high-quality plastics Hasbro uses.

For the pulse strike, if you get it fixed, you should do a nozzles drill. Remember, especially with the pulse series guns, that will significantky reduce shot time, though you may get surprising range if you pick a good size. I would start with maybe 1/8 inch, as you can drill out more later.
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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by Impending Flood » Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:23 am

I've already done that. I've drilled the nozzle to something around 2.5 millimeters which works out around 1/10 (the nozzle was about 1.5 mils before). I had previously drilled it slightly smaller than what it is now (around 2 mils or so) and it has better range than now. I'm guessing that the PC isn't powerful enough to support any bigger nozzles. 1/8 might be a bit too big. My main concern right now is the valve (the nozzle is now acceptable). It keeps getting stuck open and sometimes even closed! From the extent to which I can see it, the valve seems to be rusted.

I also hate guns (especially the ones that I can open up and inspect) that are inconsistent. Sometimes, my Pulse strike (well actually this was sometime ago and doesn't happen anymore) starts leaking water and then stops. It also loses pressure randomly (again, this doesn't happen anymore). Basically I don't like guns that are seemingly faulty then appear fine/ suspicious acting guns. Does anyone know why this happens?

On a side note, what do you guys normally use to lubricate the pump shaft? I've heard that vaseline is bad for some rubbers.
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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by atvan » Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:56 am

Silicon grease all the way.
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Re: What makes a bad water gun / water blaster?

Post by kbuno50 » Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:17 am

One MAJOR one: blasters that will not use space in blaster that is unused.

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