Water Warriors Drench 'n Blast at Target

[isoaker]

Looks like Target will be carrying a good amount of the 2013 Water Warriors line. For those who haven't seen it, they have the Water Warriors Drench 'n Blast on their website. The current box pic, they are showing, appears to have a mistake, though, since it is currently showing a couple of modified pictures of a Blazer instead of the Drench 'n Blast in the lower right corner of the front.

Edit: Forgot to mention, but from what I know, the forward thing that looks like a pressure chamber isn't one, unfortunately.

[Fishfan]

Um, the url doesn't work.
It has two triggers, and two nozzles. kewl. kind of gimicky, but might be useful.

[isoaker]

Um, the url doesn't work.
It has two triggers, and two nozzles. kewl. kind of gimicky, but might be useful.

Doh! Forgot the "=" sign in the code. Fixed now.

As for two triggers being gimmicky, since they appear to control separate nozzles, I'll disagree on the "gimmick" value. In this case, it's for functionality.

[Fishfan]

That's true.

[DukeSoakem]

This actually looks quite interesting, looks nice and I agree that even though it has two triggers, since they are actual triggers where your finger pulls it, that's not massively gimmicky to me, not like the Flash Flood where the second one is stupidly at the top of the blaster.

I'm not very good at guessing how new blasters have worked before release, but if iSoaker mentions that yellow bulb at the top is just cosmetic and not a pressure chamber, then I would have thought it would imply that this blaster is just one massive air pressure reservoir (or the reservoir is just or can act as one huge air pressure chamber). That might be good, if as it says on the box picture that it stores 100oz or close to it, then if you fill it like half up and pump it up, or just fill it to the point where a lot of air can build up, then I'd imagine you could get a pretty mental blast, maybe like a 300 (although that maybe a bit optimistic), but powerwise you'd notice. Sure you only get one or two shots and it wouldn't be the most practical, but if it causes mayhem which the reservoir volume seems to indicate, then sign me up!

Of course I'm probably wrong. I'm quite keen to know though as more is unveiled, if some turn up over here online (probably at local places like Tesco), then I may be inclined to purchase one.

[Nemesis]

hmm. If the bulb isnt a pressure chamber, than is it a huge pr? also, is the front trigger grip also the pump handle? i think the 2 triggers will be good. Anyone else notice the cps like handle? i like it.

[wetmonkey442]

Looks interesting. I find the WW designs this year to be kinda goofy. For example, in this and other guns they are trying to emulate the hard lines and more aggressive styling of the Nerf SS. But at the same time they stick a rounded tank and rounded PC on this blaster. It makes the gun look like it was designed by two different teams.

[SEAL]

Meh. I was looking forward to the 2013 WW line, but so far, it seems that last year's line was better (and I'd say the 2011 line was even better). Why on earth couldn't they put a PC on this? Why would they even have a yellow bulb-looking thing there at all (I have the same question about the MD 5000, actually)? I don't really have very high hopes for this blaster, but I'm looking forward to isoaker's review.

I admire BBT's effort and willingness to listen to our community, but they really need to step things up a bit before I start using their blasters in serious wars. The Gorgon was good, but I was kind of hoping that they'd follow up with an improved design. Unless CPS blasters completely disappear from the field of combat (which ain't going to happen any time soon), I want something that can at least hold it's own against one. It's totally possible to do cheaply, and they've done it with the Gorgon and Vindicator.

[Fishfan]

Maybe the gargoyle is a follow-up to the gorgon, it sounds kind of similar.

[Nemesis]

Surely if it has a 100 oz. reservoir it has a pressure chamber. I just cant imagine a 100 oz. pressurized reservoir...

[marauder]

It has a pressure chamber. No worries.

[isoaker]

It has a pressure chamber. No worries.

Unless you have a different one than the ones I've seen, there's no PC. That said, I won't write off this blaster's performance and functionality until testing is done.

[SEAL]

Maybe the gargoyle is a follow-up to the gorgon, it sounds kind of similar.

The Gargoyle is a piston gun.

[Fishfan]

Ah, I see.

[Nemesis]

how can it not have a pc? how else would it be pressurized with a 100 oz. res.?

[isoaker]

how can it not have a pc? how else would it be pressurized with a 100 oz. res.?

Pumping ... a lot of pumping.

[marauder]

Just picked up a Drench 'N Blast at Target. My first impression is that it looks a lot better in person than online. I like that they went with the same color scheme as the Python, Renegade, and Gorgon. The detailing is nice as well. Looks more professional than previous Water Warriors guns. The back and top of the gun look A LOT like a Max D 6000.



I put about 20 oz of water, just enough to pressurize the PC, and took it outside. There was very little resistance while pumping. Some may like this. Some may prefer high resistance pumping ala the dual action Storm pumps. I felt concerned, like something was blocked, because I felt like it wasn't drawing any water at all. While filling the gun up I noticed that it had the exact same intake tube as DX's Gorgon, and that we had to snip that to get the pump working at full strength. Well, after about 20 something pumps I pulled the trigger. WEAK. Wow, what a let down. It maybe shot 20 feet. I pulled the trigger to the large nozzle. Water sputtered out of the large nozzle and fell about 3 feet in front of me. I unscrewed the reservoir cap and the gun hissed back at me as the pressure escaped the reservoir. Just as we all feared... this gun is pressurized reservoir.



Well, I filled it up again. Not 2/3 of a tank, or even 3/4 of a tank, but rather close to the top. There was probably about 8 oz of air left in the tank. Then I pumped, and I pumped, and then I pumped some more. Went out back and pulled the trigger. Thirty-three feet. The larger nozzle got about 20. It is possible to fire both at the same time but pressure is drained VERY fast. You get maybe 1 second's worth of shot time when pulling both triggers, and this was at about 3/4 of a tank. If you only have about 10 oz left, forget about it. It's not happening.

It's apparent that this gun is going to be a major bust, as far as the community is concerned. I'm also afraid that this is going to be a major bust among kids and the public in general. This reminded me a lot of when I got an SS 200 at 7. I pumped and pumped and pumped. I remember counting to 18, which was more than I ever pumped up my XP 55. It was sooo weak. I thought it was broken. Years later I got my hands on another 200. After pumping about 36 times it was clear that the 200 was just as powerful as my old 55, but as a 7 year old there was no way I was going to know that or even want to pump it up that much. Unfortunately, unlike the SS 200, the Drench 'N Blast lacks a pressure chamber, so power drops off much much quicker.

This is just the type of problem that will lead kids to pick up a motorized watergun - which is what we don't want. Why pump away for a minute if you can only shoot for a few seconds?


the nozzles:



I broke off some pieces trying to get it open





and a size comparison with the Colossus:

how can it not have a pc? how else would it be pressurized with a 100 oz. res.?

Pumping ... a lot of pumping.

Too true. I will be returning this to Target and getting my $19.99 back.

[SEAL]

Wow. That is so disappointing. This gun is almost Hasbro-level (it strongly reminds me of the guns that Hasbro made around 2004-'05)! I was actually really looking forward to the 2013 BBT line, so this is kind of a let-down for me. Hopefully the 2014 line will be better, or maybe there are still a few blasters for this year that we don't know about yet (Gorgon 2... please...).

[isoaker]

While I'll agree that the amount of pumping required to build good pressure is overkill due to the large size of the reservoir, I have a feeling you're being a little too harsh on the blaster. If the reservoir is filled to the 2/3 or 3/4 mark and fully pressurized, I can bet you can create a decent-powered stream for more than just a couple of seconds. While a separate pressure chamber would definitely be preferred to reduce the sheer amount of pumping required to build good pressure, I wouldn't write this one off as current "Hasbro-level", especially considering that none of the new Nerf Super Soakers even try to use air-pressure.

[SEAL]

Like I said, it reminds me of Hasbro's large PR blasters from '04 and '05 (the Triple Aggressor and Hydroblade come to mind), so that's why I said it was almost Hasbro-level. However, you're right; Nerf has gone below the previous "Hasbro-level" threshold, haha.

I'm actually surprised that it doesn't shoot that far, as there are PR guns that can hit close to 40', like the MD 4000 and Viper, both of which have much smaller reservoirs than this blaster. But PR guns can be kind of finicky. My Equalizer has a weird habit of misting out occasionally, even though I pump it up all the way and hold it the right way. It usually only does that at the beginning of the shot, then the stream corrects itself. Anyway, I really don't see why the Drench 'n' Blast can't have a separate PC. Why have that yellow bulb-thing there at all?