Stock water blaster recommendations for 2014

[scottthewaterwarrior]

Still not as bad as the intake on the Viper. the intake is in the very back and yet the tank slants toward the front of the blaster. As I have said in years past, I do not even like intake tubes. I much prefer a simple hole in the bottom of the reservoir. This is what the XP 310 uses and I could get every drop of water from that tank. I find that even if taped on the bottom of the tank, using a tube means that it is still slightly higher then the bottom of the tank. This always ends up with a little water that can't be used.

Intake tubes are less of a problem on large blasters, but on a small gun like the Viper, about 1/10 of the water in it can't be used!

[HBWW]

I don't mind if a little can't be used, but I do if nearly a quarter of the tank can't be used without sloshing around and causing air to get pumped in a CPS. An intake hole is always better than a tube, but sometimes the tube is needed.

[marauder]

The intake situation is more of a personal preference than something I think they should change. However, based off Andrew's mod, and seeing what some other people have done with their guns I will say that I'm probably not the only one who feels this way.

I like having an intake at the lowest point possible in a gun, that way I know I can get every last drop. When you cut the intake tube on the Gorgon you end up pulling water from the front bottom corner. When you point the gun down this is the lowest point. Therefore I am able to take full use of my reservoir's capacity. I especially did not like the situation with the Python's intake tube, but that was a pressurized reservoir gun and the design was very different. I didn't get to use Dux's Python 2, so I'm not sure if the situation was fixed or not.

[HBWW]

I like having an intake at the lowest point possible in a gun

This is always how it should be done, as long as the point chosen is accessible. I prefer intakes built for high angles, but don't mind lower angles (nozzle pointed lower) as long as the angle can be estimated and doesn't require you to hold the blaster absolutely still to prevent water sloshing. This is the exact problem of some of the CPS's; not only is the intake not at the lowest point of the reservoir, but the reservoir is shaped so that the lowest point isn't even a good spot.

I can't seriously be the only one who gets air pumped into a 1000 or 1200 when the capacity is low though, am I? Perhaps I did it wrong and you have to hold the blaster as level as possible, but that's not going to stop water from sloshing around and getting trapped at the wrong end of the reservoir. Even the Flash Flood with its intake tube doesn't have any problems remotely like this, and it only leaves a few droplets of water unusable.

If an intake tube helps the reservoir use water more effectively, then I prefer one, by all means. In other cases, it does waste some droplets when the blaster design allows for a bottom intake. Sometimes however, the tube allows for a larger reservoir and more efficient space use for a given design.

[marauder]

The only time I've used a 1000 or 1200 since 1999 has been whenever I'm borrowing one of DX's K modded guns at a Comm war, and typically we avoid getting that low on water since the rounds are kind of short. This time around we will be having longer rounds though, so I bet it will probably happen to a lot of people. Back on subject though, I did actually use a stock 1000 vs DX with the Gorgon and I was getting some air in the PC with the last couple of pumps, but it wasn't as bad as some guns, and at that point it was only about a second's worth of water left in the tank anyway.

Not all intake tubes are bad. I do well with the 100 since the tank is semi transparent and I can hold the gun a certain way to get the water in the PC. Even when I'm not looking it's ok since the 100 needs a lot more pumps worth of air in the PC than the Gorgon. The Defender also has an intake tube. It's got a really nice filter on the end of it. Probably the best I've seen (it's also featured on some other guns released that year) and I was an idiot and snipped it off because I had recently just snipped off the filters on my 40 and one of my 240s (after doing a nozzle mod) and I was in pressurized reservoir mod mode.

[HBWW]

but it wasn't as bad as some guns, and at that point it was only about a second's worth of water left in the tank anyway.

It must have still been a lot more water than the droplets that most intake tubes leave, however. I guess it depends how much you're moving and how you hold the gun, because I still get nearly a full PC's worth of water left in the reservoir that gets mixed with air.

I would definitely avoid removing screens from the intakes. I generally only remove the ones from the Flash Flood/Arctic Blast and blasters with similar nozzles.

So... Stock blaster recommendations for 2014 haven't changed much. I'll take a stock 2500, please. =p

I do need to stop by the store however, to see what BBT has on shelves. Hopefully there's a leftover Gorgon I can grab.

Edit: There's one thing I'd like to add, and that is regarding the intake tube on the Colossus' PC. I'm not sure if they fixed this for the Colossus 2, but the first Colossus' intake tube doesn't even go near the bottom of the pressure chamber. I will have to try adding a weight to it as suggested before, but until I have the time, there will be lots of water sloshing around that can't get used. Hopefully this is not present in the Colossus 2 and will be avoided in future blasters.

Edit: I'm thinking of buying some sort of metal/brass fitting as a weight for the tube to attach right onto it. Thoughts?

[the oncoming storm]

It may or may not be to late for it to be implemented next year, A Tanker Weapon with a 2 gallon softpack (to minimize shelf space) 50oz PC , 45' range and 5x, Riot Blast and 10x nozzle's.

[soakinader]

So basically you're looking at an SS 300 with nozzles and a soft backpack? Or a CPS 3000 with double the PC capacity?
Like that's going to happen.

[marauder]

CA99, the cheapest/best option for you to do is to buy some fishing weights. Get some bullet weights that are about twice as large as an air rifle pellet. They look like this


That's a very zoomed in photo.

You can get them in separate plastic packs or in multi packs like this



Then take some fishing line, string it through the weights and tie it to your intake tube. If you don't have fishing line you can use sewing thread, but it's not as strong.

This should cost you no more than $3 if you don't have your own fishing supplies already.

[the oncoming storm]

A well well made PRV could serve dual proposes as a Pressure Gauge, just make the spring get stronger the more it gets pushed in, put it in a transparent tube that can be seen outside the gun and print markings on the casing. The result a Pressure gauge that reads all the way to PRV activation and that doesn't add a new weak point in the internals. The downsides it needs to be forward of both check valves meaning longer return tubing and having transparent pipe.

[Area51]

what I would love in a water gun is, it can't be so heavy, just the right weight no more than 8 ponds loaded. I also like pressure chambers like the 150 not the python2 which doesn't have any. I like the 150s pump, because it didn't take very long to pump. It doesn't matter if it has multiple nozzles. The colors would depend on the environment like in the woods in the summer, camo would be more useful like the stone cold water gun, but my personal choice would be neon blue and black with a super cool design maybe on the pressure chamber? The least favorite colors I would put on their would be pink,orange, light purple, yellow. But you have to have some perks with the water gun. For example like a see through pressure chamber and pump,and to end it all off with some tactical rails.

[the oncoming storm]

Area51, You do realize that a Super Soaker WWE Black Widow (sorry I meant Undertaker) could easily be made into what you just described for $5-10 (less If you already have a nerf gun with a rail)

[SEAL]

What the heck is a WWE Black Widow???

As for 2014 blasters, Super Soaker already blew it, but I'm really hoping that BBT comes out with a "Gorgon 2" (hopefully with a better name) blaster with vastly improved ergonomics. Hoping for anything more is like hoping you'll win the lottery.

By the way, welcome to WWn Area51!

[HBWW]

^ It's a typo, I would guess.

I generally don't have too high expectations on BBT, but it would be nice if they come out with something competitive again like the Gorgon. Time will tell. Expecting anything remotely useful from Super Soaker at this point is equivalent to dropping a nuke on a dead horse.

[marauder]

After using the Gorgon against several CPS this week I can definitely say BBT can still make a "competitive" gun. Even Tony's Python 2 put up some what of a fight vs larger CPS blasters.

With that being said, I think our sentiments are best summed up in one sentence, "bigger is better." If I could add an asterisk on the end of this sentence it would read "bigger components in a medium package." Bigger pump volumes, larger PC capacities, and at least 1 larger nozzle in blasters the size of the Colossus 2 and up.

The Colossus 2 got destroyed by the 150 and original Colossus due to the combination of a smaller pump volume and pc capacity. The overall shell design was great and I feel like BBT did a good job of using as much shell space as possible, but I would have gladly traded reservoir capacity for increased PC capacity, and the shell could have easily supported a larger pump volume.

In terms of practicality for BBT's younger consumers, ten year old Danny could easily pump the 150. So, I don't think it's too much to ask for BBT blasters the size of the Python 2 and up to double their pump capacity. Of course, in the case of the Python 2 it would have been a huge boost to actually have a pressure chamber, as Area 51 already pointed out.

With that being said, I was pleasantly surprised that the Python 2 wasn't absolutely omg $!)!$$! destroyed by all of our big CPS guns. BBT has done a great job ensuring their latest releases have good range. We are happy with that. Increased pump volume, pc volume, and maybe even a larger (4-8x) nozzle option would take this to the next level. Of course, by now I'm sure that next year's lineup is already made and is being manufactured and sent to various retailers, but maybe this will help for 2015. If nothing else, it will be interesting to look back at this thread and compare the actual product to our recommendations.

[the oncoming storm]

Here's and Idea Buzz Bee should tell people about blasters instead of letting Community members just "Discover" them, that way they can make a big deal about product releases and build some hype before they hit shelfs.

Also they should include the Water Warfare thingy Isoaker worked on for them in the box so they can hopefully grow the market that uses top level primary's to the point of manufacturer profitability.

[isoaker]

Here's and Idea Buzz Bee should tell people about blasters instead of letting Community members just "Discover" them, that way they can make a big deal about product releases and build some hype before they hit shelfs.

Also they should include the Water Warfare thingy Isoaker worked on for them in the box so they can hopefully grow the market that uses top level primary's to the point of manufacturer profitability.

Telling the Community members without being given access to the actual products could work just as easily against building hype. As well, our community is just too small that even if all of us were trying to build hype, our effect to the general consumer would be mostly unnoticed.

I've recommended to them before about the idea of including small booklets with their blasters for both game ideas as well as providing a list of other water blasters available, but they are currently unconvinced that there would be enough of a difference in sales to justify the added cost.

[HBWW]

I have other ideas as compromise:
- Promote their web presence more on the packaging.
- Push for more web content. The website has never been more than just a short product catalog and the games listing.
- Push social media. At least work on official Facebook and YouTube presence.

The cost of doing this is less than that of including extra paper with each blaster that may get thrown away. BBT can do way more to reach out to their consumers that just a booklet.

[isoaker]

I have other ideas as compromise:
- Promote their web presence more on the packaging.
- Push for more web content. The website has never been more than just a short product catalog and the games listing.
- Push social media. At least work on official Facebook and YouTube presence.

The cost of doing this is less than that of including extra paper with each blaster that may get thrown away. BBT can do way more to reach out to their consumers that just a booklet.

Actually, the cost of managing a company's social media appearance or even additional web content for their website is costly as well. While the content hosting may be free, but you need someone to generate the good content, not to mention also monitor posts and replies to remove and questionable or offensive user-submitted content. A poorly managed social media campaign will do more damage than good. A properly managed push into the digital realm costs man-hours which would make the whole booklet printing look cheap in comparison. One also could not do this purely through volunteers. Unless an individual has a truly vested interest in the company, they are just as likely to do an about-face at any point in time.

[HBWW]

It's also the limits of conservative corporate approaches. There are lots of very successful social media campaigns where the cost is naught, and there's no real need to monitor content IMO as long as you don't piss off the user base. Even many poorly managed social media campaigns don't do all that bad. (Sometimes poorly managed means over-managed as well.)

I think people really overthink social media. All it really should be is simple, where the admin puts out content at least every once in a while and engages earnestly with the fan base. There's a bit too much of that mysterious/awkward company PR vibe with many FB page admins. In essence, you're just thinking about things from the consumer's perspective and take on some of that yourself when managing a page. For that, the most important thing of managing social media is being a fan yourself of whatever it is your page is about.