Hands-On: Nerf Super Soaker Zipfire @ iSoaker.com

[isoaker]

I blame Seal for this.

At any rate, this Nerf Super Soaker Zipfire arrived today.

Nerf Super Soaker Zipfire

nerfsupersoaker_zipfire_800.jpg (146.62 KiB) Viewed 4175 times

As expected, 'tis a pricey, but fairly well-built trigger based water blaster (squirt gun). Has a snap cap which is slightly better feel than those used on Water Warriors Kwik Grip-type water blasters. I haven't removed it from its packaging yet, though, since I still need to take more format pictures for posting on iSoaker.com before going about acquiring stats and doing the review.

According to the package, it holds ~3.3oz (~100mL). This is likely fairly accurate since even the smaller Water Warriors Kwik Grips could hold at least 85mL (2.8oz.). Oddly, iSoaker.com doesn't have volume stats for the larger Kwik Grip XLs - will have to fix that.

More info and pics to come...

[HBWW]

But... Why? lol

[SEAL]

Might work for an assassins-type game if it's more powerful than a standard squirt pistol. Are you getting the other Hasbro guns too?

[HBWW]

if it's more powerful than a standard squirt pistol.

LOL

[isoaker]

Might work for an assassins-type game if it's more powerful than a standard squirt pistol.

Based on what can be seen of its internals (through the hole in the reservoir), I don't expect any notable difference in performance.

Are you getting the other Hasbro guns too?

For the sake of the community, I plan to sacrifice some funds to testing out some of these products and posting stats. I am still undecided whether I'll end up reviewing ALL the new models. Will see how things go after the first few reviews.

[TheSoaker]

I-I just-what? No. They didn't! I don't know anymore. *very disturbed xenomorph* *curls up on the floor whimpering*

[HBWW]

^ Now why is the new NSS line any surprise? Did you expect a CPS 2000 after 3 years of no other SS option except unusable piston pumper and motosquirter garbage?

Sounds like the NSS pages are getting plenty of hits, so that they're still worth posting reviews/stats on? (Instead of simply placing a generic statement on NSS's unusably horrible performance and overpricing.)

[isoaker]

Sounds like the NSS pages are getting plenty of hits, so that they're still worth posting reviews/stats on? (Instead of simply placing a generic statement on NSS's unusably horrible performance and overpricing.)

No, NSS pages don't get many hits and it's not like I get any revenue for page views, anyhow. My current decision to review some of these is to objectively find out how these perform and let the stats do the real talking. It's one thing to say "Those things don't look like they'll perform well" to "I've used them and they SUXX0rs". Then again, until testing, who knows.. might be a surprise...

Sidenote: I'm still not 100% sure how to pronounce SUXX0rs...

[HBWW]

"Suck-Sores" is the general pronounciation.

Good motivation, but what I had in mind was something a little more professionally written. "Due to recent performance of the Super Soaker product line, iSoaker has opted not to review this item. More details can be found here." Ideally, the link should not take you to the ultra-secret, funky, sweet, bonus, warp, level-up page! (Ugh, I actually had to look that up! I initially missed the words "sweet", and "warp". =p)

Aside from the numbers speaking for themselves, I think the reviews ought to mention comparison numbers more, and be a little more "in-your-face" about the performance aspect. For example,

Cons: "The blaster is unable to output enough water over time to actually soak any opponent. The paltry 7 mL per second output is a far cry from pressurized blasters, which often reach around 200 mL/s, with some models exceeding 400 mL/s, and can be pumped at a rate of 23 to 40 mL per pump. Most users can pump 2 to 4 times per second, which means at least 60-100 mL/s is getting pumped. The 350mL swappable 'clip' is about half the capacity of a CPS water chamber."

The point is to push the user to comparing the numbers, and some links to comparison videos would help too. Perhaps I should thrift or buy (from retail) some of these and start a YouTube series: Super Soaker vs. Super Soaker. Or compare them to current BBT offerings since that may be somewhat more practical.

[martianshark]

Good motivation, but what I had in mind was something a little more professionally written. "Due to recent performance of the Super Soaker product line, iSoaker has opted not to review this item. More details can be found here

That sounds pretty good to me.

Comparison videos are a good idea. I actually made one once, although I didn't own very many bad soakers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZQHvRsXXs8 Maybe I should buy some more bad guns for this purpose, but most of the prices at my local Goodwills are kind of ridiculous ($15 for a Switch Shot?)

[isoaker]

More pictures posted of the Nerf Super Soaker Zip Fire.

Working on a full review (minus range testing - there's still a little too much snow. )

[isoaker]

Review of the Nerf Super Soaker Zip Fire posted. Will eventually do range testing, but it needs to get a tad warmer first. Or at least when the ground isn't already soaked so that I can see where the drops fall.

[isoaker]

Update: was playing around with my Nerf Super Soaker Zip Fire this evening, thinking about recording a video to do output estimation, when I noticed my trigger finger was getting wet. At first, I thought I had just hastily filled it and was just feeling excess water running off the sides. However, after drying and continuing to shoot, eventually more water began to escape and dribble out of the trigger area. I can only conclude that some aspect of the pumping mechanism isn't well sealed, allowing some water to escape. Considering the price on this blaster, the quality control appears only as good as the cheaper squirt pistol models. I need to update the review on iSoaker.com accordingly after this observation.