First '07 soaker sighting

[ZOCCOZ]

I think I said it once before at a different thread, but how dare Super Soakers pulls Transformers into the dirt with them. Absolutly shameless.

Right now Super Soaker guns are arriving at my local Zellers. Only the Secret Strike and the recolour vaporizer at the moment.

[Rook]

Well, I am interested. It seems to be everything that the Shieldblaster line hoped to accomplish, except a little more functional.

From what I can tell, the shield actually flips out. It looks like an elaborate fan design, but I can't be certain.

[Evangel]

Went to Meijer and they had the Secret Strike, Arctic Blast, and Hydro Blitz! I bought the Arctic Blast and Hydro Blitz right on the spot.

Hydro Blitz is HUGE, definitely the biggest Max Infusion gun so far by almost twice the length of the others. Arctic Blast is actually a fusion of both the Arctic Shock and the Flash Flood! That is definitely something I'm actually kinda hesitant to go up against.

EDIT: Tested the Hydro Blitz and I gotta say this has got to be the WEIRDEST gun I've ever used. It's like an oversized pulse cannon, you pump up the pressure with the big handle, and fire with the trigger. There's a switch that toggles between the normal stream and the big pulse nozzle. Now this is what's interesting: when you hold the trigger, the pulse cannon fires quick bursts in intervals, and actually WILL NOT fire unless there's enough pressure for at least one burst. Even if you hold down the trigger and just crank that handle as fast as you can, it will ONLY fire when it senses enough pressure for at least one pulse. And from what I can tell, pulses can't be cancelled by releasing the trigger.

Here's my evaluation:

Pros - 1.) Automatically firing fixed amounts of water at a time makes it easier to determine how much ammo you have left. 2.) Massive water capacity at +100oz according to the box. 3.) Comes with a strap. 4.) Looks are VERY intimidating! :bringit:

Cons - 1.) Very oddly shaped, thus difficult to aim. 2.) Strap is virtually required, as it is insanely hard to pump without the strap proping it up. 3.) Rapid-pump attacks may be difficult. 4.) Pretty expensive.



Edited By Evangel on 1174065642

[mr. dude]

What kind of output would you estimate it gets?

[Evangel]

Hard to say really, all I've really done is shoot it into my bathtub. I'd say maybe one pulse equals maybe half a riot blast from a Flash Flood. Oh, but that addresses another con: it takes a LOT of pumps to get this thing fully charged, in fact I don't think I've even GOTTEN a full charge yet.

The main nozzle is pretty standard size, and the pulse nozzle is about half the diameter of a flood nozzle.

Adding more info, the trigger is angled, so it seems like this thing was meant to be held like a mini-gun rather than like a rifle, as in you hold it at waist-level. But to help with that, the trigger is huge, roomy enough for three fingers, maybe four.

EDIT: Thought of another pro: being able to switch between nozzles prior to firing makes it harder for the opponent to anticipate what you're going to do.



Edited By Evangel on 1174066940

[SilentGuy]

Wow, nice! About time somebody got a HydroBlitz too! Thanks!

What's the approximate range, as far as you can tell? And how frequent are the pulses? Thanks.

[ZOCCOZ]

Well, I am interested. It seems to be everything that the Shieldblaster line hoped to accomplish, except a little more functional.

From what I can tell, the shield actually flips out. It looks like an elaborate fan design, but I can't be certain.

Perhaps that is the new Shieldblaster design, and Hasbro just hopped onto the shield-bandwagon when they needed something for their TF soaker version. Then again at this point its just speculation.

[HBWW]

Hmm, perhaps a mod can be done to remove the pulse feature (which right now sounds like a gimmick) and allow for normal large nozzle firing?

Nice info update, thanks.

[mr. dude]

Hey Evangel, now we can both brag about being the first to own a certain soaker! Me with the Scorpion, and you with the Hydroblitz!
Anyway, it doesn't sound so interesting now. And you described a 5x-ish stream, which isn't the best.

[isoaker]

Add one more shade of green to my soaker-owning enzy! Then again, it's not too often I manage to stumble across stock soakers earlier than many others.

@Evangel: the Hydro Blitz sounds interesting, but perhaps a little unwieldy due to its size and shape. I still definitely want to test it out. Can you take and share some pics of your new soakers?

[DX]

How do you think the HydroBlitz would fare against the WW Orca? They seem to be natural rivals.

[HBWW]

The Orca definately sounds much better so far, and costs half of the HB.

Wish those lame stores around my area would get something more than the small and/or crappy soakers.



Edited By C-A_99 on 1174100787

[SilentGuy]

How do you think the HydroBlitz would fare against the WW Orca? They seem to be natural rivals.

Rivals in that the Orca is far better. Much lighter, a center of gravity near the user's center of gravity, good pump action, perhaps up to 50% more range...

That said, I've seen neither.

[DX]

I need to be able to come to an educated conclusion on this so that my new members buy the best guns for our style, hence my unusual interest in the forbidden realm of stock soakers.. Since I don't plan on buying a HydroBlitz, I'll have to compare it without actually having shot one. Also, I'd be interested to see what kind of mods can be done, though I doubt there's much worth doing. Without the whale sound, I'd be very content to stick with the Orca based on reviews/stats so far. Was I one of/the first to get an Orca? That would be highly ironic given my buying history.

[Evangel]

So far, the pulse firing does seem like kind of a gimmick, but I guess it can have its uses. The pulses are maybe about half a second apart, but that's just my mental estimate, I'll have to time it with a stopwatch or something.

You pretty much DO hold it entirely like a minigun, with your rear arm on the trigger and the forward arm on the handle to prop it up and aim it.

As for range, box says about 35ft.

Overall though, I'd say it's one of those guns whose bark is worse than its bite. A little underpowered for a weapon of its size. But I suppose it gets points for being Max-Infusion capable.

Anyway, I wish I could share some pics, but I don't own a digital camera of any kind, not even a webcam.



Edited By Evangel on 1174113556

[WaterWolf]

DETAIL! We crave stats!
How much range (Approximately) do the different nozzles get? How much shot-time does it have? Do the burst shots spread out like the Flash-Flood or stay together like a regular beam?

[Evangel]

Well unfortunately, I don't have the equipment necessary, nor do I really know iSoaker.com's standard testing procedures, to give exact stats. You guys seem to do a much better job of high-precision testing. If I knew what the iSoaker.com standards and procedures were for testing, then maybe I could do something, but either way it's too cold to do this outside right now (there was a blizzard also). But as I said, box says 35ft. range which is about the average for Max Infusion guns, and the pulse shots do spread out like Flash Flood. Best I can do is maybe get a shot-time with my cell phone's stopwatch function.

Don't worry though, if they had them at my Meijer, then they should be starting to come out at other stores too.



Edited By Evangel on 1174135090

[isoaker]

Well unfortunately, I don't have the equipment necessary, nor do I really know iSoaker.com's standard testing procedures, to give exact stats. You guys seem to do a much better job of high-precision testing. If I knew what the iSoaker.com standards and procedures were for testing, then maybe I could do something, but either way it's too cold to do this outside right now (there was a blizzard also). But as I said, box says 35ft. range which is about the average for Max Infusion guns, and the pulse shots do spread out like Flash Flood. Best I can do is maybe get a shot-time with my cell phone's stopwatch function.

Don't worry though, if they had them at my Meijer, then they should be starting to come out at other stores too.

iSoaker.com Testing Procedures can be found here. For stats conversion info, see the Conversions page.

I would hardly call any of the stats on iSoaker.com "high precision". Most of the measurements have a +/- of 5-10% depending on what is being measured.

At any rate, any stats you feel you can measure decently would be appreciated. No worries if you need some time and warmer weather to take stats; we who have yet to try the various new soakers are just impatient and want as much info as possible NOW!

[SilentGuy]

Actually, the general idea is good enough for me. In a war, and if you're just having fun, another cubic centimeter of volume doesn't make much of a difference. :B

Nice information though!

SSC has an incredibly old article on taking stats, if you're interested. But nobody's pushing you to take the stats, it just has some neat tricks to know.

Thanks!

[XP20Warrior]

Found a bunch of SS SplashFires & an XP-70 in Family Dollar today. Found some WW guns at K-Mart that are on clearance, and suspect that they will not be selling as a main line gun anymore. Check my thread in mySoaker.