Beyond the Major Name Brand Water Blasters

[isoaker]

Quick survey - beyond the Super Soaker/Nerf Super Soaker and Water Warriors brands, what other water blaster brands do you have experience with? Any other brands currently around you think are worthy of some consideration?

Some other brands I've used include:
Storm Guns
X-Stream
Shield Blasters
Speed Loaders

None of those brands appear to be in production anymore.

[marauder]

I still own 2 Storm 500s for use around the house. Storm had a lot of good ideas that the major companies could learn from. Speed Loaders are pretty fun, but I'm really not able to use QFD only guns at the moment. I was given a free Shield Blaster at camp once. I wasn't too impressed. Ended up giving it to the oncoming storm.

About 15 years ago I had a piston brand gun called Liquidator which was pretty cool. They had a dual nozzle version that spun when you fired it - much better than the Helix. I suggested the name Liquidator when talking with Stephen Menow about future watergun names. I have no idea if they got the idea from me, but it's worth noting.

[HBWW]

I've only handled Storm's, and know two people who've had Shield Blasters (friend of Evangel [former iSoaker.net member] and Scott lol).

As for the Storms, I've found that they're pretty lacking in performance, and they're not as durable as reputed to be. There are lots of great design aspects of them, but they are prone to reservoir cracks just as easily as any other PR. Max-D's are better, in my experience so far. (Although perhaps I'm very biased as I've never owned a Storm from new to now.)

[the oncoming storm]

I have use the Shield Blaster 3000 but suffice it to say, I gave it away. same with my X-Stream 660

[martianshark]

I don't think I've actually used them, but perhaps the Stream Machine line could be looked at.

[HBWW]

Oops, I forgot to mention the Blastmaster 660 and Stream Machines. I've also messed around with a $4 small piston pumper from Ja-Ru that performs about as well as an XP 215 (but lacks the continuous shooting of course).

Blastmaster 660 is a pretty run-of-the-mill piston pumper. It's better than many, but it's still just a piston pumper. The one I used is my friend's, who gave it to me after it broke but I never managed to fix it.

I have a working short Stream Machine, but haven't managed to use it in combat yet. I also have a full length one that's broken, but I've given up on getting it to work. (Need a new O-ring and a lot of duct tape, but that's still not a guarantee. Homemade ones are much better anyway.)

[Nemesis]

well i have a shieldblaster 2000. The shield broke off long ago, but its alright for just continuous shooting in a soakfest. Perhaps, if you could contact a smaller toy company like banzai or something they could be convinced to make high performance air pressure guns. Doubtful, but an idea.

[HBWW]

I honestly don't think Banzai or others would go for it due to the higher profit margins on low quality/low performance products.

[scottthewaterwarrior]

Between Nerf Super Squirter and most of those odd brands, I'd probably go with the odd brand simply because most of them actually use pressure in some way. Though to be honest, besides Water Warriors, I haven't really seen anything else that is that great. What is funny though is that some of my less informed friends have bought PR no-name brand guns and they actually performed better then anything NSS has put out so far! I actually saw the gun he bought at the local hardware store (they have a few seasonal toys), it was $15, so not worth it, but my friends had OK range and probably a 1.5 or 2x output. Not too bad considering the PRV was the trigger valve (if you pumped it too much it would just start shooting!). The NSS guns are made of higher quality plastic, but for power, you can't beet the "No-Name hardware blaster!"

Most of the shield blasters are a bit too much of a novelty to be very much use. I have used the 1000, 2000, and 3000; only the 3000 is any good. The other two don't have that much power and the shields are so small they are virtually useless. In a soakfest the 3000 can be quite fun though, I did get owned when everyone ganged up on me at MOAB, but I still think I blocked around 1/3 the shots aimed at me. the serface area of the shield is roughly 2 square feet so can be quite useful when 1 on 1. If CPS weren't allowed, I might even consider using it in an urban war, it has pretty good output. The problem is it is better suited for close quarters as the crank mechanism makes it rather inaccurate at range. It isn't that good, but it is definitely the best none SS or WW gun in my arsenal.

One gun I really want to try out is the A.R.M. 4000 XL, there is one at my uncles farm but it is missing the backpack. It is useless without it so I am considering "liberating" it as I'm sure I can find a suitable replacement. As a matter of fact, I am considering "liberating" all the guns from that place, many of them are broken and even the ones that work, I have yet to see anyone use them but me!

You know what we need? A smilie with an Electrostorm! It would dribble from the nozzle a little and then electrocute the guy!

[SEAL]

I've used Storm guns before. marauder gave me two at MOAB; a 760 and a 2200E. The latter needs fixing, but the 760 works pretty well. It's a nice pistol, and I actually had a different version of one in 2002 that was my first air-pressure blaster. At the same time, my brother brought a T-Shock 8000 (basically a miniature Splashzooka) that we could never figure out how to fill. That's about it though. I'm going to try to get some Stream Machines and "Water Blasters" for the war. They are definitely not to be scoffed at; a strong user can get like over 60 feet out of them.

[Fishfan]

With my my storm Typhoon force 2 pistol, the stream is so well laminated that it out ranges almost all my separate chamber blasters from Larami and WW.

[isoaker]

I forgot to mention Banzai, though my experience with Banzai water blasters has been less than impressive. Then there are manufacturers like Ja-Ru and Manley (where some of the questionable-quality air-pressure blasters may be made by).

I recall trying out one fairly random air pressure blaster that had a really small opening for its screw-on bottle. The stream it made was actually quite respectable, but the rest of the blaster's build was so questionable that I wasn't sure how long it would really hold up to repeated use. Depending on what stock water blasters are available next year, if more "no-name" air pressure blasters appear, I might be tempted to do a review on one for iSoaker.com.

[HBWW]

Personally, I'd like to see it happen. Competition is good, although that may end up breaking up the already small market down even further. Perhaps people will abandon Nerf SS's products faster though.