Review: Water Gun Roundup : Water Guns: Something Bold, Something New

By Kate Gammon, published on May 14, 2009
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: , , | Themes: Digital Entertainment

1. Water Guns: Something Bold, Something New

We've put 2009's four newest water guns to every test we could think of. Which squirt gadget reigns supreme? Is the classic Super Soaker still king?

Remember those sweet summer days running around with friends trying to blast them with water guns? In my neighborhood, such battles usually ended with someone getting pegged in the eye and crying, but as soon as the next hot day rolled around, we’d be back … water fighting in the streets. Just in time for some hot weather and long days, we reviewed some of the top guns for 2009 – so you can get your hands on the best soaking gadgets around. All of these products were released this year. The Super Soaker 50 just hit the market this month, while the other three were released earlier in the year. The Renegade is a completely new model, while the rest are all echoes of guns you may have seen before. One thing is for sure: the water gun industry has made some pretty great leaps since the days of the dinky plastic blaster.

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Comments

mason_s 05/15/2009 12:32 PM
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The soakability test needed to include a measure of soakiness over a particular time period. It was pretty obvious going in which one would win; the one with the longest duration on one trigger pull, with little variance from that theme. Had you folks included level of soakiness over, say, ten seconds, regardless of the number of trigger pulls, that would have definitely got the one-pumps back in the game and really gave us an idea of real-world usefullness.

Other than that, this article has been the highlight of my day! :D

Anonymous 05/15/2009 1:50 AM
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Anonymous 05/15/2009 2:58 AM
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I had the super soaker 50 as my weapon of choice even against the rich kid with the backpack model super soaker It reigned supreme. The 70 was a good one too but required to much pumping.

San Pedro 05/15/2009 3:29 AM
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I like the water cannons. Just a tube to suck water in, and shoot it out of. Only useful if you are at a lake, river, etc, though.

kato128 05/15/2009 3:47 AM
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The only one that could hold a candle to the good ol 50 was the 200. It was a bit heavy but you could soak someone from 20m away. Out gunned my uncle who had the hose one time.

acherimoya 05/15/2009 6:05 AM
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Ugh, now I have to dig my old Super Soakers out of whatever closet they're buried in...!!!

maigo 05/15/2009 6:12 AM
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I'm a fan of the classic 50, but an adult version would be awesome
Milled aluminum, larger pump, shoulder strap, quick change bottles.

StupidRabbit 05/15/2009 9:51 AM
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:D I love the scientific graphs used in this article, especially the soakiness.. but great article though, i was surprised to see such an article on this site :)

matt2k 05/15/2009 12:58 PM
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Oh this brings back memories. I remember one summer when a friend who had to much money spent about 150 Euros on a MASSIVE (and highly powerfull) supersoaker. only problem was the tank ran out too fast and getting the maximum pressure was quite tough. of course on max it could drench you in seconds.
I then used my budding engineering skills to devise a backpack with a small (waterproof) battery powered waterpump to gain more water and sustained pressure. good times :)

LATTEH 05/15/2009 2:40 PM
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damn it how come they dont make water guns when i was a kid they had a backback water tank and a super soaker bazooka

cielmerlion 05/15/2009 3:45 PM
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LOL I was one of the ones that saved my money and bought a MASSIVE super soaker when i was little. Took me forever to pay off tohugh i forget how much it was. The this was super heavy and cape with a tripod it was so heavy it broke one of the legs. Good times :P

Schizoid 05/15/2009 3:59 PM
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warplord 05/15/2009 4:09 PM
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Anonymous 05/15/2009 4:44 PM
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I thought this article was AWESOMES!
I remember when super soakers came out... remember how much they cost? $50! Or at least that's what my parents told me... :(
I know there were other soakers out there. I loved my 50 for getting people wet, and I had another that would fire a large amount of water that would run out fast. My favorite though was this unnamed soaker. Yellow body with red container, the steam diameter was soo tiny you could keep the stream at max until the water ran out (shot pretty far too). It was the best for filling with pretty hot water, and then going outside and shooting icicles off my house. Once we had this HUGE icicle, it was dangerous (40 pounds of sheer stabbiness if it fell). My dad went outside with a blowtorch to try and get it down without breaking the window it was hanging over, yet barely made a dent. I went out there with my trusty gun and cut into that thing like a high powered laser XD My gun died though when an impact destroyed the cap on the bottle :(
I wish they made more awesome soakers again, with those pressure gauges and all the bells and whistles.

Tomsguiderachel 05/15/2009 6:04 PM
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Schizoid :
You might as well fire-up this kind of review under "Tom's Kid Guide". Yes, us mature adults have fun with them too but we don't care to read about it on a *technical* site. THG is not at all what it used to be...thanks BoM.The only positive thing is the few cleavage shots!!


Who is the immature one?
And yes, we do write reviews for kids' gadgets on this site once in a while. Believe me, you don't want to get into an argument with me on the definition of the word "gadget."

Tomsguiderachel 05/15/2009 6:05 PM
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warplord :
Yeah, I got some insight on some "bring back the memories" soakers but, no pun intended, I'd have to agree...this just isn't what Tom's is about bros/sis'. There's nothing technical using a water gun. If you can't find something to write about with all the gadgets out there and all the arguments within these gadgets then you definitely have a problem. Now if you want to rig up a water gun to a computer interfaced via a webcam and a custom controller then go for it! Now that would be interesting!!


Dude. Just a friendly reminder that we have two sites: Tom's Hardware, and Tom's Guide. No more "Tom's Hardware Guide." Tom's Guide is emphatically NOT a "technical site." Thanks :)

KT_Wasp 05/15/2009 9:13 PM
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Heh, I enjoyed this article.. made me think of summers gone by as a kid with nothing to worry about other then water gun wars! Love the charts and all!

Great work.. and thanks for the memories you brought back!

Phosters 05/15/2009 10:29 PM
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Fun article, thanks.

cracklint 05/15/2009 10:43 PM
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schizoid & warplord, don't be douche's and ruin everyone elses fun.

Shadow703793 05/15/2009 10:44 PM
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You guys/gals over at the Toms Guides have too much free time.


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