Win water guns for writing reviews

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Drenchenator
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Re: Review and statistics contest

Post by Drenchenator » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:16 pm

Also, don't feel limited to send in only a review; multiple works too. This is for the most part a review and gallery improvement, so whatever you can send in will help. The more high quality stuff you send in, the better.
The Drenchenator, also known as Lt. Col. Drench.

coolocat
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Re: Review and statistics contest

Post by coolocat » Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:04 pm

I'm thinking of sending in a few reviews.. I just have one question do you think you would be able to ship to Ireland and if i won how much would it cost.

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SSCBen
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Re: Review and statistics contest

Post by SSCBen » Sun Jun 29, 2008 1:39 am

I'll ship to Ireland if you win something. However, because I haven't built the top prize yet and the others will vary in size greatly I can't give you any precise figures on shipping costs. If it's more than $20 I wouldn't want to pay it all so I'd ask you to kick some money in. I'll admit that I know little about international shipping. I'll get back to you with a more definitive answer.

coolocat
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Re: Review and statistics contest

Post by coolocat » Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:20 am

no problem ben thanks

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SSCBen
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Re: Win water guns for writing reviews

Post by SSCBen » Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:13 pm

After some thought I'm going to bring the end of the contest date to July 15th at midnight EST. This would give me some more time to ship the items. August will be more busy for me so I think some sort of change is necessary. This'll also give you some summer to enjoy the water guns with. ;)

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cantab
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Re: Win water guns for writing reviews

Post by cantab » Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:21 pm

So July 15th is the deadline. I'll try and submit reviews of what I own by then. Gotta get out again and do some range measurements. Also ideally want to give them more real-world testing.
I'm abroad too, so shipping could be a pain. Depending on how you build the gun, maybe you could save space and thus money by shipping it part disassembled.

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SSCBen
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Re: Win water guns for writing reviews

Post by SSCBen » Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:23 am

I did change something about shipping to other countries too in the first post. With what I said there taken into account, I wouldn't mind shipping abroad but the price will get kinda hefty. You can apply, just realize that I'd expect some help in the shipping process if you win top prize.

If you win #2 or #3 I might just send some money your way via PayPal to save on shipping. Shipping abroad will be more expensive than the water gun itself, so I can't realistically expect anyone to chip in when it can be bought locally. Though part of the point of the contest was to help me empty my basement, so maybe I won't do that. :p

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cantab
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Re: Win water guns for writing reviews

Post by cantab » Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:24 am

Worth asking whether the guns you're offering CAN be had locally. Different countries have different stuff.

Also, at current exchange rates, 20 dollars won't go far in Europe. It'll get the Orca though.

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Drenchenator
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Re: Win water guns for writing reviews

Post by Drenchenator » Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:04 pm

Remember, the more pictures you can take, the better. We need everything you can offer if you are doing on the contest. Plus, it helps with your odds for winning!
The Drenchenator, also known as Lt. Col. Drench.

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C-A_99
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Re: Win water guns for writing reviews

Post by C-A_99 » Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:48 am

I've submitted another review. Ben, check the inbox and let me know if everything's working.

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SSCBen
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Re: Win water guns for writing reviews

Post by SSCBen » Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:49 am

I got it. I'll take a closer look at it tomorrow. Thanks.

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Specter
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Re: Win water guns for writing reviews

Post by Specter » Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:18 am

i dont think I'll be able to submit anything. I was at a friends beach house all last week and the "contest" ends tomorrow and wasn't able to do anything with anything water gun related. Oh well. maybe next time. (i did have fun though and got tan :) )
My "arsenal": Customizable APH, Storm 600 pistol (still haven't finished fixing this), launcher- Model:AB1.0(Decommissioned), AB1.5, soon AB 1.1(2"rebuild) maybe ill get something else in the future
My site Image My website/forum is back up and running, for the most part after it having been deleted in october

mr. dude
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Re: Win water guns for writing reviews

Post by mr. dude » Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:36 pm

I'll send mine in soon. It was meant to be used for ExtraWater, but there's a prize involved :P . Seriously, it'll get read a lot more on here than if I were to put it on ExtraWater. But I will write another one for ExtraWater.

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cantab
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Re: Win water guns for writing reviews

Post by cantab » Mon Jul 14, 2008 6:41 pm

I'm afraid I haven't had the time to do measurements or photos. But I do have some brief reviews:

I can at least give relative ranges. The Stingray, Secret Strike small and large nozzles, Arctic Blast stream nozzle, and Tiger Shark small and medium nozzles all do about the same. I'll hopefully be able to give said 'same' figure shortly. The Tiger Shark's big nozzle has maybe an extra metre. Those are angled ranges.

Prices and shops are for England, specifically Cambridge.

Storm 500
For small pistols these pack a big punch. Quick to pump, but also quick to empty! Good as a take-everywhere gun in assassins-type games. Mine is quite old and has become a bit temperamental, sometimes squirting water out of the pressure release valve, and with a somewhat variable range.
Available in John Lewis.

Supersoaker Arctic Blast.
This is certainly the best supersoaker available new. It uses CPS technology, but don't expect old-school CPS performance. The main nozzle is rather small, though range is OK. The riot blast nozzle dumps a lot of water, but range is reduced - more a thing for a soakfest than the one-hit game types. The top-mounted trigger means the blast requires two hands, bur I've found it good for intimidation; when you move your free hand to the top trigger, your target knows what's coming! The flipside is it's less good for surprise. It's a highly moddable gun if that's your thing.
£20 in Argos.

Supersoaker Secret Strike.
A fairly good gun. Four nozzles: Small, large, fan, and 'hidden'. The small and large nozzles are about equal in range. The fan blast nozzle is frankly useless, spraying mist for about 2m from the gun. I promptly dug it out with a screwdriver (drilling would work too), which leaves you with a giant 'riot blast' nozzle - still useless for one-hit games but far better for giving someone a good soaking. Rather weaker than that of the Arctic Blast mind.
The hidden nozzle is the same size as the small one but points downwards. You might be able to catch someone unawares with it, but I reckon you're more likely to end up shooting yourself in the foot! It also only works best with the gun pointed up, otherwise you get mist shots after the first fraction of a second due to the use of an air pressure chamber. That's a shame, because I reckon it would have potential for sideways shots, or for firing from carrying the gun casually pointed downwards.
The balance and feel in the hand is rather nice. I find it makes it very easy to quickly change your aim, which could be an advantage. The pump, while tracked, I find to be rather short.
Because it uses an ordinary firing chamber, rather than a CPS one, the initial range is comparable to that of the Arctic Blast, but it drops off far more quickly. Priming helps though.
£15 in Argos.

Supersoaker 100oz Backpack.
Currently free from Argos if you buy two guns. It will pretty much triple your water capacity. So consider getting two Arctic Blasts, or an Arctic Blast and a Secret Strike if you'd rather not have two of the same gun. If you try and connect it to a gun with an empty reservoir it kind of works but not too well, so I suggest you connect it when the reservoir's full. Sadly, the backpack's own filling cap is different to those on the guns, so you can't daisy-chain packs for even more water capacity. Though in honesty, unless you go totally berserk, or have a truly epic war with no refill facilities, you won't need more.

Water Warriors Jet
Little battery powered pistol. Errantly useless, range is worse than a squirt gun.
£3 in Tesco

Water Warriors Tiger Shark.
The best gun I could find (the Orca should be better but it wasn't on the shelves). A CPS-type gun. The big stream has great range and power. However, my gun had an issue; such performance was only obtained with the trigger part-pulled. Pulling it all the way, as is natural, made the stream very weak. The small stream breaks up a bit readily, so I'd recommend the medium stream unless you have extreme need to save water. Both the mid and small nozzles have slightly shorter range than the largest.
It has a strap, which is a substantial advantage, making it a gun of choice if you will sometimes want both hands free for other things (for example punting).
It also has an electronic pressure gauge. While a manual one would probably be better, this works fine. You can just ignore it and pump until the release valve starts kicking in, but that tends to leave you with a rather stiff extended pump handle.
£9 in Tesco

Water Warriors Stingray.
This is a nice pistol. Range might be slightly less than the Storm 500 and the Max-D 2000, but is certainly a lot better than the XP 220 (those being the comparably sized guns). And it'll outlast a Storm 500 - though it still won't last long, so be light on the trigger. It is unfortunately prone to leaking. But it's cheap.
£3 in Asda.

Water Warriors Argon.
Ugh, what a complicated gun! You have to push the pre-charge button, pump it a lot until it pops out, _then_ fill it with water, then pump it a few more times. It stays precharged pretty much forever though, even if you refill. The firing chamber is small, which means short shots interspersed with short (and quite forceful, though not as bad as the XP 105) pumpings. Performance is poor; the stream doesn't seem to laminate properly, causing it to degenerate into mist. I think the nozzle must not be ideal. Maybe modding it could help, but my attempts didn't work very well. After precharging, reduciung the pressure by tapping the bleed valve also helps. At least it's cheap.
£5 in Asda

Hozelock Courier 3 litre (garden sprayer)
In summer, proper water guns are easily had, but in winter, they're not, so pressurised garden sprayers provide a possible alternative. It has one advantage - shot time is LONG. It takes about 40-50 pumps, and they're quite forceful - it's best to put the tank on the ground for pumping. But then that's it! My model will shoot for over FOUR MINUTES continuously, until the reservoir empties, with little loss of range (and much larger capacity models exist). I know of no normal gun that can match that (even the likes of the powerpak or splashzooka). Also the lance design, with the trigger set away from the angled nozzle, might be good for hiding behind cover, and just sticking the nozzle out while one's hand remains protected. There is also a place on the pressure bottle to clip the lance into, which puts the nozzle at the ideal 45° angle. It has a latch on the trigger, allowing it to be left open. These two features combined allow unattended automatic fire, and can be used to great effect if the gun is on a moving vehicle.
The drawbacks are many. It's heavy and underpowered for its weight, being outranged by most weapons. A better nozzle might help, the stock design does not give a well laminated stream since it's designed to be adjustable between a spray and a jet. It's also easy to accidentally knock the pressure release valve.
It's worthing bearing in mind that as garden tools are not toys, you should check that they're safe to use.

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Silence
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Re: Win water guns for writing reviews

Post by Silence » Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:02 pm

Thanks for all the last minute submissions, guys! Specter, you're not too late, either - cantab has some good information in his blurbs.

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