HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

General water gun discussion.
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martianshark
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HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by martianshark » Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:19 am

Which water gun do you think is better- the Super Soaker HydroBlitz or the Water Warriors Vindicator?

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cantab
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Re: HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by cantab » Sun Jul 19, 2009 2:20 pm

I've never shot either, but if I was choosing between them to purchase, I would choose the Vindicator. The Vindicator, like most Water Warriors, is no-nonsense, whereas the Hydroblitz, like most recent Super Soakers, has a gimmick which may or may not be useful.

Check isoaker.com for reviews. They rate the Vindicator higher. Bear in mind on that site that isoaker rates very few guns BADLY. Similar to video game reviews, a 60 or 70% is actually comparatively bad.
I work on Windows. My toolbox is Linux.
Arsenal:
Super Soaker: XP215, 2xXP220, Liquidator, Aquashock Secret Strike M(odded), Arctic Blast M, CPS1200, CPS2100, SC Power Pak, 3l aquapack, 1.5l aquapack
Water Warriors: Jet, Sting Ray M, Shark, Argon M, Tiger Shark, PulseMaster
Others: Waterbolt, The Blaster, Storm 500, Shield Blaster 2000, generic PR gun, generic backpack piston pumper (broken), 3l garden sprayer M, 10l water carrier:

Elliott
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Re: HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by Elliott » Sun Jul 19, 2009 3:17 pm

cantab wrote:Bear in mind on that site that isoaker rates very few guns BADLY. Similar to video game reviews, a 60 or 70% is actually comparatively bad.
I guess that's because every gun has its merits in a certain situation or role. It's hard to find a gun that's inherently bad at everything all the time.

As for the actual question, I can't help. Often the iSoaker stats can help as much as, if not more than, the reviews. I decided to buy my Power Pak based solely on the output/capacity/nozzle stats and the like and it was one of the best decisions I ever made with regards to water guns (bearing in mind that the £25 I paid for it was a lot of money to me back in the day).

Good luck.

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C-A_99
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Re: HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by C-A_99 » Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:27 pm

The HydroBlitz was designed for the wow factor, appearing to be capable of the equivilent of 4 Flash Flood attacks. People who compare each shot to a FF could not be more wrong, as each blast only outputs very little water compared to a full FF blast. The whole HydroBlitz system is unecessarily complicated and very costly to build as well, without providing any benefit nor power to the user. As cantab said, it's designed to be gimmicky, and it failed at that. (too expensive, unpopular, not to mention takes up a lot of shelf space) If they were smart and re-released the CPS 1000 instead, they'd probably be bringing back the CPS line by now and have at least some success with it.

The Vindicator's the way to go. Heck, get two of them, and that's exactly the cost of a HydroBlitz, except you can arm 2 people with the extra gun. (or dual wield them, heh)

Not every iSoaker review is a good representative of the blaster in question. For example, the CPS 1200 is considered by many to be the best medium CPS blaster (assuming the 1500 is put in a higher class), but iSoaker's 1200 got a mere 8m of range - severam meters short compared to similar blasters. Just about everyone else gets roughly the same range compared to similar blasters, if not more. The 1200 is also generally the most capable for light k-modding. (generally, most, if not all marks of the 1200 will work well for k-mods) iSoaker's particular 1200 was probably a deviant, and it happens from time to time. He just measures and posts the stats, nothing else.

Elliott
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Re: HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by Elliott » Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:42 pm

C-A_99 wrote:If they were smart and re-released the CPS 1000 instead, they'd probably be bringing back the CPS line by now and have at least some success with it.
I personally hope they never re-release the CPS 1000. I like the feeling of owning a rare piece of history. It's far and away the best all-round gun I've ever owned at any rate. The problem now is that every gun has to have at least one "gimmick" or it isn't worth releasing -- or so Hasbro seem to think.

I just had a look at this Hydro Blitz thing (why do they give them all such stupid names now?) to weigh in with my opinion. The 5x output on that main nozzle isn't anything special but with a 26 second shot time, that's pretty impressive. I don't remember getting a 26 second shot time out of anything except a Power Pak. The second nozzle's just like a shotgun-modded XP series or something. The shotgun mod is more of a way to have a laugh than for genuine use though, so that doesn't say a lot.

Hmm. I haven't used either of them so my opinion is almost completely arbitrary but if I was offered a choice of both for free, I would probably take the Vindicator. Nice nozzle selection on that thing and light enough for a backup gun. I guess it could be used as a light main gun but I'd prefer something with a larger output. Either way, if I had to pay for them myself, I'd buy neither.

Bear in mind that although I haven't used either of the guns, I've got a lot of experience in looking at the stats and knowing how they translate into the real world so I hope it helps slightly. :rolleyes:

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cantab
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Re: HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by cantab » Sun Jul 19, 2009 6:04 pm

I hope they never re-release the CPS 1000 because I don't trust them not to cock it up. You're not alone in rating it the best all-round; many Assassins would concur on that.
Elliott wrote:The 5x output on that main nozzle isn't anything special but with a 26 second shot time, that's pretty impressive.
It's not 5x. The 'Output Rating' on iSoaker isn't the X rating, it's a percentage of that of the CPS 2000. 1X is 1 oz/s, so the HB stream nozzle is a mere 1.4X. The 'Power Rating' is output * range, and again, is a percentage of the CPS 2000.
I work on Windows. My toolbox is Linux.
Arsenal:
Super Soaker: XP215, 2xXP220, Liquidator, Aquashock Secret Strike M(odded), Arctic Blast M, CPS1200, CPS2100, SC Power Pak, 3l aquapack, 1.5l aquapack
Water Warriors: Jet, Sting Ray M, Shark, Argon M, Tiger Shark, PulseMaster
Others: Waterbolt, The Blaster, Storm 500, Shield Blaster 2000, generic PR gun, generic backpack piston pumper (broken), 3l garden sprayer M, 10l water carrier:

Elliott
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Re: HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by Elliott » Sun Jul 19, 2009 6:21 pm

cantab wrote:I hope they never re-release the CPS 1000 because I don't trust them not to cock it up. You're not alone in rating it the best all-round; many Assassins would concur on that.



It's not 5x. The 'Output Rating' on iSoaker isn't the X rating, it's a percentage of that of the CPS 2000. 1X is 1 oz/s, so the HB stream nozzle is a mere 1.4X. The 'Power Rating' is output * range, and again, is a percentage of the CPS 2000.
Is it not?

-shrug-

It's been nigh on 3 years since I last went on iSoaker before today so I guess I can be forgiven. That's really not so great then..

Maelstrom
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Re: HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by Maelstrom » Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:01 pm

I would go for the Vindicator. I haven't used either, but based on reviews and the capabilities of both guns, the Vindicator seems superior.

The HydroBlitz's biggest problem is that the power-to-size ratio is too small. It's fairly large (for the modern Super Soakers), but it doesn't have the power to make up for it. The normal stream is just your average stream, nothing special, and the so-called "Multi-Blastin' Bursts" are worthless, in my opinion. In terms of soakage, they're hardly more effective than a good douse with a "standard" stream. They just look "cooler" and, as a gimmick, appear to younger audience.

The Vindicator is, as cantab said, no-nonsense. No pointless gimmicks, just designed to shoot water. It's versatile and as powerful as a small CPS, so it's probably better than the HydroBlitz.

Elliott
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Re: HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by Elliott » Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:13 pm

Maelstrom wrote:"Multi-Blastin' Bursts"
I see the geniuses at Hasbro's marketing department are still hard at work. :rolleyes:

That's 3 votes for the Vindicator then. How much do these things cost anyway?

As a side-note, does it ever bother anyone else that we discuss something so unintellectual on an intellectual level? I'm sure even the people at Hasbro don't sit around and have the this sort of conversation (although maybe their guns would be better if they did!)

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DX
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Re: HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by DX » Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:43 pm

Nah, ultimately we are consumers in a market. It is wise for any consumer in any market to be well-educated about the products they intend to buy and use. No one here wants to spend money on a crappy water gun. It is very useful to discuss the merits and faults of these guns, especially newer offerings that do not have established reputations yet.

I would also vote Vindicator. The HydroBlitz is much more likely to break and is too big for its power. Shooting from the hip, which is the most natural way to fire a HydroBlitz, is ineffective in many wars. There are also better guns with long shot times [2700 2x stream comes to mind] and guns that repeat fast enough to emulate long shot time [XP 150, XP 310 come to mind]. Giving a powerful CPS a custom smaller nozzle will also increase their shot times. Now the HydroBlitz does have an intimidation factor, but only against younger kids and perhaps others not familiar with the full scope of possible water gun selections. The Vindicator is much more compact - if you open up a HydroBlitz you will see a ton of dead space and too many moving parts. More parts means more things that can break.

Granted I have never used either, but I suspect that my personal performance using a HydroBlitz would be poor even in a more casual fight. The thing looks too awkward for accurate shooting.
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martianshark
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Re: HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by martianshark » Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:33 am

Elliott wrote:

That's 3 votes for the Vindicator then. How much do these things cost anyway?
The Vindicator costs about $20.00, and the HydroBlitz costs about $40.00. This means you can get a better water gun for cheaper! :D

Datum000
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Re: HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by Datum000 » Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:34 am

Tried the Hydroblitz:
Good shot time thanks to small nozzle, but as previously mentioned, needlessly complicated and underpowered for a weapon of its size. Not worth the $40.

I have not tried the vindicator yet, and am considering getting one from the looks and specs.

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JuchTurtles
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Re: HydroBlitz vs Vindicator

Post by JuchTurtles » Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:35 pm

THe Vindicator works is like a Monster, just smaller in Tank. It has 5 nozzles, the medium sized one getting the best range. It shoots over 40 feet.

I have used the Vindicator and, it works well.
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