Thursday, September 2, 2010

Review: Super Soaker Rattler

Super Soaker Rattler. Weird lookin. I know.
Well, Winter has FINALLY left us here in Australia for another year, and we're starting to warm up which traditionally would mean WATER FIGHTS!!!! Albeit.. due to stage 3 water restrictions on the east coast, it does mean very controlled, small bursts of water, water fights!:)

I'm heading up to Darwin over the weekend, where 1) there are no water restrictions, and 2) it's 34 degrees up there in SPRING (to you Americans, that's near 95 degrees F) and so I figured I would do a review.. on a water blaster. I present to you, the Nerf Super Soaker Rattler.

The Super Soaker Rattler is part of Nerf's first release under the Super Soaker label, along with the bigger Shot Blast and the smaller Bottle Blitz. They come in two varieties- red and blue- and it's the blue one I'm writing about today.

The Rattler is a relativelty compact mid sized blaster that uses the more traditional "syringe" pump action style firing mechanism- there's no trigger, it's simply a matter of push the pump forward and pull back to let off a steady stream of water. 

Aesthetically, the Rattler (as with all of the new Nerf Super Soaker range) looks awesome. It's solid and futuristic, and it uses the similar colour schemes to the Nerf N-Strike Raider + Longstrike. The blaster comes with tactical rails so you can attach any N-Strike scopes and other bits- but as with my Shot Blast, I generally don't bother. We're working with water, and most of my water fights don't require stealth pinpoint accuracy, more hilarious "splash" factor, accompanied by some serious high-tailing:) 

Build-wise the Rattler is quite well built, though another beef I have with the new Super Soaker line is they've taken away the quick fill mechanism of the older blasters. You now have to go back to unscrewing the lid and filling them up under a tap, rather than the vacuum seal lids of the Flashfloods (that was springloaded so you could merely push it up against the tap, and then release) . 

Performance is a mixed bag- the pump is quite short and stiff, something NOT easy for young kids to use.  Syringe style pump action water guns really really suck for little kids. You watch them stand there, struggling to get their little hands around the end of the pump, and they struggle to get rapid fire compared to their friends with easier to use triggers (and..buckets for that matter). The Rattler is no different- and because the pump is so short, you don't ever FEEL like you've accomplished a satisfying shot, it always feels a little awkward to pump back and forth. To be honest  I've never been a fan of pump action water blasters and the Rattler doesn't do anything to change my mind. Tank capacity isn't that great either, you'll go through it pretty quickly with full stroke shots.

On the plus side, it's range is really good; they're dead easy to understand how to use and difficult to break, so it means you can bring them to a poolside or park and not worry that your friend's kid isn't going to somehow manage to bust it (while keeping your Flash Floods and CPS's to yourself)

The Super Soaker Rattler looks great and will do well for Summer, but it's selling itself on looking very cool and being a part of the Nerf banner rather than being anything exciting.  It's pump action mechanism and traditional screw open lid slows it down and its low capacity tank means it's going to run out pretty quickly on the playing field.

If you can get them cheap, sure why not? It's water blaster! But as for WHY you're buying it over a cheaper brand- other than aesthetics- there's not much else going for it.

They're available now in Australia from most toy stores- between 25 and 40 dollars AUS.

Usability: 6.5/10
Out of the box performance: 6.5/10
Cool factor: 6/10
Price point: 7/10 (mine was 25 dollars which was reasonable)

12 comments:

  1. I still remember the days of the Arctic Shock. Now THAT [sic] was a water blaster. Regards,

    Aspernatio

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  2. You are heading up to Darwin, you poor person, I seriously feel sorry for you, I live in Katherine, 300k south

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  3. Arctic shock was a similar mechanism to the Flash Floods, only with the ability to chill your water:) mm. cold icey water. someone say "hard nipples?" :P

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  4. Actually I think you are mistaking the Arctic Blast for the Arctic Shock. The Arctic Blast is a CPS soaker while the Shock has a separate air chamber. Plus, the Arctic Shock comes with an ice core. =D

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  5. Hmm interesting. I always thought the Arctic Blast and Arctic Shock were much the muchness other than aesthetics, and the Shock was essentially a Flashflood but with the ability to put an ice core into it. ANd then there was the Iron Man Super Soaker which was a repaint of the Arctic Blast?

    **head explodes*

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  6. i have a flash flood (blue) and the single spray
    "not the flash flood" part is broken the flash flood part works fine i opened it up looked fine to me i can tpump it over 2 pumps or it wont shoot.

    i dont know if this will help but the trigger doesnt click very easy

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  7. i have a red rattler now it is sweet

    my little bro has a blue shot blast

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  8. please help me with my flash flood im the same person as the 2 people above me

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  9. hey poket esq.

    do u know what wrong wiht my flash flood

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  10. Re Flashflood:

    My blue Flashflood also broke- the flashflood mechanism works, but the trigger no longer works. Apparently Flashfloods are notorious for their springs snapping. Your particular problem isn't so clear cut though and I myself am not at all good at anything to do with blaster internals. if you check out isoaker.com there's lots of info on repairs and a pretty decent forum too. Good luck!

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  11. I had a triple blast but I think a metal rod connrcting to the trigger snapped and now it's prctically useless. Thinking of getting a rattler.

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