iSoaker.net :: Soaking the world!

For Reference:
iSoaker.com Review: Water Warriors Vanquisher Review
Blaster Pictures: Water Warriors Vanquisher Pictures
Internal Pictures: Water Warriors Vanquisher Internal Pictures
iSoaker.net Page: Water Warriors Vanquisher Product Discussion

Quick Sketch
The Water Warriors Vanquisher is the largest single-piece water blaster in the Water Warriors Performance line, second only in size to the Water Warriors Hydra Pak.

Technology
The Vanquisher sports a two-part reservoir system and an internal separate pressure chamber. The dual-nature of the reservoir with a mid-positioned trigger grip area were intended to improve blaster balance when filled. The reservoir chambers are connected by a larger-diameter tube at their bases and a smaller bit of tubing at the top to allow for water and air to move between the forward and rear chambers.

The pressure chamber appears akin to older CPS-type rubber bladders. Its internal nature keeps the overall size of the Vanquisher more compact and also means one cannot top-off the reservoir after filling the PC. That said, the maximum amount of water that can be pumped into the PC seems to be the most for any blaster of similar size, offering greater capacity than many blasters larger than it. Power provided by the PC, though, seems less than a similar modern blaster, the Water Warriors Vindicator

The reservoir and PC feeds a nozzle selector that offers three nozzle settings: small stream, large stream, and fan.

Build
Other than the two-part reservoir that is not readily apparent (many may mistakenly think the front bulb houses only the PC and does not also serving as a reservoir), the main notable feature of the Vanquisher is its mid-body-positions trigger and grip. Done to assist with blaster balance, this is definitely currently unique to this water blaster. The rest of the blaster seems to have a good, solid feel to it and the casing can be rather easily opened, making accessing the internals for repair if needed much easier. As well, the Vanquisher comes with a strap that helps make this blaster easier to use for prolonged periods of time.

The Questions
After seeing pics and reading various reviews and even hopefully handling this blaster in person, what things can you think of that work great for this blaster and what things do you think could be improved?

For giving comments and/or suggestions, please be specific. Don't just say things like "it should shoot farther" or "it needs to be more powerful" and leave it at that. While power, range, and capacity tend to be tops on many people's feature list, please give more insight on what you think could have been done differently to make this model work better.

Of course, don't just stick to comments only on power and range, but also think of the water blaster as a whole. What are your thoughts on its styling, colors, build, capacity, ease of use, etc. I have a number of thoughts on this blaster, but will let some others post first so not to bias early opinions.

To try to make things a little more organized, try giving titles to the aspect of the blaster you are critiquing
(i.e. Pressure Chamber - comment, comment, comment
Pump Handle - comment, comment
Reservoir - comment
Color scheme/styling - comment, comment)
At the very least, start of with a section on things you like about the blaster followed by things you think could have been done better with suggestions on how things could have been made better.

The next Critics' Corner blaster to be discussed will be the Super Soaker Water Wars Shot Blast, but that thread will not be posted for another week or two depending on how discussions on this blaster evolve.

Thanks and Soak on!

Regarding power, it definitely appears somewhat underpowered for it's size, though certainly not as badly as the Orca was. The dual reservoir system is likely to be causing many problems that users mentioned before, and can also slow down the PC when expelling water. Of course, a trigger guard would help the grip tremendously as well but since that currently can't seem to be done, a better trigger piece will have to be made.

Style and color are fairly average. I dislike the use of the bright green and the blue could use a little less saturation. I prefer more dull and dead colors than bright and "fun" though they don't necessarily have to be dark nor camo. The shape seems somewhat typical, but the differentiated grip and reservoir setup make it somewhat unique at the same time. I can't comment on balance but it appears to be much better than the Vindicator.

General
The Vanquisher is pretty good. I'm a little disappointed with its power, but it has decent shot time. For some reason, I'm not getting 15 seconds with the 3x nozzle. I'm only getting 12 seconds at the very, very most. I get about 18 seconds on the Water Saver nozzle.

nozzle selector
The fan blast is completely useless, so I drilled it out and got a decent 8.5x nozzle. However, it gets quite a bit of dropoff after the first second of the shot. Even with the nozzle drill, it still has a pretty lousy nozzle selection. I would like it if at least the fan blast was raplaced with an extra large nozzle like the one I had to drill.

reservoir
I have a problem with its duel reservoir tanks. It makes it very hard to fill completely. I have to fill it up partway, point it down, and wait for the 1st tank to drain into the 2nd one. Then I have to repeat this process until it's completely full.

reservoir cap
Being externally tethered, and being attatched with a flap of plastic, it isn't very flexible and gets in the way when filling. It also may eventually break off since it's made out of plastic.

pump
The pump is pretty smooth and pumps quite a bit of water. It also has a tracked pump. I like tracked pumps - they're more solid, and they're a lot easier to remove for repairs/modifications.

trigger
The flat thing in front of the trigger ends before the trigger does. This makes the bottom of the trigger cut into the bottem of your finger. The flat thingy should be made longer than the trigger, or perhaps the trigger should be made longer completely, as it is kind of small.

trigger/grip position
I actually find the Vanquisher more comfortable without the strap because the trigger/grip is in the middle, and the way the grip is shaped and where it's positioned makes it uncomfortable and awkward to hold while it's hanging from the strap. So I usually hold it like a rifle, putting the back of the blaster into my shoulder like a stock. When using a strap, I think I would actually prefer the trigger to be in the back.


In all, I think the Vindicator is better for just about every one of the Vanquishers cons.

Also, I don't think "not being able to top it off" is a con. I think it's a pro that you don't have to top it off.

To me, the Vanquisher is a soaker that is going in the right direction as there are a lot of good things to say about it.

General
Firstly, it addresses the balance issues of the Vindicator by putting the trigger in the middle, and secondly the PC size is enormous which allows for excellent shot time. Where it falls down is its range and output, which seem to be limited because of the soaker's internals (while I'm not an expert on internals, it seems that the structure of using a connected double reservoir limits the power of this soaker). BBT seem to have given the Vanquisher a selection of nozzles that suit the soaker's limited power the most; while a larger nozzle would have been an excellent addition it likely would have suffered from poor range. Even so, it would have been nice to have it included to take advantage of the great PC size.

Aesthetics
Stylistically it looks different to other soakers due to its unique design; it certainly looks intimidating which is good, albeit slightly awkward at the same time. This is of little concern however, since as a result this makes for a better balanced soaker. It uses the same colour scheme as the Renegade, which is adequate although not too exciting since it's been seen before. I think a navy case with dark orange reservoir/PC would look great on it though, especially since this colour scheme hasn't been seen on any BBT soakers (or any soakers that I can think of) to date.

The good and the not-so-good
What should be remembered about the Vanquisher is how many things it got right; balance, PC size, pump volume (37ml is excellent, a pump volume like this hasn't been seen for years outside of that backpack BBT soaker...), reservoir capacity, a handle on the nozzle selector to help selection and remind the user what nozzle they're on. It only falls down on power/range and nozzle selection, which are understandable due to the soaker's internals. I hope the Vanquisher comes to New Zealand as it's certainly the best/most interesting release of the year and deserves good sales...It'll certainly dominate any of Hasbro's latest releases on the battlefield.

Overall, this is a great blaster and is indicative that BBT is going in the right direction, which is promising. If they can make a soaker which has the power of the Vindicator (ideally with a larger 10x nozzle as well) and the balance and PC capacity of the Vanquisher, then they will have likely created the best soaker of the past decade.

Great feedback thusfar! I need to organize my thoughts and add them to the above. In the meantime, some questions on the above:

Trigger Pieces: I know they are working on fixing it though trigger guards do not appear to be happening in the near future
Nozzle Selector: are 3 settings enough? what are your preferred nozzle combo if you could design your own nozzle selector for the Vanquisher?
Reservoir: if filling the forward part could be done more smoothly, do you like the enhanced attempt at balancing the blaster's weight?

Nozzle Selector: 1.7x, 3x, 5x, 7x, and 9x or something like that.

Reservoir: I would if it had a better grip as well, I guess. But with a strap, I don't think it really matters, and would be better if the trigger was in the back, unless both the grip and duel reservoirs were improved.

Pressure Chamber - mabey a bit stronger, but otherwise keep it the same

nozzle selector- use a vindicator selector, an it will be the ULTIMATE BLASTING MACHINE!

everything else- great the way it is. kutgw BBT!

Ok... here are my thoughts on the Water Warriors Vanquisher.

I'd be lying if I said this weren't one of my fav blasters! Of course, that doesn't mean that things couldn't have been done better, but being a newer design, there are lots of things I really like.

Reservoir: the dual reservoir system is a plus when it works. I like the improved balance of the blaster as both chambers fill when filling the blaster and equalize as water is used. Of course, the problem with the design is that there is some lag when filling/emptying the dual chambers. The problem can like be attributed to the sizes of the tubings used to connect the reservoirs. The bottom tube is ok (I noticed no significant lag when filling, but notice it more when trying to do a rapid emptying), but the top tube is rather thin in internal diameter. Would be nice if both tubes could be made as large as possible, perhaps even adjusting the upper part of the mold a bit to accommodate a larger tube. Overall capacity of the dual system is fine for a blaster this size.

Pump: pumping is nice and smooth on this blaster. Pump volume is decent, but I wouldn't complain if it would be upper another 50%. Of course, I believe the limitation here is desired age range for this blaster; larger pumps would make it harder to pump, thus pushing up the age range beyond where BBT wishes it to be.

Trigger: as noted by others, the Vanquisher's trigger can be pretty sharp at its base. A trigger guard would work best to solve this problem or, at the very least, the base of the trigger should be flattened as it is on some other water blasters.

Nozzle Selector: as also noted by others, decent selection, though not so fond of the fan blast. Also, not sure why the Vanquisher ended up with only 3 nozzles while the Vindicator has 5. If the Vanquisher were given the Vindicator's nozzle set and the fan blast ditched, I think that'd appease most users. Of course, I like the extended tab on the selector since it can help with turning the selector and also makes it easier to tell what setting you're using based on the position of the tab.

Pressure Chamber: The amount of water the pressure chamber can hold is incredible! I can't think of any other blaster of this size capable of holding as much water ready for use. That said, and perhaps because of it, the available power from the PC seems a little lacking. The Vindicator feels like it can provide more "oomph" than the Vanquisher. Not sure how everyone would feel, but I would rather trade off some of the PC capacity for improved power. Simply put, on its best nozzle setting, I want the Vanquisher to be able to push out a decent stream (~5x - 10x stream) at least 40'. So long as capacity remains well above 500mL, I'd be happy.

Ergonomics: I like the additional balance of this blaster with its mid-body-positioned trigger. The trigger grip region, though, is on the thin side and would have been nice to be a little larger in diameter to give the user more to grab. Of course, added texturing and some finger-molds would help, too. I have heard some complain about the shape of the rear of the blaster, but I haven't had the same problems. The strap helps a lot, too.

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That's what's coming to mind for now. Will add in some more thought as they come to mind.

Any other thoughts on things you like and things you think could make this one a better water blaster?

This thread will be converted next week into a page on iSoaker.com; at the same time, the next Critics' Corner thread will be started. Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far! Lots of great feedback above!

It would be nice if the PC was thicker. Or at least make it accessable. Other than that, I think pretty much everything has been discussed already.