Released in 2023, the Adventure Force Water Strike: Spiral Blast is a novel water blaster sold at Walmart designed by Buzz Bee Toys Inc., but reminiscent of the older Water Warriors Crossfire.
The Packaging .:
The Adventure Force Water Strike: Spiral Blast comes minimally packaged in a stand/based box to allow the water blaster to stand upright on a shelf with a cardboard wrap that loops over the top of the body. Plastic fastener ties are positioned at key points on the handle, body, and pump that keep the water blaster attached to the box. Thanks to the design, the Adventure Force Water Strike: Spiral Blast's grip region is open and can be felt without needing to remove the packaging.
The front of the packaging (on the water blaster's right side) notes that the Adventure Force Water Strike: Spiral Blast "Double spiral streams". The advertised range on the packaging is 34'. There are panels on the back of the packaging explaining operation of its pump-action blasting. The box, itself, feels sufficiently sturdy.
Design .:
The Adventure Force Water Strike: Spiral Blast contains a number of nice design features with multiple color breaks, a clear window showcasing the internal spiral-stream generating mechanism,, and sculpted trigger/grip region. The Adventure Force Water Strike: Spiral Blast's reservoir does extend into slightly into housing region with the majority of the reservoir being visible.
Build and Ergonomics .:
Like most current water blasters made by Buzz Bee Toys Inc., the Adventure Force Water Strike: Spiral Blast appears sturdy and well-built. Its forward-mounted pump moves well, though the pump length feels short given the overall size of this water blaster. Its trigger-grip area is open and able to accommodate virtually any hand size comfortably. Due to the nature of the spiral mechanism, extending the pump forward creates a clicking noise as an inner guide moves across the internal spiral-ridges that are rotated as the pump is returned to its starting position.
Overall Performance .:
There are a number of older water blasters that produced spiral streams include the Super Soaker Helix (2004) and Water Warriors Cross Fire (2006). However, these previous water blasters used gear-based mechanisms to translate the horizontal pumping motion into rotation. The Adventure Force Water Strike: Spiral Blast is the first that uses a threaded-screw-based mechanism. While the mechanism does a decent job of spinning the dual nozzles for creating dual spiral streams, then length of the spinning tube-to-nozzle makes for a decent volume of dead-space that must be filled with water before the nozzles actually blast forth their streams as well as trapping (and allowing water to dribble from the nozzles) after pumping is done. While not easily measures, we estimate that around 4-5mL of water is held within the spinning mechanism. Unlike the older Water Warriors Cross Fire, the Adventure Force Water Strike: Spiral Blast offers no way to stop the spiraling functionality and blast two parallel water streams, instead.
Overall .:
In the end, the Adventure Force Water Strike: Spiral Blast is a fun, pump-action water blaster that is easy to use and its spiraling blasts adds some spray variety to the field. However, there is no way to simply allow normal pump-action stream generation and there may be some water dribbling from the nozzle between pumps due to the amount of water that is trapped by the spiral-generating mechanism. Nevertheless, the Adventure Force Water Strike: Spiral Blast makes for a fun-to-use water blaster in most casual small to medium-sized battles and also would be a great introductory water blaster for younger water warriors.
Pros
Easy to use; fun dual spiralling streams
Cons
Some water remains in the spiralling mechanism which may dribble out between pumps; no way to disengage rotating function; pump-action also means continuous blasting is not possible
Images
Related Content .:
Product Listing Page | Predicting Pump-Action Performance
Additional Resources
Water Blaster: Basics | Care, Cleaning, and Storage | Soaker Use: Basics|Repair Articles
:: Adventure Force Water Strike: Sprial Blast
