What Makes A Watergun Worth Over $130? Let’s Find Out…

The Backyard Battlefield Will Never Be The Same…

Calling the Spyra One a water gun is like calling the Atlantic Ocean a puddle. I mean, yes, you’re not wrong, but there’s a lot more depth here than you might expect.

I’m going to be honest here: This is the most impressive project I’ve seen in a WHILE. A very long time. Often, while browsing Kickstarter, I’ll see my fair share of fancy watches or cool little robotic drones, but the Spyra One legitimately changes what you can do with a water gun in a very big, and very important way. But I’ll get into that later.

First, let’s take a look at what this thing can do:

Right out of the bat, the Spyra One hits what is probably the three biggest concerns anyone looking to arm themselves with a water weapon of mass destruction would have:

“How can I tell when I need to refill it?” – Look at the side. There’s a digital display telling you how long until your tank is empty, and how many more shots you have left. No more guessing. That’s a nice touch, but probably the least important thing of the three.

“Can I fit a water bottle into the tiny nozzle thing to refill it faster?” – You don’t need to. This gun will fill itself as soon as the barrel is placed into a body of water. Grab a kiddie pool and fill it to the brim ahead of time, and use that as your recharge station during your sessions of water warfare. Or just dunk it into a nearby lake. As long as the front is put into water, the tank fills itself.

“How long will it take to pump?” – Just under ten minutes. Nope, scratch that, a lot under ten minutes. So much under ten minutes that it doesn’t need to pump at all. It’s automatic. Constant pressure, no additional legwork (or armwork) required. Which was probably something you’d expect in a water gun that costs over $100, but it’s still nice to hear nonetheless.

But what about that big feature I was talking about earlier? What makes this thing so different from other water guns?

Pull the trigger and you’ll find out.

The problem with water guns, compared to other types of projectile tag games, whether it be laser tag, airsoft wars, nerf wars, dodgeball field games, and the like, is that water is a liquid. Often times, it’s a lot harder to tell if you’ve really been “hit” by a water gun, or if the water just splashed off a wall and got on your shirt. Most guns shoot a stream of water until they run out of pressure, and those that don’t might sport a myriad of different weird nozzles that shoot in every which-way imaginable. It looks cool, but if you’re looking to play “Capture the flag” with water guns, you’re going to have a bad time figuring out who tagged who. Might be better off using water balloons.

Or you shoot them until everyone’s soaking wet. But you can’t make any actual games out of that, and once everyone’s wet, you’re… done? It’s a tough problem.

The Spyra One does away with all that. Rather than firing a stream or a water, every pull of the trigger fires a single “water bullet” – a tiny projectile that is high pressure, clearly visible, and travels long distances. This makes it easy to tell if you’ve made contact with someone or if you’ve been hit, and pretty much allows the use of water guns for any number of outdoor games.

There’s also the added benefit that you’re firing water. This lets you skip that 40-minute pre-period of loading Paintballs into your gun, as well as that 40-minute post-period of picking all those gosh-darned Nerf darts off the ground.

Pay $133 (Converted from €) and you’ll get a gun. Pay more and get more guns, at what I can assume are slightly better discounts.

It’s a great product, but a bit too high of a price for me, at least for now. It’s staying on my wishlist though.

Featured Image Via Official Spyra One Kickstarter Page