Most of the water blasters for sale this year aren’t much for innovation – there’s only so much you can do when it comes to launching water, after all. Whereas Nerf has gone the branding route with Fortnite blasters, Buzz Bee has elected to continue making relatively inexpensive water blasters with some neat features. The Saturator features a large reservoir, manual blasting, and trigger-based stream settings. For $15, it’s a good option for today’s water wars.

Power and Pressure

The Saturator, a “reskin” of last year’s Double Drench, is one of the largest soakers currently available. Fully filled, it holds ~70 fluid oz. (over 2L). With a forward-set handle, however, it balances all of that weight well. The blaster itself feels solid, with large open areas for hands of all sizes. The pump works smoothly, and the trigger functions – just not in the normal fashion.

The Saturator is not a blaster that builds pressure via pumping. Each stroke of the pump will fire water out the front. The trigger, in this case, determines which nozzles are used. By default, the center nozzle will fire your blast of water. With only one nozzle, the pumping action will fire the single stream with more force, getting the 38ft range claims. Depending on user strength, 40ft+ is possible; even so, do not expect a cohesive stream of water at targets that far away. By that distance, you just have a heavy spray.

If the user pulls the trigger, water fires out of the four secondary nozzles. This allows for the user to quickly dump water, given the large effective cross section. You won’t have as much distance, but you’ll be able to pump faster.

Final Thoughts

In case specific numbers appeal to anyone, I averaged 37mL of water with each pump stroke. Given the high capacity, the Saturator will offer quite a few shots, and heavy ones at that.

The Saturator may not have the inherent appeal of the classic soaker platform (build pressure, pull trigger, proceed to drench). In today’s saoker market, however, it offers nice capacity, firing volume, and firing options – the user can go for distance, or simply dump water on a nearby target. For your average backyard soaker fight, the Saturator is a great option.