July 17, 1999.
Shopping for Water Weaponry

Looking for the perfect water weapon can be a challenging, if not daunting task. Thanks to Larami Ltd. in particular, there just seems to be an abundance of various-sized water weapons to choose from. The added challenging is getting one's money's worth. Different stores have different selections, but some stores may sell the same weapon much cheaper than the other or vice versa.

The first rule it to spend a little time checking out a few stores locally to see what weaponry they carry and for what price. It may turn out only one or two stores in one's area carries the weapons one wants. Weigh out the prices of the water weapons versus their value to oneself. One thing to look at are prices of various water weaponry within the same store. Some water weapons can be overpriced while others may appear to be a bargain when compared. For example, shopping recently in a store which shall remain nameless, I saw them selling a SC 600 for $29.99 Cdn. On a few shelves down the aisle, they were selling a CPS 1000 for $24.99 Cdn. In this case, the CPS 1000 is definitely "cheap", especially considering in many other stores, it was retailing for $34.99 Cdn.

Some stores have sales every week or so. As such, it can be worth the wait to delay purchasing a water weapon a few days to see if it does go on sale. Of course, one should take a note of how many are in stock since the store can run out and from what I have heard from many various store workers, shipments of water weapons are few and far between.

Prices for water weapons also tend to drop as the season draws to a close. Though this also means less time one can use it outdoors, it does mean that a collector can pick up a few items instead of one for the same price. Of course, being closer to the end of the season, the types of water weapons available will be much more limited.

Of course, when shopping for water weapons, I would highly recommend bringing along a full 2L bottle of water to test the weapons outside the store once bought. That way, if there is anything wrong, you can return the weapon right away and exchange it instead of having to come back later. I recall one time I had to change the water weapon I bought 4 times before I found one that was not defective! (FYI, the water weapon was a SC 500. Contrary to what one of the store clerks was trying to make me believe, the weapon should NOT leak out the pump handle when pumping. 'nuff said...)

Those are the thoughts for today.