If spring and summer were a noise, it'd be "splooosh!" or maybe "fsssssssssspt!" It already sounds like that round our way, where Super Soakers and many of the other best water guns are already out of storage to celebrate the lighter nights and warmer weather. Whether you're buying for your own arsenal or for your kids', this is a good time to invest in water guns: the weather isn't quite good enough to send Super Soaker shoppers to the supermarkets in droves, so you can still get a good deal before the prices rise with the temperature.
From low cost blasters to state-of-the-art soakers, our guide to the best water pistols, water guns and Super Soakers for 2022 will help you find the best water weapon for every age and every kind of user, from people who want to have some fun with their family to those who take their water fights super seriously.
If you can't wait to start soaking people, these links will take you straight to the soakers at some key retailers.
• Browse all water pistols at Amazon UK
• Browse all water pistols at Argos
• Browse all water pistols at Very
• Browse all water pistols at Amazon US
• Browse all water pistols at Target
• Browse all water pistols at Walmart
If it's been a while since you purchased a water pistol, we think you'll be amazed by what's on offer now. Cheap and cheerful water pistols are still around, but they've been joined by all kinds of increasingly sophisticated soakers including high capacity, high pressure models that'll soak everybody you know before they even know you're there. And that means there are models for every age, every group and every budget.
If you'd rather your home entertainment didn't end up drenching you, we have guides for drier pursuits too: check out our guides to the best Nerf guns, the best board games guide and our collection of the best Lego sets for indoor adventures.
Best water guns & Super Soakers 2022: the list
Sending a steady stream of water up to a satisfactory eight metres or so, this blaster should form the basis of your aqua unleashing arsenal. The pump action gets the flow in motion and with a generous two-litre capacity, targets will get wetter than the average washing machine rinse cycle.
This Super Soaker is also the ideal and highly entertaining method of deterring un-wanted critters from your back garden. No, we’re not referring to BBQ guests. The only downside really is that you might want something smaller for younger kids, and the cap that seals it is quite stiff (which means no leaks, at least). Read more in our full, five-star Super Soaker Floodinator review.
Water fights tend to be more fun with a second participant, so this two-pack makes it more economical to pick up multiple guns at once for a big spraying battle. They should be small enough for most kids to handle, as long as no one minds have unbranded guns instead of 'cool' Super Soakers.
The pistols here themselves are standard pump-action stuff, with a water capacity of 739ml (not bad for the size), and a promised reach of around 36 feet, which is a long way. As starter water gun packs go, it's perfect – as our full JOYIN 2 Pack Water Pistol review will tell you.
Bring Fortnite from the screen to outside! It's a pretty solid design in general, even beyond the branding – it offers a full litre of water to spray through pump action, reaching around 10 feet/3 metres.
This makes it all a bit less extreme than the Floodinator above, which may be very welcome news to parents. Less water is easier for kids to handle as well – this is generally a great middle ground between water pistols and bigger, beefier spraying options.
After a casual “would you like ice with that” comment from the host of the annual Super Soaker creative team’s BBQ, one attendee still had his work hat on. Within weeks the Freezefire was created, an oversized filler cap in which to stick cubes of ice and the ability to send a shivery stream during water gun wars. It’s a tidy little Super Soaker, and one small enough to conceal into a surprise soaking session. It is the most likely to be turned into a receptacle containing sangria, mind.
As much as we love big water pistols, sometimes the trick to winning a water fight is to have something so small that If your opponents notice it at all, they dismiss it as a little toy. That's when you blast them. This little and eminently affordable Super Soaker packs an impressive punch: it can shoot water up to 33 feet, enabling you to soak your target from a good distance. The combination of long range and the element of surprise means you can usually shoot and get away again before the other person has even had time to react.
The downside to a small, stealthy super soaker is capacity: this little pistol can only hold about 10 fluid ounces, which is just short of 300ml. On the upside the filling hole on the reservoir is nice and wide so you can refill it with a quick dunk into a bucket of water or a few seconds under a running tap.
Look familiar? The original Super Soaker is back, baby! In a slightly tweaked new form, but still with that all-important green removable bottle. This is also a water gun that doesn't just rely on pumping – you pump to prime it, and then pull the trigger to actually fire, which is more convenient than pumping alone.
It promises decent spraying power, and the capacity of 1.2l is good – plus it's not too large for most kids. There is a bit of a leak issue, but maybe you won't mind that – our full Super Soaker XP100 review explains it all.
If soaking your opponent isn't enough for you, then you should consider the Super Soaker DartFire, which not only can fire jets of water at your foes but Nerf darts, too. You don't get a lot of darts to fire (just 5 in fact), however you can switch modes on the fly and once your opponent is thoroughly wet through, you can finish them off with a foamy coup de grâce.
Best water gun: bonus balloons!
If you’ve attempted filling regular balloons with water in the past then you’re already halfway to hitting the buy button. Whilst the satisfaction of hearing the drop of a normal latex water filled sphere is satisfying enough, the process of loading it is tedious. Step up Bunch o Balloons, three bunches in each pack, complete with attachment for hose attaching. Just turn on the tap and watch them fill up, get all 105 done in under a minute. This replenishing speed means you can now rely on them as part of your strategic water warfare arsenal. Time to darken the skies and rain down on your recipients with your H20-infused spheres of watery doom.
How we test water guns
T3 tests water guns by buying them from retailers, filling them with water, and then shooting our friends and family with jets of H2O.
During testing we rate Super Soakers and other water-spewing weaponry on build quality, water capacity, features and range, which we feel are the most important elements to a good water gun.
We're looking especially to see if manufacturer claims prove accurate in the real world, so if a product is advertised on its ability to fire water jets far, but in reality they go just a few meters, we'll tell you.
Each year during the summer T3 also has a big water gun battle royale, where the team lock and load before engaging in watery combat.
