Buzz Bee Toys made a very interesting design decision. The original Gargantua, which was my first Gargantua and I never reviewed, used a small pressure chamber of the CPS type. Although it wasn’t a CPS 2000, it was strong enough to pump good shots and had a lot of capacity. Buzz Bee now has the Gargantua X. It replaces the trigger and CPS with a Steady Stream mechanism but keeps the three nozzles. Its still a decent blaster, considering whats on the market. The old one was my favorite.
An Interesting Find
My Gargantua X came from Meijer, a regional supermarket chain, at A quick internet search didnt yield any other results in the US, but you may yet find it elsewhere.
Just about everything on the outside is the same as before. Only the viewing windows that reveal the spring-loaded piston chamber were modified. Although the trigger is still visible, it does not move. The cap, which is a screw-on cap used for pressurized blasters, remains the same. Buzz Bee changed only what was necessary. It’s the same boxy, minimalist design, but it cares more about functionality.
It is not possible to grip the area in the same way. Because of the position of the guard, larger hands may find it difficult to grip. However, the pump grip is comfortable and slides smoothly, with enough space for the fingers to grip it tightly, even when wet.
The blaster has three nozzles: small stream, large stream, and a four stream spread. To select the desired nozzle, simply turn the orange barrel. Its easy, and it indexes correctly each time.
Can you shoulder it? Not without holding your dominant arm awkwardly.
Performance
Gargantua X claims a range of up to 38. Personally, I could only get 34, using the smaller stream at an angle, but its not out of the realm of possibility. Thats just the issue with trying to range test a blaster like this; holding it steady is itself a challenge. The other streams dont go quite as far, but they do put out more water in a shorter period of time.
Speaking of nozzles, the Steady Stream effect is clearest with the small stream. You can, with hard pumping, compress the spring to the point where it will continue firing for about two seconds. However, the other nozzles are much larger and can let most of the water evaporate before you can pump it again. You really cant build pressure with those.
My Garganuta X contained 77 fl oz water.
Internals
As mentioned, a Steady Stream mechanism sits where a CPS chamber used to be. There is no overpressure valve, so there’s only a switch inside the pump.
Pump volume remains the same, producing approximately 20mL per stroke. Yeah, its strange that I do the capacity and pump in different units. Pump volumes are best compared to metric units, for some reason.
