What a great time to review water guns…at the end of summer. Oh well. (Even worse, I had this ready to go almost three months ago. Welcome to my brain.)

Along with the previous haul of three water guns we bought from Dollar Tree, we also got this formidable beast. It’s a familiar design, consisting of two barrels, each with their own thin water tank.

Unlike “traditional” water guns, which are meant for prolonged battles, these are basically “single use”: Put the barrels under water, pull back on the handle to fill up the tanks, and voila! You’re ready to go. To “fire” the gun, push forward on the handle, which will release a powerful stream of double-barreled chaos that runs out almost instantly. Well, it can put forth a powerful blast; it all depends on how hard the handle is pushed. That makes this a toy that’s more geared toward older kids and adults, as younger ones might have issues pushing the handgrip forward due to resistance.

This one probably works better than any other gun we bought. There is no leakage, and the handle is very easy to work with. Sometimes you get those infamous quality control issues in cheap junk like this, but these seem fairly well made. It’s still made of lighter plastic, so I’d be wary of dropping it on hard surfaces, but it feels stronger in the hand than other toy guns…

…only it’s not. I was about to give this a slightly higher score, until the handle snapped off. It was on the third day of low-to-moderate use, and right in the act of filling it with water. Maybe I pulled back a little too hard, but I don’t think I was any rougher than a typical kid would be. Thankfully, the gun can still be used without the handle, although it’s a little more annoying with nothing to grip onto. Now you see why I list “longevity” as a concern for virtually every Dollar Tree product.

Working in its favor, however, is also something that pertains to virtually everything inside DT: price. For $1.25, the fact that the gun works at all is kind of a plus. Not that these are really all that expensive elsewhere, but that’s beside the point. It performs at least as well as you would expect in this price range. Why not save a few pennies on something your kids will probably break within the hour?

Overall: 5/10. It’s a decent gun in terms of performance, especially for the price. But as always with Dollar Tree products, longevity is an immediate issue: the handle broke off the second or third day of low-to-moderate use. It’s not a super huge deal – it can still be used without it – but it is slightly more difficult and annoying. Performancewise, it provides a solid blast controlled by how hard the handle is pushed forward. This could be a problem with smaller kids, who might struggle to push it hard enough. Despite its issues, this should still fit the bill as a cheap toy to keep the kids entertained. At least for a little while.