XLR Water Cannon

For many years every spring we have been plagued by pigeons cooing romantically on a ledge below one of our bathroom windows (which alas does not open, so I could not poke them off with a stick). Apart from the annoying noise, especially aggravating at 5 a.m. I might add, they are constantly dropping - well, pigeon droppings (surprise eh?) right by our front door, making the whole area disgusting. An incredible amount of droppings and mess I might add, from just 2 pesky pigeons. Who wants to clean that up everyday? Mrs. Hinch maybe but certainly not me. No, I'd rather be doing anything else... Over the years I have tried throwing stones at them (I mostly missed and they sat there laughing at me). Occasionally just missing schoolchildren and pensioners, as stones will land where they will, and my aim wasn't always 100%... Nowhere near. In fact aim is probably not a strictly accurate term to use whilst describing that particular activity. I suppose I'm lucky I never broke a window. Or got sued. Then I hit upon the idea of using our garden hose, which entailed the following laborious process. Unlocking the back gate, connecting hose onto outside tap, unreeling it, wrestling the twisted hose up the side of the house, whilst at the same time desperately trying to avoid leaks from one or two holes and then aiming at the creatures. On windy days this often resulted in drenching myself right down to my shoes, (often slippers if I was in an enraged hurry). I famously once watered a very unimpressed jogger as I turned to take the hose back, although it might have helped him home more quickly, who knows? Back to the pigeons, after some time being amused by these hapless shenannigans, most annoyingly they would fly away JUST as I aimed the hose at them, no doubt laughing their little pigeon asses off as they flew away only to return half an hour later when the coast was clear and the whole sad time consuming saga would unfurl again. Ad infinitum. I confess, some nights I let them roost there because it was all too much effort to deter them. I have to ask myself WHY it is that I, as a reasonably brained human (although this could be called into doubt after reading of my exploits above), have never thought of purchasing such a magnificent device as this before. Why? Who knows? Anyway - I have one now. It is easy to fill, easy to aim (even though I am a laydee) it's quick, always ready to shoo them away and I am extremely pleased and satisfied. Smug too. And that is, dear reader, a slight understatement. If you are suffering similar pesky creature problems to the ones I had, then all I can say is - salvation is at hand. Buy one of these and your life will be complete! If not complete then at least eminently better than life prior to having one. To summarise - it's not too heavy, it's quick, easy and does the job so I'm endorsing it heavily with the maximum five stars.

Bought to deter squirrels from the bird feeders. Delivers a good shot almost the full length of the garden. Critters now conditioned to know as soon as I appear they are going to get wet. Doesn't stop them trying though. Item arrived very quickly, although the packaging was just a plastic bag wrapped around the gun secured with fragile tape which had seen some damage in transit. Gun was OK when unpacked, but so easily could have suffered at the hands of the Royal Mail. Also, after a couple of weeks of activity, I suspect the seal has started to fail as leaving it full of water on it's side will result in a puddle on the floor. All in all good, if not a little expensive for what it is.

Purchased for my children when they play with the neighborhood kids , American made and nice and sturdy , it shoots a good distance (perhaps 10-15 meters ) with force ,and drenches any one who gets in the way , ...and there in lies its problem ..its too good at its job , my kids are 6 and 9 and they can now easily out match any thing a Super Soaker / Nerf etc has on the market making it a little unfair on the other children (especially the girls) who do look horribly bedraggled just before they surrender ....as a result and understandably no one wants to play if these guns are used and my boys are also reluctant to go up against them when the other children have their go with them ....so all have now agreed not to use them ?!! .. Another small thing to bare in mind is , if you have a water meter this is a very good method of getting rid of allot of water really quickly as these guns will pump a bucket dry in moments . In summery : These are very good guns , they are tremendous fun and very well made , they are simple in principle with no complicated parts to jam , clog up or snap , but they are perhaps best used by all (or no one at all ) and only in a situation where water is free/cheap and readily available such as a pool etc .... note: when the adults get their hands on them ...it is utter carnage .

Absolutely brilliant for getting rid of pigeons! They are so thick they keep coming back but one blast gets rid of them for awhile.

Bought this as a cat deterrent, bit of a waste of money really unless you're really committed to it. It's not like a water pistol where you can fill it up and leave it on the side. It's basically a big plunger, just without the surgical precision. The end does leak out, so you either have to keep it by a bucket, or fill it up and then turn it upside down, and leave a 5 foot pipe leaning at an angle against the wall. With it being so long, if you open the window or door to squirt an unwelcome guest, by the time you've manoeuvred it to be facing outdoors, they've realised what it is and scampered off. You do have to be really stealthy with it, so I don't find it particularly efficient. It can also stick if you don't use it regularly. As someone mentioned, it did have Vaseline on it. Given that the description recommends using it for deterring unwanted guests, I'd say it's not great in doing so, and there are definitely better devices to do the same job. For that reason I've given it 3 stars. If however, you take pride in the fact that you managed to sneak the window open without that cat noticing, and you managed to hit it square on with most of the spray and watch it run off like lightning, you probably would enjoy this product.

We were desperate for something to help keep the nesting seagulls off of our roof. We live by the sea and the seagulls nest along the ridges and against the base of the chimneys, which is absolutely fine until they have babies and then all Hell breaks loose! It is extremely stressful for our pets whenever they are in the garden because the seagulls divebomb them protecting their young, even when they obviously cannot do anything to harm the seagulls right up there on the roof, so the best thing to do is to keep the seagulls from nesting up there in the first place. We saw the description for this water blaster stating that it can reach 60ft and it sounded perfect. It arrived in a few days and we couldn’t wait to give it a try. I filled it from my bucket of rain water by the back door - you just pop the end into a bucket of water and pull to suck the water up into the chamber. I’m not particularly strong, but I pointed it up the garden and it reached a good length. The harder you push, the further the jet of water goes. When Hubby got home he couldn’t wait to try it properly, he loaded it with water aimed up high and it reached the top of the house. It certainly had the desired effect, scared the couple of seagulls that were up there and we didn’t have anymore for the next couple of days. We are semi detached and both our neighbours always have seagulls on their roofs. They’ve obviously learnt very quickly not to come onto our roof. We are pleased with this purchase. Just be very cautious because the length that the blaster extends to, you can feel that it could easily break when shooting.

Having read the reviews, and having suffered for years from cats hunting birds and making their mess in my garden, I purchased this as a cat deterrent about a month ago. What can I say? It works very well for me: most cats only need one squirt from this cannon to get the message that they are not wanted and 99% of them have stayed away; only a few have required extra encouragement. I just have the one or two canny ones to deal with: those that now turn up when there is no-one at home, or arrive in the early hours before I am up and about. In order to deal with those I have purchased the RSPB recommended Catwatch ultrasonic deterrent which is currently guarding the main bird feeding area with some success. I agree with other reviewers that the range is not as good as claimed by the manufacturer. However, my gardens are not too deep and I have found that I can easily reach over the first 30-40 feet from an upstairs window. (Not sure what my neighbours think I am doing, though!) It does dribble water from the exhaust hole when filled, but holding a thumb over the end while transporting the cannon and aiming isn't too much of an issue. The item came with a sticky lubricant (Vaseline?) on the mechanism, and unlike some reviewers, I have had no problems with the item jamming. Just need to remember to completely empty it after use. Tip: When on cat watch, keep a bucket of water ready to load and fire and, if possible, keep a suitable window open so that the cat's aren't warned before you fire. I recommend this for those wanting a pro-active cat deterrent, and one that does no harm to a cat other than scaring it off the premises. UPDATE JUNE 2019: I can confirm that after 5 years of occasional use this still works well as a cat deterrent. I find that I don't have to use it very often these days as most cats seem to have got the message! However, it still comes in handy for use to warn off new cats in the neighbourhood, and on those that either don't learn, or have tried to find ways to avoid it. And I also still recommend using the CatWatch device if you can find a suitable location for it in the garden (I have two protecting my feeders).

Bit fell off after one use. Have been trying to send back for a refund but seller denied.