Two of Hasbro’s remastered Super Soakers are being recalled

When Hasbro brought back three classic Super Soakers this spring, I was pretty excited – but now two are being recalled. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced that the Super Soaker XP20 and XP30 used too much lead in the ink when the manufacturer printed their labels, and should be returned to Hasbro immediately for a full refund.

They were sold exclusively at Target between March and July of this year, and the CPSC says Hasbro has been able to ship about 52,900 of them so far. If you are one of those nearly 53,000 buyers please email SuperSoakerRecall@Hasbro.com or click here for an online form.

(If you’re not sure which Super Soakers we’re talking about, check out the images above and below.)

You may also be wondering: have these new Super Soakers turned out any good? I’ve only had a chance to try the blue Super Soaker XP100 so far, and … can’t say it’s my favorite, but it’s fun. It shoots a nice crisp stream of water, and I like that it now has a quick disconnect tank instead of having to painstakingly screw and unscrew every time you need a refill.

Unfortunately – maybe because Hasbro used the original classic pinch trigger mechanism, see BlasterHub’s review here – it also tends to leak all over the place, drip constantly or even spray water from the tip when you pump it at full pressure.

I still want a CPS2000. As before, I’ll leave you this excellent oral history of the Super Soaker, and this video about the black NASA scientist Lonnie Johnson, who originally came up with the idea.