Bottom line: Seeking funding on Kickstarter, the Spyra One is a next-gen water gun that, as much as I hate to admit, seems better than the beloved Super Soaker 50 in virtually every way.

As a kid, there was no better way to beat the summer heat than a good ole fashioned water gun fight. Anyone that took such matters seriously would attest that there was really only one weapon fit for battle: the Super Soaker 50.

This revolutionary rifle was one of the first pressurized water guns on the market and offered the sort of range that previous pistols could only dream of. It wasn't without fault, however, as you had to manually pressurize the small-ish tank using a pumping lever. After a while, that got tiring. Plus, you'd have to constantly unscrew the reservoir, refill it, and reattach it, cutting into valuable battle time.

That was the early '90s, however, and times have certainly changed. Now, we've got the Spyra One.

Rather than shoot a constant stream of water, the Spyra One fires bursts of "water bullets" meaning it's far more efficient. And when it comes time to refill, there's no tank to unscrew - simply dip the front of the gun into a bucket of water, a pool or a lake and it refills automatically in about 14 seconds (how does this work if all you have is a faucet to pull water from?).

The Spyra One, like the Super Soaker, is a pressured gun but you don't have to do the pumping manually - it's all handled automatically. From the first to last shot, the gun is always pressurized and ready for action. According to its creator, it can regularly hit targets at a range of up to around 25 feet.

Best Yet, the Spyra One has a digital display that shows exactly how many "bullets" you have left. A full tank of water gets you 25 shots, we're told, with each "bullet" measuring 30 ml. The display also tells you when it's time to recharge the gun's integrated batteries (the auto-refill and auto-pressurized systems don't work by themselves). With a full battery, you can expect around 45 refill cycles / 1,125 shots.

A full recharge will take about six hours over a USB-C connection.

If you're interested in taking your water gun fights to the next level, a pledge of €115 (roughly $133) on Kickstarter will get your name in the hat. That's hardly what most would consider affordable for a water gun but then again, this isn't your ordinary water gun.

The campaign has already obliterated its funding goal of $58,815 with nearly $350,000 pledged and 25 days remaining. Needless to say, it's a bona fide hit.

The first batch is expected to ship to early backers in August 2019.