[BruiseLee]

Anyone here seriously into paintball?

I used to play a lot - I have an old Nelspot 007 I upgraded to constant air and put a stock, sights, and a hopper on.

But all my friends got so out of shape I couldn't find anyone to play with anymore. I finally met some younger people that want me to take them paintballing. But, I want a newer gun cause I can't talk them into a stock game and I'll be at a big disadvantage with my old pump gun.

I mainly play in the woods, although I love to play in indoor fields and faux urban settings whenever I can.

I don't want to spend more than $200 if I can help it. I heard the Smart Parts Ion is good, and that the Spyder Imagine and Pilot are good for the money. One guy I'm going with got a used Tippman 68C for $50.

I've already got my mask, squegee, web gear, barrel plug, and all the other assorted crap you need to play the sport so I guess I'm fairly serious. I just haven't played for a couple of years.

I guess the #1 priority I have in a gun is reliablity. I broke a ton of balls in my Nelspot, and had to field strip the thing under fire at least twice a day. I remember one of my buddies made a sweet move on an enemy position. When he came up to fire his rental gun it literally came apart and he got smoked. LOL.

I prefer a shorter, compact gun because I had a long ass barrel on my Nelspot that was a real disadvantage at close quarters in "urban" settings. I'm not too concerned about bps because anything I get has to have a higher rate of fire than my Nelspot.

[knoxx45]

I highly recomend the Auto-Cockers. Get a good one, spend the money, and you will never be sorry. My $300.00 Cocker with about an extra hundred or so into it out shoots all but the very best paintball guns out there, and by best we are talking about $1k+ guns. You can get a stripped down version for about $225, and while it's more than you want to spend, for the little extra, you will get a whole lot more. For instance, I think (though I might be wrong) that nost models still come with Dye barrels. Check out Cabela's, I know that they carry them pretty cheap, but I bet if you look around, you can find them for less. Plus the Cockers are easy to modify.

Just my $.02

Knoxx

[knoxx45]

If you do break a ball, you pull one detent pin and you can slide the whole bolt right out from the rear, then just squegee from back to front, right out the front of the barrel. One swipe, done. Reinsert the bolt, put the pin back. Lock and load, you are ready to rock and roll.

[BrennanKG]

BruiseLee,

I used to play tournament paintball, and still play recreational paintball, as well as occasional scenario games.

For woods play I'd suggest looking into a Tippmann A5. It's amazingly durable , low-maintenance and reasonably priced.

Autocockers, although no longer the kings of the tournament scene they once were, continue to be excellent markers. They are once of the few closed-bolt designs and due to this, feel different than most of the other options. I have an "old" autococker, circa 2000 that I use for recball and I love it.

I used AKA markers for a number of seasons and they are built like tanks, but even in the used market they will fall outside of your price range. I disapprove of Smart Parts' business practices/ethics but you can't argue with their popularity.

B.

[hub]

200 bucks you cant beat a smart parts ion. thats what i have. 17 balls a sec out of the box, add a blackheart board and somewhere around 21 bps. check out action village.com they tons of stuff. i'll agree the ion is not the best marker in the world but think its the best in that price range. don't forget you also need to buy a fast hopper, egg 2, or halo b, and a n2 tank. if your not looking for something that shoots fast or is more rugged the tipman 98 is pretty solid and not too expensive.

['Card]

Is it just me, or was paintball a hell of a lot more fun back in the days when pump guns were the norm? (I'm talking mid-to-late 80's here)

Seems like tactics, movement, sneakiness, coordination, teamwork, camouflage and aim were a lot more important back then. It became a completely different sport once everyone on the field could spew out a metric ton of paint in a matter of seconds. I've tried playing several times over the last few years, but somehow I just can't get into it anymore. I guess maybe the game changed and I didn't.

[Tacticaldude]

+1 on Tippmann A5 but change the barrel to a flatline barrel(and watch that ball go flying)you'll also learn some techniques with this barrel;)..I love mine..no batteries to worry and very reliable.
:cool:

[BrennanKG]

'Card,

It's definitely a whole different game. I still have my old SplatMaster. ;)

I enjoy both "arenas" paintball has to offer, the woods games requiring stealth and strategy, but also the tournament/speedball play which is faster paced.

Back to marker selection. The A5 has an advantage over some of the other options in that it has its own hopper which requires no batteries (runs off redirected CO2/compressed air) from the marker. This means one less thing to buy.

B.

[Jackal]

The A5 is OK, But i much prefer my Diablo Wrath. I have NEVER chopped a ball with the electronic eyes on. Zero maintenance. I have over 10,000 balls through it and i have not even stripped it for cleaning.


DIABLO WRATH !!!:D :cool: :rolleyes:

[stillamarine]

I have a tippman A-5 with response trigger, drop forward, 12" werks barrel and 4 position CAR still stock that I have been trying to get rid off. 200 is a little lower than what I am looking for but pm me and maybe we can figure something out

[Ricebrnr]

For under $200 new, you could possibly go with an A5 or an newer model 98. Both are great woodsball markers, built like tanks. In gunspeak some call them the Ak's of the pb world. You could go with an ION which I've also heard some good things about. It all depends on your preferred playing style.

Of the 2 that I own, I'd recommend the A5 for ease of maintenance, and adaptability to varying play style, but I play with my 98 more.

Come check out www.undergroundmodshop.com if you'd like a similar forum and some ideas on markers.

[Glock_10mm]

I love the old school guns like the VM68 magnum and VM68 sniper. They are the heaviest ones on the field (but they offer realism for the weight a real assult rifle would weigh). I've had both since around 1993/94 and they are solid as a tank and ultra accurate. They do need some care/tweaking, but all of them do. You can only get these used but you can get them on ebay pretty reasonably $50-200!

My automag is also running strong and smooth, but I like the VM68's better

They are not as fast as the new ones, but I train one shot one kill, not stand and spray tactics. It will shoot about 5rds a second max.

[knoxx45]

Good call on the VM's. They are great. Only one thing... They hate the cold.

[steveracer]

Team Calamari, an all-Navy PB team, has taken Most Valuable Team at five out of five 24-hour scenarios. Our team put up 2700 of the total 5100 points for our side in the last event. (300+ total players)

There are four of us. Total.

What do we use?
Each of us has a holstered PGP pump. (ten-shot rock&cock)
Two guys have Tippman 98s, the other two have A-5s.
None of us has any mods or anything other than simple changes to suit taste, nobody has more than $400 total in our guns. My partner, Chaps, had more kills than any single player on the field at the last event. He used his PGP exclusively. He shot a total of 240 balls in 24 hours. He used six CO2 cartridges. He scored more than 50 kills that I saw. It was a little funny, but he never shot at someone out of range, so that many hits makes sense.

Almost every PB marker available today will shoot about a 6" group at 25 yards. That's handgun range for all intents and purposes, right? Really good barrels extend that out to about 50 yards, but that's pushing it.
In Paintball, volume doesn't equal victory. You can't shoot through cover or concealment, you can't break contact closer than 30 yards or so, and you can't hit that guy no matter how many times you shoot the wall he's behind.
For 60 dollars, the PGP will do everything that all the other markers do, and you will have the satisfaction of hitting the kid with the $1500 Angel in the goggles and watching him walk off with the barrel plug in.

[colt.45]

the ion is a wicked fast gun! 17 rounds a SECOND! thats faster than an M-P5. if you get one, people will expect you to be the fire support. but personally i find it fun to be known as god.:neener: if you get the ion though, you NEED nitrogen. if you get an imagine (wich i have) you can run it on co2. its a pretty good gun for the money. good luck! and remember, be as aggressive as possible and just go nuts, it works for me.

[10-Ring]

My son & I got into it last year. I bought a couple of Spyder Pilots & have really enjoyed mine...so has my son. There are many others out there w/ more bells & whistles (the Ion is one of them), but our Spyders where inexpensive, reliable & lots of fun.

[BrennanKG]

I haven't been over to the UMS for a bit.

Good to see you here!


Bruise,

Regardless of what you choose, just get out there and play!
:)


B.
(Arawn from A5OG and UMS)

[jerkyman45]

get a Tippmann, American made, durable, the price is good, its the best gun for woodsball. An A5 is great, a 98c is good too. Either or your getting a good gun that'll give you years of service without loads of money in repairs.

[Ricebrnr]

Thanks for the welcome BrennanKG, aka Arawn!

And you are right, just get out and play!

[MrCoffee]

Markers are all a matter of choice these days. Even the top guns out there are only a few balls per second (BPS) apart. Ego's seems to rank #1 with true Speedball/Xball tourny level players, with the Shocker, DM/PM and Intiminator following closely behind.

The Ion: Great for entry level tourny play. Light, fast, pretty easy to fix. I currently use one for my rec level play days, and backup for Tourny play. $199-209. Tons of Upgrades. But mostly Plastic.

JT Quadra: A Spyder Clone, fast, light, easy to fix and work on. $169+/-

ICD ProMaster: My Personal choice for a sub $300 marker. VaporWorks has them currently for $250 and they are well worth the cash.

Wrath: Fast, light, good all around choice. $200 or so. (The AR-1 is a clone of sorts).

All of the above have "eyes" or some sort of system to "see" if there is a paintball properly loaded so chopping paint doesnt happen (as much). You can spend a lot less and get a "blind" marker. All top out around 20 BPS or so, and have several firing modes.

For Non Electro's (Mechanical Trigger) You can't go wrong with just about any Tippmann. In the woods I use a Older ProLite I picked up used for $50. Never let me down. Old School Cockers are a solid choice, and Automags are as well.

If you are serious about playing, then hit www.pbnation.com and check there FIRST before you buy anything. Not only can you find just about any information you might want/need before you buy, but you will find great deals on markers. Right at the moment with lots of people heading back to school and such, you can pick up most anything CHEAP. It is a buyers market.

It really depends on your playing style and what you think are important features. Some people feel that bright, colorful markers that fire a huge volume of paint are the way to go, while others are really into how "real" the marker looks (Mil-Sim). Check out PBN and get out there and PLAY! :)

MrC

[ZeroCool]

For $100, you could get the spyder MR1. It has a mechanical (semi-auto) trigger.

For $200, you could get the spyder MR2. It has the electronic (semi-burst-auto) trigger.

Two of the guys I play with have these guns. They are AWESOME for the money. I would recommend them without hesitation.

Me? I have a cheapie spyder victor. It works beautifully, but there is definitely nothing fancy about it. It's bright and loud, but reliable.

See reviews of the MR1 and MR2 here:

http://www.pbreview.com/products/reviews/4229/

http://www.pbreview.com/products/reviews/4226/

Oh yeah, the cheapest place I've found them is at Bass Pro. For some reason they are cheaper in stores than online.

[Roadwild17]

Just a note about pbnation.com, they are rude and will often rather insult you before help you. Nothing at all like THR.

Now for woods and just rec play I would go with something like an A5 with RT trigger& cycone feeder. It would we wicked fast and a tank. A sypder isnt exactly a bad choice eather, if your thinking your just going to play 4 or 5 times then drop it again, that may be the choice. The Ion (my gun) is a fine choice also but geared more towards speedball type of play inwhich you throw vase amounts of paint in under a few min.

[steveracer]

Basically the same attitude on these two forums. I used to ask questions there, but not any more. Now you should go to PBjunkie. Much more mature site.

[BrennanKG]

steveracer,

Nice comparison!
:)

Dead-on.

The problem with pbN is the same as the problem with arF: too many folks.
There is a direct correlation between the forum population and the amount asshattery.

Paintball forums tend to be the worst offender in this regard, due to the demographic of the sport. All these young kids in color-matched gear trying to out-eCool everyone around them. ;)

If your focus is woodsball, I'd suggest http://undergroundmodshop.com/. Their forum is an offshoot from the old A5 ownersgroup forum, which was the best paintball forum I'd ever seen.


B.

[cvb]

Tippmans/ BT4s for scenario woodsball and Ion for airball.
A5 is an airhog and hates the cold, my experience.

[BruiseLee]

My final decision was to spring for a new Smart Parts Ion for $200. The final cost with a Halo B with RipDrive ($125) and a regular aluminum 48/3000 Pure Energy Tank was over $400.

I actually talked to 3 guys who were trying to sell their used Ions. They all wanted more for their used guns than the guns cost new - one wanted $85 more! Stupid kids - I got quotes from 3 local stores and all were cheaper than what these geniuses wanted.

O.K., here are some observations after playing with the Ion for a day.

PROS:

O.K., this gun shoots wicked fast. It will pump out 17 balls per second in semi-automode, and it has a 3 round burst and full auto mode which I think is like 30 balls per second! Just squeezing the trigger in full auto mode sounds scary!

This gun is way more reliable than my ancient Nelspot 007 pump. It has "eyes", which means it actually has a laser which detects if there is a ball in the chamber ready to fire.

The Halo B hopper - it failed to feed electrically on my second game. But, using the RipDrive to manually feeed my balls, I was back into action in seconds. This was probably due to my inexperience with my new gear. It fed reliably for the rest of the day, and even took some wicked hits during a firefight. But, the cool thing is when i was really pumping out paint, you could hear that electric motor going, loading paint...man, I felt like I was firing a minigun lol!

Players respect this gun! When you go on the field with one of these, you already have a psychological edge if you are playing against walk on noobs with rental guns.

CONS:

This gun has a hair trigger. I have been shooting since I was 9 and I'm 45 now and I've never had an accidental discharge in all that time. In one day with this gun I must of had at least 6 different accidental discharges. The gun does have an adjustable trigger; I'm going to try to adjust it to have a heavier trigger pull. Right now it probably has like a 6 oz. trigger pull!

The gun's accuracy with the stock barrel is just so-so. It's not awful, but my old Nelspot is more accurate (with a longer aftermarket barrel).

O.K., some of these cons are more from the point of view of using the paintgun as a training tool for serious social encounters.

I hate the fact that the hopper is right where you iron sights or scope should be. In other words, there is no way to really aim the gun, or even point it by sighting down the barrel like a shotgun. You just point the gun as best you can, shoot balls out, and watch them fly downrange like tracers, then walk them onto target. I dunno about you guys, but I don't fire too many tracers rounds normally, nor can I concieve of any situation where a citizen would be pumping out 17 tracer rounds a second.

The handling/pointing characteristics of this gun are horrible. You can kind of use the tank like a stock, but it's piss poor ergonomically. Length of pull is all wrong, you are trying to rest the bottom of a metal tank on your shoulder where normally there would be a rubber recoil pad, etc.

I don't like the red safety led at all. The old Nelspot had a simple mechanical crossbolt safety. Easy to see or feel if the gun was on safe or not. The Ion has a red flashing led. OK, I'm playin in Southern California in the summer and it's 90 degrees out. The sun is bright! That flashing led gets washed out - especially if you have been hit in the goggles by a few paintballs.

The same goes for the status led of the Halo B electric loader - next to impossible to see it in bright sunlight.

MISC:

This is probably not the fault of Pure Energy, the tank manufacturer, but I felt I should mention this anyway. My tank broke the first time I tried to refill it. Something about an O-ring or a nipple ring busting.

The reason I don't think it's the fault of the manufacturer is that the guys working at the paintball field I played at were total Bozos. The reason I say that is because when I got the gun it was set-up on full auto mode. They only allow semi at this field. I don't know how to change modes in the Ion, so I ask the guys that work there for help. The guy tries to push in the led button with a Phillips screwdriver! And I mean force it! I was horrified and immediately told him to stop! Luckily I had brought the Ion manual with me....

Then, like I said, when I gave them my gun for a refill, they broke my tank to the point that it wouldn't hold any air! At least they had the decency to loan me one of their tanks so I could keep on playing with my Ion.

My other friend's Dye paintball marker had problems, too. He wisely decide not to play at all, other than risk these guys monkeying around with his gun!

The trigger is huge, set up for rapid fire two finger shooting. This is great for the sport of paintball, which of course is what the Ion is all about. However, it's not a good thing if you are trying to replicate a real firearm. I can live with it, though - I try to think of it as an M1A with a winter trigger.

CONCLUSION:

It may seem like I had more negative things to say about the Ion than positive, but the positive things were major (rate of fire and reliablity), and the negative things were minor (except for the hair trigger and iffy safety, a real safety problem in my opinion). Overall, I am happy with the gun, and am looking forward to playing my next game with it soon (after I get my brand new tank repaired, grr.)

One last thing - ya I agree with you guys about pbnation.com. The people there can be damm rude - a lot of kids trying to outcool each other that think they know everything. Everything is "old news" or "just do a search." I had the same experience when I bought a Fast-and-Furious-type car and started asking questions on one of their websites. Totally rude punks with nothing to offer other than hive-mind mentality answers or smart ass insults. When I deal with the older guys who run classic muscle cars, the people are insanely knowledgable and polite and happy to give you detailed help and answers. It's like day and night.

[ZeroCool]

I have heard good things about the ION from a guy at work, but have not personally played with one (I only play with about 5 buddys in the woods and we all have spyders).

I dont know why paintball manufacturers decide to put the hopper right in the line of sight on guns. It drives me crazy. I would guess it is for more reliable feeding, but with electric on higher end guns this should not be an issue. That is another aspect of the MR1 and MR2's that I really liked... the hopper is offset.

Be careful with those ION's though... it seems like it is real easy to put triple the amount of money for the gun into it (said guy at work currently has $650 into his gun and doesnt even have a nitrous tank).

[BruiseLee]

I forgot to mention two things:

One, according to the Ion manual the full-auto and 3 round burst mode is not available in Ions sold in England. :barf: Apparently, they even BAN PAINT MARKERS IN ENGLAND.

Two, I forgot to mention the reason why I picked the Ion over the Tippman. New they are almost the same price, and although the Tippman's seem to be as reliably as a Colt 1911, they can't shoot nearly as fast as the Ions can, which is important if you are playing speedball. Also, I couldn't find a used Tippman at a reasonable price, although my friend did ($50 for a 98c). If I coulf have found a used Tippman complete for $150 or less, I would have gone for it.

ZeroCool, since I already have over $400 into the gun, am going to have to pay for a repair, and already have guys trying to talk me into carbon fibre tanks, upgraded boards, and lightened aftermarket bolts, I could see passing the $650 your friend has put into his gun real easy.

A few years ago, if someone told me they spent that much money on a paintgun, I'd of told them they're nuts.

[MIL-DOT]

after seeing almost everything made used in our local games,most everyone on our 20-30 man woodsball group ( and some nearby groups as well) have mostly gone with the A-5 with response trigger. also, the flatlines are cool, but several of us have shelved or sold our flatlines and gone back to a regular, and more accurate, barrel. for instance the CP one-piece and empire twisters are especially popular.
another point in favor of tipmanns (98's or A5's) is their incredible customer service. if you do have a problem you or the gang can't fix, call tipmann and they'll trouble-shoot the prob over the phone or tell you to just send the gun to them. just a few days later,they'll send it back fixed right, for nothing !!

[Diana's Angels]

SmartParts Ion, I LOVE THAT GUN by dar the best in its price range, BUT:
Be sure and get a Nitrogen Tank (not Co2) and a Halo Hopper (needed accessorys)

[Harry Tuttle]

i love the markers

i have a few in my collection

heres my latest project mag:
http://premium1.uploadit.org/docZox/PB/tacmag05.jpg

[BrennanKG]

Harry,

Is that your work on the mag?
Sweet, regardless.
That stock really brings me back a bit!


B.

[Harry Tuttle]

yip! that one is all my efforts
well, me and Tom Kaye genius

a bit of parts bashing
a bit of body stripping
a bit of rail hacking and anno
;)

this one is partially my work
(i did the 20 round longbow mod)

http://premium1.uploadit.org/docZox//m1416.jpg

[Jackal]

No love for the Diablo Wrath? I have one and it has never failed.

[loki.fish]

I've got the ION....if you got yours new be prepared for air leaks. After I managed to fix all of the air leaks I had with my new ION it's been really good. I use compressed air, it's cheap and shoots consistent when chrono'd. I put an Apex barrel on it. It has the ability to shoot around corners and dive bomb over bunkers, but I never really got any good at it. I just use it for the super long distance shots. On the longest setting, it's supposed to shoot 25ft farther than a flatline barrel. You're right about the hair trigger, I dunno how many times I've shot myself in the foot trying to reload by bumping the gun against my leg or something. Very handy for providing cover fire, and when in a gun fight, I do a manual three round burst and have had no issues missing what I've pointed at. Very good choice. The tippman 98 and A-5's are top choices too. I've played with both of them, and had no problems ever out of them.

[WiLLtallica]

Thank god you got the ion, because a tippman will leave you disappointed in the long run. I've been playing paintball for years, and I almost went professional. I've own thousands of dollars worth of guns, and the ION is a defiantly a keeper. Matter of fact I wish I could have just bought a couple of ions, it's dead of the marker i mainly use today.

In regards to what loki.fish said, more so then be prepared, be ahead of any problems there might be. Strip it apart, relube it all, then gas her up. www.pbreview.com seemed to be a great site, kinda like PBN (-) the e-cool audience you suffer from there. They should have a forum aside just for IONs here.

[WiLLtallica]

Players respect this gun! When you go on the field with one of these, you already have a psychological edge if you are playing against walk on noobs with rental guns.

Well that's until they can see you're using a cheaper heavier type of metal tank. Believe me that tank will hold you back, and delay you in certain operations. Like one handed reloading, and switching hands. I consider it a handicap, and it would cause me to not hesitate to push up on, or in worse case bunker you.

CONS:

This gun has a hair trigger. I have been shooting since I was 9 and I'm 45 now and I've never had an accidental discharge in all that time. In one day with this gun I must of had at least 6 different accidental discharges. The gun does have an adjustable trigger; I'm going to try to adjust it to have a heavier trigger pull. Right now it probably has like a 6 oz. trigger pull!

You may think that's a hair trigger, but in the world of paintball it's probably a little far from what most experienced ballers want. My trigger pull weights .25 grams, and I need it like that. I guess you haven't herd of walking the trigger yet. Of the break laning, snap shooting, and self cover require a tapping trigger.

The gun's accuracy with the stock barrel is just so-so. It's not awful, but my old Nelspot is more accurate (with a longer aftermarket barrel).

Actually it's probably a little bit of your imagination, because first of all no marker is ever perfectly accurate, so you always have to evel with the little spread you see.
From what I saw the ion shoots darts with the stock barrel. Also I've gone threw a lot of barrels, some only just 3.5 inches long, and others at 21 inches long. I have never seen a difference is the accuracy due to length. The only benefiting from a longer barrel length in the paintball world is peeping: using the barrel's tip to push the bunker in and out.
Making sure the barrel has smooth honing, and bore matching is what help a lot, but only on days of extreme temperature difference. Cold = Smaller bores, hot humid = Largest bores, for soft warm deformed shells.

O.K., some of these cons are more from the point of view of using the paintgun as a training tool for serious social encounters.

I hate the fact that the hopper is right where you iron sights or scope should be. In other words, there is no way to really aim the gun, or even point it by sighting down the barrel like a shotgun. You just point the gun as best you can, shoot balls out, and watch them fly downrange like tracers, then walk them onto target. I dunno about you guys, but I don't fire too many tracers rounds normally, nor can I concieve of any situation where a citizen would be pumping out 17 tracer rounds a second.

A scope, and or sights is really obsolete on a paintball gun, seeing the balls drop a lot, and most of the playing involves snap shooting. After a while you won't even have to aim, because for the most part you can feel out where your paint is gona land.

The handling/pointing characteristics of this gun are horrible. You can kind of use the tank like a stock, but it's piss poor ergonomically. Length of pull is all wrong, you are trying to rest the bottom of a metal tank on your shoulder where normally there would be a rubber recoil pad, etc.

Oh man, you're a mess. I'm sure on PBR if you take time to check out some NPPL videos, and feedback on how other players play it'll all come threw to you. The best thing to do is handle your marker off range, and spend time every now and than handling it, and practice snap shooting.

MISC:

This is probably not the fault of Pure Energy, the tank manufacturer, but I felt I should mention this anyway. My tank broke the first time I tried to refill it. Something about an O-ring or a nipple ring busting.

Those do break all of the time, so you have to buy a 0-ring kit. Never buy one from a paintball store, because they'll charge you like 1 dollar a ring, and for about 5$ you can get 500 off ebay, or from an oring distributor which you can find out about on PBR.com as well.

The trigger is huge, set up for rapid fire two finger shooting. This is great for the sport of paintball, which of course is what the Ion is all about. However, it's not a good thing if you are trying to replicate a real firearm. I can live with it, though - I try to think of it as an M1A with a winter trigger.

In the long run you're not going to be having fun if you're trying to make a marker look line an m16, because paintball really is a sport of it's own. You'll find that paintball works it's own way far from firearms, and you'll actually have a lot to learn in terms of technique.
CONCLUSION:

One last thing - ya I agree with you guys about pbnation.com. The people there can be damm rude -

Most of them are just kids from the cities just trying to be e-cool, and self important. Plus you have to realize that you're obviously new in some regards. Like for saying the ion is horrible to handle, because it's actually designed in a way not only favored by paintball players, but is nessential. You'd never hear the end of it from them for that. I enjoy the sport, and hate every one of those kids.

[BrennanKG]

Well,

Bruise Lee, while I'm glad you are happy with your Ion, I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about any psychological edge you gain by using the Ion. You want to impress players? Go out onto the fields, play, learn and excel. Play with more experienced players, not the new kids. I know this has been said a thousand times before, but it's really not the marker, it's the player. I for one am not the slightest bit awed or impressed by players strutting out onto the field(s) with the latest and greatest gear. I AM impressed when I see players using older, non-electro or pump markers who can hold their own while playing speed/air/hyperball. Alternately, experienced tournament players who are capable of relaxing a bit and enjoying a recball game, or still getting into an occasional woodsball game are impressive.

I agree with WiLLtallica that if you want to grow as a player in paintball you will be best served by accepting the paintball gun eronomics for what they are. If you want to trick out your marker in a milsim fashion, that's fine but don't expect it to shoot any better.

I don't really agree with the long-run choice of the Ion over the A5 (or a number of other options) although this is simply my opinion.
The Ion is what it is. It is a good beginner's electro, cheap, with eyes, a TON of available upgrades and a relatively easy to maintain design. On the other hand the stock trigger is horrible, the marker's durability is dubious at best and its efficiency is crappy in the grand scheme of things.

Again, just get out there and play. Games with and against more experienced players (and drills with someone who can teach and critique) are worth a hundred Derder or pro team videos. Paintball is like any other sport, it requires the building of muscle memory.

Cheers,
B.

[mp510]

Get a Tippman 98 Custom. I know somebody that has one, and enjoys it. He says that they are a good value for the money.

[Harry Tuttle]

Ions are nice

and cheap

as Doc Nickle puts it:
"Velveta cheese grade aluminum"

The Gardner Brothers have done paintball no favors as they have personally profited