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Period of
Product Use: |
| 6 months | 8 of 17 people found this review helpful.
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Paintball
Experience: |
3 years |
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Similar
Products Used: |
Pirahna VTL, Spyder Rodeo, Tippman 98C |
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| Marker Setup: |
Ariakon SIM-4, Halo TSA backman LCD, Ariakon bottomline, 32 degrees remote system w/ slide check. |
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Recommended
Upgrades: |
32 degrees remote system, bottomline |
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| Strengths: |
Excellent Consistancy, durability, and customer support |
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| Weaknesses: |
Too large for speedball and fairly heavy |
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| Review: |
When I first got this gun, Ariakon (armotech at the time) markers were notorious for having velocity issues and mine was no different. My gun was shooting 450+ fps when I had the velocity turned up all the way and no less then 350 with it DOWN all the way. I ended up having to cut 3~4 rungs off my spring to get it firing at a safe velocity. Ariakon has since started shipping all their guns with a low velocity spring, but just a warning if you're buying an old one or buying one used.
The first time I fired my gun off, I had some issues with my spring (the gun misfired and tangled my spring), and the body pins were a bit loose due to bad ball bearings in them. When I called Ariakon Customer service about it, they sent me a new spring and two new body pins without even asking a question about it, they even upgraded the shipping to 3 day so I could have it to use that weekend. So yeah, EXCELLENT customer service.
While this gun obviously wasn't designed to be taken onto the speedball it will still perform. Don't expect to be taking cover in the smallest bunker on the field though. I've been backman every time I've played, both because it's size limits your bunker options and because of the weight of the gun (you'll definatly want to get a remote system and possibly a sling). However, the guns really shine in woods/rec ball...
Ariakon markers have to be without a doubt the most consistant and best performing blowbacks you can buy, but that being said they're still blowbacks. Don't buy one expecting it to outperform a timmy or shocker. At best I'd say they're on par with mid range autocockers.
They're amazingly consistant in their shot placement and in the 6 months I've had mine (and 8 or so cases I've put through it) I believe I've broken 2 balls in my barrel and chopped one (when the batteries on my hopper died and I failed to notice).
They obviously LOOK amazing but despite what many people have said they're not just cheap spiders with flimsy plastic body kits. These things are built extremely tough. My gun has already been dropped onto rocks once and been dragged through the mud more then its fair share of times. Likewise I've heard that their new marker (the SIM-5) during quality testing was beaten with a hammer for a half hour and it still fired when they were done with it. |
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| Conclusion: |
If you're looking for a new marker and you're into the whole mil-sim look then the Ariakon SIM-4 is an excellent marker. In the long run it's actually cheaper to buy a SIM-4 upfront then buy a tippman and put body kits on it to aquire a similar look, and you end up with a better performing gun as well.
Just don't plan on playing a lot of speedball with this thing.
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| Rating: |
| 9 out of 10 | Last edited on Sunday, August 15th, 2004 at 8:20 pm PST |
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