AKALMP Tornado valve - as efficient if not a little more
Various stock valves - not as efficient
Marker Setup:
Mini Turtle cocker w/E1 ZeroB, new-style Kaner kit, 70/45 Crossfire
CCM S5, Eclipse Blade, Palmer's Quikswitch
RDL Sniper, WWA pump kit
Pre-Dye Carter Buzzard
Bushmaster SI 14"
Sidekick Stock
Strengths:
Divorcement of firing system and loading system.
Improves performance.
See below for more.
Weaknesses:
Price.
Availability.
Tolerances & compatibility.
See below for more.
Review:
Strengths:
Complete divorcement of firing system and loading system in a cocker - replaces all lower-tube hardware except the IVG, which becomes a retainer.
Allows lower LPR settings and/or faster cycling, reduces mechanical recoil to a minimum.
Very quick firing response - near zero "lock time."
Relatively high efficiency.
Lighter than the parts it replaces.
Very easy installation - assuming valve fits properly (see below); for a cocker tinkerer with average skills, installation is a snap.
Support - both community and manufacturer support is plentiful and patient.
Weaknesses:
Price - costs more than any cocker valve ever has.
Availability - as of Jan 2006, there is still a fairly long wait time to receive one (although nowhere near the original wait).
Tolerances - on the gun side. Some cocker bodies are out of spec with the mQ parts, requiring modifications to the body or the valve.
Compatibility - markers without standard screw-in IVG setups require special considerations and somtimes modifications.
Installation - although installation is easy, there are a few points at which the user can make errors that may cause the valve to not work. It's easy, but not foolproof.
Tuning - because cockers can be built of so many different combinations of parts and can be worked on by techs with such varying degrees of skill, tuning can sometimes be an issue. The valve requres timing changes to work properly, so problems sometimes arise.
I pre-ordered my mQ valve in April 2005 and received it in November 2005. Wait times should be much lower now that it is "officially" released, but be prepared to wait.
I had an issue upon installation -- the seat area of my marker's lower tube, which affects the depth the valve can be inserted, did not conform to the spec the valve body was designed for. I was able to solve that problem without incurring additional expense or downtime. That saga is chronicled here: www.halfcocker.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopi c&t=119 (I don't know why pbreview refuses to parse that URL correctly, just put the two pieces of it together)
Suffice to say that this is not exactly a "one size fits all" product due to production tolerances between various cocker bodies. Still, one way or another, it can most likely work with any body out there.
The mQ valve fundamentally alters the operation of the marker by completely divorcing the loading and firing systems. This change allows the absolute best operational performance from a cocker.
If you have a very well-built and finely tuned mechanical-valved cocker, you may not see THAT huge of a difference in performance. Still, the change is marked, and at that end of the spectrum, improvements this significant are hard to come by. For most others, the mQ can afford night-and-day improvement.
I have not paid extremely close attention, but I don't notice much of a difference in efficiency between this and the Tornado valve I had immediately before it -- in the neighborhood of 1500 rounds per 70ci. It is slightly quieter and requires slightly more input pressure.
Conclusion:
The ultimate valve for cockers, hands down. You might have to wait to get one, you will have to pay a pretty penny, you may face a installation issues, and you will have to re-tune the marker. But once it's working there is nothing better. 9.5, rounded to 10.
Rating:
10 out of 10
Last edited on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006 at 10:07 pm PST
