2006 Smart Parts Ion
PMI flame drop forward
72 ci 3000 psi pure energy HPA
Halo Backman TSA loader
Still new, so upgrades are coming.
Strengths:
Fast enough for most people
Very durable shell
Good customer service
Weaknesses:
Sensor not durable
the agitator can leave sharp edges
difficult disasembly
expensive for low feedrate
Review:
I purchased this hopper when I upgraded to an electronic frame and it worked quite well with the 12bps limited frame. I took many shots to the hopper over the first year or so and dropped it/hit it on things many times, but it's still intact in my dumpster. The sensor stopped working about 11 months and probably 7-8 thousand paintballs after I bought it. I contacted customer service and they immediately sent me a new sensor. This was great, except that sensor lasted less than 500 rounds before it completely stopped sensing as well. After this, I toyed with it and even went so far as to put a switch on it to make it agitate continuously. I didn't play very much for a couple years, so I let this go for some time, but the covers on the tips of the agitator slipped off and I finally got frustrated with it chopping balls before they ever reached my gun and threw it away the other day.
Conclusion:
It seemed like a good hopper for almost a year, but since then I've hated the sight of it. Also, for the same price or less, you can get a lot of decent hoppers. I would definitely shop around and if you plan to use reactive/response trigger or ramping, I'd look elsewhere. I give it a 6 because of the year or so of torment it gave me.
