I purchased this gun for my son and we went out paintballing. My other son as well as myself have A-5s, one with a Apex barrel, and mine with a flatline. Since this line is so new (came out Nov. 2006) it was the first one to show up at the field - lots of people wanted to look at it and I have to say it performed great throughout the day. I used it for a game or two when he wanted to sit out and I found it balanced well and aimed pretty good - at least for a Tippman with a stock barrel. It takes 98 barrels, so you have a lot of barrel options if you decide you want to upgrade. It comes with a double trigger - or you can get the eXT and go electronic. For $99 I paid at Walmart, it was a good deal - you will need a tank though.
It did manage to chop a ball as when I went to put it away for the winter (either that or the gun took a hit and a ball broke in the hopper), there was paint on the bolt and in the barrel. I decided to take it apart to make sure I got all the paint off. There are a lot of screws and hex bolts to take off to get into the mechanism - not anything like the ease of stripping an A-5 which only takes a minute.
I would recommend this over most of the similarly priced guns - for $99 its a great deal. I've got a spider and I'd rather use this one.
It's a $99 dollar marker. Most noobs get a new marker before they take the marker apart. So opening it isn't an issue, but still it would be nice to be done more easily.
