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Period of
Product Use: |
| Less than a month | 6 of 8 people found this review helpful.
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Paintball
Experience: |
More than 5 years |
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Similar
Products Used: |
SP-8: Filling the same role, the SP-8 is slightly better in the performance department, but looses out in a few other areas.
Angel IR3: Completely different markers, and price ranges, not even a fair comparison.
2k2 ironman intimidator (or 2k3... can't remember): same as IR3- completely different price range and level of marker, not a fair comparison.
Spyder xtra w/egrip: The X7 is far superior, although it's also more expensive |
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| Marker Setup: |
X7
polished internals
E trigger
X36 stock
J&J 16" W/ APEX tip
Crossfire 88/4500 Fixed high
Pure energy remote
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Recommended
Upgrades: |
Stock, after market barrel, Polished internals, Cyclone upgrades |
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| Strengths: |
Cyclone feed
Ruggedness
Factory installed Egrip
Selector switch |
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| Weaknesses: |
Gas efficiency
requires high pressure output air tank
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| Review: |
I bought this marker after having repeated problems with my SP-8. Fact was, i was tired of screwing around with having to spend an hour or so tecching my marker when i got to the field, especially given that I normally cleaned it out and babied it all week. Decided on the X7 simply because of some prior experience with tippmanns- and i knew they were rugged, dependable markers with a short learning curve in the tech department, and extreme reliability on the field.
Keep in mind, i am coming off of shooting a highly upgraded SP-8, so I'm used to a slightly different level and kind of construction.
When I ordered it, it came in a nice factory box, which contained a Styrofoam block with cutouts for the marker and all the accessories. It also included alot of small Styrofoam particles that had broken off during shipping, and were clinging to the marker, and had fallen inside they cyclone can. I used my remote line and leftover pressure in my air tank to blow it off and out, so no big deal.
I'd also picked up a J&J barrel and a x36 folding stock, which were both a breeze to install. Took all of... perhaps a minute, all told. word to the wise, make sure the marker is de-cocked and you keep track of the drive spring and the spring guide when you remove the stock butt plate. I didn't have any problems with it, but it could have been ugly.
Anyway, after i installed it, I turned it on and ran into another minor issue- the selector switch, initially, is very stiff. It eventually wears down to being far easier to manipulate with your thumb, but for a while, unless you have really, really strong thumbs, get used to having to move it using your whole hand. And at first, turning it on may be a trick- there's a separate on/off button in the grip, which you have to activate with a small allen wrench. I used the 3/8ths one that came with the marker, which, conveniently, also stores in the stock magazine, and isn't the same size as the velocity screw, and so you can usually take it on field with you.
So, after installing the stock and screw in the new barrel, i turned it on, oiled it up, and gassed it up and put a hopper load of paint in it for some firing in the snap box in the back yard. Here's where I encountered problem number three. I had a low pressure tank at the time, since my SP-8 was a low pressure marker, and it was just easier to work with. The X7 NEEDS HIGH PRESSURE. after screwing around with it, and being unable to get the velocity to go above 230-ish with spikes up to 250, i realized my mistake. This won't be a problem for those of you used to shooting CO2. After appropriating a high pressure tank, i re-loaded it and took it out back.
It chronoed in pretty quickly, as do most tippmann markers- and on semi, shot like a dream. again, for people used to electropneumatic markers, it will be loud, and have more kick than you're used to. No worries though, it still works well. Firing in pure semi, with the single trigger, i was unable to overwork the cyclone feed- i didn't have any problems with chopping paint, at all. After dumping a hopper of paint, i re-loaded from a pod and set it to "safety auto"
Here again, it surprised me. This is tippmann's term for NXL mode- after firing two quick semi-auto shots, it'll act as an automatic. however, after releasing the trigger for about a second, it requires two more semi-auto shots to be fired before it'll go back to F/A. similarly, a quick trigger pull will result in a burst when it's been switched over to full auto. in short it fires twice as a semi, then it's either burst, with a normal trigger pull, or full auto with the trigger pinned back. Now, it did chop paint in this mode, however, it shot through it OK, and kept passable accuracy, if not sterling.
After shooting it, i took it and degassed it to do take down and clean it out. It strips fairly quickly, with a few hitches. after removing all the pins, it still requires a few allen screws to be removed. not a problem, however, you must also remove the ASA and mag well in order to break the receiver halves apart. Breaking it in half revealed an interior in need of cleaning and better QC.
Internally, it was a mess. I wiped out the chopped paint, and ran my finger down the inside of the chamber- which was spotted with overspray and just plain nasty. As a piece of advice, internal polishing on this marker is a MUST, if you want halfway respectable efficiency out of it. Polishing can take as little as a half hour, and is practically free. honestly, it's probably the easiest upgrade ever. After an hour of polishing (i did it in several steps) i could have used the insides of the marker as a mirror. There were still flaws in the metal, however, the overspray was gone, and the guts were smooth as glass. I oiled it up again, finished wiping out all the paint, and put it back together, the hardest part of which was getting the charging handle spring back in the groove cut for it- i ended up using a toothpick to guide it back in.
The marker's strength really is it's reliability. if you chop paint in it, it'll still shoot. if you drop it in mud, or sand, or dirt, it'll still shoot. If something does go wrong, it's a tippmann, common at all fields across the US, and it has very simple internals. THe most complicated part is the cyclone feed, and that's really not that difficult to figure out either.
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| Conclusion: |
In final recommendation, the X7 isn't a bad marker- but out of the box, it's really not worth the price tag. With slightly higher QC, especially with the interior of the marker, it'd be worth the price, but the fact that it does require polishing, at the least, kinda degrades it's value.
However, with that work done to it, it is the marker i believe it was meant to be, and a worthwhile replacement for the A-5 line.
all in all, i give it a 8/10. To be honest, with a little more work at the factory, It'd have been a 9, but I can't square with giving anything higher than an eight to a marker that needs work almost out of the box. |
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