The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion below.
Period of Product Use:
3 months
20 of 74 people found this review helpful.
Paintball Experience:
More than 5 years
Similar Products Used:
This is my first electro I have owned after shooting Autocockers for the last 13 years. I have borrowed a few electros over the years including Spyders, A Nasty Impulse, Toxic Impulse, Angel 2003 IR3 etc.
Marker Setup:
ICD Bushmaster 2003 B2K PDS Vaporized-Freak System-Evo II-Crossfire 68/4500-System X drop forward on/off-Palmer Micro Rock
2002 WorrGames Black Magic-Boomstick and Freak-Kapp high rise-STO Bolt-RAT Valve-Bomb 3way-KAPP ROCK- STO Ram-KAPP Volumizer-WGP hinge-MadMan Springs-Warped Sports Minireg-DYE Stickeys
Recommended Upgrades:
It definately needs to be VAPORIZED to the hilt and of course it needs a new barrel. The HPR is ok but that should be changed out too
Strengths:
It's cheap for an electro. Light and balanced.
Weaknesses:
Major trigger bounce issue. Wiring is much too fragile. Milling.
Review:
Well, I would like to start out by stating that I was very disappointed with this marker when I received it. Upon first inspection you notice that the shape of the marker is really nice and it is very light. A definate improvement over the previous Bushy. The milling however is horrible. I have read some mention of milling marks in other reviews and I have to say I feel that they are some of the worst I have seen. It looks like this was done with a Dremel or something. Some of the edges have nicks in them and it's just not a very nice finish in general.
Ok time to shoot it. Everything goes well during test fire except for the fact that the PDS doesn't seem to be working. It fires regardless of the position of the switch. I call ICD and ask them which way the PDS switch should be positioned to have it on. I was told it had been changed so many times that they weren't sure and I should just try it. As explained earlier it was firing regardless of where the switch was positioned so I was told to check all of the wiring. I open the grip and check the chip, wiring and put in a new battery. They should have kept the battery in the tray up in the body because everything in the grip just seems to be crammed in there and if the wires were any thinner I could pull them out and use them for dental floss. Everything seems to be connected ok but the PDS still isn't working. I call back and am asked if I put new grips on the marker. Of course I had put some DYE grips on there because the panels that come with the marker are about as comfortable as holding a cheese grater. I was told that the screws from the new grips may be hitting something and causing this problem. I change the screws and the PDS starts working. The point is ICD should put this in the owner manual. It's obviously happenned before or why would the tech have mentioned it to me? ICD must be aware that everyone on the planet who purchase this marker is going to throw a set of 32 Degrees or Dye grips on there so give us a heads up!
As stated earlier everything else seemed to work fine but I could tell the marker was shooting a bit slow. I figured I would adjust it when I went to the field that weekend so I could do it over the chrono.
At the field: I get to the field set the reg per the manual and try to chrono. No matter what adjustments I make I can't get the speed above 240. We do all of the checks (bottle, paint to barrel match etc) nothing works. I pull out my Black Magic and play. At home I pull the reg apart and there are some shavings in there. I put it back together and head down to the local shop to use the chrono. Everything works out ok. So now my PDS is working and I can chrono up to speed. Now on to the big problem.
This marker has so much trigger bounce that it is virtually useless as a tournament marker. No matter what adjustments I do to the trigger I can't get rid of it. This isn't something hat you have to try to do. It just bounces as you fire it. If I try to do it I can get it to fire full auto. There is no way that you will pass the examination of the marker in a tournament like this. After doing some research I have heard that the logic is worse on models with the PDS so there is much more bounce on these models than non PDS models.
THE GOOD:
Accuracy is good. Not great but GOOD. Of course after shooting high end cockers on Boomies nothing else can compare.
The ROF is there but the trigger feels cheap. I dont think it feels much different than my nephews Spyer AMG that I set the trigger on and I think I can get the same ROF out of the Spyder.
The good thing about this marker is that it can be made much better by sending it off to Vaporworks. I have had mine Vaporized, installed the Vapor Bolt and Vapor Valve and added the Palmer's LPR. It is much more consistent now but the trigger bounce is still a problem. Vaporworks is coming out with a version of the Chaos Chip for the 2003 model which should take care of the bounce issue and possibly release the true potential of the marker.
Conclusion:
Well I am not one to give anything a 10 as it has to be perfect to rate a 10 and no paintball marker is perfect out of the box as can be seen by all of the after market products out there. If there were 10's what would we need the after market for? I also don't think anything is a 10 even after it's upgraded. How can it be perfect with NO flaws? C'mon, it's impossible. Based on this logic nothing can get higher than a 9 so an out of the box $600.00 electro can't get higher than an 8. So this is where we start at 8. This marker loses points for the lousy milling and the issues that it had. The trigger bounce is a big issue and it really needs a new HPR. This marker can be made to fire rather nicely but at a cost. Say you pick the marker up for $550.00, add the Vapor mods, Vapor bolt and Vapor Valve for $110.00, the LPR for $90.00 and $50.00 for the Chaos chip (when it comes out) and now you are at $800.00. I am not just talking about aftermarket parts to upgrade but am mentioning things that you need to be able to use this as a tournament level marker. It is billed as that right out of the box but that can't be with this trigger bounce issue. You can get the same performance from a Toxic Impulse or Nasty Impulse for $750.00 and that comes with a Freak! If this marker was $400.00 I would give it a 7. At $550..00 - $600.00 it has to get a 5 or 6 out of the box. If I had to chose that Spyder AMG for $290.00 or the Bushy PDS for $550.00 to $600.00 and had to use it the way it comes right out of the box I would choose the Spyder and save the $300.00. Although the Bushy is a true Electro Pneumatic marker and the AMG is just a blowback with an electro trigger frame (which makes them very different) when they are both outfitted with a Freak System I don't see a huge difference (and remember the AMG runs off of a $20.00 CO2 tank!)
Hey for trigger bounce get a new micro switch!!!! THATS THE PROBLEM. It happened to me and tantrum said old micro switches had low tolerences and new ones will have higher so u get no bounce. Getthem at www.tantrumpaintball.com or www.paintballtrader.com
quote:Originally posted by Tom37 Yea- good review and im thinkin of gettin one, but can sumone tell me- DOES THIS MARKER RUN ON CO2??? i cant get ait/nitro fills in my area
it will run on it but not good unless you get a syphon filter for it. i have a bko and i ran c02 on it because i didnt have nitro at the time.... big mistake.
quote:Originally posted by whitedagger ya i cant get nitro either so im gonna have to run mine on it to but does any one know where to get a good deal on anti siphon kits?????
quote:Originally posted by sueypaintballer your an idiot,,, it costs 299 knw with a fade....
You see, sueypaintballer, look at the date, it was written exactly 2 years ago, it has only recently lowered to a low price of 300. You just made yourself look like a complete idiot.
At action village it is at 299 $ And if you have questions on it visit the FAQ, they cover pretty much everything you want. They even have one on running your b2k on CO2, and not having it totally destroy your gun.
Last edited on Sunday, June 5th, 2005 at 10:05 am PST
