ZAP Cryptic (not as good but close)
PMI Premium (not near as good)
Empire Bullets (doesn't even come close)
Marker Setup:
A4 Fly Angel
Recommended Barrels:
.684-.689 depending on the weather.
Strengths:
Tough shell
Good fill
Consistant for the price
Weaknesses:
None so far
Review:
For a price of only $34 a case I wasn't expecting much. Most paints I've tried close to this price range just didn't work out quite well.
First thing I noticed when opening the box was the sealed bags. Sealed paint always stays fresher longer & with sealed bags you know the company that makes the paint is putting a little more work into their product. The paint was also very round & consistant, running in at around a .684. Now the shell is a little thick, but it's designed as a field premium paintball, not a tournament grade. The fill was also thick & bright. The paint I was shooting at the time had a bright orange fill, almost a soft neon color. Way brighter than what I expected for the price. Since this was a test for the paint, I figured I would give it the ultimate, full-Auto unlimited BPS. I loaded up the HALO & let it rip! Not one single break through the whole stream, very impressive. Next, I loaded it up for some accuracy shots. The accuracy was even better than I expected. Most every ball hitting the same spot. Now I don't expect every case a person uses will be as good as this test case, but even if it's half as good, for the price you can't go wrong.
Conclusion:
I think Spectrum is worth every penny. It does have a tough shell, but on the good side, you won't break any paint. Out of all the field paints I've ever shot, Spectrum tops them all. As a Premium paint I would rate it a 7-8, but as a field paint I rate it as a 10.
Well, my local field uses XO paint as our field paint.. we've had ALL of the entire XO line here at some point or another, and we pick it up DIRECTLY from the factory here in Ontario, Canada. This paint is the worst out of their line-up, even worse than Hotbox (which is supposed to be their worst) They just are not any better than whitebox paintballs, and we get them RIGHT off the assembly line, so they're as fresh as humanly possible. Too many balls don't even shoot straight, and almost all of them are noticably out of round. the Fill is decently thick, but you're lucky if it breaks on anyone.
Conclusion:
I shoot a FS8 and a Phantom. When playing pump i can't afford to shoot crappy paint that will curve or bounce. There's MUCH better paint out there for the money.
If 5 is average then i give this paint a 2.
Rating:
2 out of 10
Last edited on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 6:04 pm PST
Fill, shell, went stright enough for close range, Really cheap, comes in sealed bags.
Weaknesses:
Seam was rough, There were a few eggs in every bag.
Review:
I found the paint was ok. The paint came from XO industries three weeks ago. The shell was more of a soft thick shell. It was not brittle. I would compare the shell to Draxxus triumph. The shell had no problems breaking on anyone and I did not have any breaks in my gun.
When I looked through the bags there were probably around a dozen eggs per bag. I decided not to worry about it and wanted to see how the eggs flew. No breaks.
The seam is pretty coarse and prominent on every ball I looked at. I had a few really stray balls at really inopportune times.
Conclusion:
It cost around $32 a case. Not bad for the price. I would recomend it but only if it is somewhat fresh.
All brands of paint balls - better because they generally break.
Marker Setup:
Ripper, Ego, E-Matrix, Nova, Shocker, an A-5, and an 06 PM.
Recommended Barrels:
No barrel at all, unless you leave a barrel sock on while firing.
Strengths:
They do not break in your gun, and mess your gun up.
Weaknesses:
They do not break, so you lose every game.
Review:
We took 20 cases of Spectrum to practice last weekend, since our regular paint had not arrived. Before this weekend, we had thought paint that was too brittle to leave your gun, or too large or out of round to feed, was the worst. But the Spectrum we had last week end set the new standard for the "worst paint ever". Most of it would not break. The team we were practicing against laughed at first, but as they continue to be pelted with pod shattering, bruising, non-breaking paint, they stopped laughing.
The owner of the field said he stopped selling this paint some time ago because of the complaints of injuries this paint caused.
We had to go buy some Formula 13 at full retail just to finish the practice.
Conclusion:
This paint is the worst ever.
It is worse than worthless, because so much of it does not break, and it is dangerous.
Horrible Seam
Not Round
Barrel Breaks
Can't hit anything
Review:
My field switched to these a couple of weeks ago and I have not been happy with them at all. The seam is horrible and, along with its football shape, causes constant barrel breaks. That was with paint that was only about 3 weeks old.
In a day I went through about a case and a half and probably had 15 barrel breaks with my biggest bore in. I can't even count how many easy kills I lost because of either breaks or terrible accuracy.
Unless your barrel is oval or lumpy, don't use this paint.
Strengths:
Came in a box instead of directly from the crap pile they were found in.
Weaknesses:
Color
Size
Shape
Flight
Review:
I'm basing this review on the box that my friend opened.
These paintballs were so bad out of the box that I didn't open my box, took it back to the field office and got something else.
Color -
Not super important but they were a dull dark blue. (I like colorful marbs :) )
Size -
Some were larger than others. (yes it was noticable)
Shape -
Some were oblong, conical (like a bullet), oval, some had dimples.
Flight-
Anything but straight.
For every pod my friend filled up, there were a handful that were bad (misshaped).
Probably about 6 of them were broken in the first bag of 500 (from a case of 2000)
Some were hard some were soft.
I cant belive that the guy in the office said "yea people say these are pretty good" with confidence. Guess he's trying to get rid of them. (or maybe he got the box made on monday....or some hit the swtich on the quality control machine...i dunno)
Surprisingly they didn't really break in his Nasty Shocker even when ramping. (I would watch them curve like crazy though)
2 out of 10 because they didn't break in the gun/barrel.
Conclusion:
If you like shooting abstractly shaped paint then this is great for you! Otherwise spend your $40 on something better.
Rating:
2 out of 10
Last edited on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 9:31 am PST
This is MEDIUM size paint. .686" based on the back I used on my kit.
Strengths:
Cheap
Weaknesses:
Large seams...low accuracy
Inconsistant size...barrel breaks
Weakish fill
Review:
This was the low-end field paint at a new field I played this last weekend. I have a ball-sizer and barrel kit and determined that the size of the paint was .686". After shooting an entire case, I had three barrel breaks which leads me to believe that the size of the paint was not consistant. Granted, 3 out of 2000 is not bad, but then again I've yet to have a barrel break after several cases of Visual Impact. I also thought that the fill was a little thin, but not nearly as bad as Monster Balls.
Conclusion:
Overall, I would say that this paint is adequate. If the price is right, get it.
Visible Impact(best paint you can buy)
Brass Eagle Monster ball(this stuff breaks just looking at it, it sucks)
Marker Setup:
Custom ION
CP Regulator
NDZ Roller blade Trigger
red NDZ Breech and firing can
trinity body(black)
360 qev
14in freak w/ AAfront
q-lock feed neck
virtue eyes
empire reloader b
crossfire peanut
(more ups coming)
Recommended Barrels:
anything to match that matches the bore
Strengths:
Round,no dimples,wont break in gun
Weaknesses:
Fill could be brighter
Review:
I used thi stuff at a local field (it was either this or nightmare) so i tried it for my team practice. it was pretty good no breaks all day(in gun). broke on anything it hit no dimples all shells were perfect. great for practice or for screwing around in the backyard. easy clean fill not to thick not to watery. only complaint is that the fill could be brighter.
Conclusion:
Great for practice thats bout it. all around great paintball im giving it a 9 only because of the fills not being bright. if they had brighter fills id give it a 10
Chronic- Much Better
Evil- Much Better
Tempest- Much Better
PMI Premium- Better
Old Storm-Better
Hotbox-almost as good but not quite
Stingers-almost as good but not quite
WhiteBox-Not As Good
Marker Setup:
Red SP ION
68/45 PMI TANK
Contract Killer Grips
Evo 2
L6 Bolt
Mini Eclipse On/Off
360 QEV
06 Freak
SP BlackHeart Board
Recommended Barrels:
.689
Strengths:
Cheap
Fill
Round
Weaknesses:
Shell
Review:
For The Price($40.00 CAD) These are pretty good balls. These are good field balls that people should try more often. The fill is bright yellow and is decently thick, about 8/10. The balls are mostly round and fly straight. Not ball on ball but close, about a 7/10 as well. The shell is sort of thick so it will not break when dropped from 6 feet and will break on flesh some times.
Conclusion:
If your'e ever at you're field just practicing and need some paint, buy it if they carry it. It;s cheap and it shouldn't let you down.
It would have gotten an 8/10 if the shell wasnt as thick.
These paintballs look great in the case. No breaking in the gun, no chops either but the problem is yet to come!! They just don't break! If the only thing you ever shoot at is plywood then these balls are great, but as soon as there is a little give to your target you get lots and lots of bounces. I'll take a walk around my field and pick up the unbroken balls between games, usually out of the balls I pick up from the field at least 60% of the balls are Spectrums and I'm the only one shooting them out of 6 people, not too great IMO. Getting hits is a big part of paintball and when they don't break it's a real pain. Getting hit by these balls is also a real treat. It's basically like shooting marbles at people, usually made worse by fact they don't break.
Conclusion:
Fine for the price, just cross your fingers people aren't shooting them at you. They are accurate enough, fill is fine, but overall they just don't break enough on human targets.
