1st Gen alias + 7-piece empire kit, infamous board, critical triggger, cp reg
05 Sonic Cyborg + killa detents, nox board, fbm trigger, matchstick barrel kit- 7 Piece
Recommended Barrels:
Any good kit or good barrel (no cheap barrels)
Strengths:
Consistent size, no dimples when arrived, shells break on target...not in the gun
Weaknesses:
Ummmmmmm?
Review:
Ive shot just about every paint arround. Back when i was doing rec play (still speedball) i used draxxus...i played about once a month and could afford it. When i got on a team and started playing regularly i found that I couldnt afford the draxxus anymore. We tried just about every cheap stuff from the paintball shops we could find...they were horrible. They were inconsistent, had dimples and broke randomly in the gun.
We then switched to nelson white box...i couldnt find it so i think this is the closest thing. We got them very cheap (i cant say how much). I thought...oh jeeze these are going to suck. On first impression i was very impressed. Nelson got the paint to us 3 days after we ordered, no broken balls. When we opened them up to play we found that they were excellent. Shaped nice and round...the way balls should be. We drop tested a few in the parking lot, they broke when we held them about 6 feet up. Ok game time
Went to practice..after finding the right barrel we all went out...they shot great...about 1-2" spread from 25 feet. didnt bother to measure anything else...we had to practice. I played back with an empire.
Scrim 1: Off the break i empty an entire loader with no problem. Went on to shoot 3 pods that game and not one broken ball. Balls went very very straight until about a quarter of the way through the last pod...condensation started forming inside my barrel and i had some curvature but not too bad.
Drill: Drilling we did snap shooting, breakout and run n gun. I saw that we were doing much better than usual with the snap shooting...im guessing its because they balls werent breaking and the team was shooting more accurately.
Scrim 2: too lazy to type...but same results as scrim 1
Conclusion:
Excellent paint...Im not quite sure what happened with the paint in flatlines and some other barrel ive never heard of. But probably bad barrels. I know the flatline is very picky with paint..very veyr picky. My suggestion to people...when u go and get the cheap barrel thinking that your saving money..thing again and get a GOOD barrel / kit.
2003 Vision Impulse, Smart parts Q-Lock, Smart Parts Drop Forward, Tapeworm, Voodoo Delrin Bolt, J&J edge elite kit.
Recommended Barrels:
.688 bore size seemed to work best
Strengths:
Good strong shell, round
Weaknesses:
Incosisent sizes, some balls were bigger than the others
Review:
The paintballs were not all the same size, some would fall right through the barrel some would shoot just perfect, these paintballs shot alright, but if they were more consistent in size i would buy them again. The fill was nice but with my barrel kit i i would try to fit them to see which size fit best and the paintballs were so different i just had to use a bigger bore size.
Conclusion:
Spend a extra 5 dollars get some pmi's or diablos, its worth it, bad paint can ruin your day if you cant shoot it straight
BE Afterburners-they're a little better than the hot spots
Marker Setup:
A-5 with 14" J&J Ceramic 20oz CO2
Recommended Barrels:
My J&J works well, but I'm not sure on anything but A-5 and 98c stock barrels, which suck with any kind of paint
Strengths:
Very Cheap:full case for $29.99. Break on contact not in the case.
Weaknesses:
Dimple pretty easily. Not super consistent in terms of accuracy. Distance isn't impressive either.
Review:
If you don't like to pay $50 or $60 dollars per case of paint, then these are your balls. But with that price you can't expect these things to be perfect. They are better than what I expected for being <$30 though. As long as you don't have a paint sensitive barrel like a flatline, they should work well.
Conclusion:
Good for rec play and woodsball. If you're a tourney player, I'm sure you'd never even look at these in the first place. Pretty decent balls, just make sure they haven't been sitting out too long because they dimple easily.
Tippmann 98 Custom, Using both Flatline and Stone Cold Barrels. CO2, Aluminum and Teflon forward bolt, custom spring kit, Lapco Stainless screw kit, BSA Red Dot sight.
Recommended Barrels:
None
Strengths:
Lowest price
Weaknesses:
Severe inconsistancy from lot to lot
Review:
My son and I have used Hot Spot almost exclusively since we started paint-balling. Initially we used the Tippmann stock barrels and the Stone Cold 14" barrels. Performance was pretty good for both speed-ball and woods ball courses. Broken paint was rare.
We then obtained Flatline barrels for both our markers and began testing to find adequate performance. Top of the line paint, Marballizer and All Star, shot well, but at $55 and $60 a case they were a bit beyond our budget. We then tried some left over Hot Spot along with samples from a new case. Wow, it shot as well as the Marballizer.
We began buying Hot Spot 3-4 cases at a time, at less than $35 a case, with excellent results. We would sometimes go through 1 to 2 cases without ever breaking paint in the barrel. Friends would borrow a hopper full on occasion, would like it and then buy their own.
In January of '05 we bought three cases from our usual supplier online and were happy to find no broken paint when the shipment arrived. That was the last of the good news. During sight in we found paint breaking in the barrel 2 shots out of 5 in both guns. We tried everything and the problem persisted. We found balls dropped from only 18" from the floor would break. By comparison Marballizer did not break until it was dropped from higher than 5 feet above the floor. I called the dealer who blamed it on our guns and saying that the paint was not intended for Flatline barrels...so we switched to the stock and Stone Cold barrels. There was some improvement but I was still breaking 10 to 30 balls per hopper full.
I contacted the manufacturer, Nelson, and after three emails detailing the problem I have received NO reply. We then found a bag on the shelf of our storage closet of the previous order of Hot Spot. They shot as well as Marballizer. We couldn't believe it!!!
I then began to measure the paint with a ball sizer. The old Hot Spot all dropped into the .686" hole. The new paint would barely go through the .691" hole. No wonder the new paint didn't working in the Flatline barrel! We bought All Star for our next play date and have started evaluating all the inexpensive paint that is listed on some charts as "small diameter."
Conversation with several Paintball stores have confirmed that they no longer carry Hot Spot because of inconsistent diameter and breakage...this month it works great...next month's pallet load has to be returned due to sever breakage in virtually all barrels tried. At one time Nelson stood behind the paint, I am told, but now the company will not return the dealers call. We sold the remaining two cases to a friend who thought it was good enough in his gun.
My experience with these paintballs and then lack of reply from Nelson has convinced me to never use Nelson's products again!!
FOLLOW UP 4/26/05
---Today I was contacted by Nelson via email. I was told that there had been problems with their email system and the tech apologized for their failure to respond to my requests. She offered as compensation for my inconvenience a case of Hot Spot and, even more interesting, a case of their new Special Forces Series Paintballs. I am impressed with this action on Nelson's part and their apparent desire to satisfy their customers. After a chance to test these items I'll get back here with a short review.
BTW, due to the critical requirement of small diameter paint for the Flatline barrel we have added a Hammerhead Battle Stixx to our selection of barrels. I like the Flatline's flat trajectory, but its need for very expensive paint is reducing my enjoyment. We are still in a testing phase with the Hammerhead, evaluating which paint works well. At least with this barrel we'll have a chance to adjust for ball diameter.
FURTHER FOLLOWUP 5/16/05
---Been getting used to the Hammerhead barrel. This past Friday night's game I pulled out the Hot Spot and ran some of the paint through the Hammerhead ball sizer. Wow, this new stuff is BIG. It measured .693"!!! It is so large that it wouldn't drop through the barrel. I could not blow it through the barrel with the pressure of my breath. My thought were that maybe this tight fit in the rifled barrel would show improved accuracy.
First discovery, after I switched to the proper fin, when I went to the chrono, was my velocity was up at 290-295 fps. I guess with the tighter fit there is much less gas loss around the ball. I could not turn my vlocity any lower...had to switch springs. At that point the field had a failure of the lights and we had to knock off a half hour early so further evaluation was not possible. BUT, the previous lot of Hot Spot that shot so well in the Flatline sized at .686". That is a lot of difference. If Hot Spot continues to hold this larger diameter in manufacturing then this paint may work well for the Hammerhead. I'll let you know.
Conclusion:
Buy something else.
Tentative re-evaluation...try it in a big bore barrel
Rating:
2 out of 10
Last edited on Monday, May 16th, 2005 at 9:06 am PST
Well i have only been playing for about a month and i still have the stock barrel i used predator last weekend and they were terrible i could aim them but never knew where they were gonna hit at. I tried the hot spots and they worked awesome,never chopped a ball and they shot very straight. This was by far the best time i had playing paint ball was with these. I dont have much experience in paintball so i wont say there isnt a better ball but i was actually happy using my stock barrel.
Conclusion:
iIthink they are definetely worth trying out. especially for the price. i paid $40 for a case so thats not bad at all. I will give them a 10 because they made my stocker perform very well
Nelson Nel-Splat (costs $3-5 more, but worth it)
Zap Spank (better, but tends to be smaller bore)
Marker Setup:
2003 Impulse Vision
Recommended Barrels:
.687-.689
Strengths:
Stays Round
Good Shell
Low Cost
Weaknesses:
Really thin Fill
Light weight
Review:
I would recommend that you spend the extra $3-5 and get Nelson's next level paint, called NelSplat because it has waaay better fill. Thus, easier to see when you hit someone, harder for them to wipe, and less likely to get blown off course by the wind since thicker fill is naturally heavier. I mean, these Hotspot balls not only have a thin fill but are noticably light in weight.
Conclusion:
This paint is pretty good on its own but I would spend the extra dough and get NelSplat over HotSpot for a better paintball experience. These aren't bad though.
Conclusion: Really light fill.
Rating:
6 out of 10
Last edited on Tuesday, December 7th, 2004 at 11:26 pm PST
Draxxus (unknown type) - way better
XO industries Velocity (not available for review) - better
RPS Big ball - a little worse
Marker Setup:
Spyder Xtra, 32 Degrees night stick 16" (or J&J ceramic 12"), Standard View Loader Hopper, Kingman Delrin ACS bolt, PMI 12oz CO2
Recommended Barrels:
something with a larger bore than a J&J ceramic...
Strengths:
Cheap (unless bought at a paintball field)
Weaknesses:
Not always round
Weak fill colour
Balls chop easily
Not very accurate
Review:
I was forced to buy these balls at a paintball field. I bought 500, and after the day was over, my friends gave me theirs (they do not play often). I was not impressed with these balls. I had just bought my marker and the ceramic barrel. When I took my first few shots, a ball broke in the barrel... It went downhill from there. I did slightly better with the stock barrel, but the accuracy was less than steller compared to the Draxxus paintballs I started out with. I also noticed how easy it was to wipe off the paint, and how the fill was really weak. When I used the remaining balls for target practice, I found it difficult to hit a 4x5 ft plywood board at 90 ft, let alone the targets on the board. When I tried some Draxxus and Velocity balls, I was actually able to hit the targets on the board at the same range. I'm not super accurate to begin with (being a newbie) but I can tell when my paintball isnt flying straight. They were,however, significantly more accurate than the box of RPS Big Balls that I tested recently (see review).
Conclusion:
I wont use this paint again. (unless I am forced to by a paintball field that only allows this crappy paint to be used) I gave this paint a 4 because it is still better than the big balls that I bought.
Scorch and Heavy Metal. Both of those are from Wal Mart and they are A LOT better then these. That is SAD.
Marker Setup:
I have a Piranha Ext Pro G3 with 14" PMI Razzor barrel. 12oz tank. JT Goggles.
Recommended Barrels:
Whatever kind you want.
Strengths:
There ARE NONE. Except the ball has a cool orange look.
Weaknesses:
Curve.
Dimples
Watery Fill
Wipe Easily
Review:
I got these balls from my Paint field and I heard these things were "supposed" to be good, but the SUCK. The fill is very watery, and they wipe easy too. They had demples in EVERY single ball I had. And I kept gettin hit in the back of the head by little kids because these balls would curve and hit me. And like another post said these things made my bolt get stuck and my gun wouldnt shoot or anything.
Conclusion:
Flat out these things just SUCK! Dont buy them. Its a waste of money.
Rating:
1 out of 10
Last edited on Tuesday, November 9th, 2004 at 10:31 am PST
2000 Shocker
16 in. All American barrel
Vertical Max-Flo regulator
12 volt revvy
91ci/4500psi HPA
Recommended Barrels:
Any?
Strengths:
Nice breaks
Nice fill
Weaknesses:
Sometimes you can find dimples, but rarely
Review:
I have used these balls with my shocker and they have been consistent. They run about 35 bucks, and to run that through my shocker without any problems shows that they are good balls. They have good fills, and they break just the way they should. Occasionally i may find a single dimple in one ball, but i still throw it right into my hopper and dont see a difference. These balls have been flawless to me.
Conclusion:
I would recommend this product to a person with a raptor and a person with an intimidator. Very good paint for the money
The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion on the comments page.
Period of Product Use:
Less than a month
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Paintball Experience:
2 years
Similar Products Used:
pmi premiums
rps all stars
draxxus midnights
draxxus blaze
Marker Setup:
04 VF WGP autococker stock for now
Tippman A-5 ,12"Teardrop, dop bottemline.
Recommended Barrels:
anything that is really large bore
Strengths:
um.... it was really cheap at $35 a case and I thinks thats about it
Weaknesses:
This paint wasn't very round.
Extremely large bore
Review:
Well I bought these because they were cheap and I was looking for something I could shoot a lot of to break in my regs on my autococker. However I spend most of the day cleaning out my gun and barel. This paint wasn't very round, I could see this just by looking at it. and when I went to barrel test this stuff in my A/C stock barrel a couple rolled out but most of them were to way to big and got stuck. They also got stuck in my Teardrop, and they didn't fly straight. About the only good thing I had with this paint was it did break in my regs. Other then that I really think this paint is bad. No quality control that I could see.
Conclusion:
I would only recommend this paint if you enjoy cleaning out your gun and barrel as these break alot. They even jammed my bolt a couple of times. Never had this problem with any of the other paintballs i've used
Rating:
1 out of 10
Last edited on Sunday, August 8th, 2004 at 5:14 am PST
