Spyder Xtra, not the best compared to the Pirahna
Brass Eagle guns, not the best either
Marker Setup:
Piranha E-Force VTL with a 14" barrel, remote coil, co2, richocet 2k hopper
Recommended Upgrades:
expansion chamber with hose and drop
Strengths:
Fast Firing , 3 modes, Nice
Weaknesses:
The Barrel, and needs a expansion chamber or regulator.
Review:
Nice gun for the money just by a nice barrel for accuracy. Also buy an electronic hopper so you could go to full auto. Do not buy a viewloader quantrum because I think it is a waste of money. It won't even fit on my gun. It might be smart to go ahead and by an expansion chamber/regulator so it will help with the co2.
Conclusion:
Buy this gun if you want a nice full auto gun for a good price, even though you need to put some things into it though.
Comes set for a vert. tank
Stock barrel is too small
Review:
I bought this gun right after my 98 custom broke on me. It was worth evey penny. I did not have a single problem with this gun for the time I used it. Very fast for a cheapy. A much better gun than the 98 custom. This gun performs so much better than a rental and will save you money on renting a gun every time you want to play.
Conclusion:
An all around great gun for the price. I reccomend it to all beginers.
Strong recoil (my opinion)
Stock bolt wears up
Freezes
Review:
This is a real great gun for its class. The reason why it is so good is mainly the price, I got mine for $100. However I did have some problems. First off is the bolt, it really wore out the inside of my gun and since there is no beavertail it can hurt you. I was actually whacked a couple of times in the chest and confused it for getting hit with a paintball. This gun also has mad recoil but it's nothing you can't get used to. If you do not buy a gas thru grip and you shoot like a maniac ( I personally do ) the gun will actually ice over. I remember one time in a game it actually grew a layer of ice on the gun, and it was about 90 degrees out that day. This gun is actually more good than bad though, it's small, light weight, fast, and affordable.
Conclusion:
This gun is the best for a beginner and really good for a second gun. Buy it.......now
BARREL! The stock barrel on this gun SUCKS, save another $50 for a CP or something...
Strengths:
Looks good
Semi or fully automatic
Easy maintainence
Great Price ($125)
Weaknesses:
The barrel sucks a big one.
Also buy a new rechargable 9V.
Review:
Overall this is a great gun as long as you keep it cleaned, lubed, and recharged. If you can you should buy a 9V battery thats made with "nickel metal hydrate", instead of the stock "nickel cadmium", Ni-MH will make recharging much easier to deal with because it doesnt have the memory that the Ni-Cd does so you can recharge it anytime without having to first wear the battery completely dead. It's hard to explain but trust me, it will be worth it. Also the barrel needs to be pissed on and burned, i recommend anything but the stock barrel. Once those two things are taken care of the gun is yours for the upgrading, or you can just use it the way it is and it will perform outstandingly for its price range.
Conclusion:
I highly recommend this gun to all noobs or anyone just looking for a great backup gun.
Barrel!!!!!!!!!!!. Stock barrel really sucks. Expansion chamber( if using co2< helps it expand>), Air upgrade if possible, Electronic hopper.
Strengths:
Light (somewhat), not super fast but fast enough, accurate
Weaknesses:
bolts can break if not oiled really well, Wont re-cock sometimes.
Review:
I have played with this gun stock for a couple months and I didnt like it. I got everything you seen above and it is great. Not super fast but it works. Im thinking of getting an e-bladed cocker. If your looking for something simplem cheat, and very customizable, this is probably the way to go.
Conclusion:
All in all its a good gun for beginners but if your looking for really high performance, go with a high end gun, but be ready to pay alot( over $300)
2K3 E-force VTL with cp reg 12 oz Co2 and Empire Reloder
Recommended Upgrades:
Bottomline/reg
Strengths:
Could be accurate with correct paint to barrel match.cheap
Weaknesses:
I think that I got A slightly defected one
Review:
I moved up to this marker from a mech VTL. I wanted to put a e-force frame on it but I hated the powerfeed. Whene I first got it I oiled it, and charged the battery; Whene I got back from school I tried turning it on. Nothing happened. I didn't panic. I may have only one year of experience but I am very knowledgeable on the subject of paintball. The first thing that I did was remove the battery and put a screwdriver across the terminals. I put the battery back in and charged it again. This time it worked. after dry firing fow awhile, I took out the hammer bolt Assembly I saw a bit of wear, so I looked at the top of the upper tube and then I kinda freaked out because I saw that the anno was scratched off in 3 places. as mentioned before I oiled it so it couldn't have been that. Next I saw a small nick in front of the bolt. So i got steel wool and polished the top of the bolt and the top inside of the tube I was also having some recocking problems which this fixed I chose not to send it to PMI to get it replaced. I recently started going to a differen't field and I was happy to know that the paint was perfectly matched to my barrel which makes for some good accuracy. Not as good as electropneumatic markers but still good. I am recently having no problems. I am planning on buying an omen or a mag next year.
Conclusion:
Currenly this is probably hard to find now but if you do find it, buy it.
Piranha Evo - (my gun) ACE is only big advantage, just comes better stock
Spyder Imagine - VTL has better "quality feel" to it, I've owned an imagine and like the VTL better (VTL is also about $45 cheaper)
Marker Setup:
Piranha Evo
JJ Edge Barrel Kit
68/3000 HPA
Egg
More coming... just bought it
Recommended Upgrades:
Barrel - although not as bad as most people seem to think IMO
Bolt
Expansion Chamber / Regulator
Bottom line / Drop (YOU get to choose)
Hopper
Strengths:
Fast
No Chopping
Quality Feel
BARE Bones Marker
Trigger
Verticle ASA
Cost $80!!
Weaknesses:
Doesn't come w/ Rechargeable battery
Bottle screws in verticle (matter of opinion)
Stock barrel
Review:
Alright I bought one of these for my girlfriend this year for Xmas because she wants to come paintball with us. She has shot my imagine before, but the bottle would get in her way (she's short, so it made her extend her arms too far). I wanted to get her something with decent spedd, a quality build, and it needed to be compact. I also wanted something inexpensive (incase she didn't really like paintball), but it also needed to be able to be upgraded into a competitive marker if she did love the sport as I do. The VTL fit all of these specs, perfectly.
Strengths:
Fast - I'm not the fastest shot around, but this gun is plenty fast enough for me and prob any rec player (which 95%+ of us are weekend warriors). I'm not looking for her to enter any tourney's just yet =)
Not Many Chops - With a plain old VL200 chopping has not been a problem.
Quality Build - This gun just feels rock solid. I like the feel of it much more than the Spyder Imagine (I can't stand the air space between the grips and the frame on the Imagine, paint on the electronics can't be good right?)
Bare Bones Marker - this marker doesn't come with any half a** upgrades that jack up the price and will eventually get replaced anyway. With the money you save you can buy TOP quality expansion chambers/bottom lines/drops/regs. You basically aren't spending money on stock upgrades that will probably be replaced eventually. YOU decide what you want on your marker with the VTL, customize this gun to YOUR needs/wants.
Trigger - I love the stock trigger on this gun. A very light pull and a quality feel. I like this trigger much better than the one that came with my EVO. The VTL's trigger is metal and feels nice.
Verticle ASA - We needed a COMPACT gun for my girlfrend, so she didn't have to overextend her arms to make room for a bottle. The verticle position of the bottle is ideal for our situation (didn't have to spend $50 on a remote right off the bat)
Price - The price on this gun is just amazing. You can find them online on clearance for $79.99 on many sites. That is just an amazing price. With the money you save go out and buy the upgrades of YOUR choice, not the mediocre stuff the factory gives you on higher end guns.
Looking back I might have preferred to buy this gun instead of my EVO and spend the $150 I saved on upgrades of my choice. Like I said the only big advantage of my EVO are the Anti Chop Eyes.
Weaknesses:
Doesn't come with a rechargeable battery.... go to Walmart and spend $5 on one
Stock barrel - Not the best stock barrel, needs to be replaced at your discretion (99% of stock barrels do). I havn't noticed the extreme lack of accuracy out of the stock barrel others have noted. That being said, this should be your first upgrade. Get the JJ Edge Kit if you can. It's a great kit at a great price (as far as barrel kit pricing goes)
Verticle ASA - The bottle screws into the gun vertically... Not the best for using in cold weather with CO2, or for supporting large tanks. If you don't like the verticle bottle use the money you saved and go buy a QUALITY expansion chamber or reg and a bottom line/remote. You get to choose your air setup, instead of getting stuck with something you don't like that will be replaced.
The weaknesses really aren't weaknesses in my opinion... They would be weaknesses if you PAID for them (ie... crappy stock expansion chambers/regs/bottom lines). In the case of this gun the weaknesses are because certain items are simply not included. In my opinion this is actually a strength because it gives you the oportunity to spend the money on the upgrades YOU want, not on the "cookie-cutter" stock mold of the factory.
Conclusion:
I think you already have a good idea of how I feel about this marker. I think it's the BEST choice for a blowback you can make. This is the perfect gun for any player that doesn't want to drop big money on a high end gun.
If you don't play often and just want your own gun, this is a high quality inexpensive marker that will preform well stock.
If you play every weekend, but don't have a ton of money the VTL won't put a dent in your checkbook and will allow you to slowly upgrade this marker into one of the best blowbacks out there as you are financially able to do so.
If you have some money to spend, use the money to buy the upgrades of your choice right away... Looking back I would have rather bought this gun over my EVO. I could have used the $150+ I would have saved on a good reg and bottom line setup (I'm replacing the one on my EVO) and still almost had enough money to buy my EDGE barrel kit. Not to mention I like the trigger on the VTL, but will be replacing the trigger on my EVO.
It's a win, win for everyone in the market for an electronic blow-back. Best money you can spend on a blowback. This marker gets a 10 for it's price to performance ratio, it's never going to be as good as an angel, but it can be just as good as ANY other blowback out there.
Barrel (everyone stresses this for a reason, the stock one sux)
Bottomline if ur as bothered by the vert bottle as i am
Strengths:
Cheap, Easily maintained, great rate of fire
Weaknesses:
Barrel!!!!!! lack of bottomline
Review:
This is my first gun that isn't a brass eagle and i have to say i love it.
I've had it for a few months before I stopped playin for the winter (too busy to freeze while shooting) and other than the barrel its great. Easily stripped for cleaning, just pull the pin in the back and it all pulls out for easy cleaning.
Conclusion:
Great gun for a beginner or a veteran looking for a back up gun. Just dont forget to change the barrel
on my dragunfly i have a Shocktech front regulator, CP back regulator, Delron anti chop bolt, CP spyder thred two piece barrel, CP on/of wiht cradle, and the evolution II hopper, and compressed air.
Recommended Upgrades:
Expnson chamber (if co2), new barrel
Strengths:
Fast. kicks ass if ever you put compressed air in it.
Weaknesses:
Not to accurate.
Review:
It is a good gun. mater-a-fact it is probably one of the best guns out there for its price and targeted group of players (beginer-upper rookie). if you just leave everything in there stock it is very durrable and probably wont have problems for a while. I LOVED my piranha and still do. but my dragunfly i love more ;-)
Conclusion:
Get it. if your not pro, or a hardcore turney player it will make a great secondary. if you are new it makes a VERY good primary! with maybe a brass eagle as a second (not).
this gun w/ bob long torpedo regualtor, flusch cocking system, thumb velocity adjuster, new spring kit, turbo valve, CP flame drop forward, smart parts 10" freak barrel, evo 2 hopper, dark horizon titanium hammer, new pin valve, marcoline kit, and 48ci nitro tank and soon to come piranha sticky grips.
Recommended Upgrades:
smart parts barrel, new hopper, flush cocking, maybe titanium hammer, regualtor, and maybe spring kit.
Strengths:
Very fast, light, durable, tons of upgrades
Weaknesses:
Havent found ne
Review:
ok i got this gun awhile ago and i have put some new upgrades on it and i have been
firing and testing it and its been great, i mean its a rather cheaper gun, but putting the
right upgrades on it, it will do the job for u. Also the trigger is adjustable and i mean its
really fats. I havent found ne weakness, its a good gun and i think its probably the best
gun for its price range and is probably the gun with most upgrades aviable for its price
range also. i would recommend it to nebody probably cuz its a good gun thats good for
ne type of ply, and that its cheap, and has lots of upgrades.
Conclusion:
its a great gun, lots of upgrades, cheap, good for netype of ply, durable, and is backed by one of the best companys PMI, weither ur looking for ur first time gun, or u want a new one thats good and at a reasonable price i would recommend this gun.
