Not a bad hopper. Its very durable and its real easy on batteries. One thing is its sound activated and its good cause its easy on batteries but its bad casue being sound activated means it doesnt have eyes which is better but runs down batteries. Easy to take apart and clean. I used it as a backup for my halo and eggy3 and i used it in a speedball match one time and busted a couple balls because i had my eyes turned off. I took apart the hopper and cleaned it in under 5 min ater the match. Kinda fast for the money(12-15bps) way better then VL revolution and quantum.. However, for like 10 or 20 dollars more id get the eggy3 and for like $20 more id get the halo or reloader B..Not to bad for a back up tho
Conclusion:
I would get this as a backup for a halo, reloader B, or eggy...
VL-200 "Shake and Bake" (unreliable ball feed, but it'll never break down)
Reloader B (expensive, overkill, and a bit over-engineered, imo)
Q-Loader (sky-high price tag and extremely prone to catastrophic malfuntion)
One of my best purchases in a long time. The original Reloader is an excellent product and 2nd to none among agitating hoppers, including it's own successor, the Reloader II. Bought in 2008 for $40 used on ebay, it is by no means state of the art. Complex and expensive force-feed systems, such as the Halo B and Reloader B, completely outclass it in feed rate, alone. However, there is something to be said about Reloader's simplicity, reliability and ruggedness that modern force-feeders struggle to keep up with, not to mention that force-feed systems are overkill for most players, anyway. The Reloader doesn't require adjusting or programming. It's shell is crack-resistant. It's quite light-weight. It's cheap if you can still find one. Sound activated motor won't go nuts when you empty the hopper. It's battery efficient (I love the 30 minute auto shut off). There are a lot of little things that just come together to make it a very good hopper. It may not be the fastest kid on the block today, but it's a very simple and easy-to-maintain design that can be depended on to work whenever it's needed, and that, in itself, makes it extraordinary.
Conclusion:
As an Automag owner, this is the perfect feed system for me, personally. Despite its so-called "mediocre" feed rate of 14 bps, it excels in all other categories, including reliability, durability, weight, price, power consumption, and overall hassle factor. And when it was originally released to the public over a decade ago, there was nothing that could top it. For these reasons, I give it a perfect 10.
Rating:
10 out of 10
Last edited on Sunday, October 26th, 2008 at 11:58 pm PST
This is an excellent Electric hopper for those on a budget, and even for those whom arent. I can't say anything bad about the Reloader. It doesn't eat batteries, design and operation is user friendly and oh-so simple. On/Off is done with the press of a button, once it's on you set it and forget it.
Conclusion:
Excellent hopper, Great Price. What more can you ask for?
SP Vibe
14" SP progressive barrel
Empire Reloader
pschycoballistics silver drop forward
.45 Russian Legion Virtue grips
48/3000 Pure Energy Air tank
Strengths:
Fast, durable, long lasting charge,
Weaknesses:
Its capped at 12-14 bps and that's what it performs.
Review:
Well its capped at 12-14 bps and that's what u get. It keeps up well with my Vibe and its perfect for low end electros. Dont put it on a Timmy, an Angel or a Ego, cuz that's not what its meant for. Stick to what it's made for and you will notice impressive results
AGD Emag valve,ULE body, RPG sub zero feed neck, Level X, AGD Intelli double trigger frame with dye sticky grips, Custom Products direct mount on/off , 12in Freak barrel, Empire Reloader, Crossfire 47ci HPA tank w/ Redz cover.
Strengths:
Turns on only when you need it
Batteries last forever
Weaknesses:
Hard to find
12bps if you need more
Review:
This is much better than the Revy. With the revy it could go off while I am moving into position and give me away. Also I never have had a problem feeding. I dont shoot so fast that it cant keep up. I play woods ball and so the most I shoot a string is 10 or so. It keeps up just fine for me and it is great for the money.
Conclusion:
If you need a good eletric hopper and you arent one for shooting rope. This is a great product for a lot of people that play woods ball. It isnt too expensive. I pick mine up on ebay for less than $30 shipped.
Rating:
10 out of 10
Last edited on Sunday, February 6th, 2011 at 1:15 am PST
The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion on the comments page.
Period of Product Use:
6 months
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
Paintball Experience:
3 years
Similar Products Used:
I purchased this hopper along with my last marker. Prior to this I was using a normal gravity hopper.
Marker Setup:
Smart Parts ION
Smart Parts Q-lock feedneck
14inch Linear barrel
Empire Reloader Hopper
3000PSI compressed air bottle
Strengths:
Sound activated
Magnets on lid
Feed rate quick enough for my abilities
Inexpensive
Weaknesses:
2 9V batteries
Feels a little cheap
Spinning wheel broke in half.
Review:
This was my first experience with an electronic hopper, so I cannot offer too much of a comparative analysis for you, rather just my experience with the hopper. I bought this hopper along with my smart parts ION. The first thing that I noticed is that the hopper could not fit in the stock feedneck right away. There are two options here as I discovered: 1) Remove the first two rubber rings in the ION feedneck, and it will fit it tightly. You have to be very careful though and not squeeze the hopper too much while putting in.This is where you will feel that it can crack in half if you put a little too much strength. 2) Sand down the part of the hopper that goes in your feedneck until it fits without forcing it.
Once in place though the hopper works great. It is fast enough for my abilities, and the sound activation is quite cool in my opinion.
Also, there is a magnetic lid which holds in place very well. It has never opened on me during play. But it's very easy to open during play to reload without difficulty.
Our team bought three identical setups (like mine). Of the three, in two of the hoppers the spinning wheel cracked in half for two of them. This is very annoying, especially in the middle of a game. One of the two broke in the first game, and the other after the third time out. It could have been a defective batch, I will give the benefit of the doubt. The store owner was great in that he replaced the hopper without any fuss.
Since then they have not broken again.
Sept 2007
OK, now I can offer a better impression of the product. Since I replaced the feed paddle, it has worked well, I guess it was a defective batch after all. I did buy a replacement part though just in case :)
Since then it has worked very reliably without fail. The only thing that did happen is that the magnet inside the cover came our and needed to be glued back in.
Also I have read that some people are complaining about the battery life. The trick with this hopper is to shut it off after every round. I know that they say that it is sound activated, but when it's on it 's always pulling juice from your batteries. This way the batteries last much much longer.
Other than that it is going strong.
Oct 2007
Once again, I am back for an update for those of you who are interested. The Hopper is still working well after extensive use. The only problem that has arrisen since my last post is that one of the magnets on the lid broke off. Actually the plastic holder for the magnet broke off. As a result the magnet stays stuck the hopper when you open the lid. The problem with this though is that the I cannot glue the magnet back on because the holder is broken. I have spoken to my local Paintball shop and they said they have a replacement lid for me, so that's good news.
All this to say what? Well the bottom line is that for the money this is a great hopper. It is quite reliable and steady, and if you turn off the batteries between games, it is quite economical on the juice used. The only thing that you may want to consider when purchasing this hopper is to buy the replacement parts as well. It might sound silly, but it's worth it, and the cost is truly minimal. This way you will save yourself any possible frustration.
Oh, and one more thing. Don't believe all those clowns at the field that say that this hopper won't hold up and that you need a HALO or something like that. I have yet to see anyone shoot 17ps!!!!
Conclusion:
Great hopper, but because of the defective component on more than one, I am giving it a 7. Also great price.
If we didn't have a broken part, I would have given a 9 since ten in my book means perfect.
Overall this is a great product for even the experienced and demanding paintballer.
Sept 2007
Originally I had rated this a 7, but since using for the last year I can say it's worth a 9.
October 2007
Still holding strong at a 9!
Rating:
9 out of 10
Last edited on Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 4:05 am PST
Black Dragun Electric, chrome barrel or 21" barrel, Empire electric loader
Strengths:
Great feed, no gaps, easily activated
Weaknesses:
Maybe a little heavy, but it IS an electric hopper
Review:
It's fast, easy to use, and the sound activation works with the clap of a hand. I love the no-snap magnetic feature, and was thoroughly impressed with the performance on the field. I rarely, if ever shoot more than 15 bps, so this thing is perfect for my purposes. It's a great price for the quality, and keeps up well to the expensive stuff.
Conclusion:
I tried it as soon as I pulled it out of the box and immediately fell in love with it. This thing works extremely well exactly when I need it to. Like I said, fast, dependable, easy and sturdy. I seriously recommend it. Great buy!!!
tacamo 68D extreme rage overdrive hopper 20 oz spyder co2 tank with spyder coil remote
gameface recon E5 empire reloader hopper 20 oz pure energy co2 tank with coil remote
Strengths:
Speed.
Sound activated.
Not constantley runing.
Weaknesses:
None.
Review:
I got my empire hopper used so im not sure what they go for new but any way one thing i can tell u is that there fast and there not constantly going there sound activated two 9 volt instead of one probley helps give it a little more juice.
Tippmann X-7 with Remote Coil System
45/45 DXS Tank
4+1 Pack
Strengths:
Electronic
Weaknesses:
Didn't turn off when pressed the off button but that could be just mine.
Review:
I really liked this hopper and I like it better than the Reloader B. Because with this all you have to do is just take out the batteries and that will keep it quiet and with the reloader B you have to unscrew the screws and have to take out the battery screw and that will be very hard to put back in.
Conclusion:
I like this product and i its very good and it has not failed me yet but it's loud and it woun't turn off or else my didn't for a very long time and all you had to do is just take out the battires out and then it shuts off.
