However, after reading the reviews on this website I figured DraXus just upgraded the packaging and it was the same product...dead wrong.
Each bag of 500 balls in the case (which was pristine so I doubt any kind of mis-handling occurred to the box, or the ball inside) was sealed in its own bag, which I liked a lot for humidity and ease of pouring purposes (easier to cut a corner and fill with one hand). However on just a "standard pour" into the hopper I noticed more dimpled balls than I would have liked.
Play for the next 3 hours revealed the balls to have adequate accuracy up to 30 feet (chest sized target), but quickly scattered to a 3+ foot "shotgun" circle at 50 feet. What's more there were far too many "wild veers" where the ball would be going in one direction, then shoot randomly in another. This problem got worse as a ball broke in my hopper and the rest got coated in paint.
Post game, I ran a couple of tests...first I pulled several hand-fulls of balls and separated them into "good", "slight deformation" (small flat spot, but no more), or "bad" (dimpled). Of the 30 balls I pulled, 4 were good and another 4 "slight deformation". You can do the math on how many were just plain bad paint.
Continuing on the separation, I eventually got ~30 "good" balls and ran them through my marker while under a chronograph. I then repeated with the dimpled balls. Long story short, I was seeing a 20-30 FPS reduction. Now this is to be expected, but my point is all aspects of my game (accuracy, distance, and reliability) were being affected and because of the randomness...I could never adjust (other than just assuming I wouldn't hit the guy I was aiming at and trying to get closer before pulling the trigger).
Finally, I had a "random handful" of paint put through my friends A5 (with the Empire Apex2 barrel). He showed a marked decrease in accuracy in his long range shots (basically doubled the area), though the number of "wild veers" seemed much reduced.
I ended up playing once more within a week and used the same case to see if my problems would persist...this round the balls kept drier (didn't have a break in the hopper) and the same 30-50 foot accuracies held true. The number of "wild veers" was not as prevalent, but I still put it at close to 10% (originally close to 30%).
Conclusion:
I simply cannot recommend this product on any grounds. At $40 a case it puts it solidly in the "mid-grade" range of prices yet the sheer number of dimpled balls makes it wholly un-useful for anyone except those playing nothing but CQB...at which point why not save yourself $10 or $20 and go for the cheap stuff? I understand not all paint can be perfect, but when you are literally running close to a 66% "bad paint" rate I just can't see the reason to buy it.
recon camos > rec sport, all stars < rec sport, visible impacts > rec sport
Marker Setup:
tippmann 98 custom pro basic
lapco bigshot 12" barrel
viewloader evlution 3
worrgames stratos 68ci 4500psi HPA tank via remote
liberty adjustable stock
Recommended Barrels:
lapco bigshot worked fine for me
Strengths:
Cheap, won't break in barrel, easy to see flight path
Weaknesses:
Won't break on target, somewhat inaccurate, easy to see in flight path
Review:
As a disclaimer, before I say anything else, I would like to say I have only used two boxes of these over 2 weekends this month, and I bought both from the same place. However, that place was a high end proshop where they were kept air conditioned. Maybe I got a bad two batches, but I'm unhappy enough to not give them another shot.
As bad a rap as walmart gets for quality, I've had great luck with recon camos in my 98. They've never broken in my barrel, and I've never seen them bounce once. However, walmart told me they're done carrying paintballs come June, so I had to look for an alternative that I could get without paying the ghastly shipping online. The guy at the nearest proshop recommended these, even though I was looking for fluid hydros. I have to say, I miss my recons.
The first thing I noticed was that there were no breaks in the bags, which is always a plus. I also didn't have a single chop in my two boxes, though I don't use an e-trigger, since I can fire fast enough to keep heads down and I don't like dropping 2-3 cents a ball at 17 or more bps. That's about it for the good.
Out of the box, I noticed a lot of these balls were misshapen. When I loaded, I dropped a few, so I picked one up and threw it at a hard plastic chair about 8 feet away, just for the heck of it. The friggin ball bounced. My friend didn't believe what he saw, so he did the same - another bounce.
At one point, I played 3 on 3 speedball. I had an easy shot at one of my friends at about 70-80 feet and let loose. After being hit at least five times in a second or two, he called himself out as a reflex. Turns out, however, not a single ball broke on him. He didn't believe it, I didn't believe it, so I guess these balls are unbelievable, in the less than good sense. That was pretty much my experience with them.
Conclusion:
The other reviews gave me moderate hopes for these paintballs, but they were a failure for me. At 280 fps, unless you hit a tree or a flat surface dead on, they will probably bounce. I could have been very unlucky, but I'm gonna go stock up on recons before walmart stops carrying them. Paintballs are worthless if they don't break on target.
Origin Basic Training, if you're playing woodsball then definitely go with the Basic Training as you can't shoot through grass/branches/twigs/etc. with Draxxus RecSport paintballs.
The stock Tippmann Custom Pro barrel works great on these paintballs. I've shot a case and a half of these paintballs and haven't had a single barrel break or chop.
Strengths:
Break more easily than Origin Basic Training, better for speedball at the same pricepoint.
Weaknesses:
Break more easily than Origin Basic Training, making them terrible for woodsball.
Review:
My local field is using these for tournaments and a clinic/training/drills/etc.
They're best if used at around 280-290 fps. I did have one bounce off of my shoulder, but it was a shot right off the break from across the field. Higher end markers with pillow bolts and eyes will definitely prefer paint that breaks more easily.
Conclusion:
Definitely my favorite speedball paint. It just works so well for the price and after a case and a half, I haven't seen a single dimple.
Rating:
10 out of 10
Last edited on Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 at 6:39 pm PST
BT 4 ERC W/10 inch APEX now CP 16in
Rip Clip drive
HPA Crossfire Camo 68/45
32* remote
Recommended Barrels:
APEX
CP
Strengths:
Hold up on hot days good fill break well at range
Weaknesses:
Colors
Review:
I just started using DXS Recsport paint (Red box) mainly due to price 34.00 / 2000. Great brakeage, accuracy and fill had zero in the marker, barrel breaks or chops even at full auto (just to see how it did). Played the other day 89* 60% humidity the other players paint looked like gummy balls my DXS shells were still hard with no deformities
I prefer
Green case white fill
Red case green fill
Conclusion:
I’m sure some boxes have issues all manufactures have bad batches all I know is the paint I have used has been top notch and I will continue to use and recommend it.
PMR
Red Roller Trigger
Dye Ultralite One-piece 14" Barrel
Crossfire 68/3000 Tank
Dye 2007 I3 Pro Blue
Proto 4+5 pack
Rap4 140 rd. Pods Smoke
Strengths:
Great price
Color Availability
Good shells
Nice breakage
Weaknesses:
Availability
Sometimes break in the bag
Review:
I used these at N.C. Tacitcal(R.I.P., :( )They really are nice balls. They have great colors, like for a Christmas game, we had red and green ones. I think these are the cheapest and best balls for recreation or practicing. I had some problems when I'd leave em for about 2-4 months and then when I'd fill a pod I'll see a break or two, not a huge deal though.
Conclusion:
Of course, not formula 13 or cryptic, so a solid 8.
Diablo Heat- better, but usually more expensive
Moster Balls- worst ever used, never buy them
Marker Setup:
Bt-4 Combat
J&J 12" Ceramic
BT M98 Car Stock
Recommended Barrels:
big Bore (not a ceramic, trust me)
Strengths:
Break on Target
Thick Fill
Weaknesses:
BIG BORE
some dimples
seams
not round enough
Review:
Well, i use these most of the tim when i play since theyre pretty cheap. Ive never really had a problem with them breaking, or shooting way off target, but i cant really say they rock.
They are big, they break in my friends barrels alot, and they are too tight without a huge bore barrel. But overall the size isnt too bad wen i used my freiends kit.
They are just hard enough not to break in the chamber, but when they impact nearly anything else, they break. It helps not wasting tons of ammo to hit a someone that you may have ehit 4 or 5 times before that,
MAny of the times i just dont have the cash to get higher grade paint, so these help in a bind.
Conclusion:
Pretty good paint, great for the 35 bucks i buy them for.
Nightmare - good
Marbalizers - expensive but can go through dense brush
Toxic and Weapons Grade - not as good
Marker Setup:
Smart Parts Ion
VLocity XSV hopper
cp reg, cp drop, and cp asa
Virtue board
68/4500 DXS tank
16" freak barrel kit
Recommended Barrels:
Get a freak kit...awesome when you can match the paint with the correct bore size and getter better air efficiency.
Strengths:
Always break and do not bounce!
Weaknesses:
None found.
Review:
At $45 per case of 2,000 this is pretty good. I was amazed at how the paint could break on somebody from a far enough distance, that most paintballs would normally bounce. Laying paint has never been so much fun until now. The grey color of the shell kind of sucks but who really cares what color their painballs are? I go through two cases for an eight hour day because I have my Ion w/Virtue on NXL mode. With the Freak on, I can light people up across the field who are not looking my way. Wow it's raining Draxxus on a clear day.
Conclusion:
If you can get these at you store, buy them their worth every dollar.
Straight, easily break on impact, high visibility, cheap. ebay has them real cheap
Weaknesses:
The shell color is kind of lame but who cares. The fill is easily seen
Review:
I bought 8K off of ebay, received four cases at 31.00 a case and I have not had any chopping, very accurate and never any bounced balls. I would recommend these to the budget player. I have used the high end balls but these work just as well and do not hurt my wallet.
Conclusion:
I will stick with these for now becasue of the price and dependability
ion
qev
redz bolt
all american 14 inch
evil pipe kit
trinity on off
virtue eyes
redz clamping feed neck
new designz roller trigger
DMC
hybrid grips
J&J edge barrel kit
Recommended Barrels:
works flawlessly in my j&j
Strengths:
Accurate
Round
Consistent
Bright fill
No chops
Weaknesses:
Could be more brittle
Not a really thick fill
Review:
I got these paintballs when i was visiting my sisters college in springfield. I got them for 38 dollars so i didn't expect much. Anyway's i brought them to the field and when people were just shooting around, i decided to just shoot a bunker. Surprisingly it broke. I shot again and it just kept breaking on the bunker from 20 feet away. When we started playing, I noticed how accurate these paintballs were. I bumped up into the 50 snake and with one shot i hit someone at the other tape side and you could see a huge pink mark on their arm. The only 2 things that are not really the best are the thickness of the shell and the fill could be better. If the shell was more like dxs bronze it would be perfect just for that extra edge but its fine for rec. The fill is a liitle thin but who really cares for such a low price.
Conclusion:
These are my favorite rec paintballs that i have tried. I definetely reccomend these.
I shot this stuff today and a while back as well, its not very round, accurate, and the fill in the stuff i had today was a white sh*t stuff, i didn't like it very much, for the price I could have gotten better paint. I am not buying it again anytime soon.
Conclusion:
If theres nothing else to get, then fine... other then that, get bronze or zap spank. there in the same price range
