Ricochet AK- Not even close to this hopper. Way out of league.
Gravity Hoppers- hah, you have to be kidding me.
Marker Setup:
Smart Parts Ion(mostly stock...for now)
Evil Detonator Reg
WGP 20oz Air Tank
DXS Pulse Loader
Custom Painted Body (by me)
Sly Dual Carbon Fiber Barrel
Strengths:
SPEED, feedneck, bells and whistles
Weaknesses:
weight? RF module (see review)
Review:
Alright, lets get the weakness out of the way first (i barely think this is a weakness, but others may disagree). The Pulse, I have to admit, is rather heavy, especially when loaded with paint. Mainly because I am using 6 AA batteries. HOWEVER, there is an option for 2 9 volts which is WAY more light and WAY more convenient. Now I know you looked at weakness and saw "RF module" and thought, "what's this guy smoking?". Well let me explain. Its 35 bucks a piece for the thing, and its put into one marker. I dont know if you can switch it up to different ones, but the fact that its stuck in one marker makes it somewhat expensive if you have multiple ones.
Now thats out of the way, lets get to the good stuff.
SPEED
This thing is wicked fast. Im not joking. We actually got 4 hoppers together: Halo, Ricochet, Vlocity, and Pulse. We put the same amount of paint in each, and drop tested them at the same time. Pulse took a huge lead, vlocity and halo took a very close 2nd and 3rd (respectively), and the ricochet was just blown out of the water. Put just a HANDFULL of paintballs in there, turn it on, and watch. You will just see them zip right outta there, you wont even know what happened.
NECK
Neck is cut down smaller than practically every other loader out there. Sits low enough for a low profile, but high enough so that you could still hit that reverse button. Make sure you have a good feedneck on your marker! This is crucial because the Pulse sits very low and has no O-ring's on the neck like the ricochet does. If you have a stock neck BE SURE TO GET A LOCKING ONE AS SOON AS YOU GET THE PULSE. First day I played with it, i had my stock neck on my ion. As soon as i dove, this thing was turned all the way around and half the neck was already coming off (which is bad. small feedneck+big loader= bad gameplay). But as soon as you get a good feedneck, this thing sits really low.
REVERSE
No need for a rip anymore. All you need is this little button on the bottom. Simply push it real fast, and it reverses the drive to get rid of the jam. The good thing is that it goes at a moderate rate. If you have a rip, then you could just muscle that thing as much as you want until you get the jam out. But there is a risk that you break paint too, so this button is a real help.
BATTERY
Six AA's or two 9-volts. I havent tried out the 9-volt option yet, but the AA's are heavy (as explained before). So how is this a strength you ask? Well, the Pulse can sit there for 4 hours, just spinning continuously until it dies (so i've heard). I plan to try this one day when i have extra batteries and no time. But so far, i've played with it for quite a while and it shows no signs of slowin down anytime soon.
LID
Standard Magnetic Lid. Keeps it nice and snug so paint doesnt go flying out of your hopper when you dive into the 50 off the break. Good idea though, to break it in, cuz it is somewhat difficult to get open without some good force (or just get a speedfeed, works like a charm).
SHELL
The shell is the hardest plastic ive seen. I watched videos of people jumping on them, pounding them, and even using it as a hammer. I of course was hesitant at first, but eventually decided to try it myself. I took a steel toe boot and kicked this thing against the wall. Not a dent or crack on it. There was a minor scratch because it was a concrete wall (stupid me), but hey, other than that microscopic scratch, the thing was still GOLD.
Changability
The drive train can fit into any pulse shell. My friend had a black shell, I had a smoke one. I wanted black, he wanted smoke. So, we take our drive trains out, swap shells and Badaboom, new hopper shells for both of us. (and in case your wondering "why didnt you just trade the whole hopper?", well its because he had his for a lot longer than me. And my drive train is new. I want to keep my drive train, but want his shell. So there ya go, im not an idiot, horray).
RF Module
Alright here's where the good stuff comes in. I do not personally have one, but I have tried markers that have them installed. I personally see no difference (in semi, or other stock board settings) because either way, it still feeds fast as hell. But once you get into ramping and such, there is a difference. It makes the Pulse and your gun a lot more consistent with each other. I dont think im going to get one just yet. THe RF is something you might want to save when you have extra money and you are satisfied with your other upgrades.
Drive Cone
Its perfect for the pulse. what more can I say? Its gentle on paint, and when it does break, its easy to clean the sucker out. not much here.
Sound? Eye?
None of the above. Basically, you are free to use any kind of color paint you want so dont have to worry about dark colored paint not being fed. Or if your gun is like super ninja and makes absolutely no noise, then you still have no worries, cuz the Pulse delivers. Basically, if there is a space in your firing chamber, then the Pulse puts a paintball there. Simple as that. If its full (with a paintball), then the pulse "pulses" (every .5 second or every 5 seconds depending on what mode you are in), and waits for you to shoot.
Well that took a while to write, but hey, the Pulse deserves it. Its definately TOP OF THE LINE.
Conclusion:
BUY THIS HOPPER! I know its expensive, but if you want to walk on the field with the best equipment, dont go out there with like an upped ego, tank, and a...halo. Go out there with a PULSE on your gun. You'll love it, your gun will thank you, and you speed fingered demons can go crazy with it. I think its definately the best out there.
Ion - AKA 2 Liter, QEV, APE Board...(everything worth while minus Aesthetic upgrades)
Strengths:
Strong, near unbreakable shell
Rediculously fast
Easy to clean
Weaknesses:
magnet isn't strong enough,
Mechanism way too hard to remove from shell
Review:
First let me address the weaknesses:
1)When I first brought the hopper home, the magnets were actually installed backwards, so when I closed the lid, the magnets were launching it back apart… this wasn’t a huge issue as I was able to unscrew the shell apart and reverse the magnets.
2)My next issue was the fact that there is too large a gap between the two magnets…
Either they should have designed it with one magnet on a spring/slider, so it could come into closer contact with the other magnet, yet still allow for the snap closure, or used a stronger earth magnet such as a Neodyne magnet.
Yes both ways would have added one or two dollars to the overall cost of the product, but it would have added much more in overall value.
The next hopper that comes along will just out step this “so called” advantage using similar methods but will only need to employ a magnetic closure… in my opinion it might as well have been left out
3) I think we all have watched the videos of the guy removing the tray drive motor from the shell with just a tap and a pull… Maybe I have a defective unit, but it takes some serious finesse to get my tray out… I have to pull from the outside, push from the inside, wiggle the thing and after about a minute or two it finally comes out.
In my opinion if they had designed the tabs with more of a taper on the leading edge, or provided a “track” or even a more slippery inner surface the tray would slide out MUCH more easily.
4) This hopper is easily $30 overpriced, and they should have thrown in the RF chip for free… they are making too much money on this thing, and will surely get beaten by the next generation hopper that steps up, even if it's on the price point alone.
5) Finally, they made the feed neck about .002” too large on the OD (.001” on the radius) such that my clamping feed neck, and several of my friends' feed necks are a tad too small for the hopper and require me to loosen my clamping feed neck to the point that it is falling off the marker… This is not a HUGE problem as once the hopper is inserted into the feed neck it expands the inner ring holding everything securely in place, but many of my friends couldn’t even get the hopper on their marker. (back to the old sanding routine I guess)
Now for the good stuff…
1) This thing is FAST, it rips WAY faster then my EGG w/ z-board.
2) Its quicker response time means that I have more consistent BPS over the chrono and my strings are tighter together during a game…meaning that when I sweep a running player I can hit him more predictably/easily.
3) I am a hopper cleaning freak, and I had a ball break during a game, which splashed paint up into the hopper, I was able to clean my hopper and get back into the next game with plenty of time left for refilling air/paint. Unlike with my egg, which would take nearly 10 min to clean during a game day, and around 40 min when I got home, as I would take it apart and soak it in (dish soap) soapy water, then towel dry, then hair dryer, then screw the whole thing back together making sure not to pinch any wires.
4) The "cool" factor can not be ignored, as you can feel this thing pulsing in your hands, and it looks a lot sleeker then the EGG, not to mention it tucks in a bit nicer (which caused 1 less death yesterday as the ball zipped between my head and the hopper, and would definitely have hit my EGG had it been there)
5) The shell is ridiculously strong, we’ve all seen the video of the guy hammering nails with the hopper, and standing/jumping on it. The egg was so fragile that I’ve replaced the shell twice and the door three times before I got the Pulse, and I’ve only been playing with it since April (hmm, maybe that’s the real reason why people call it the EGG, it’s so damn fragile!)
Finally, the RF chip barely fits in my marker, as it is stuffed to the gills with UP’s and the APE board takes up the entire grip frame. You can read here how I managed to fit it in.
After weeks of use and abuse, the magnet broke off the lid, and the sticker was blown off on the right side when i got bunkered...( ~10 feet away) the lid pops up every time it takes a side hit, but this hopper just keeps on going!...
worth every penny if you get the RF chip!
Final EDIT:
The customer service is amazing!
5 days after I e-mailed them that I lost the sticker and the magnet, they sent me more stickers then I could ever loose and a new magnet (both of which I super glued on...)
I haven’t had a single problem since…I am changing my review from 8 to 9 do to the customer service!
one last point however:
Just for fun(or if you really play this way):
switch your marker to full auto, with the rf chip, and run it through the whole hopper without pause at speeds in excess of 24bps, you will find that with the Pulse you will break paint.
After extensive testing/trials I have found that the hopper can "out of round" a ball due simply to the pulsing and may cause barrel breaks about once per hopper load when using the best paint (winter blend this time of year) that draxxus can offer and a properly matched barrel.
this again is caused, by the simple probability of a ball being wedged half way out of the rotating mechanism, and being pulsed/bumped more then twice around in nearly the same spot...bla bla bla
It happens, try it, and it isn't necessarily the fault of the hopper...
The hopper is really designed for semi-auto players, and not even the best players in the world can pull over 24 bps consistently until the entire hopper unloads
But again, this does not effect my rating
Conclusion:
I give this Hopper an 8 out of 10 for all the reasons I’ve listed above.
I wouldn’t recommend this hopper however, and probably wouldn’t have gotten it for myself if I didn’t receive it for the holidays from my little brother. It is far too over priced for what you get, and with the new APE (vid-screen) Halo board coming out, it is soon to be out-stepped in the hopper market place.
Rating:
9 out of 10
Last edited on Saturday, February 17th, 2007 at 1:19 pm PST
Halo with crazy ups- well it was good, fast and reliable but so far the pulse is faster and cleaning is way easier.
Egg- ...no pulse out strips it in speed easily, no where near as easy to take care of
Revvy- speed it doesn't compare cleaning..........probably the easiest after the pulse
Marker Setup:
06 Cyborg PBK trigger, low weight ram kit, snakeskin bolt, hybrid push button on/off, dynasty s-rail, CP reg, hybrid gen6 grips, ultra lite backs and stiffi blue mamba front and ultralite front, 07 red valve, clear pulse with RF chip and lastly a 45/45 centerflag tank
Strengths:
Speed and ease of use
Weaknesses:
So far nothing
Review:
Ok i have yet to actually use this loader in a game due to the fact the most fields are closed due to a snow storm but in just testing ins surpassed my expectations. I haven't tried it in non RF mode so i won't go into that. But with the chip it kept up shot for shot with my cyborg when on full auto. In drop tests it easily out paced my halo.
Cleaning and maintainance wise easiest loader i've owned. Push the buttons pop out the drive tray wipe pop the tray back in and you're set. No eyes to mess things up...with halos i've had alot of people come to me wondering what was wrong with it only to turn out the eyes were dirty or whatever. So with no eyes its a big help. The constant pulse is good cause unlike with the halo and other force feed loaders you aren't waiting for the eyes to see a gap in the stack its always ready to feed the next ball.
At first the lid was a bit stiff but its loosened up so its easier to open. the magnets are a nice touch for all you back players to just go nuts without fumbling with the lid. It takes a halo speed feed so for you people that got one slap it on and go. I hear it takes the boost and other rechargable batteries but i haven't tried myself so i'll take their words for it. The drive tray was hard to get out at first but its loosened up and easy to get out now.
Conclusion:
All in all this is probably thi best loader i've owned. I'll update this after i put some time in with it. So far i have yet to have a problem with it. Fast keeps up shot for shot with my cyborg everything i thought it would be. Definitely worth the cash for what you get. Also i think the RF chip is a good investment....not required but its good to have or get sometime down the road
old Spyder TL with a Dye barrel (cant remember the name)
Tipmann 98C with RT and JJ Ceramic barrel and NitroDuck X-Stream 68/4500
Strengths:
Shell Strength
ease of cleaning
speed
Weaknesses:
Price
Review:
i cant give a full review cause i haven't really had a chance to take it to a field and play.
i brought it around thanksgiving at NVP in Rochester on sale so i had to buy it cause i would never get it cheaper. i loaded it up and watched it shoot it all out in a matter of secs. this thing is fast.
i placed my finger in the feedneck and stopped the balls from coming out and you could feel the pulse pushing waiting to rip
i then proceeded to show everyone how strong it was by standing on it to prove why i spent money on it. I weigh 202 and i stood on it like 3 times to show diff people
so far i love it
ill let you know more later
Conclusion:
Get it youll love it
I gave it an 8 out of 10 cause i havent really ran it through the wringer
well i was really excited when i got my pulse with RF. It took a little getting used to, the really low profile(pretty much sits on top of my shocker) being it was hard for me to see without really tillting my gun, but ive adjusted. i used the loader at xpsl vegas and ran into problems with balls getting stuck in the feeder to the feed neck. really sucked cause there was no fixing it without pulling the tray out.(weather was terrible, maybe had somthing to do with it.) but this past weekend, twice i had balls get pinched beetween the wheel and the edge where the balls feed into the gun. one ball broke and jamed up in the loader, the other was just pinched, but the loader would not feed, and no the reverse button didnt help. it is a great loader when it works, makes shootin ropes a breeze. also im not shooting cheap paint. Karnage in vegas, x-ball silver or blaze on the weekends.
Conclusion:
So far i have had pretty bad experiance with this loader, and people keep telling me they have heard of or sceen people having problems. but i want to stress this is only my personal experance, and the games i have played with no problems its been awsome, soooo fast. if any one else has had these problems i would like to here from you. thanx
2006 Dye DM6, Virtue Board, Ultralite frame, Ultralite Barrel, DXS Pulse, 68/4500 Pure energy nitro tank and Tag Sportz Blue glowing lazer eyes, Critical Trigger , CP Drop/asa, Blue Dye color parts kit, CCM Clamping feedneck
Strengths:
Crazy Fast when Sync to your marker
Weaknesses:
Only if you have the Dye UL Frame Read below is there a weakness
Review:
I found the DXS Pulse so fast no word I use can help you understand how fast it is until you see/use one your self
It is so fast ...It can hold 180 rounds and I filled it up and turned it on and let it run it ran empty in less than 4.4 sec aproxx
It was easy to install and very easy to sync the RF chip to my DM6 all but one thing....the RF chip is to big to put in the UL Frame with the board and all....I had to shave out some plastic and rubber form the inside of my sticky grip to get it to work and it still kinda pushes the out a bit but it is not a big prob...It will allow dirt and rain and what ever else into my grip and to my board so if you get one as well and have to do the same shave to you grip like I did make sure you keep and eye on that so you do ruin you board and the elec part of your UL Frame
:::::This user entered an Update on January 07
I HAVE A VIDEO THAT WILL ANSWER ALL YOUR QUESTIONS BUT URL'S DO NOT WORK ON HERE SO EMAIL ME AND ILL SEND YOU THE LINK TO MY VIDEO I WILL NOT SEND IT AS AN ATTACHMENT SO THERE IS NO THREAT OF A VIRUS ILL SEND IT AS A URL LINK
For some reason if I put the URL for my video on here it will not let you copy and paste it......so like I said you will have to email me and Ill send you the URL that way
I have used a Dermal Tool and carved out the plastic and then used the same tool to sand it down perfect and the chip fits great
You can pick one of these tools up at your local hardware or tool store for about 60-130 dollars all depends on what attachments you want with it...but if your like me you prolly will never use that tool again so see if you can barrow one form a friend or neighbor
:::::::::::::::::End of update::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Any questions feel free to email me @ speedymontess@comcast.net
and ill help the best I can
Conclusion:
Well worth the price some people on here down grade the item cuz they think it costs to much...well if you think it costs to much its SIMPLE DONT BUY IT !
Dont buy it if you think it costs to much and then cry and down grade the score cuz you think it costs to much
Rating:
10 out of 10
Last edited on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007 at 5:38 am PST
I like to keep my reviews short and to the point, so here we go. The Pulse is a half decent loader. It is one of the fastest out there, BUT there are some downsides. Lets look at it, its ugly and the designs are not great. Maintanence is so easy. You just pull out of the the hopper and you clean. But becarefull because one wrong turn and snap crackle pop your out of a hopper. Take one ball to the shell and I have seen more then 1 crack. NOT SHATTER but crack. Will NOT take away from preformance, but for a high end hopper it shouldn't crack.
Conclusion:
Final point being, go for the empire b2. If you like the design then this hopper is for you. With the upgrades and everything else you can do to a b2 I'd go for that. I give it a 7 because it is a good hopper but it is UGLY and cracks
Easy Maintenance
Accepts all battery modules
Polycarbonate Shell
Weaknesses:
Price of Hopper
Additional price of RF Module
Still get a few reball jams
Review:
The initial price tag of $150 for just the hopper is a bit pricey plus another $35 for the RF Module can put a dent in most players' wallets. Not to mention you have to have some soldering knowledge or take your gun in to a shop where someone can do the soldering of the RF Module for you. Despite all the intial weaknesses, that's all one will encounter once the Pulse is in use.
The Pulse has the following features:
Dual option lock lid; either magnetic for the back players or locks down for the front runners. Play as hard as you want. The lock lid is tight and won't open on even the hardest of dives into the snake. However, given that, its a bit tough to open and will require a bit more to get the lid open than most hoppers. Or for sweetspotting or quick gun fights just slap the lid down enough so that the magnets hold it in place.
Easy Maintenance; just take your thumb and middle finger and squeeze the side tabs to pull out the tray (drive train). No tools needed! No wires or sensors to worry about. All the mechanics are contained within the tray shell. Once the tray is out, you can stick your whole hand up into the hopper to clean. Slide the tray back in when you're done. Its that easy.
Batteries; It comes with the 6AA harness, but I immediately swapped that out for a HALO Lithium Ion Boost pack. My only complaint is that I had to use a dremmel to quickly grind down the "ribs" on the underside of the battery cover so that the boost pack would fit properly inside. It only took 5 minutes to do that.
Polycarbonate Shell; the guy at the shop I bought the Pulse from stood on the hopper to show me how strong it was. I'd say he was around 150 pounds, so its strong enough. Only time will tell though, my HALO had spider web stress cracks all over it so hopefully this shell will prevent that.
Performance; Awesome with paintballs, but I reball in the winter and the Pulse does tend to get the occasional jam from time to time. Even with a lithium ion boost pack and having the hopper synced with the RF module I still get the occasional jam, which is very frustrating. The reverse button seems to opperate differently in RF mode that non-RF mode. For reball its probably best to play in non-RF mode because the reverse button is more responsive and works through a ball jam better. Nevertheless, the RF module does help your gun ramp smoothly and compliments any virtue board software.
Size; Its so close in weight and size to a HALO that, in my opinion, is unnoticable and will not affect your game in any way. The hopper does sit lower than other hoppers because of the shorter feed neck and therefore is that much more in your view, so it may throw off your accuracy at first.
Conclusion:
Over all, awesome hopper. I gave it a 9 because of price and the occasional reball jam that drives me crazy.
Rating:
9 out of 10
Last edited on Tuesday, January 16th, 2007 at 9:51 am PST
All i can say about this loader is WOW. I picked it up the other night because I am a clean freak and the fact that you can remove the tray and clean the loader out was a big plus for me. I have a suicided Halo as well and the fact that you can clean the Pulse loader without tools is great. If need be you could clean it mid game and keep playing. The lid is a little snug, but even in a few short days it has loosened up, so it should not be an issue. I love that fact that Draxxus will be coming out with new shells. I heard larger and smaller capacity shells and all the colors to match your marker.
Conclusion:
Amazing loader. The ability to remove the tray and clean the loader is amazing. The new shells coming out are also a great plus!
