Good Wal-Mart marker for under $200?

[Dryden]

Yeah, so the thread title is an oxymoron, but I've turned a couple of friends on to paintball who are considering buying markers or blister-pack kits where the mask and 20 oz is included.

They're not sure whether or not they'll stick with the game, and one in particular is hellbent on owning something new and not shopping used off of eBay.

I tried suggesting new Tippmann 98's for a first marker, but I don't think that'll fly given their past experiences with 98's as rentals and no *bling* factor.

Given the choices, which would you take, a Spyder or a Piranha? My only concern is that whatever it is, I'll be stuck fixing it when it breaks. :(

[cphilip]

Prolly a Spyder.. but a Pirahna is pretty much the same thing. I dont think its a bad idea to start with something like that if you think they might not stay with it. But certainly they will more likely not stay with it if they have marker trouble. So look them over really good and get the best marker you can for the money. You might check your local pro shop for a slightly used higher end spyder or something with a bit more features and metal parts than the very base models. He can prolly come up with some basic masks and a shake and bake hopper for around that money. And probably back it up for a little bit that it will function.

[tyrion2323]

Okay, Okay, I know I'm going to get JUMPED FOR THIS, but if your friends are looking for markers in the 200 dollar and below range, Contact me. I can work out some great deals with Dragun/OGI for them, and you won't have to pay high prices.

Just email me at JL3318@hws.edu
or AIM me at Kugleman

Peace man

Yes, I am sponsored by them. That is NOT the only reason that I am recommending them. So please, seriously people, don't flame me for this. I just want to help people.

Jacob

[Aliens-8-MyDad]

omg, givin the choice between a spyder and piranha id go with the piranha 1000 times over.

I never thought there was a big diffrence till I wont a piranha at a tournament, I cycled it around 4000 times, with and without paint. after that I decided to look inside to find out what was diffrence, if any. first thing I noticed was the bolt had absolutly no wear! the ano had no scratches or even signs of preware. the spyder's Ive had have always had wear on them. the whole feel of the gun was "well built" except for the polymer trigger frame, it workd but just felt kinda cheap. also it was very easy to lower the pressure. I droped in a rocket valve and tuned down the pressure and suprisingly got 300 psi with a fully adjustable velocity, no shoot down, no sputtering or anything even without paint no sputtering. I never botherd to do any more LP mods, it works fine dont screw with it has recently become my modo after screwing alotta stuff up :)

hands down get the piranha.

edit* accually I got it down to 225 psi but I was scared it would sputter if paint didnt load, cause sometimes it did, if I used a halo on it I could prolly drop it down to 200 psi, I would just need to make sure a ball loaded EVERY time or it would sputter.

[sneakyhacker420]

definitely the piranha - they have the GREATEST customer service on EARTH!!! (PMI)

my shop, when they were starting out new, PMI gave them credit on a bad hammer o-ring in a piranha that got shipped to them... thats how nice they are!!

and whats kingman do... tell you to go buy a new one :eek:

i clean rentals all day long when i volunteer at my field, and its a fleet of bottomline piranhas

its a simple procedure - wipe it down, pull out the back assembly (hammer, bolt, springs - all come out at once) oil up the o-rings, shove it back in, and you're done

another nice thing is the PMI anti-chop bolt, its supposed to make the piranha stop on balls and then you manually re-cock it once it stops on a ball

plus the piranhas have the metal vert feed cups... instead of the straight plastic elbow on vert feed spyders


i could go on and on about this, but in the end, i'd choose the piranha over the spyder

[WARPED1]

Piranha.
Spyder believes in quantity over qualty, where PMI is the other way.
The man who designed the Spyder got angry at Kingmans p[olicies so he quit. He went to work for PMI and shotly released the new Piranha.[/end history lesson]

[sneakyhacker420]

not to mention that PMI was one of the big 3 companies that remained in business from the 80's paintball era, giving them much more experience than a few chinese men contracted under kingman do :rolleyes:

[~WarpedRT#2~]

THANK YOU!!! Finally, some people agree with me that a Piranha is much better than a Spyder. Much better QC, and higher greade parts. Much better CS as well.

Piranha hands down. I'm serious. Tell them to get those.

[yeahthatsme]

not to mention everything on the pirahna is standard so you dont have to buy tons of adapters and stuff http://www.automags.org/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif

[tyrion2323]

Yeah, the Pirahna is a great marker, save for two things:

The Sears break all the time. For some reason, they seem to be weak or something. I don't know if there's a fix to this

And the Polymer grip frame just feels cheap. The trigger is made out of polymer too - what's that about?!?! It seems like it's going to snap off in my hand.

I'd say buy a $50 Pirahna and throw a ONE KIT on it later.

Or, check out NeroBro's products - I think I saw him ripping on a Spyder/Pirahna with a gripframe and a board that he had made.... Seemed cool.

Jacob

[~WarpedRT#2~]

They make a The One kit for a Piranha???? Link please!!

[tyrion2323]

The ONE KIT will work on stack-tubes, such as Spyders, Pirahnas, Spyder Clones, etc.

Contact me if you're interested in purchasing one.

Jacob

[Banshee23]

Tyrion if you insist on pushing your Dragun stuff at least know your products... You can't install a ONE kit in a Piranha as they use "fatty" strikers. The ONE kit requires a "slim" striker model, i.e. Spyders/Draguns. Some older spyders also had fatty strikers which would make them incompatible also.

[Halliday]

Get a Fishy if they won't buy a 98.

[Dryden]

Thanks for the suggestions! I've got one teammate who had a Spyder (years ago - before we turned him on to an Automag) and the last time I held a Piranha it had a 10" brass barrel and a pump arm. ;) So that about sums up my exposure to either.

My guess would have been a Piranha also, given my own experiences with PMI gear over the years.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned, I don't know how much sway my opinions will get, since I expect these guys will pick up something at Wal-Mart or Meijer without consulting me first - though I started pushing for Piranhas a month ago after abandoning Tippmanns or used VM-68s.

A couple more questions:

How well will either run on CO2? I neither expect or will recommend to a new 'baller to sink $130+ into even a simple 68/3K preset CA cylinder.

Is there a significant difference in the quality of construction or dependability of the $60 versus the $160 versions of the two?

My personal feeling is that these guys will play for about a year with their entry markers, enjoy it, possibly break even against the savings for what they would pay in field rentals, then upgrade in a year or two.

[rkjunior303]

I would go for the Pirrahna given the experience I've had with Evil's Cust Service (PMI).. They ROCK.. Just get a good anti-siphon and an expansion chamber and the CO2 should be fine.

[~WarpedRT#2~]

AHHH! I really wouldnt want to have to buy a Spyder just to fit one on it. Anyway, PM me with a price.

[bryceeden]

I would go with the Spyder. PMI has better customer service, but Kingman has a better product. I run a paintball shop and sell both Spyders and Pirahnas to date I have had EVERY Pirahna I have sold returned because it didn't work right where as I have only had one Spyder come back and that was just a cup seal problem. The Pirahna problems are mostly in the Valve itself or in the E-grip sear.

[WARPED1]

When I ran my buddies shop/field 4 years ago, every Spyder we sold broke down, or just broke, after about a case ran through it. We had base Piranhas as the rental fleet, never broke down. Actually, one or two did need valve work. But 2 out of 20 or so ain't bad...........

[TeamNausea]

Originally posted by Banshee23
Tyrion if you insist on pushing your Dragun stuff at least know your products... You can't install a ONE kit in a Piranha as they use "fatty" strikers. The ONE kit requires a "slim" striker model, i.e. Spyders/Draguns. Some older spyders also had fatty strikers which would make them incompatible also.
Yes haha someone got him YES

[fallout11]

You might also consider a Mokal Fokus package.

It is a spyder clone, but has no plastic parts.
Even the grip frame is all aluminum.
Extremely durable construction.
Takes most standard spyder upgrades (barrels, etc.), but has "regular" mounts (inline holes) for drops and rails, and comes with spare rings and instructions.

Action Village / Paintballgear.com has been running specials on them for months, and it's not a bad gun.

http://store6.yimg.com/I/actionvillage_1782_85334501

I've bought and given away several as "starter" guns, for local new players. Never had a problem with them.


They also have an e-frame version (the EVX, a sear tripper) for under $120, but I have no experience with it, only the mechanical versions.