Random paintball musings/bored at work

[lather]

Was kinda slow today and since im working a 16 hour shift :( I had quite a bit of time looking at pbreview along with a few owner's group sites. It seemed to me besides weight and speed what a lot of people would stress concerning their gun's superiority was a lack of kick or smoothness when shooting.

I wonder why no manufacturer/owner has ever done a study on how much muzzle rise or kick their marker actually has? I think it would be something easily quantifiable. Unlike open vs. closed bolt accuracy, muzzle rise (or kick if you want to call it that) during firing would seem to greatly affect accuracy to me.

Smart Parts--
Okay I'm going to sound a bit like a SP fanboy here but I think even the most jaded, anti-SP among us would have to admit Smart Parts marketing is much superior than most gun manufacturers.

Take the 03 shocker. It has changed very little in 3 years its been around- in paintball years it's virtually senior citizen among the high end market, yet its still generally regarded as current and very successful. Gen E matrices, IR3's, A4's and a company called AKA still held a one year lease on life selling Vikings and Excaliburs when the shocker came on the scene. In a market where no one wants an 05 speed or a DM5 because they are "old technology", when everyone just has to have the bleeding edge, latest and greatest high end, keeping a 3 year old gun selling well is quite an acheivement.

Accuracy:

Ever notice people who usually complain about accuracy usually:

- never do more to clean their barrels than a quick squeegee after a barrel break.
- only buy econo paint, too poor to spend money on higher quality paint, because of spending their money on a new regulator, lpr, or barrel kit for their high end gun. Fresh, round paint will do far more for accuracy than any $180.00 barrel kit.

just thought of some paintball cliches:

"Everyone else was breaking paint, but my <insert gun> was ripping ALL day without a break".

"They asked the ref to chrono my gun because they couldnt believe how far I was shooting."

"When I catch someone wiping, expect to be bonus balled."

"I showed up all the newbs at my field shooting Dm6's with my spyder/mech/pump etc."

"My gun flat out rips."

"It was cold/raining/windy/hurricane, but my gun was the only one that kept shooting all day."

"Shooting a pump teaches you all about accuracy and movement."

"I always see those guns breaking down at my field."

"He was 75 feet away from me and ramping, so I shot him in the neck/groin/gogged him to teach him a lesson".

"Go out and buy one now!!!!"

Any more?? :)

[Jonno06]

"It was cold/raining/windy/hurricane, but my gun was the only one that kept shooting all day."



lol. :spit_take

[bentothejam1n]

this thing shoots ropes
nice gat

[BerSerK]

that's one of the reasons I like AO, the majority of people are great unlike PBN were someone is called a f*g almost each second. PBN has some great people too but the ratio is lower I think.

I also go to http://www.darksidevideo.org/ to check the vids and the people posting comments there are so mean it's incredible...it's like if you don't shoot 50bps you suck...there's people there bashing on 12yo boys who just got their new Spyders...why?!

Live and let live please!

[PumpPlayer]

Sure, Smart Parts has great advertizing... but I'm sure they pay accordingly for it.
They sponsor a huge number of teams and have multiple page spreads in every paintball magazine every month. That kind of advertizing isn't cheap.

As to why the Shocker is successful, it's because the hype hasn't faded. Also, saying that it hasn't changed is misleading. There are new frames, new styles and aftermarket parts galore. Plus, SP keeps releasing the 'private label' Shockers or whatever you want to call them. What the heck IS a 'ton ton' anyhow?! Is that like 4000 pounds? (4480 lb for a long ton ton?) You can't tell me the gun shoots better if you carve a Dynasty logo into the side but people still eat that stuff up. SP is going to ride the wave as long as they can. I can't blame them for that. Dye solves the problem by convincing people that the technology is obsolete and convincing them to buy a whole new DM. If you ask me, they intentionally produced a larger marker to begin with and just keep shaving it down year after year to make it 'better'.


But then, I don't make any attempt to keep up with the Jones'. My knowledge of the 'high end' market is pretty limited.

[Lohman446]

If you ask me, they intentionally produced a larger marker to begin with and just keep shaving it down year after year to make it 'better'.


Interesting thought - like the Intel "crippled" chips of the mid 90's. Though I think SP and Dye have hit on something new. Release the base marker and the high end marker with very minimal differences. This keeps the people who want the expensive marker happy while giving someone who wants to say "I don't beleive in paying for milling, etc." a marker too - neatly covering both the mid and high end marker with essentially the same R&D. SP even went as far as covering the low-mid market with R&D rumored to have been originally used as part of the Shocker R&D.

[pachytriton]

I can think of one time when sp advertising fell flat on its face- the nerve. Anyone remember how much sp hyped up the nerve? Now you can find new nerves for $450.

[Lohman446]

I can think of one time when sp advertising fell flat on its face- the nerve. Anyone remember how much sp hyped up the nerve? Now you can find new nerves for $450.

But SP didn't fail. Rather than spending $$$ more they simply moved on. Compare this to certain companies that have spent a lot of money trying to convince that what they have now is good enough.

[Toll]

PBR's reviews are god awful, but hillarious to look over.


It never fails how ever that some one will come to the proshop and ask to get a VL triad + a 21 inch sniper barrel and that crappy cat tail hopper because they read that they worked amazingly.

[pachytriton]

Whenever I go on pbreview I alwas sort by "lowest rating first" to see what problems people have with that product. Anytime anyone says something bad about anything they are flamed.

What's a cat tail hopper?

Good point lohman, I never thought of it like that.

[robnix]

If you ask me, they intentionally produced a larger marker to begin with and just keep shaving it down year after year to make it 'better'.
.

There was a comedian a while back that had a bit ending in something like that. I think it was Mike MacDonald, don't know why I remember his name. It was very insightful and witty though, talking about the Walkman.

"First we make it big! Then we make it smaller, and smaller, and smaller! Remember 8 Track? That was a good one!"

Or something to that effect. Everytime I see "Now with hoochieeyes! 3.456 ounces lighter! Five hot new color fades!" I think of that.

[thefool]

i dont know if they intentionally crippled thier marker but the gun i never understood was the dmc. I mean what was the point and did it work.

[Lohman446]

i dont know if they intentionally crippled thier marker but the gun i never understood was the dmc. I mean what was the point and did it work.

My guess on the DMC was to test the marketability of a midseason release of a new high end marker (rather than selling certain people one marker a year lets try for two). It was just different enough to be different without costing too much in R&D. I would guess it was a test of concept (marketing, not marker)

[BD_Paintball]

i dont know if they intentionally crippled thier marker but the gun i never understood was the dmc. I mean what was the point and did it work.
everything that Lohman said and to see if people will pay big money for just about he same gun that they released before but less weight. once they see people will pay for that then comes the dm6 and you know there will be a dm7 some time later this year.

[mag_lover05]

well, at PSP texas i was talking to the SP guys, and they were saying that nerves cost more to make than shockers. THATS INSANE! why does the gun that costs more to make 450, and the cheaper one 550+?

[CKY_Alliance]

Nerve prolly only cost more because there is a little bit more metal being used..either way they're still making a killing..and they can sell the shocker for more because of it's name and people prefer the design..

[jsdatjsd]

everything that Lohman said and to see if people will pay big money for just about he same gun that they released before but less weight. once they see people will pay for that then comes the dm6 and you know there will be a dm7 some time later this year.


Next someone will come out with a "glock" version of a pb gun, all the important parts are metal encased in plastic.

Oh wait, I thikn PMI already does that.

Nevermind.


JD

[Lohman446]

Next someone will come out with a "glock" version of a pb gun, all the important parts are metal encased in plastic.

Oh wait, I thikn PMI already does that.

Nevermind.


JD

Hehe, SP did it, check out the Ion. The savings on anno (though I find that iffy, anno is not expensive when done in large batches) are said to account for the lower price - at least according to SP. I think they just needed an excuse for why it is so much cheaper than the base shocker as I doubt it is that much less expensive to make (if at all).

[jsdatjsd]

..... I doubt it is that much less expensive to make (if at all).


Oh, wait, you mean marker manufacturers mark up their products?

Or do their products mark up other things? ha ha

That would make them almost as evil as the cell phone manufacturers that put $5 into manufacturing a late model cell phone, and merketing it for $500, or for FREE of you get a 20 year contract.

Hm.....not a bad idea. BUy a 2 year membership and get a FREE marker.........

JD

[lather]

Hehe, SP did it, check out the Ion. The savings on anno (though I find that iffy, anno is not expensive when done in large batches) are said to account for the lower price - at least according to SP. I think they just needed an excuse for why it is so much cheaper than the base shocker as I doubt it is that much less expensive to make (if at all).

I was under the impression that a large number of the Ion's components were manufactured overseas. That could be one reason why the Ion retails for less. (Though I dont think that by itself is enough to explain the MSRP differnce between the two).

Like the Xbox and Playstation, is it possible Smart Parts is selling Ions at a loss, instead making their profit through licensing fees and aftermarket parts?

[jsdatjsd]

Like the Xbox and Playstation, is it possible Smart Parts is selling Ions at a loss, instead making their profit through licensing fees and aftermarket parts?

I would be suprised if it costs SP more than $100 to purchase the materials,
mill them, assemble them, ship them, and place it in yout hands.

Isn't globalized mass production a beautiful thing?

(Sorry Lohman, I couldn't help it.)

[Lohman446]

I would be suprised if it costs SP more than $100 to purchase the materials,
mill them, assemble them, ship them, and place it in yout hands.

Isn't globalized mass production a beautiful thing?

(Sorry Lohman, I couldn't help it.)

I was actually at some point going to reply pretty close to the same thing. However, I've learned that if your vague its harder to prove you wrong so I wasn't going to put in a dollar figure :)

[jsdatjsd]

Aw man....you are right...i shouldn't have put a $$ figure in.

Pwned agin.......