My rant on the paintball industry and AGD.

[Phil]

I have been into paintball for just about a year now. I have owned about 8 different paintball guns varying from the inexpensive to my current marker, the E-Mag. Being an avid computer user I have browsed heavily on many paintball related WebPages. In that time I have come to know that there are two irrefutable constant in paintball, THE FACTS AND THE TRUTH ARE IRRELEVANT and THE CONSUMER WANTS TO BLOW AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE ON EXTRA STUFF TO STICK ON THE PAINTBALL GUN. Our game is so inundated with rumors and false accusations that it is very difficult to know what products to buy.

Why do you never see Automags in the paintball magazines? They are not catering to the masses. They offer, in my opinion, a superior product and yet people buy autocockers or angels. If I owned a paintball company that made markers I would incorporate into the design of the marker the ability to upgrade. AGD made one step in the right direction with the Modular E-Mag but fell short on capitalizing on the idea. Why is the feed style the only modular aspect of the marker? You have a slide on battery pack. Make 4 different styles of pack to choose from. Make alternate grip styles. Your customers are so starved for upgrades that they are making them themselves. You could probably do something as simple as vary the color of plastic of the stock E-Mag grip panels and they would sell like mad (Hell I’d probably buy some pewter grips and would spend as much as $50 for them). It seems on the surface that you might be stuck on your past success. The design innovation and great success of the original Automag made you the makers of the must have marker. That is not what’s going to make it in the current paintball market. I am not saying that there is no room for innovation, the HALO is going to make those people a lot of money. Everyone will probably rush right out and buy one even though they have probably never out shot the revolution hopper they are currently using. There are a lot of really good paintball markers these days. Players have a lot of choices and they are buying the markers that look cool and have an upgrade path. I find it funny that the fact that the E-Mag comes needing no upgrades is considered a drawback. Read reviews or talk to Non-AO’ers. The fact that no additional money need be spent in order to have a top notch tourney level electro marker is a bad thing often listed as a drawback. Sounds crazy but its true, as many of you are no doubt aware.

I am no paintball expert and I have done no studies. I am just making observations on my experiences afield and on the net, venting some things that bother me.

[manike]

Originally posted by Phil
AGD made one step in the right direction with the Modular E-Mag but fell short on capitalizing on the idea. Why is the feed style the only modular aspect of the marker? You have a slide on battery pack. Make 4 different styles of pack to choose from. Make alternate grip styles.

They haven't fallen short. This is happening as we speak, and although they are playing catch up to the cocker and Angel there is a lot of great stuff coming in conjunction with the Modular Extreme E-mag. It's stuff that leaves me very excited and unable to sleep!

You will have options :)

manike

[Bluntman]

I do know what he means, and I think it applies a little more to the classic than the emag. Ive been talking with some kids i play paintball with, two of us have mags, most have like low end spyderesque guns, but a lot are getting autocockers. Autocockers can be upgraded a lot, they've got 40 million parts that can all be improved upon, and its fun to make your marker better. So AGD should make the automag crappy, and then sell a whole bunch of replacement parts for 50 bucks a pop. Plus Autocockers are a lot nicer looking than mags, there just isn't enough to a mag.

After reading over this post it sounds like i prefer autocockers, which i don't. Just wanted to get that straight.

[Maghog]

This is an important thread to consider, especially since the poster has admitted to only being involved in paintball for one year. Not that that is a bad thing, we've all gone through the first year and made certain realisations. Just DON'T make the one I did where I was sold 1000$ worth of merchandise for over 3000$.
The thing about AGD that people don't understand is that Tom Kaye thrives to make his product perfect. The mag is truly a gun that performs as well as it can, out of the box.
Whether people want better or not, they are not going to get it with the mag as far as upgrades go. The mag is a complete gun, and I have to say that over the years, the autococker has come close to being as good as it can out of the box. Upgrades for the cocker are a novelty, and only perceived as improvements.
The one thing that seems to be forgotten is that the mag does have upgrades...the retro valve, the intelliframe, and let's not forget the different forms in which it is available...such as the micro mag, the extreem and different body style available from AGD.
The mag has everything it needs, and it can be customized.
Unfortunately, the few signifigant upgrades of the mag will never amount to the multitude of useless altercations of the angel and the autococker.
I'm glad that Tom has not fallen victim to the hype of upgrading a marker when it really doesn't need to happen. In the long run, I think the mag will be recognized as the most solid built gun in the game.

[Bluntman]

Most people will get that can be upgraded cause they assume that will make them better. This is kinda true, but they end up dumping a lot more into the gun and the gun doesn't make that big of a difference in your game, look at Bad Company. So oh well their loss, plus this way not everyone has the same gun as me making mine cooler by default.:cool:

[GT]

I can tell u plan and simple why the cocker is so popular. because companies can sell worthless crap for it.

yes i did get sucked into the angel thing, and quickly sold it and purchased my first mag. I love my mag so much it is the best gun i have owned yet and when i see Tom at a tournenment i will thenk him for a no BS product. I wish i could afford an emag however I just bought a nice matrix I hope to trade for an emag.

[nutz]

Originally posted by manike


They haven't fallen short. This is happening as we speak, and although they are playing catch up to the cocker and Angel there is a lot of great stuff coming in conjunction with the Modular Extreme E-mag. It's stuff that leaves me very excited and unable to sleep!

You will have options :)

manike

I CANNOT wait to see what the extreme's will look like in half a year...!!! :D... and yes we are very much playing catch up to the angels and autocockers in the mag looks department... :(

[~WarpedRT~]

You have to consider what people will buy. If you say that a part will make their gun better, people will buy them like crazy. Do the aftermarket parts for an autococker really help? No. Are they worth the money. No. In the end, ou have a finished product that when is bought, the consumer has a nagging urge to upgrade constantly. thats not how I feel about my mag. Think about it, does anyone really want to shoot a stock cocker for more than a year? Not really. How many people do you hear saying that they left their mag stock for more than ayear, and have no problems with that? Quite a few. I see it as a complete machine. Nothing else is needed to make it function any better than it already does. WGP is simply hanging onto people's impulse buying, and when the rest of the world sees this, companies like AGD will be recognized like they should be.

WGP has been gambling on people's stupidity. They have somehow created the rumor that grew into almost FACT that the cocker can shoot farther because -insert stupid reason-
They have been plahing games with the consumers heads, and if they could see what WGP has done, they all would probably move onto Mags, or something that's not bull****.

[nak81783]

I chose an Automag because I didn't want to shell out tons of money to make a product better. Why should I? I appreciate what AGD has done to provide me with the best product they can produce. The only thing I'm adding to my Mag is a drop forward.

I love AGD for their honesty. They give you the best right away. Other companies, say their products are superior and then turn around and offer upgrades that improve this or that. Wait a minute! Didn't you just say your product was the best? If it's already the best, how can it get better? AGD supplies the best to begin with; that's what got them my business.

Nathan

Well, I only read the first post on this topic before posting mine. I realized a lot of what I said what already on here. Sorry. I did want to comment on Warped RT's statement about how the cocker shoots farther and more accurate than other guns. WARPIG did a study and test on this, and the results came back that moving-bolt guns are actually a hair more accurate than closed-bolt guns, at least in the test they did, which are usually pretty in depth. Check it out. http://www.warpig.com/paintball/technical/paintguns/balistic/closedopen.shtml

[the JoKeR]

Another example to consider could be Glenn Palmer and Palmer's Pursuit Shop. I own a PPS Blazer (if you aren't familiar with it, picture a Cocker without all those goofy pneumatics and back block). In general, a very nice, well built, and compact gun. What does 888-PAINTBALL or just about any other company sell for it? Nothing. No barrels, no bolts, no trigger frames. Nothing. Why? Either it's too small a market to aim for (unlike the Mag), or it's perfect right out of the box and doesn't need anything (if you ask Glenn!). It's hard owning a gun and having $$ burning a hole in your pocket and having nothing you can buy. On the plus side of this whole deal, it sure is nice looking through a catalog and seeing aftermarket parts for my RT and knowing that my stock part is better (and paid for!). That means more money to buy more markers!

[GT]

no kidding i bought some stuff for my mag that is utter crap

[kenshinkandon]

I think that there are people who are at opposite ends of the spectrum some people like to experiment and tinker while others enjoy just using what is given to them and call it a blessing such not needing to upgrade.

I find the automag interesting and good due to the fact that yes there are upgrades for the emag such as multicolored grips you just have to look in the right places, like here on the AO I believe Load SM5 makes and uses these grips on his Emag and likes them alot he has gotten much acclaim about them and is making more for other people. But about the aspect of upgrading if that is what you enjoy doing go ahead and buy another gun and still keep your mag, after all who says you can't have the best of both worlds.

But remember let the others think that there markers shoot faster and farther than ours, it will give them a false sense of security that the 200 dollar anno job makes them a better player. because the surprise you give them, will help you mark your opponents

[gmag]

WGP is simply hanging onto people's impulse buying, and when the rest of the world sees this, companies like AGD will be recognized like they should be.

I don't buy that. The rest of the world will never 'see this' because they prefer cosmetics over functionality. Thats why Cockers and Angels are so popular. And because the majority of paintball consumers would rather 'upgrade' their markers, ADG will never get the recognition it deserves.