Zodiac Renegade Review: This AO'er Loves the ZR-1

[stevewar]

Let me start of this "review" with a little bit of history. First, I love Mags. In fact, I have played with many guns, but have only ever purchased Mags.

Second, I'm one of the OCD people who has to research the crap out of something before I make a purchase. I rarely buy anything because of a recommendation, and I NEVER purchase site unseen.

That's what make the story of how I got a Zodiac Paintball ZR-1 (http://www.zodiacpb.com/) almost unbelievable.

When Scoot (BigEvil) created the purchase group post for this gun, the only thing I knew was that he was impressed, and that Chris Cole was behind it. I pulled the trigger and picked up a dust black ZR-1 and Ninja tank with the SMP reg designed for this gun.

Let me tell you, forget about the fact that Zodiac is an upstart. You can put this thing up against any Dye, Bob Long, or anything else and it will hold its' own!

I'm not going to go into the features and functions, you can see those in videos etc.

The first thing I noticed when taking the ZR1 out of it's case is that the machining is fantastic. When you thread the barrel back into the body, it has a very crisp and solid feel. When you thread the tip onto the barrel back, the oring clearly makes a very tight seal. I unscrewed the foregrip, and again the threading is solid, and crisp.

The trigger guard is much wider than any other gun I've played with. I actually really like this design, particularly if you play with gloves. The grip wraps around the front of the handle, and the ergonomics are perfect for me, with the trigger landing directly between the 2nd knuckle on my pointer and middle fingers while holding the handle with a full grip.

One feature that I like is that the LPR adjustment has a set screw, and there are notches drilled around the back of the LPR which means you can adjust the lpr 1 "click" at a time.

I have read in a couple of forums that the gun should come with an on/off ASA. I will tell you right now that there is 0 need for an on/off on this gun. My 2 year old could easily unscrew the tank while under pressure, and the degass noise is very very minimal.

I hooked up my pinokio loader with the 400 round nose cone, and the clamping feedneck that comes with the gun held it snugly in place. One thing that I did notice was that the feedneck wasn't tightened quite enough onto the feed tube, but that was easilly remedied.

Shooting the gun is a real pleasure. The trigger design is fantastic, and walking in semi mode is a breeze. I even tought my neighbor who had never played paintball how to do it. I did find the debounce needed some adjustment as I got a couple of phantom shots. I'm going to ask Chris what his thoughts are on ths issue.

As far as the purchase process goes, dealing with Zodiac is a pleasure. Their ecommerce system isn't setup yet, and we did everything by facebook, email, and telephone. Chris Cole and Kenneth Hefferle have been super responsive, and they want to ensure you have the best experience possible. Chris just sent me an invoice to my paypal, and shipped the gun off. When I put the payment through, he already had the tracking number!

To sum it up, trust me, you want one of these!

[BigEvil]

Im seriously thinking about getting a second............


Great review. Couldnt have said it better.

[dahoeb]

i checked out the website, couldn't find a price. How much do they go for?

[stevewar]

i checked out the website, couldn't find a price. How much do they go for?

Yeah, Chris is working on getting the site running, but I guess his web devloper isn't quite fast enough. The gun retails for $1179, and is worth every penny. Zodiac also has a relationship with a really good ano guy. I dunno if they'll continue to do this in the future, but they were letting people get a custom ano job for an additional cost.

[insixdays777]

I am excited to get mine. Spoke to cole a few days ago. Mine is heading off for anno.

I hope its a smooth shooter as everyone says it is. It will be fun to compare this to my luxe and clone.

Its always great when you can deal direct with the owner. :cheers:

[stevewar]

I am excited to get mine. Spoke to cole a few days ago. Mine is heading off for anno.

I hope its a smooth shooter as everyone says it is. It will be fun to compare this to my luxe and clone.

Its always great when you can deal direct with the owner. :cheers:

I think you'll find it compares nicely with the lux. super smooth, but better efficiency.

[BigEvil]

Played with my personal gun for the second time a bit this weekend at West Point. (I was only there for Saturday). The first time I used it was up in NH at Reaperball III with SSP and the gang. I had been using one of Heff's personal guns that he loaned me up until then. How many people would just 'leave' one of their guns with you?

Up in NH, the gun shot 1 year old All Star paint like I had just come off the truck from the factory. We played a few "Anything goes" speedball games... and I set my gun to 25bps PSP ramping... just to see what it can do.. and OMG did it rip.

While there are plenty of uber fast guns out there (I own plenty), there are few that you can so easily sight and hold on target while unleashing 25bps on someone in psp mode. There was more than one occation where someone would stick their head up, and would end up with 10 in their goggles from me. I would be lucky if I could keep my Xmag on target like that for 2 or 3 shots.

At West Point, I had the displeasure of using the Evil paint. I dont think I found 2 of those damn things the same size. One would be in the .670 range and roll right out of the barrel, then others would vary all over the place up t0 .690. With a .688 Shiv kit back, I was getting barrel breaks. One ball would litterally hit another on the way out, probably due to the drastic difference in size and drag on the barrel. I switched out to the .691 back and didnt break another ball all day.

Even with the crappy paint, I was still able to make impressive shot from distance. Guys would pop their heads out from small openings in brush or from behind rocks and I would be able to pick them off at will. Even Doobie was commenting on how he wouldnt have even tried some of the shots he was taking using the ZR1 with his Egos.

My only issue was that I had some slight FSDO with the gun after I would let it sit. Anyone who owns a Shocker knows all too well what Im talking about. However, unlike a shocker there was a very simple remedy for it. A quick chat with Chris Cole and he said to raise the lpr by 'one click' - which I did, and which fixed the problem.

I also had the pleasure to meet up again with Heff at West Point on Saturday where him and his brother had a Zodiac booth set up. I was able to pick up my Shiv kit there from them. So now my ZR1 has .681, .684, .688 and .691 matching barrel backs, all with the rubber "Z" logo grip on them.

I was able to get a close up look at the two camo ZR1s that they had made and let me say that the pictures do NOT do them justice at all.

[Loguzzzzzz]

Mine is due to arrive Thursday (tomorrow) and I can't wait. I have the Ninja SMP in hand just wating for the ZR1. Next purchase will be a new loader, the plan is to get a Prophecy Z2. This should be FUN!
:D

[stevewar]

Mine is due to arrive Thursday (tomorrow) and I can't wait. I have the Ninja SMP in hand just wating for the ZR1. Next purchase will be a new loader, the plan is to get a Prophecy Z2. This should be FUN!
:D

It's worth the wait. I use a pinokio, and am goofing around with my qloader for fun. Gonna hold off buying a new loader until the cypher comes out.

[sithos]

Mine Shoots real nice.

Factory anno sucks however. The gloss blue on my barrel back is totally worn off after only attaching the two halves of the barrel 3 times, and there was a knick in the back of my frame when I got it.

I plan on having the gloss parts redone eventually anyway since blue wasn't my color preference.

I plan on actually using it for the first time this weekend, but I've been shooting up old paint out behind the shop and I've got a feeling I'll be very happy with it. Not quite as smooth as the quest was, and its not really that quiet either, but its very consistent and points well, so its easy to snap with.

[Dirge]

Great review :cheers:

I love mine. Dose everything I want a marker to do.

The customer service is excellent! They take care of their customer base the way very few do these days.

[bound for glory]

i say this as a person with a well paying job: that price is retarded in this economy. i just bought an ak74(a real ak74) for $535.

[stevewar]

i say this as a person with a well paying job: that price is retarded in this economy. i just bought an ak74(a real ak74) for $535.

I say this as a person with the same. Save your opinions until you shoot the gun. IT compares favorably with other markers of similar and higher prices.

I paid more than 535 for my Glock 31. IS that retarded too?

[BigEvil]

Mine Shoots real nice.

Factory anno sucks however. The gloss blue on my barrel back is totally worn off after only attaching the two halves of the barrel 3 times, and there was a knick in the back of my frame when I got it.

I plan on having the gloss parts redone eventually anyway since blue wasn't my color preference.

I plan on actually using it for the first time this weekend, but I've been shooting up old paint out behind the shop and I've got a feeling I'll be very happy with it. Not quite as smooth as the quest was, and its not really that quiet either, but its very consistent and points well, so its easy to snap with.


I would ***** to Heff and Cole about the anno.

[bound for glory]

nope. the glock is an impotant investment the way things are going. and my opinion is just as valid as anyones. now buy a good assult rifle and a shotgun, and you'll be set. i have the ak74, an ar15, a sweet browning hi power and a mossburg 500. sorry for the hijack.

[stevewar]

nope. the glock is an impotant investment the way things are going. and my opinion is just as valid as anyones. now buy a good assult rifle and a shotgun, and you'll be set. i have the ak74, an ar15, a sweet browning hi power and a mossburg 500. sorry for the hijack.
uhh, I know kung fu

[GoatBoy]

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/

[bound for glory]

thats funny, stevewar! :cheers:

[BigEvil]

My Review of the Zodiac ZR1:

(Be Aware that the Gas through in my case is my homemade Pressure Tester)

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r48/hurleyhonda22/IMG_0490.jpg?t=1319261459

-First/Initial Impressions:

I first recieved the Zodiac Renegade ZR1 about two months ago when they were just coming out of final production. I remember when intially getting the marker in I was estactic by how much Chris Cole improved his past designs. First of all the integration of the LPR on the rear of the bolt is amazing. I also was almostly instantly in tune to how great the ergonomics were on this gun. The gun seems large in your hands, but it fits so nicely it almost goes unnoticed while shooting. The gun breaks off from the traditional 2002-2010 mold of making the smallest markers possible by extended the marker to provide the ability to fully wrap the shooters hand around the front foregrip, making a much more stable shooting platform. The gun overall felt great to hold and shoot.

-Design:
Im going to walk you through this gun from top to bottom as well as include pictures to help further illustrate the amazing design of this marker. Starting at the bottom of the gun we have the ASA with an intergrated high pressure regulator inside of it. Now while intially I thought such a small regulator would lead to inconsistentcy, that fear was quickly erased after seeing +/- 6 from the box, and +/- 2 after a thorough break in. The regulator assists the marker to be extremely efficienct and consistent in terms of recharge rate.

Moving on to the board inside the gun I am equally impressed. Chris Cole didnt waste any time at all in imploring one of the best aftermarket boards out there in the Hater DM board. I like the use of DM boards in this gun as it allows for easier use of finding an aftermarket board cheap, although this will almost be unessasary due to the supioriority of the Hater board. Switch appears and feels to be a 25-35 gram switch.

In addition to the board, the trigger setup prefectly combines with the light gram switch and a magnet based bearing trigger to produce an amazing feeling, and performing trigger. This gun almost shoots itself in semi about with a smooth pull with a quick return, allowing for maximum rate of fire.

Another feature often overlooked in most markers is the on/off switch for the board. The switch is extremely responsive to touch and turns on quite easily. I like that the switch it a BAM its on style switch with just one simple to tap to activate.

The Feedneck on this gun is an Ego style clamping feedneck and works perfectly fine ofr any loader. I have yet to have any issue with the feedneck failing, and the feedneck can be adjusted by hand, simply swiveling the feedneck clamp.

Thankfully on this gun Zodiac has instituted the use of delrin based detents using spring tension. These types of detents are virtually indestructable and they work well, completley preventing the issue of double feed as sometimes seen in markers that use the nubby detents.

Just so everyone is fully aware as well, the front grip is completley aesthetic. The front grip does not affect the guns pressure in anyway. It is simply an additional chamber for air to be held inside the marker. An added benefit of this is the ability to easily create a pressure tester with a guage and any gas through grip.

One issue I did have was the quickness my grips began to wear and deteriorate through high use. Now keep in mind I have put well near 2 months of use, playing with is every weekend as well as letting rental users at the local field go out and play with it to try it out.

Now we move onto the most anticipated part of the Zodiac Renegade ZR1, and that is the bolt operation system. Now I could sit here and attempt to act like I fully understand Coles inner workings of the bolt system, but I would rather just show you the pictures of this amazing bolt system.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r48/hurleyhonda22/IMG_0482.jpg?t=1319259385
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r48/hurleyhonda22/IMG_0483.jpg?t=1319259393
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r48/hurleyhonda22/IMG_0484.jpg?t=1319259537
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r48/hurleyhonda22/IMG_0487.jpg?t=1319259443
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r48/hurleyhonda22/IMG_0488.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r48/hurleyhonda22/IMG_0489.jpg


-Performance:

From the first time I shot this gun straight out of the box, to now after over 20,000 shots of break in time, I am utterly astounded by the performance of the ZR1. This gun flat out blows every other marker out of the water.

In terms of kick, the extremely low operating pressure of around 65psi virtually eliminates the markers kick. Any kick that the marker does have travels directly backwards, resulting in no barrel rise whatsoever. As I said before I am seeing +/- 2 on the chronograph which does wonders for the guns performance in terms of consistent accuracy. The gun shoots ball on ball with zero stream drop-off.

I also have yet to experiance FSDO. I have attempted to do so by overlubing the bolt out in 45 degree weather, and to no avail could I get the bolt to stick on the first shot.

In terms of efficiancy this gun is rediculous. I took this gun to EMR castle conquest and shot ~1750 shots off of a single 68/4500psi tank fill, which resulted in my not having to fill my tank all day. As can be seen in the video attached with his review, a peak at the markers efficiency can be seen. Anti-Chop capability. Thats right, whether it was intentional or not, THIS GUN CANNOT CHOP PAINT. As seen in the attached video, I have held balls between the lower portion of the feedneck and the face of the bolt, and the bolt just bounces right off the paint. This is an added bonus because now we wont have to deal with pesky ball clipping.

-Matinence:

Matinence on this gun is beyond simple. With only 7 orings on the entire bolt system, with only 3 of these rings being friction orings caused by motion. Im not absolutley sure how long you can go without lubing this gun, but I have been lubing this gun after every two uses and that has been working out great for me. Not much more I can say here in terms of matinence. The bolt kit matinence is very easy, and the LPR and HPR only needs to be maintaint around every 15-18 cases.

-Special Features:

In terms of special features, there are one or two things I wanted to touch on about this gun that just put it over the top, and give it that little extra awesome-ness.

First things, leaks are now easier to solve. Chris Cole has made the ZR1 have the capability of COMPLETLEY REMOVING THE LPR and still allowing air to hold inside the marker. The use to this is that when a leak is present, you can instantly determine whether it is related to an issue in a bolt oring, or a regulator oring by simply removing the LPR from the gun entirely.

Another minor, yet cool feature I touched on above is the ability to easily make your own pressure tester for next to nothing. All that must be done is to just attach a guage to the macroline fitting hole on a gas through grip, then screw the gas through onto the gun. You can then air up the marker and view your guns HPR pressure through the guage on the front grip.

-Overall View of Marker
I grade this marker very high at an A+, now some people will tend to think I am being biased, but inverse to your argument I owned this same gun alongside a Geo2, NT11 and Ego11. And I must say that it truley does outperform these guns. The ZR1 accomodates the extremely low kick of an LPR driven spoolvalve gun such as the DM series, along with poppit style efficiency. It is truely the ultimate package in todays game of paintball and I think other companies will be hard pressed to create something to outperform this marker, the Zodiac ZR1.


http://www.facebook.com/video/?id=1207756701




from pbn
http://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?t=3569708&page=39

[insixdays777]

Fellow ZR1 owners....

I just replaced the hard bolt stop washer with....

A clear automag valve bolt bumper....

It seems to make it a tiny bit smoother. Give it a try. :cheers: bi