a couple questions

[adam shannon]

first of all let me give you a little background. i currently own a couple markers...the ubiquitous model 98, a phantom, a micromag, and an impulse.
I started playing back in '88 with a tippman smg 60, then a pro am, then got out of PB for a stint in the military. about a year ago i got back in and have been hooked harder than when i was a kid...and i can afford to indulge a little more now...lol.
my main marker is the impulse which i have tricked out in every way possible. halo b, lpr, lp valve, all titanium internals, delrin bolt, cricket board, 5000 psi 68cu tank, yada yada yada.
i've owned the impulse for just about a year. in that time its been in the shop more times than ive played with it (well not quite, but close). first of all the marker pressure always runs higher than most impulses...always has even with the lpr reg. ive had to replace the board 3 times due to it just burning out, and the vision eye has been replaced 2 times. in addition to that ive had numerous solenoid probs and stripped screws on any part of the marker that has screws...lol. i've gotten to the point where i'm affraid to even break it down to clean/lube it. luckily the store i bought it at gives a lifetime warranty so every problem has been fixed for free...but i'm fed up with it all.
when i saw the e-mags i hated them...i never liked the asthetics of the design...and abhore the barrel locking design. when i saw the e-mag extreem i wet myself...the design is bare bones simple yet sweeter than any marker for the clean yet stylish lines. no flash, no hype, no nonsense, just plain functionality wrapped in the bare minimum of aluminum cut with better curves than a swimsuit model. (you can quote me in your advertising, but i want a free extreem)
now that ive run off at the mouth with a little background and humor here are the questions i promised in the thread title...i've done all the research on the extreem, e-mags, and the new level-10 bolt that i can find and i've come up short a little on some key details.

i'm tired of overly complex electro markers that must be run on windows cuz they crash as much. i need some user/tech advice on the e-mag and the extreem e-mag by default.

how durable is the e-mag valve? what are the usual problems one can expect?

high pressure/low pressure...maybe not really important given the level-10 bolt, but it does go to gas efficiency right?

trigger adjustability...i've got about a 1/2 mm pull right now, i've read that the e-mag is adjustable...but what do you guys think?

from the schematics ive seen the electronics are simple and not as fancy as an angels encapsulated board...but the hype aside how do the e-mags guts stand up to dirt, rain, and paint? and just plain hard use?

recoil? my micromag kicks a little (well compared to my impulse...if you were deaf you wouldnt know it fired)...how does the e-mag rate?

iv'e read up on the level-10 kit, even the tech problems thread on this forum, i realize that the kit is still new and the problems reported were part of the initial testing phase...but once the kit is broke in and adjusted properly how durable is it?

i appologize for possibly stepping on some toes with a long winded post...but my local store doesnt sell mags, and when i asked for any info all i got was the usual "they chop paint, and mags are for f@gs". so i came here for some feedback from people who should know. thanks for any replies or answers.

adam

[DaosBeoulve]

Well, I don't own an emag, but there are a few of these questions I may be able to help you with.


how durable is the e-mag valve? what are the usual problems one can expect?

The valve coming in the new extremes is an aluminum valve, so it's a bit lighter (3 ounces, if I'm not mistaken) than a normal retro valve. Otherwise, it's the exact same valve. As far as problems with said valve--they'd be minimal to none. You may have to occasionally change orings or a few other little internals that are really easy to change, but otherwise, as long as you oil the gun before each you, you shouldn't have any problems.

http://www.airgun.com/downloads/retroexploded1.pdf

There's the spiffy retro valve in exploded format, so you can see what all makes it up. Not much there that can really go wrong, and everything is easy to change out if by the off chance something does break...


trigger adjustability...i've got about a 1/2 mm pull right now, i've read that the e-mag is adjustable...but what do you guys think?

Taken directly from one of the mods here:

"The firing point is adjustable via the Hall Effect Sensor magnet in the center of the trigger. The firing point can be adjusted down to .3mm. The stroke is adjustable via a set screw in the selector switch. The tension is adjustable via the magnets in the grip frame that attract the magnet in the top of the trigger.

Basically the E-Mag trigger is FULLY adjustable. Anything you want to adjust on your E-Mag trigger can be done very easily and with precision."

(see the post HERE (http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30377))

As I don't have an emag, I can't really say for sure, but I have shot one, and the length of the pull was insanely small...


from the schematics ive seen the electronics are simple and not as fancy as an angels encapsulated board...but the hype aside how do the e-mags guts stand up to dirt, rain, and paint? and just plain hard use?

There have been tons of posts about this in various threads. People have played with them in the rain, dropped them in mud, and even slung them across the playing field. I'll leave it up to others to tell you personal accounts though...

Hopefully that helps some (sorry I can't help more...)

[Xzion]

how durable is the e-mag valve? what are the usual problems one can expect?

Well, The standard Emag Valve is very durable, if you go into the online store and take a look at the pictures of it, the front half is milled from Stainless Steel, and back, black half is Aluminum, that has been hard anodized (very hard to scratch) the valve found in the Emag is the exact same valve thats found in the RT PRO, and ReTro Valve, the only difference being a couple orings, and the wording on the side of the valve. As for the aluminum ones mentioned above. Id imagine they'd be exactly the same in design, just made completely out of aluminum opposed to aluminum and stainless steel. in short, theyre very tough :)

high pressure/low pressure...maybe not really important given the level-10 bolt, but it does go to gas efficiency right?

well, its sorta odd for a Mag, they tend to like around 700PSI Input pressure, governing by that, one would probably classify it under high pressure. but since mags have built in regulators, the actual opearting pressure is only around 400PSI, which would make it about mid range between high and low pressure, the L10 allows the bolt to move forward without nailing waiting paint as hard as its somewhat recently been found that it did and therefore potentially weakening the next ball waiting in the feed tube. overall the Level 10 mod doesnt actually effect the mags operating pressure, but makes the bolts action a bit more gentle on paint.

trigger adjustability...i've got about a 1/2 mm pull right now, i've read that the e-mag is adjustable...but what do you guys think?

the Emag trigger is very adjustable, as DaosBeoulve's post explains.

recoil? my micromag kicks a little (well compared to my impulse...if you were deaf you wouldnt know it fired)...how does the e-mag rate?

well, with the superbolt II that comes with the Level 10 the recoil is significantly reduced, since they've practically milled out every bit of metal that wasnt needed for functionality, or durabilty. theres a post on the Level 10 in the 'Paintball Talk' forum, if im not mistaken, it goes on to tell you a bit about the recoil.

i appologize for possibly stepping on some toes with a long winded post...but my local store doesnt sell mags, and when i asked for any info all i got was the usual "they chop paint, and mags are for f@gs". so i came here for some feedback from people who should know. thanks for any replies or answers.

Don't sweat it, always happy to help. People who think that mags chop all the time are exaggerating a bit, without the Level 10, sure they can be a bit tough on paint, but recently theve been finding many culprits for paint chopping behavior, like the design of the power feed plug and a few issues with what the bolt design was doing, but these have all been fixed, with the Parabolic Power Feed Plug (now standard) and the Level 10 Upgrade. Its actually beghinning to intentionally make mags chop! I persoally am glad you decided to research for yourself than take their word. hope this helps.

[kutter]

Good morning Adam, I have a SFL, which was the very first generation of Extreme to come out.

In short, I love my gun. I would agree with everything they have said with one exception. I played in some heavy rain, and I mean heavy, with my SFL and it ruined the battery. Now this should in no way reflect poorly on AGD since I was the knucklehead that played in the rain with it, but thankfully I just switched over to manual mode an played, I later broke out my Micromag since I prefer that trigger to my SFL in manual.

My gun is fairly light, has little recoil, easy to work on, and resonably gas efficient. I have Lvl 10 and the only breaks I get now are barrel breaks. And that only happens when I am using the most brittle of paint and am really hammering on it.

Just some of my opinions, I could be wrong......

[oldsoldier]

Kutter also brings up a good point. If, for some reason, you dmage the board...you can still play by going manual. No other gun out there can do that. That alone sells it. Also, there is no 1000 different settings for it, it doesnt tell you what a wonderful person you are...in short, it works. No need for all the extra crap (keep in mind, this is all my opinion; some people like talking guns).
I played with mine in the rain a few times...never once has a problem. My board just decided recently that, after flashing the AGD 1.37, it isnt gonna do anything else. Oh well, it still works.
And, last and most importantly; you get a forum full of knowledgeable people, and excellent customer service. What else could you possibly ask for?


Welcome to AO too.

[Load SM5]

Well I played with my old E-mag in a driving rain. Some water found it's way to the board and muddy water got all over the battery. The end result was the electronics going out and me playing in manual for a game. After the game I took the grips off and removed the battery. The board dried out in about 20 minutes and I got all the mud and water off the battery. The power came right back on and the only side effect was the shot counter reset. It always worked fine.

[adam shannon]

Thanks for all the input. I've had another Q come up and an idea.

idea! has anybody tried to waterproof the battery or the board. In the MC we used to waterproof demo triggers and electric caps by dipping them in latex paint. I think ive heard somewhere that some batteries need to "breath" due to the venting of minute gasses durring the chemical process that happens durring use and charging? anybody know if this is on target or a myth? why couldnt you use heat shrink, or some such waterproofer to seal the board and battery? what problems would sealing the board bring? overheating? shorts? i bet you could kiss the warranty goodbye...lol.

question? what is a foamie...what is a foamieless bolt? from what i can deduce its a soft cap on the bolt to cut down on breakage??? is this still current tech, and does the level-10 use this? also the new antichop module...i think i've read it comes standard on the sfl e-mag...is it on the extreem? how is it reliability and ease of use wise? does it have a sensativity problem like the older impulse eyes that must be set to a paints shell color? or does it read the ball shape like the new impulse eye? how durrable is the system? any probs reported by users?

thanks again for humoring my many queries.

adam

[kutter]

Adam, well the E-Mag battery is sealed mostly in heat shrink, just the top and bottom are open. I must re-iterate that it was RAINING like crazy when I ruined mine. Under no circumstances should anyone have had ane electronic gun out there, but I tend to be a little hard headed :eek:

Foamiless vs. foamie. I have used several different versions of both. I have used both foamie and foamiless of the original superbolt, a hard nose bolt, a standard foamie and now I use the Lvl 10 Superbolt 2 with foamie. What does all of this mean? Well I have never, and I mean never had a problem with chopping paint in either my SFL or my Retro Micromag. My Micromag came with a hardnose and I bought 2 different 1st generation superbolts for it just to see how it worked. They reduced recoil but I did not notice a difference in chops. My SFL came with standard foamie in it in addition to the original Superbolt that came with it. I now have Lvl 10 in both of my guns and while I still get barrel breaks with very brittle paint, I have not seen a breech break since I got them both set up properly.

Now as for the sensor, ACE is the electronic version of the anti chop system for AGD guns. I do not have it yet for my SFL, not many people do. Some suggest that with Lvl 10 it has become obselete, and that argument probably has some validity. It uses an eye and has to be setup, but to what degree I am not sure. I will get it because I always believed that less does not mean more, more means more :D

Hope it all helps, and remember these are just my opinions, I could be wrong :)