what u guys think of vikings?

[Mgwannabie]

well i wanted to kno what all of u think of vikings...... ne info u can think, cus im thinking of getting one and selling and getting a bunch of guns and this is on my list but i wanted to kno what u guys think fo it! THX!

[mykroft]

Nice marker, but WAY overpriced.

[Rynoboy06]

I like mine much. Consistent, easy on paint, pull-through cleaning, very high efficiency, reasonably fast (ok, I'M reasonably fast, some people are extremely fast, especially after they up the ROF and maybe get a razor trigger or something), reasonbly good looks and fine balance. Price is reasonable esp. considering the warantee. I bought it to hold me 'till I got an X-mag or an SFL 2 or something, but this gun has definetely raised my patience level for those.

[shartley]

I think Vikings were awesome! They kicked some major rear. And their ability to travel across the seas in those relatively small ships of theirs was just great. And Hagar the Horrible is also fantastic. He was my favorite comic strip growing up… next to Beatle Bailey.

[cledford]

Great marker - GREAT PRICE, but terrible company producing it. AKA has a great rep for customer service - but in my opinion it is a fallacy. Just because a company will send you an oring free when one goes bad in your gun does not make them great in that area. They took a year to get out software (that they promised in writing within weeks) to turn up the ROF on their guns. (important to the Excal owners who were stuck at 10bps) They actually sold upgraded boards (stuck at 10bps) and trays telling the purchasers that the software and cable would be ready in a month and took a year. When I bought my Viking (In July) there was a note in the bag promising weeks – that turned into several months. I couldn’t use my warp-feed until the software came out – which wasn’t stated when the marker was purchased or any where on their site.

They typically never have their own upgrades and tools in stock. I called for 6 months attempting to get a LPR kit. After the software came out there were no cables for a long time and I'd bet they are still behind the curve on producing them. They never did produce any warp feed cables and finally one of their techs got pissed at all the griping and started making them on behalf of AKA. They claim how gentle the guns are on paint due to a low operating pressure. What they don’t tell you is that to properly adjust the LPR you need a tool kit that they NEVER seem to have in stock. And I’m not talking about them selling out really quickly – they just never made it a priority to make some new ones. I called every 2 weeks for 6 months and I was finally told that they were “in the pipeline, but that there was no estimated delivery-date due to the machines being tooled up for other higher priority projects.” Part of the LRP kit is a tool that is REQUIRED to disassemble the marker. You cannot get it anywhere else – and the funny thing is that they gave it away for free for a while. They then decided, “too many kids were taking apart their markers and messing them up” (quote from Aaron Alexander at the ’02 AKA tech seminar) so they got “tired of all the maintenance issues” and stopped giving them away.

Oh, and they like to proprogate the same old myths: closed bolt shoots further/more accurate, low pressure breaks less balls, etc.

All in all it was the best-made gun I've ever owned, but the company is really in over their head. Priorities are screwed up, like the fact that they kept producing new products while the development and testing of the new software was many months behind schedule. You'll find a number of AKA loyalists (Just like us who support AGD) and all will cite how well constructed their AKA product is. They'll talk about how nice Aaron/Larry/Eileen are. They'll mention how well their marker shoots, what efficiency it gets, or how few ball breaks it's had. Some even have had to send the marker in for repairs and got it back the same week. I don't argue with any of these things - but in the end what is more important - a company that'll turn you marker (RMA around in a week) or one that doesn't sell half finished products and then make their customers wait a year for what they need to use the advertised functionality of the product?

One final example, they are currently charging for an upgrade to new solenoids on their markers. Seems they figured out the old ones are crap. All new AKA guns come with the upgrade no charge. You'd think the existing (loyal) owners would get it also right? Guess again. Even if your 'noid goes bad they will only replace it with another of the problem ones unless you pay for the upgrade. They claim that less then 10% (I could be wrong on this number - I'm pulling it from memory) of the old MAC valves are bad. But my question is why wouldn’t you upgrade any guns that come back with one to show the customer some loyalty back? The fee for the upgrade is $90 for the Viking and $180 for the excal. The AKA press release doesn't mention the bad MAC valves but one of their factory techs (in a thread at PBN) spilled the beans. Someone else looked up the price of the new valves and I think it was around $30 bucks. The mod requires machining the gun a bit - but regardless (especially for the excal) it seems that they're not standing by their customers and actually trying to profit on the upgrade - IMHO.

I still use a Sidewinder – but will likely NEVER own an AKA marker again. For as much as a paintball gun costs my money goes to the total package. I don’t just want a great gun. I want a company that takes care of the customer in the big ways (not the “free oring” situations), I want a company that doesn’t charge customers for upgrades due to faulty parts, and I want a company that has the required parts and components for their markers in stock – not unavailable for months on end.

-Calvin

Former, disgruntled Viking owner

[fire1811]

lol shartley ur the shiznits

a guy on are team had one ended up selling it
kept breakin on him
:(

[speedyejl]

Same in function as a Impulse, Bushmaster, Angel, and probably soon to be Nerve.

Our High Schools mascot were the vikings ;)

[crankydan]

Cledford, how do you really feel? Dont hold back now. I agree totally, they are nice markers.

[Evil Bob]

Yeah, the Vikings got totally ripped off, not getting credited with discovering the Americas and all... :)

You need to change the poll and add a third option: Good gun/Bad manufacturer, that is what I would vote.

Cledford echos a story I have heard many times, people stuck waiting for promised parts and support for AKA and sometimes NEVER getting them. Everyone I know personally with a Viking has sold it off to someone else and moved on to another manufacturer. Doesn't bode well for AKA at all. With that in mind, even if it was *THE* marker to own (which we all know it aint), I would rather settle with second best and a company that supports their product like AGD does.

Sort of like the wait here for XMags... :) (joking with ya Tom, gotta get my jabs in when I can, you've made the perfect product, now you need to make the perfect production process and get these things out to the masses, you want to be the number 1 manufacturer out there, you gotta be able to produce product in serious quantities)

-Evil Bob

[brett]

Cleford I'm not flaming but I think the Vikes need a little defence. I totaly agree that they are not putting out there data cable kits and tool kits and I'm a little pissed!
I'm also not saying AKA is the best because they lack in many areas you talked about.


One final example, they are currently charging for an upgrade to new solenoids on their markers. Seems they figured out the old ones are crap. All new AKA guns come with the upgrade no charge. You'd think the existing (loyal) owners would get it also right? Guess again. Even if your 'noid goes bad they will only replace it with another of the problem ones unless you pay for the upgrade.

The solenoid upgrades can be considered a rt upgrade for a mag(increased reliability at higher rof), and if I'm not mistaken those are not free for classic valve guns;)



All in all it was the best-made gun I've ever owned, but the company is really in over their head.
I'm not saying AGD is in " Over there head" but I dont think x-mag buyers will be gettin there gun soon.:(

Finally many problems people have with the Viking are small probs such as ram stick(now fixed by AKA),Dead batterys,and needs some more lube.:D