how is AGD doing

[DanMan]

I like all your points, but I think #2 is the best. Can you imagine a mass-produced RPG vert-framed mag with a karta body and a G-Force pneumatic trigger (if G-Force ever gets around to shipping the darn things)? And then, could you imagine AGD actually advertising said marker? They would sell like hot-cakes! And if they were mass-produced, AGD could probably offer them for around $800... which is not unreasonable considering the high-end market nowadays.

I know all those guys with rare bodies would be a little miffed because... well.. they wouldn't have super rare bodies anymore. Nevertheless, it would definitely help AGD out.

Exactly!! It would be like a mech angel for $300 less!

[Hook]

Did anyone ever stop to think that AGD might be right where it wants to be and not where we want it to be? They might be happy to have the thousand or so loyal customers that they do, always buying parts kits and other accessories and all the while not having to invest huge costs in R&D and manufacturing. I'd rather just see the Mag live on the way it is rather than see it die because of risky ventures.
Dan@Triggernomics

I think that Maghog hit the nail right on the head. My sentiments exactly.

[DanMan]

but there all these small companys already making sweet things for the mag. AGD would hardly have to do anything to get them to make some runs of some of that stuff and offer it on the website. It would help both parties involved.

[Spider-TW]

I think that Maghog hit the nail right on the head. My sentiments exactly.

But no advertising is un-American. No song and dance for years. Where's the 'platinum edition' mag or the 'featherlite' mag? Everybody else resells the same old stuff. With no ads or sponsorships (or girls) out there, how's a noob supposed to know better?

No song and dance...[sniff]. This is all we get...

[Old School 626]

Something being overlooked. In order to be competitive in this market it is virtually required that you have at least one Electro marker in your line up. Enter smart parts and a C&D letter.

F SP

[Maghog]

But what you guys are talking about is tweaking a proven, tried and true design.
Do you guys remember when the mag-cocker war was "won" by WGP? What if AGD would have won? They'd be mass produced pieces of garbage like the cocker now is. Where did it get them? No where. No one really wants a cocker any more.
I think AGD is calmly and quietly maneuvering on the sidelines along with many other businesses. They avoided litigation with Smart Crap, and all the while improved on their design instead of trying to outstretch themselves.
No one is really complaining about the Level X mod, or the intelliframe, or the y-frame, the ULE bodies, RT Valve and so on. But few see that over the years the Mag has been a work in progress, and always being bettered. They might come out with more...they might not.

To be honest, I'd love to see AGD fly, bring out a new gun every year or two and blow the market away, but let's not try and push them to do something that they are not capable of. They have hands down the absolute best design for a gun in paintball. They also have poor advertising, poor sponsorship, and a lingering bad reputation from the Cocker vs. Mag wars. It all makes up for an obvious equation.

I believe the people at AGD recognized what they were capable of as well as where paintball was going. After all these years, we can be proud that AGD is still plowing away manufacturing parts for us and keeping us supplied with what we need. If we ask them to do too much, and they actually try to do it, then they have deviated from their path and enter unknown waters.

Creating a new product requires a lot of money, alone the warp feed/hopper mod someone proposed would be a cost in the tens of thousands. I work in the plastics industry now and I know that the forms to create those shells are not cheap at all.

It all seems so simple for us to say,"oh, I wish AGD would just do this, or this, and then they'd be on their way...." but are you also willing to put up the bucks to make it happen? I'm sure that AGD is not, as they are now in a market where most consumers are young and uninformed, and that by pleasing their relatively small but loyal followers they wind up only hurting themselves instead of appealing to the masses. AGD needs to keep afloat people, and they need our support. If we start giving up on AGD someday because we think they don't care about us, then they are lost, and so is the Mag.

If something is not broken, don't try to fix it.

[EdgePaintball.com]

If I was Airgun Designs.

Move to vert reg design.
Get rid of the on-off and reg assembly on the back of the gun.
Get rid of the return spring on the bolt.

Add 1 o-ring on the inside of the mag body right before the breech.
Add 1 0-ring where your sear use to catch and a bumper oring infront of that.
Now add a 1-way on-off selenoid in the grip frame

And boom you have it an air returned bolt - no sear no spring. Blow forward bolt design will still work and use the extra space where the on-off and reg were for volume.

Air-returned blow forward bolt design.

Produce this for a couple hundred bucks and I would promote them all day long.

TK if you read this this is Matt Shook from Kansas and I was wondering if you are going to CPX in April.

[DanMan]

Something being overlooked. In order to be competitive in this market it is virtually required that you have at least one Electro marker in your line up. Enter smart parts and a C&D letter.

F SP

smart parts owns the patent on electro markers? no wonder every one hates them.

[garbageman705]

9-volt all the way.

[AGD]

First of all the fat lady has not sung yet. Second, as the market goes down hill, AGD's position becomes stronger because they are one of the last of the quality markers.

You guys all want something 'new' but those options have long since played out with patents and litigations. What you will get (from everyone else) is a new 'look' every year and you will have to be satisfied with that. The Tippman 98 is ten years old this year along with the Dye Matrix (yes it was first designed in 98)

AGD needs to be seen as the Harley Davidson of paintball, a product with such history that to change it would ruin it.

AGD

[nmib]

Harleys? Loud, expensive, low sales and poor quality? I hope AGD isn't seen in that light. I grew up in a H.D. Shop and ive been riding since ive been four. I would in no way use H.D. as an example.

[AirAssault]

Just waiting on air assault to chime in

And here he is!! Sorry but every time someone puts one of these up, Ill say the same thing. Hit the ol search button and you will see that this topic, along with it's offshoots i.e. "AGD is dead", "what's up with AGD", "are mags dead" and so forth have been beaten down so much the dead horse deally doesn't even cut it. Last one was what, 2-3 weeks ago? Tell ya what, in a few weeks Ill make another AGD is dead/whats up with AGD thread to take the pressure off the n00bs that don't know what the search button is for.

[magmonkey]

in my mind, with the rise of pump play, it opens another niche market, I would love..... let me rephrase that I would love to be shooting an agd pump marker... not a pump mag but a dedicated pump platform.

the way I see it is the electro market is a loosing battle too much BS
with the disposable e markers smartparts is churning out sceniaro paintball will be heading down the same road

now you have the pump market
ccm
cci
pps
all dedicated companys in about the same position as AGD market wise
all willing to play relitivly fair and interested in the expansion of the sport
and best of all NO SP PATENT ISSUES

don't give up on the MAG design it is in my mind the best semi platform availible, but face it agd is a legendary company, especialy to old school players, and now the tables are turning pump is becoming more and more popular. it seems to me like AGD would have a built in customer base in this area of the sport.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TOM use that gift you have to unleash the best pump marker the world has ever seen, and get AGD back where it needs to be ON TOP where it belongs.

[DanMan]

Ok, first off sorry for the noob question. I am new to mags but already have a strange attachment to the gun and thus the wellbeing of the company that made it. I know that agd is fine and mags are not dead. I was just wondering if they were doing any better or if they had anything planned. Times change so the search button is not always the best source of info on this topic. I am content with the company surviving and being static. It just seems a shame after all the innovation that I have read about that use to come from this company.

Second, THANK YOU TOM for an awesome paintball gun.

[tech-chan]

I do think you guys jump on people when they ask that question. I want to know if AGD has anything in the prototype lab for the future. Do you guys have anything up your sleeve? I would love to see some new postings in Tom's Tech Tips and the prototype lab...