Thoughts on Empire Axe?

[KurtPB]

I sell more mini's then I do axes onoy reason is price and its only a 150.00 dollar difference besides the relay asa and the push button release. Trigger is to stiff for being stock, and the manual is on cd not very field user friendly does shoot overall nicely and is quiet but not my cup of tea

I think if they end up releasing the Axe with an OLED without raising the price then it'll be worth it. I look at markers like the Etek or FX and wonder why the Axe has a single button, no screen, and plain milling.

[Gadget]

I'll declare a vested interest as our team have just picked up Empire sponsorship and now all shoot Axes (prior to that we had all shot Angels for years - Angel 1 or Angel 1 Fly), however I'm a 'mag man at heart (still shoot a pneu'd mag for scenario/rec play) and I'll give you an honest opinion.

Fundamentally it's a solid marker. Better size than the mini, far easier to strip (one button and the whole bolt system is out, mag stylee) and a venting asa/reg at last. The build quality is on a par with the Mini, so reasonable but the anodising does look a bit cheap in comparison to something like an Ego.

The stock feedneck works fine but is a bit unpleasant, it's the only thing other than barrel that I've changed on mine - the Empire Nano feedneck is a far nicer option. My feedneck came off as easy as pie, however a teammate destroyed his as it was threadlocked beyond belief. Ended up shearing the whole thing off then levering the threaded section out of the body - worth mentioning that even though he had to take that drastic action, he still did it without damaging the body threads and fitted the new feedneck no problem. I believe others have had the same issue and that Empire are changing the type/amount of threadlock that they use.

Stock board is the same as the Mini. A bit basic (coming from an OLED Angel), but has all the options you need and works fine but a couple of annoyances. First it doesn't have nvram so you lose any custom setup if you remove the battery for longer than about 20 seconds. This is a pain if, like me, you store your marker with the battery removed. I also dislike the way you turn the eyes off, would prefer a more Tadao-like option for that.

Apparently Empire and Virtue are working to release an OLED board specifically for the Axe soon. New colours are also coming.

Stock barrel is erm, basic. I went for a set of CP 1 piece barrels for paint matching.

The Axe works brilliantly, we played a Formula 5 tournament a couple of weeks ago (10 men rotating constantly into 5 playing spots throughout a 15 minute game) and didn't have a single problem, despite shooting 18 cases of paint. I've fitted a RF transmitter into mine, linked to a Prophecy, works a treat.

Oh and the stock trigger is far nicer than on the Mini, roller bearing and it's microswitched, not HES activated. It's a very light marker and being a bit longer doesn't feel quite as unbalanced as the Mini, however it is still back heavy.....half tempted to get a stainless boomstick on the front to balance things out a bit!

Overall, I've honestly been impressed and don't think there's a better marker available for the same money at the moment.

I think they're quite a decent looking marker, here's a pic of mine:


Empire Axe by 68auto, on Flickr

[dahoeb]

great review gadget

[Shirow]

Yeah, thanks a lot for the input!

[OPBN]

It think that's a sharp looking marker. I tend towards minimalism though.

[Shirow]

It think that's a sharp looking marker. I tend towards minimalism though.

It's growing on me a little