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 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!
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 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!
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