Where did AGD go wrong?

[Dayspring]

The other thing that hurt AGD was their military contracts. Tom had to make a decision and I bet it came down to finances (as it should when you're a business owner). Smart Parts didn't help, but the development of the FN303 and what ever other military stuff Tom had going on diverted attention from paintball.

[AGDRetro]

I think the idea of weight being an issue is almost funny after 2003 when the ULE debuted. The problem there is that without a lot of marketing to advertise the new lightweight Mags, I think to many they retained their reputation as a "heavy" gun. A decent ULE X-Valve'd Mag is still pretty light by today's standards. Just a shame that they cannot be 100% controlled for capped tournament use. Still... probably one of the finest recball markers😁

[skipdogg]

Many small issues caused it. Most of which are mentioned above. Overall I'd just say,
Everything has a life cycle. AGD went thru that just like every other company does or will. If anything, I would say we are all lucky AGD didn't and hasn't closed shop. Most companies in their shoes would have done so years ago.

[ghost flanker]

Early on (1990-1996ish), the biggest problems were;
- BALL CHOPS: this horrible reputation followed AGD around like a black cloud for years, even after the problem was finally resolved in 2002, over a decade later. Just imagine if the level 10 bolt had been introduced in the mid 90s before AGD's popularity began to decline.
- MALFUNCTIONS FROM CO2: was either partially solved by expansion chambers and anti-siphon tanks, or completely resolved by compressed air, which was an expensive and sparsely available solution at the time for an already expensive gun, especially with non-tournament players.

1997 onwards, the biggest problems (aside from ball chop) were;
- WEIGHT: even the weight savings from ULE (when it finally became available) couldn't counterbalance the heavy Emag/Xmag batteries enough for these guns to be widely accepted by players over competing brands for tournament use. AGD also dropped the ball by neglecting to ULE other parts of their guns besides just the body and valve. Case in point, the massive solid aluminum brick we refer to as the RT Pro rail was completely unnecessary.
- SHART FARTS: aka greedy backstabbers and ruiners of the industry...I'm not bitter at all
- POOR AIR EFFICIENCY: this was never improved upon by AGD in any new, updated models.
- TOO MUCH EXTERNAL AIR LINE: never improved upon by AGD in any new, updated models, either.
- POWERFEED: AGD was late to the party in developing low-profile vertical feed bodies.
- SIMPLISTIC STYLING: the slick looking Xmag arrived too late before SP killed it.

[keiko_819]

They went wrong making a marker that's quality is unsurpassed, yea their are space guns that will shoot faster and be more efficient...I personally don't care, Ive shot most high end electros/pumps and still feel my mags have a tighter grouping. Ive been lucky enough to make it to some old schoolers games and most the times, the veteran ballers think I'm shooting a ccm or bob long, when i explain and show them its a mag they are cought off guard. Even made it to a couple AO games and it seemed like there were only a select group that shot our mags all day. In fact i was kind of disappointed when i started seeing the battery powered machines come out...yeah they could use some more marketing but I feel its up to us to keep using those old classic dinasours and new ule builds...make those snapshots cound and land those impossible shots to make the opponent wonder what he/she got taken out with...that will spread the virus that we have as mag shooters. show them that quality still shoots strait...

[capt spank]

I don't think agd necessarily "went wrong". It's a top of the line mechanical marker. But let's compare it to let's say an axe. The axe is smoother, quieter, lighter, more efficient, just as easy maintenance, just as good reliability. Some paint I can't shoot in my mags. Never had an issue with my axe with even the crappiest paint.

Imo, aesthetics is a significant downside. The bodies/rails that the awesome people in this community produce are sexy as hell. The ule tube, meh.

[going_home]

I don't think agd necessarily "went wrong". It's a top of the line mechanical marker. But let's compare it to let's say an axe. The axe is smoother, quieter, lighter, more efficient, just as easy maintenance, just as good reliability. Some paint I can't shoot in my mags. Never had an issue with my axe with even the crappiest paint.

Imo, aesthetics is a significant downside. The bodies/rails that the awesome people in this community produce are sexy as hell. The ule tube, meh.

One reason the 1st Gen Axe is my go to electronic marker, although I do have an IR3.

I'm stopping at 3 of them.

I'm all A's , Automags, Axes, and Angel's.

[boddah]

What was the deal with smart parts?


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[Dark Side]

Not enough marketing. Now with that being said, Paintball Charleston is the last place I knew of that actually sold and promoted Mags but it has been two years since I was in the area.

[Dayspring]

What was the deal with smart parts?


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Through some wheeling and dealing, SP came into possession of a patent that covered the electronic firing of a paintball gun. They also used some shady dealings to expand the definition beyond the actual drawings to cover ALL electronic modes of firing the gun. At that point, they started enforcing the patent - cease and desist or pay a license fee per gun. Some places stopped making electronic guns, some paid the fees. Others (National Paintball/Empire & Dye) from what I hear didn't have to pay at all - partially due to National's "300 lb gorilla" distribution status (no reason to piss that off) and Dye having prior art on the spool valve that Smart Parts was using for their shocker (Dye could have sued them for infringement).

The last 2 items are, admittedly, hearsay - but they came from reliable sources.

[boddah]

Thanks for the info. I'm trying to piece together all the history since I've been out of the game. So who owns SP?


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[Dayspring]

Thanks for the info. I'm trying to piece together all the history since I've been out of the game. So who owns SP?


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Well, SP doesn't exist as it used to. Kee Action Sports (Empire, etc.) bought the patents when Smart Parts went bankrupt. Interestingly enough, the patent is now public domain.

http://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?t=5112033&highlight=

[vintage]

[going_home]

[cockerpunk]

i think it was a poor decision to try and make a stand alone E-trigger for an automag, and preserve the backwards compatibility. the direct acting noid, and thus massive battery needed to power it ... it might have been fine for a late 1990's electro, but by even the year 2000, it was outdated. a wiser course of action would have been to totally revamp the automag valve, ditch backwards compatibility and make a true electro-pnumatic triggered blowforward gun, with eyes. such a gun was probably in the works, but the above "we have capital to do one thing, defend ourselves from SP, or make a new gun" dichotomy got in the way.