After owning over 14 markers, my thoughts and opinions on them (long)

[covadsucks]

I want in on this!!!
I personally have owned 6 Intimidators and 8 Mags of varying degrees, and 6 autocockers. Not to mention two Defiants, a Matrix and an LCD Angel. Starting from the top:

Intimidators:
Purple to Blue Fade Classic -Chopped alot due to bad board settings.
Black Classic -Shot Dynasty players with this gun.
GZ -Faulty on/off switch in gripframe, would shut off in the middle of a game.
Black Ripper Classic -bad bolt sleeve drilled from factory.
Black 2K2 with GZ Frame -traded for Dye Cocker and other toys.
Black to Grey fade 2K2 -newest toy, yay!

Mags:
Vert Feed Mini -cool to start with
PF Right Mini -compact recball killer
Retro Mini -insanely fast recball killer
PF Left 68 mag -back up toy for the other mags and cockers.
Emag -OMG this thing spanked Angels for fun.
Retro'd Classic -bored one day, built another from parts.
RT Pro -trade and was my main marker.
Emag -Got bored, decided to spend money.

Cockers:
2K Flatline Cocker -cheap experiment cocker -it sucked!
2K RF Cocker -upgraded to the max, it shot nicely.
2K1 STO -pimped out and laid waste to recballers and speedballers alike.
2K2 Red Dye Cocker -gorgeous milling, ugly anno.
2K2 Orracle, orange to black fade -grew tired of Orracle pnuematics
2K2 STO -pimped and installed an Eblade, sold it to my brother so he'd finally have fun playing.

Defiants:
2K Grey to Black Fade -beater gettin' neater.
2K2 Solid Black -wasn't efficient enough for my purposes.

Matrix:
2K2 Matrix LED -fast but broke paint when it felt like it.

Angels:
2K1 Fly LCD -only broke paint, never shot it correctly, only owned this for five hours...took it back as it sucked.

[Ultimator]

I guess I could get in on this although my list is really short.

1. A friend in my 9th grade english class was looking at a paintball magazine, I recognized it because I had played it in 5th grade so we got to talking. I looked through the magazine and me and a friend decided to start off on Spyder Shutters. We ordered a Red and a Blue one from PBgear and we thought we were getting the very best semi-auto markers out there (yeah I wanted to be a sniper.) Owned this one for around 4 months.

2. Got into speedball and Carl (aka Doc or Smokee_2_7 here on AO) got me into mags (as he has done to so many other people). Sold the Spyder for as much as I bought it for and bought a body, body rail, and sight rail with the money. Doc let me borrow his valve, trigger frame, and a barrel so I could use the gun (I appreciate it to this day!). Covadsucks sent me a nitro tank because he saw a picture of my gun with a co2 tank on it. I really appreciate this covad, I count you as one of the people who got me into paintball . **Read Below**

3. Bought a mag off the wall of the shop and put all the parts on my mag. I sold all of the spare parts and payed my mom back the $100 I owed her. The gun had an intelliframe, RT body, all the good stuff. Bought a warp for it. Had this gun about 6-7 months.

4. Bought a Gray Fade Vision Rat Impulse with 68/45 Max-Flo for $400 because the feed tube threads were supposedly messed up. I cleaned the threads with a safety pin about 10 times and screwed a new feedtube in. Worked fine ever since! Sold the mag for $450 and payed my mom back the $200 she lent me. The rest of the money is set aside for my first tourney coming up. Had this gun for almost 2 months now.

So due to a lot of luck I am now an up-and-coming tourney player!

[vdo_game_junkie]

Hey paint magnet, I have to agree with you on the Phantom, I had mine since 1991, yup and still happy with it. At that time I also bought a Sheridan P68 which I still have but hardly use anymore. But I really love that Phantom. Also bought my wife a Phantom when she used to play back in 1999, still have that too, but she doesn't play anymore.

Up until 1999, I used to play strickly stock class games until a buddy convinced me to play on a semi/constant air whatever you want to call it game and that is when I bought a Spyder. But the funny thing was that I kept going back to my stock class Phantom, regardless of the game and who we were playing against. Which makes for some great stories, but I'll save that for another time.

Anyway, one of my buddies left paintball for awhile and lent me his automag for like a year and a half. And man I was bit by the automag bug. I just bought my minimag 6 months ago and been a happy camper.

My tried my brother's STO cocker, Tippman Model 98 with the flatline barrel and reactive trigger, his AT85 and my other brother's evolution cocker and and his Spyder Shutter and they think I'm nuts cuz I like my minimag better. I have to admit that their markers are a lot faster than mine but I still play like a stock class player. I have yet to use a full case of paint for a full day of paintball action.

[WillBrayJr]

Marker #1 was a BE Talon. It was alright, never played paintball with it. Mother paid $75 for it at K-Mart when I was 13 years old. Used it to "poka-dot" my grandmother's house.

Marker #2 was a Tippmann 98C Power Pack that I was going to use to play at Splat-Man Du. Mother got all pissy because I bought it so I sent it back.

Marker #3 was a BE Tigershark. Never played with it and ended up selling it.

Marker #4 was an AGD Minimag. The guy who sold it to me on E-Bay failed to mention he cut the feed tube on it. Sold it.

Marker #5 was a Tippmann 98C Power Pack from Wal-Mart. Lost the enternet fo a few months and sold it.

Marker #6 is an AGD Chrome Minimag purchased from here and I DON'T plan on selling it.

[athomas]

Well, I guess I can wade in here too.

I bought my first paintball gun in 1990. It was a Rebel 90 pump which is a Nelson based pump design. It was light and compact and always worked. I had two 12" barrels with different inside diameters so I could use different types of paint. It allowed incredible accuracy and consitency. I loved this gun and still have it.

In 1993, I bought my first mag. It was the newest level 7 powerfed 68Automag. This gun changed the way I play paintball. It was an amazing gun and has never let me down on the field. This particular gun was the first in my area and caused many more to be sold after people tried it out. I still have it and still use it. It works like a charm.

In 1993, shortly after the purchase of the automag, I also purchased a PGP. This was mostly due to the fact that we played a lot of big game woodsball and it was well known that most semi guns would eventually break down on the field so you needed a backup. I upgraded the PGP with a CO2 quickchange and a cooper T bolt. They sent me the wrong bolt (Pirana version) so I had to cut the front off it to make it fit. The new bolt had a ball bearing locking/release mechanism that made cocking increadibly light. The gun never got much use because, unlike other semis, my mag never broke down on the field. I did play a few games using just this gun just so I could use it. There is no feeling quite like sneaking past a bunch of guys wielding semis and shooting them in the back with a pistol.

I liked the mag so well that I bought a retro valve as an upgrade to my mag in 2002 a couple of years after I got back into the sport of paintball in 2000 after a few years away. I still have this valve. I also bought a micromag body and with a few parts I had kicking around constructed both a retro mag and a micromag. I have both in my collection today. Actually, my valves are all interchangeable so I can use my retro valve or 68autmag valve in any of my mags. I use the retro mag most often when playing scenario games.

In 2002, I purchased my first emag. Wow, what a gun. The emag was a solid gun and the quality was evident in the construction. This was my gun of choice for tournments. It never let me down. The level 10 was a fantastic upgrade for this gun and opened a lot of eyes on the field. With the gun of the day crowds around the fields these days, I never saw another emag in my area. I eventually upgraded to ULE as well. I still have and use my emag.

In 2005, I purchased an Angel Speed (2004 version) from a friend that needed money. I liked the solidness of the gun. It felt nice and the quality was evident. I had it sent to TAG sports for a predator upgrade. Whoa! I played an uncapped tournament that year with it. A cap limit was immediately placed on all future tournaments in our area. LOL. Because of the eyes and the fact that ramping wasn't available in the emag, I elected to use this gun for all my Xball tournaments. Still do.

In 2005, I purchased a practically new, used Syder Electra. I didn't want the gun, but it came with a whole bunch of stuff including an Angel Air system. I sold the Spyder. It was well built though and it worked well. I guess you can't beat that. It didn't have that same feel of a Mag or Angel though.

In 2005 I purchased an old 1990 Tippmann 68 Special. Its just nostalgic. It works but is a bit of a gas hog. Remember the cloud of CO2 when shooting these back in the day? Its a piece of history from 1990 though, so I had to have it. They weren't the most reliable gun due to the heavy parts wearing out the orings and the flexing of the internal gas lines.

In 2006, I bought a used Spyder Fenix. It works well but is a bit loud. It has a nice feel to it actually. It is a solid gun for a starter. I took it apart and am currently making a Spimmy with it.

In 2006 I also bought an old Intimidator. It is an original model with a whole bunch of hybrid upgrades. I never used it but wanted the internals for my Spimmy project. I had used friends Timmies in the past. I do like them. They are a nice light, solid, reliable gun.

In 2007 I bought a second used Angel Speed so that I could have two identical setups for Xball. The second Angel had an Angel Force upgrade. It does not hold a candle to the Predator Angel even though both are the same basic version of Angel Speed. I still have this gun but never use it.

In 2008, I purchased a Tippmann Custom 98. You can't beat Tippmanns. I just wanted to tinker with it. It works well but is a bit loud. The barrel is 0.700" inside diameter. That is huge. You can almost drop a basketball through it. I guess you never have to worry about paint size with this thing. I always liked a big barrel but this is crazy. I don't like the feel of the 98. The forgrip is too far forward for me. I am used to a tighter design I guess, being a tournament player. I'll probably keep it though. I don't sell many of my guns.

[teufelhunden]

Marker #1 was a BE Talon. It was alright, never played paintball with it. Mother paid $75 for it at K-Mart when I was 13 years old. Used it to "poka-dot" my grandmother's house.

Marker #2 was a Tippmann 98C Power Pack that I was going to use to play at Splat-Man Du. Mother got all pissy because I bought it so I sent it back.

Marker #3 was a BE Tigershark. Never played with it and ended up selling it.

Marker #4 was an AGD Minimag. The guy who sold it to me on E-Bay failed to mention he cut the feed tube on it. Sold it.

Marker #5 was a Tippmann 98C Power Pack from Wal-Mart. Lost the enternet fo a few months and sold it.

Marker #6 is an AGD Chrome Minimag purchased from here and I DON'T plan on selling it.

jesus dude you found a post that was made 6 years before you joined for that?

[going_home]

jesus dude you found a post that was made 6 years before you joined for that?

[WillBrayJr]

jesus dude you found a post that was made 6 years before you joined for that?

Jesus has nothing to do with it I didn't find this thread, it was on top of this forum

[Smoothice]

Jesus has nothing to do with it I didn't find this thread, it was on top of this forum

really?

On the top of page 200 maybe...

Or was there some kind database error? Hmmm.

[WillBrayJr]

I certainly didn't go searching for it

[CatoRockwell]

me too me too!

1995: First time I ever saw a paintball gun. Kid brought it in for a demonstration in my 5th grade class. That summer I bought a Tippman Prolite I think it was... It's been so long. Loved that thing to death I am grateful to that gun for getting me into the sport.

1999: My paintball buddies convinced me to "upgrade" from my old tippmann to a Spyder TL Plus. Shot decent and was easy to clean but like someone mentioned I hated the metallic twang every time it fired and it wasn't nearly consistent enough, plus... it just didn't feel right.

2001: After finding myself back with my Prolite, I decided to move forward and purchased Tippmann98c, I loved this gun for years. Reliable when all my friends spyders were going down.

2005: I had always been told by the "real" players at the local shop that the Autococker was the way to go. So finally having enough money to go for it I bought a Trilogy Pro... Biggest mistake yet. No upgradability period, but I didn't know anything about autocockers so when I found out how screwed I was I decided to give WGP one more chance and bought a used 2000. After a local player helped me get it all tuned in, it worked great. Quiet as all hell, and accurate too. My only major complaint, and it remains the same to this day with all cockers: The things are the most Finicky markers I've ever used. I was finding myself spending a lot of time timing it in various conditions. Also the darn things don't hold up in the woods very well.

2006: I was back to tippmann again This time with an A-5 this is still to this day my backup marker. Reliable and after some modifications on the crummy stock parts it's a monster on the field. However, I remembered how smooth my autococker shot when it was working and the A-5 felt like a clumsy AK47. Reliable but not precise or elegant.

2008: My close friend Jon introduced me to the Automag. It had been his dream gun for years, but he could never afford one and unfortunately we didn't know any players that used one. Until we met a guy who used the Tac-One Longbow from special ops. The guy was kind enough to let me try it out for a game and I was sold forever to the Automag.

By July, I had my Tac-One ordered from AGD and was rocking the local field rocking it for the mag. I've done many upgrades on my mag since then and finally finished my E-Tac that I use today. Funny thing is, I've kept my A-5 as a backup thinking I would need it. Never have, if anything my Tac-One has had fewer issues than my A-5.

Anyway, I just barely finished turning my Tac-One into an E-Tac and thanks to the AO community along with the customizability, reliability, and precision of this miraculous marker I will be and AGD fan for life.

[Shirow]

bought my mag
changed parts around
story of my paintball life