Best newbie marker?

[boggerman]

Thanks!

Thanks for all the great info, gang. We went out today and played and one of the guys brought his Adrenaline Angel. My buddy shot that fell in love, I had to remind him that his wife would castrate him with a rusty butter knife if he spent $1500 on a paintball gun! Seriously, he could not get over how easy the Angel is to shoot fast. We looked around earlier tonight on the net and settled on a Piranha Pro G3 TS. Unfortunately, where we live, the only places to buy a marker are Wal-Mart or one small archery/paintball shop that only stocks Spyders($279 for a Shutter), so there is no way to try out anything that someone doesn't already own. I have heard that PMI is good on customer service(they're no AGD, but who is?) and hopefully the marker is pretty good, too. Thanks again for all the great input, I'll give feedback on how the Piranha performs/holds up, if anyone is interested.

[PigSweat]

I had a Piranha Pro TS G3 before I upgraded to my 'mag, and I loved it (for an open-bolt blow-back, of course). The trigger was crisp, fairly accurate and consistant, relativley queit, easy to maintain, no major problems. Plus IMHO it looks much better than a Spyder.

[boggerman]

I think it looks much cooler than a spyder, too. Plus the TS Pro comes with a Pure Energy vertical reg, that has to be a plus for only $20 more than a shutter!

[Drizit]

as much as I like the piranha (and I do) if he hasn't already laid down the money I would strongly suggest the custom 98. we dove over one with a pickup truck and then played with it all day just to see how it would really stand up. the only thing that went wrong with it was the cocking nob got bent. and as to the clamshell being bad for maintainense, it not for off field it makes getting at everything more convenient. however it does mean you can't field strip anything but the barrel, and the feed. then again you won't need to. if there ever was a gun that could go toe to toe with a mag for reliability it's the 98. and when he gets some more coin he can get the E-bolt and it will shoot like an Angel (just bigger and longer) or a response trigger and have his very own tommy gun. (it's really what it feels like)
just a note. I still run my Tippmann with the RT trigger on an anti-syphon CO2 tank with no expansion chamber.

[Vegeta]

yea the E-bolt system shoots like an Angel.. (Except- Satilite Uplink and LO-JACK not included.)

and the RT is.. well.. you ever see those 20mm anti-aircraft double barrel guns on Aircraft carriers that people sit on and pivot shootign at planes n those old WWII movies? well- it feels like that. I almost liek the recoil.

[wireman]

Most of the guys I play against use Tippman 98's. They are a very durable gun, work great in the cold, and are pretty simple in design. But from what I have seen with the Tippman upgrades they are hard to install and complicated. A Spyder has to be the second most upgradeable gun on the market, next to the cocker. I think that if you are going to buy your first marker, buy one that you can tinker with and make it your own. I have used my TL Plus for almost a year now and have never had it fail me in play. It is al in the maintenance. If I just had my Spyder trigger on my Minimag, ohhhh........

[MAGgot Man]

Everyone is talking up the tipmann......

But for my money...I'd go with the ICD Alleycat or Thundercat series. They are pretty inexpensive but darn near bullet proof, and very well made. In fact Skanline has a whole package deal for less than 200 bux.

http://skanline.com/productspb/paintguns-combo-paks/PG_Combo_Paks_PB.html

[Drizit]

I've never used anything by ICD except the bushmaster, so I can't say there. and wireman what upgrade for the m98 did you see someone have trouble installing? unless of course they were trying to get a custom 98 upgrade into a Model 98 body... that could do it... the other thing is in a spyder what upgrades other then the booyahh frame realy increase your fire power?

[StevoC]

I say a spyder

I've had many different markers and a few different spyders and none of the spyders have ever had problems. As long as you take care of it, the spyder will last forever.

Pirana's also seem to fair up pretty well. My local field uses them, and it's true what people say about newbies abusing markers...the people at my field bring the hurt with them....but the guns keep on going.

Just my $.02

[diehard]

my 2 cents worth

I would go along with alot of the people in this forum... I think the Custom98 is the best gun to start out with. I played a local tourney with CO2 and used a TL... it was worthless, I hated it. The tippman has a nicer trigger pull and is more reliable than the spyder. Spyders suck. If you like spyders, then get a bruizer. Much more reliable. Otherwise, start with the tippman. Of course, if you have the $$ get the mag... so much more you can do with a mag. Your mag can grow with you!!

[JCP member #140]

Something no else mentioned

No one has metioned this yet. At the field I play and ref at, we use Titans as rental guns. I like them and they seem to work well for people who come out and never have played before. They are also tough, considering what they go through as rentals. They work good on CO2 with both the vertical and bottom line models. You might want to look into one if you can find it. Plus they are resonably priced. They are made in Canada and I don't think a lot of dealers carry them, but they can probably order one for you. I forget who makes them though.

[PigSweat]

Titans are made by Mokal, and disrtbuted by PMI.

[Aliens-8-MyDad]

I got a Titan for christmas2 years ago.. played with it once.. it wasnt bad just was loud as hell! and sometimes whitestuff came out the barrel... i still got it and the tank and stuff that came in the package if anyone wants to buy it... but anyways bought my minimag from my friend when he got a shocker for only $340 (with 12oz co2 barrleplug oil hoper and vlbow) "Suker!" ok.... im finished