Help for a friend, from my betters...

[Ellomdian]

I have a good friend who is starting paintball, hes really enjoying it, and he wants to get his first gun.

Unfortunately, 4-600$ Isnt an option right now.

What would you (The AGD community at large) Recomend?

Im looking at an A-5 right now, but I am totally out of my league on this one (I started with a friends Automag, and am waiting to order my own in the next few days, woohoo.)

Thx for your help, and slightly off topic... What was your first gun?

[LeatherPants]

What price range is he looking in. Also is used an option for him. $200 can buy you alot used. Good mechanical cockers with ups are around $200.

[gc82000]

Being as he is new I would not go with a cocker. They are not really for a brand new player, How about a Spyder whatever. Cheap, easy to maintain and good looking. An A-5 would also be very good, plus you can add parts now that you could not add before.

[LeatherPants]

Cockers are good markers if you just don't mess with it once it's timed.

But going along with the idea of an A5 is also a great choice. Cheap, reliable and already has a hopper that feeds as fast as he can shoot with no gaps.

And he could always opt for a responce or E trigger for it.

[firebanex]

any thing tippmann or any spyder. Just make sure he gets a good mask first.

I started with a 98custom, that thing served me very well, never broke down, shot every kind of paint in every kind of weather.

[space_weazel_45]

[Caffiend]

I second the "anything tippman, anything spyder" from above. my first marker was a classic feed mag that I bought off of a friend for $150

[FreakBaller12]

you may be seeing a give away a classic mag thread to the most needy person, so get your stories ready
The only thing is it will need a thumb screw, frame screw and sear/sear pin. All less than 15 dollars of parts.

[Mosfet]

i think a classic mag is a good idea
not too expensive, very reliable, and has a good upgrade path.

[White_Noise]

id suggest the classic mag for reliability and durability reasons.

i started with a piranha. worked great for me while i had it. (now that ive sold it to my little bro, now it starts to have problems. it is almost 5 years old though.)

[WARPED1]

Cruise classifieds here, you can get a fairly good mag cheap. Or, if you live in Florida, go see Jon at the AGD booth at World Cup. I saw "demo guns" starting at $150!

[teufelhunden]

Neg. on the cheap mag. Cheap mags are SLOW. I've seen more new kids walk off the field discouraged, thinking they had no chance because they had no firepower. In many cases, it wasn't even rental vs. DM4/Timmy/EBlade/etc... it would be rental vs. E-Spyder.

Therefore, look for E-Spyders/clones. You can get an Imagine for like 130, IIRC. If he's looking to drop a few more bucks, the TES or Pirhana Evo should eliminate most chops, another not-so-fun thing for newbies.

Then, of course, find him a used Rev/Reloader, whatever CO2 tank size he wants/needs, and A GOOD MASK. Proflex.

[WARPED1]

Thing with mags, they're easily upgradable. You can save for a nice ReTro or used Xvalve. Can still trade in your classic I think. ULE body(which allows cocker barrels!) The new hAir or PTP trigger, Intelliframes, Ygrips, old Zgrips used. Mags [i]used[.i] to have the rep of "unupgradable", AGD took care of that!

[Stealthgerbil]

I could shoot 6bps on my classic mag, with a single trigger. I could shoot a little faster on my spyder, but it wasn't that mag of a deal.

[player4]

Tell him to buy a mag. He can buy an extremely inexpensive one, and buy upgrades from there. Mags are easy to maintain too, which is needed for someone who is new to the sport. :)

Mag is definetly the way to go, and I am not even mentioning the accuracy.