Paintball isn't that expensive.

[hAppy]

An average teenager cannot afford paintball, thus making paintball expensive. The majority of people who play paintball are young and have a fairly low income. Thus making paintball expensive, it is simply not worth the price. You work about a whole day just to play.

Adults will probably throw out paintball from their many expenses, for a days worth of paintball, you can pay off one of your bills. The trade off for paintball over living is simply not worth it. Clearly if you aren't "rich" or spoiled, then you can't afford this hobby on a regular basis.

[JRingold]

Honestly, once you grow out of being the target paintball demographic (a.k.a. 13-21), paintball isn't that expensive. $100 a weekend for a hobby? Cheap for the adults of the world. Factor in a new marker every year, and you are still only up to $500 a month. Take a weekend or two off a month and it's only $300, you have enough left over for drinkin' money. I've blown way more in a weekend on gas for a former hobby, not even counting equipment, which was in the $50-70K range starting out. The topic of the thread is so true it's almost funny.

Why did I buy two new markers (Phantom and X-Mag) and put together a third one (AutoMag RT Pro ULE Custom) last year? Because I wanted to invest in my newly awakened hobby (a lot changed since 1996). This year, I'll probably only get a Squall and maybe another X-Mag.

I will say, that it's more expensive than my other two hobbies computers and home and mobile audio, well for me anyway...

[indulgence]

I am pretty sure that where I live paint can be obtained for a pretty nice price. Compared to the 60-70 I've heard at some other places. Despite this. A whole day of play is considered expensive to teens without a job. Even if you had a job, unless it was a really good job, to pay for your car and other expenses, you wouldn't have much for paintball, or just barely enough. Adults wouldn't have a problem if they had a stable and well-paying job. But for the younger folks, it comes down to living or paintball. And living with a car and other decent things is a lot better. So unless you are rich, paintball is expensive.

[Target Practice]

Everyone is saying that the average teenager can't aford this sport. Why? What makes it so expensive?

Why does one need a new gun every year? I know there is damn good paint for 45 bucks a case...we sell it at the shop. Why do people need to buy $1500 setups to just play at the local field? I still have my original Model 98 (none of that custom stuff for me) that still sees field time.

The vast majority of paintball players will not go on to play in the upper levels of paintball. So, why buy the upper level equipment if you're just going to play recball (call it what you want, but paintball at the local level is recball, no matter what configuration the field has).

[hAppy]

Have you even thought about why people buy low end markers? It's not only b/c they're newbies, but because.... maybe cus they can't afford something better? How bout pump players, some of them choose pump b/c it allows them to play at a low cost.

[Target Practice]

Have you even thought about why people buy low end markers? It's not only b/c they're newbies, but because.... maybe cus they can't afford something better? How bout pump players, some of them choose pump b/c it allows them to play at a low cost.

That's fine. I'm not talking about those people.

[hAppy]

That's fine. I'm not talking about those people.

If you're not talking about the financially-challenged, then you are talking about the wealthy. Well in that case, paintball and a nice Mercedes isn't expensive at all, I guess you are right.

[Lohman446]

Everyone is saying that the average teenager can't aford this sport.

I had a post here, but it may have been a touch inflamatory.

[hAppy]

Say people didn't spend all their money on a overpriced gun marker, would it make paintball itself less expensive? The only difference is you have more to spend, more $70-per-session to spend.

[barrel break]

Personally, Paintball is too expensive for me. And yet it still takes the forefront in my life, I can barely play once a month, and yet instead of buying some computer parts i would actually use, i bought an Ion, and an egg. If I had any financial sense at all, I'd quit. Most of my time is spent obsessing over PB, and yet I hardly play. I probably could play more often if the feild was close, but its 70 miles away, gas money, and no license, i have to find someone to drive. Cheapest paint? $65 a case blaze, and I shoot half a case per night (Friday). I feel like a crack addict, I wish i could quit, I really do...

[Target Practice]

Say people didn't spend all their money on a overpriced gun marker, would it make paintball itself less expensive? The only difference is you have more to spend, more $70-per-session to spend.

Yes, it would. You have to look at long-run cost. Say you play 6 months out of the year (a pretty conservate estimate), 2 weekends a month. That means you play 12 weekends a year. We'll go with a (quite conservative) estimate of one-half case per weekend. So, that's 1 case a month, six cases a year. Now, say you play with your stock class Phantom. Say you cut your paint consumption down to 250 balls per weekend (that's an eigth of a case, for those who don't wan to do the math) So, if we use the thread-wide estimate of 70 dollars per case:

70 (dollars per case per month) x 6 (months) = 420 (dollars per year) in paint cost.

Now, if we use the stock class cost:

12 (weekends per year) x (250 balls per weekend) = 3000 (balls per year) / 2000 (balls per case) = 1.5 (cases per year)

1.5 (cases per year) x 70 (dollars per case) = 105 (dollars per year) in paint cost.

420 - 105 = 315 dollars saved.

It is cheaper, and even if you buy a $600 Phantom (crazy expensive, pretty damn unlikely to me) as opposed to a $300 ION, the savings still suck up the cost of the Phantom and, as shown, will continue to save money in the long run.

[frop]

Personally, Paintball is too expensive for me. And yet it still takes the forefront in my life, I can barely play once a month, and yet instead of buying some computer parts i would actually use, i bought an Ion, and an egg. If I had any financial sense at all, I'd quit. Most of my time is spent obsessing over PB, and yet I hardly play. I probably could play more often if the feild was close, but its 70 miles away, gas money, and no license, i have to find someone to drive. Cheapest paint? $65 a case blaze, and I shoot half a case per night (Friday). I feel like a crack addict, I wish i could quit, I really do...

Or if you had any financial sense at all, you'd learn to play with a bag a day, not buy unnecessary equipment, and overall, get the most bang for your buck.

It costs me $25 a day, & thats with my RTP w/ input maxed that still bounces pretty good w/ ULT. I also rarely play more than once a month, if that.

[Target Practice]

I had a post here, but it may have been a touch inflamatory.

PM me with it, I'm interested.

[slade]

I had a post here, but it may have been a touch inflamatory.

just post it, i want to see you get ba... i mean, we wont care

[Aslan]

My Cost

Personally, Paintball is too expensive for me. And yet it still takes the forefront in my life, I can barely play once a month, and yet instead of buying some computer parts i would actually use, i bought an Ion, and an egg. If I had any financial sense at all, I'd quit. Most of my time is spent obsessing over PB, and yet I hardly play. I probably could play more often if the feild was close, but its 70 miles away, gas money, and no license, i have to find someone to drive. Cheapest paint? $65 a case blaze, and I shoot half a case per night (Friday). I feel like a crack addict, I wish i could quit, I really do...

If I play at the better field, it is field paint only, it costs me $115/day (roughly).

If I play at the other field, it is closer and BYOP, it costs me about $65/day.

I usually go through around 1500 rounds/day...750 on a good day...2250 if the games turn into entrenched long range battles. I shoot 5-9bps depending on which marker I use. Haven't tried pumps yet against semis...maybe I'll give it a try.

Do I think "paintball is expensive"? Depends...compared to other sports, maybe. It's more expensive than say hockey or bowling. It's probably on par with golf which is getting more expensive. Do I think it's too expensive to play? No...if it were less expensive, I'd play once per month...maybe more. But I certainly am not going to give up on it because it's "too expensive"...I'll just have to play less.

I'm not going into too much more detail than that so I don't become a flame target again...but I will say that BYOP has made it much more affordable for me in the past and I think would make the sport alot more affordable for most. I'd gladly pay $25-$35 for an all-day entrance fee with all-day air if I could bring my own paint or pay $25-$30 for reasonable field paint. But that's just my opinion...I also wich I didn't have to pay $2.19 a gallon for gas...but I can wish in one hand and c^ap in the other and see which one fills up first.