shot an ion today..

[zyklon69]

Wow, i was seriously amazed, i've been a mag owner for many years, and i was just blown away by this gun, a $200 gun at that. no wonder the resale value of mags are crummy. It was a stock ion too, amazing. What do you guys think of these?? I wish i could get an electronic trigger like that for my mag.

[Cow hunter]

spydermag might be just what you want, then you have the speed and the mag reliability. but really the ion is old news, have you been under a rock for, what is it now, 2 years?

[stop whining buy a mag]

Wow, i was seriously amazed, i've been a mag owner for many years, and i was just blown away by this gun, a $200 gun at that. no wonder the resale value of mags are crummy. It was a stock ion too, amazing. What do you guys think of these?? I wish i could get an electronic trigger like that for my mag.

Everything about an Ion is terrible. That is why you see an upgrade for every single Ion part. I would only shoot an Ion if I was given $700 to upgrade every last piece of that gun so there was nothing stock on it.

[Pneumagger]

they are quick. Great BPS for the dollar for sure. ION reliability leaves something to be desired, but in general if you treat an ION well it may treat you well back. There were 4-5 IONS at the field today and all shot great.

[geekwarrior]

I stopped at the SP booth at the SoCal open yesterday to see if they could fix my Maxflow. There customer service sucks. 5 sloppy looking guys sitting around. Asked for help, one guy grumbled and got up. Looked like he was stoned. They didn't have the part they needed in any of there 6 fancy toolchests. They just sanded the bur on the metal peice, swapped an Oring, and told me "good luck" with a smirk and a laugh. Took it home...not fixed.

[Pneumagger]

You need some cocker gnomes in there

ION gnomes are way harder to please than cocker gnomes. I think Mag gnomes are parapalegics (sp?) because they never revolt

[Toll]

2 Ion's at the field today

Both managed to balls up. One the on-off button came off the board (these are new in box, just out from the pro-shop) and the other worked fine a for little while and then just encountered huge drop off, no matter what we put on it (new batteries, fresh tank, etc)

Out of the box they were a pain in the ***.

[dahoeb]

I stopped at the SP booth at the SoCal open yesterday to see if they could fix my Maxflow. There customer service sucks. 5 sloppy looking guys sitting around. Asked for help, one guy grumbled and got up. Looked like he was stoned. They didn't have the part they needed in any of there 6 fancy toolchests. They just sanded the bur on the metal peice, swapped an Oring, and told me "good luck" with a smirk and a laugh. Took it home...not fixed.

i had a similar experience with sp. my impulse board was broke, so i mailed it in to them. they went out of their way to replace the hammer assembly which never game me any problems, and according to the reciept the marker was fired and chronoed before they mailed it back to me.
however, i gassed up the marker, and they replaced the bad board with ANOTHER bad board. interesting how they chronoed it while it still had a malfunctioning board. i was so fed up i just went out, paid 75 dollars and replaced the board myself, and voila, it worked.

[RRfireblade]

Great gun for the price IMO. Only real upgrade it 'needs' is a trigger.


Beyong that everything else works perfectly on par with the cost and performance of the marker. Putting $700 into it is completely rediculous and un-neccesary. It was never meant for that but then again , people put that much into Spyders so to each their own i guess.

These things are Rentals all over the feilds around here the the feild owners all say they love 'em. Fast , easy to maintain and cheap to fix. Plus the Renters love 'em to death.

Out of the box, I've never come across any issues that the owners shouldn't learn how to fix anyway. Most common thing is un seated hoses , about as easy a fix as it gets.

Bottom line, you usually get what you pay for. In this case you get a little bit more and the whole paintball world has been trying to catch up ever since.

[Lenny]

I don't know. I know Ions are both loved and hated for their price, quality, and all of that, but my friend has one and played with it stock for along time. He only had one problem with it ever (board fried, he got a blackheart) and just purchased a new bolt for it. It really doen't kick all that much and the accuracy (with a Freak) is really good. It's consitency sucks, however. He was shooting +-15. (I was playing +-25 today ONLY because I didn't feel like lubing the reg internals. Normally it's +- 3-5) Anywho, I say it's sweet.

Though, mags kick more arse! Stick with it, there are ways to make it faster.

[zyklon69]

is there an electronic trigger i can get for my minimag.. it's got the level 10, retro valve, nitro. bleh bleh bleh. I love my mag, would never sell it, but i would like some more fire power to keep up with these kiddies these days.

[VFX_Fenix]

Spyder/Mag conversions, Hyperframe, Boo Yah, E-Mag lowers. Take your pick and enjoy.

[deathstalker]

...That is why you see an upgrade for every single Ion part.

This can be said for almost every marker currently being manufactured, and quite a few that aren't anymore. The only ones off the top of my head that this doesn't apply to (with the exception of recently-released markers) are PPS and CCI products. The existence of an aftermarket does not mean the base product "sucks".

For a sub-$200 marker, its a decent value.

The only thing that makes it seem amazing is the rebound feature. Remove that, and it isnt as wonderful as it would seem. One of the biggest complaints is the sloppy trigger. Then the foregrip reg. Then the feedneck. Then the barrel.

As far as function, its not significantly more efficient than a mag. So youll need to upgrade that too(with a bolt kit). And getting a better board is an upgrade SP sells too, so you can add that to the bill.

Dont forget, youll end up paying as much for an Air tank as the marker, add that to the list. And as far as bodies go, the stock one isnt all that great. Be prepared to buy an aftermarket body.

So, all in all....by the time youre done with it, youll have an $800 ion

Youd have been better off just buying a quality ramping marker in that price range from the start.

The "improvements" you listed can be applied to virtually any marker available. Not only that, most people buy "improvements" no matter what marker they own. How many times have you seen a post from someone saying they are waiting for their marker to arrive and are already asking what "upgrades" they should buy for it? Even if he bought that $800 ramping marker, you and I both know more money would be spent "improving" it. This is an OOOOOOOOOLD argument in the paintball world. Anyone and everyone who has ever bought and upgraded a budget-minded marker has faced the same, ahem, constructive criticism. "You spent $XXX on that? You could have just bought Y marker instead (and then upgraded it with a new valve, bolt, frame, body, board, feedneck, barrel, grips, trigger, etc.)." Not to mention you can use CO2 with the Ion (and many other entry-level markers), so an HPA tank is not a necessity.

Looking at my E-Mag, I have two ULE bodies, one vert and one Warp, clamping feedneck, X-Valve, ULE rail, huge and heavy battery/foregrip, and I usually use a J&J Edge kit with it. With the exception of the battery, none of these things came with it from the factory. As soon as school begins in September and I'm earning a paycheck again, I plan to go XMOD, a $100+ option. I'm afraid to total up what my $450 "bargain" has really cost me.

[Pneumagger]

I don't know if that's true for all Markers. I shot a stock dark ego yesterday. It doesn't need one bit of improvement and other than a user wanting a cosmetic change, that marker is perfection. User said he paid $1800 for it new! What a deal

[Lohman446]

Funny. When I bought my Ion I changed the feedneck and put a drop on it and shot it without any complaints. Is there room for improvement? Yeh... there is in most markers. However, for the $250 that was dealer cost at the time it was a fine marker.