Opinions

[paintballfiend]

An Ion is like rap, they both are crap but the kiddies still love 'em.

[Samurai-joker]

well like i said i was talked into buy mine. At the time that i bought mine you had to pre-order and i didn't want to wait. so i called the shop and told them i wanted a vision impulse. he talked me out of that and then into the ion, with a month wait. i upgrades peice by peice. when i had a little extra money i either saved it to buy something expensive for the gun or bought something inexpensive. so i think with the price of everything today i have around 800-900 in the gun, including the gun itself. I think it is funny with all the expensive bodykits out there. personal opinion is that they are a waste of money. i have no cosmetic upgrades at all. but to each his own i guess. it's ok, nothing special though. that is why i have decided to get an automag ASAP. I just don't agree with all the richie's blasting the hell out of us poor kids who can't afford 1000's guns. ya i know get a job. well i have one and it's either play or save for an expensive marker. i would rather play then save. but it's all good.

[turbo chicken]

well i have one and it's either play or save for an expensive marker. i would rather play then save. but it's all good.

Im with you on that one ... that's why I went pump ... the money i save on paint is going tward various projects but nothing over 200.00

that's way better than playing once every 2 months!!!

[iambored]

An Ion is like rap, they both are crap but the kiddies still love 'em.

[djslik]

Ions work just fine I bought my girlfriends little brother one as his first gun and he loves that thing. I'll be honest I shot his gun in stock form right along side my PM6 and my buddies Viking. We both agreed that the gun can keep up for the most part with our guns. Of course the cut and finish of the gun is no where close to the higher end guns and yes it does not have all the bells and whistles, but for some people that does not matter. Also I wanted the gun to be a learning experience for him, to be able to understand the workings of a pnuematic system and also to get used to tearing down and building back up a paintball gun. The things that need to be changed have been mentioned earlier and honestly it is no different than what most people will do to their high end guns I did it to my PM6 and my Automag. I think that some younger or newer players put too much emphasis on expensive guns and forget to look at the mechanics of it. I know there are some engineers and builders on this site so they can appreciate that the gun was designed for a specific purpose and in all honesty it does what is was designed to do very well, compete with high end guns and level the field. I've been tagged by Ions and I bet you all have too. I'm tired of people looking down on others because of their equipment, this sport is not cheap and just because you are not rich or your parents don't spoil you doesn't make you any less of a player. Sorry I just don't want new players to think that they need expensive stuff to be good, so many of my girlfriends little brothers friends have that attitude and I hate it.

[hmudd13]

An Ion is like rap, they both are crap but the kiddies still love 'em.

Ya but an ION won't make you a multi millionaire for being illiterate and sampling other peoples music.

Out of the 90+ markers I have (15 of them mags) I have one ION.
I love it. I've never had problems with it.
The marker is easy to use, relatively cheap and fun to shoot.

my .02 cents

[PumpMag]

just said no

Approximately 1 year ago more or less, my teammates tried to "hint" to me that I need a new electro for a Semi Tourney.

My ELCD frame was acting up on my Mag, so they recommended the Ion. 2 or 3 of the guys had one already and tried to convince me to buy one since there was a special for approx $250 back then.

After more pressure, I basically said not for me. One teammate agreed to let me try one on the field. To make a long story short, it would not fire! My teammate ran back to me to get it to work and it still wouldn't fire (This happened while the game was in progress).

Well that made a really bad impression on me. So basically, a no for me.

Another thing was the plastic body! No thanks.

Early that year, I purchased a lightly used Emag for about 3 times as much money. This has been the Best high end puchase I made. What other gun has a switch to go mech when the electronics fail?

Well, my teammates ended up buying higher end guns and now their Ions serve as back-ups. 1 guy uses it as a primary, but had repeated trigger problems.

My opinion before any marker purchase:

First Check - Then Try - Then Buy.................

[gus13]

from what I've seen of them in use The ions aren't terrible markers however they (like any marker) have their issues. One I have is the fact that it takes five minutes just to turn the thing on... I don't know why but myself and a few of the guys on my team always have problems trying to find that button! another issue is ball breal my teammate always seem to be breaking in the marker... don't know why....oh wait yeah, user error....he never cleaned the darn thing! so basically the on/off button for me and a few other people I know can't seem to turn it on. other than that just the fact that I don't really like the look of it nor do I like the reg to ASA setup, with the elbow being where it is it seems to get in the way when you try to shoot left handed. Now I don't use an ion myself, this is just my observation with other people using them.

[nathanjones008]

walmart.

i havent shot a ion. but i have seen other people shoot them. every noob on the feild has one. they are ok guns. lets all remember that when we buy one we give smarts parts power. i dont want to look 3 years down the road and see only smart part guns on the field. i love variety. it makes it boring world if every one shot smart parts. their business practices are walmart like. they basicly put AkA out of bussiness, they are screwing up AGD and many others in the paintball industry. i am not telling anyone how to spend their money. remember the way we give smarts parts power is our money. i amlost bought a ion a few months ago, but when i found out how they do theri business , i made a decision do not give them my money. i support any other company other than smart parts, their are many other companies out thier that are better than smart parts. they may be a bit more expensive but i think its worth it.

[paintballfiend]

i havent shot a ion. but i have seen other people shoot them. every noob on the feild has one. they are ok guns. lets all remember that when we buy one we give smarts parts power. i dont want to look 3 years down the road and see only smart part guns on the field. i love variety. it makes it boring world if every one shot smart parts. their business practices are walmart like. they basicly put AkA out of bussiness, they are screwing up AGD and many others in the paintball industry. i am not telling anyone how to spend their money. remember the way we give smarts parts power is our money. i amlost bought a ion a few months ago, but when i found out how they do theri business , i made a decision do not give them my money. i support any other company other than smart parts, their are many other companies out thier that are better than smart parts. they may be a bit more expensive but i think its worth it.

[Lohman446]

i havent shot a ion. but i have seen other people shoot them. every noob on the feild has one. they are ok guns. lets all remember that when we buy one we give smarts parts power. i dont want to look 3 years down the road and see only smart part guns on the field. i love variety. it makes it boring world if every one shot smart parts. their business practices are walmart like. they basicly put AkA out of bussiness, they are screwing up AGD and many others in the paintball industry. i am not telling anyone how to spend their money. remember the way we give smarts parts power is our money. i amlost bought a ion a few months ago, but when i found out how they do theri business , i made a decision do not give them my money. i support any other company other than smart parts, their are many other companies out thier that are better than smart parts. they may be a bit more expensive but i think its worth it.

Tell me again how SP put AKA and AGD out of business?

[SR_matt]

SP got aka to stop makign vikings and excals and last i heard they still can not make any new markers, only can use parts that were in stock at the time of the cease and desist order came. and from what i rmeember and understand, even after the SP claim was revoked they didnt pick back up from all the bs they had to go through.

i still havent seen an 06 or 07 aka gun.

-matt

[Lohman446]

SP got aka to stop makign vikings and excals and last i heard they still can not make any new markers, only can use parts that were in stock at the time of the cease and desist order came. and from what i rmeember and understand, even after the SP claim was revoked they didnt pick back up from all the bs they had to go through.

i still havent seen an 06 or 07 aka gun.

-matt

AKA signed an agreement - they reached an agreement with SP that addressed there patent infringement. Tell me again how it was SPs fault AKA was in violation of patents? Although one might argue that the SP patent was overly broad I think oen would have a hard time arguing that at the base it was valid. Pneuventures did pretty well do all the work of the electropneumatic marker, and SP did buy PVI.

[SR_matt]

liek you said SP didnt own the pattent fully, there fore did not have the right to enfore the pattent in the way they did
-matt

[Lohman446]

liek you said SP didnt own the pattent fully, there fore did not have the right to enfore the pattent in the way they did
-matt

I said it might be argued it was overly broad.. I did not say I thought it was invalid in its entirety. I would say it did fully cover electronic switch activation by the trigger - which is how the Viking worked. AKA had the full support to fight it, they just did not have a leg to stand on.