The 51.5 thousand players that have supposedly quit according to the Facebook page “Save Paintball” are short term players who came, saw, played and went. This has always been the way it is. People get into the sport of paintball and find that they didn’t like it as much as they thought they did.

Or suddenly have other interests that take it’s place. Here’s the kicker, they will be back, most are teenagers who have other interest at the moment. Girls, jobs, fun, friends, school. With limited income how can you have very many interests that you have to pay for. When they find there true values and get there critical thinking straightened out they will be back. I have seen it before in the 25 years I have been a player.

Every player who has been around for more than ten years has seen it too. People find out about paintball and come on like gangbusters, what ever that it. They play for a while and find other interests, no matter what those other interests are. Some people have too many other interests, motorcycles, hunting, fishing, scuba diving, chasing women and other sports. Oh…Chasing women for some is a full time sport. Forgive me. Don’t want to take away from that.

Paintball is in flux at the moment. Tournament producers like NPPL/PSP got a lot of exposure through ESPN and brought in new players. There is a player base that hasn’t gone away, WE will remain. Those falling away are mostly in the tournament side, with speedball players becoming disgusted with the current trend of everything being too expensive. This will reverse with companies like Smart Parts making less expensive paint guns and paying attention to the woods/scenario players for a change. I feel the economy has had a hand in this as well.

Paintball is not dying as some have said. It is merely in a lull at the moment. We are on a horizon with the advent of what I like to call the mini ball or .50 cal. This isn’t going to kill the sport as some have said. It will however open up a whole new player base that can not play because of there countries laws. In these same countries they can play Air Soft and do. The use of the mini ball that has always been with us is a coup.

GI MilSim is on the cutting edge of this new be it old paintball technology is going to rake in the cash. And give our sport a lot of new players in these off shore countries. I don’t feel the .68 cal. paintball is on it’s way out. I hear many people say that they will not switch. But people just like them said back in the early 90’s that simi auto paint guns would ruin the sport. Well maybe what is happening now is a delayed reaction to that major technology advancement. Like a traffic jam is caused by drives hours before slowing down to look at an accident.

Smart Parts at World Cup which I missed because my Ranger broke down on the way to it, has the Impulse that is shooting the mini ball, and GI MilSim with the Nano and the clone of the SP-1, which have the right left and center feed that I am envious of and want for my SP-1. All shoot the .50 cal.

I have not seen enough about the mini ball to make an educated guess on how it stacks up against the .68 cal.

All the talk so far is that the mini ball is as good if not better than the .68 cal. Some say that the mini ball will replace the present ammo, in a few years. I didn’t get to shoot it at World Cup because I couldn’t get there my truck broke down, Oh did I say that…hum.

I think we all know that it’s a wait and see attitude right now. One problem I feel is that lots of players who would be buying new paint guns now will be waiting for the mini balls to solidify and see what comes of them.

I was surprised to here that Tippmann is adopting this wait and see attitude on the mini ball. I guess it’s because of there former experience with the Tippmann SMG 60.

My former team Crossfire shot Tippmann SMG 60’s exclusively. Till I got one and then they started to switch to the larger cal. The .62 cal. supposedly cut the brush and was more aerodynamic than the larger .68. Well the SMG 60 faded into history. Back then a case of .62 cal paint cost $250.00 for 2500 rounds. You players today think the paint manufactures are raping you. Yes that was the amount of paintballs you got in a case of paint way back then. We all were mad when they changed the amount of rounds per case. But it didn’t spoil it for us we just kept on trucking, and playing. Having just as much fun as we always did.

Don’t Panic! Paintball is not dying! We have merely lost some of the new comers who would have skipped on us any way. They are young and fickle, and have other interests at the moment. I have no fear that most if not all of them will return after a short hiatus. Of course no one can predict the future. But I will say this for the record.

People come and go some stay some flow, what ever will be will be. The future is for us. We’ll see.

LAPCO Paintball has been around for years, quietly making high quality parts and accessories for the paintball world. Their work isn’t considered ‘sexy’, but they’re best known for making extremely high quality parts.

BT Designs created the Apex barrel for scenario/woodsball players to give them added range and the ability to curve paintballs. It takes the concept of the Tippmann Flatline barrel and condenses it into a small package that bears a striking resemblance to a suppressor on a real firearm.

The Apex’s main weakness is the barrel it comes attached to. While the Apex itself functions as advertised, accuracy suffers. LAPCO surmised that their barrels could add needed precision to the range offered by the Apex. LAPCO uses an exhaustive process to manufacture their barrels, starting with aluminum extrusions that eventually get milled, gun drilled, and honed into one of the most finely finished, accurate barrels on the market today.

We received an Apex Ready Barrel in autococker threading, which is commonly used on higher end markers like the Planet Eclipse Ego, DYE DM Series and others. Installing the Apex tip was merely a matter of taking the tip off of the BT barrel and attaching it to the LAPCO barrel. The bore on this barrel was the BigShot’s .690″, which is a good all-around barrel size for most field grade paintballs. Out of the tube we noticed that the anodizing was different than what we’re used to seeing. It’s a Military Class III anodizing, rather than the normal ‘sulfur’ anodizing used for decorative purposes. This makes for a hard finish, more resistant to scratching.

We used the barrel and Apex on a variety of paintball markers, including a Empire Mini and ’06 Planet Eclipse Ego. “Georgia” Joe Hamilton is an experienced scenario player and game writer. He’s used Apex barrels in the past, and while he liked the increased range that they offered, he felt that the shotgun-like pattern they produced could be improved on.

Over the course of several games he used the LAPCO Apex barrel and he noted that the pattern produced by the LAPCO barrel was significantly tighter than the stock barrel the Apex comes with. For the testing portion of the review, Joe used a wide variety of paint, from ProCaps Blaze and RecSport, to low end paint he purchased at Wal-Mart. In every case, he noted a significant improvement in precision while still providing the increased range that the Apex is designed to give.

LAPCO sells the Apex Ready Bigshot in two lengths, 8″ and 12″. If you already own an Apex Barrel and just want to upgrade the barrel portion, you can buy that from LAPCO directly or through their authorized dealers. LAPCO is also selling a complete Apex kit with the LAPCO Apex ready barrel and Apex tip. For under $100, you can buy a 12″ barrel system with the tip and LAPCO barrel, or for $59 you can buy the 12″ barrel. The 8″ variant is $10 cheaper. For more information, check out www.lapcopaintball.com

Vital Statistics:

Age: 42

Marital Status: Married to Paula 19 years

Children: Macy, 16, and “Bubba”, 14

Vehicle: ’96 Chevy Pickup

Music: AC/DC, Motorhead, Colt Ford

Billy Smith came on the paintball scene in a big way in 2004 with his Free Finale, which offered free entry, free camping, and extremely reasonable paint pricing for players. The scheduling of the event was seen as a direct challenge to Wayne Dollack, an allegation that Smith has never denied. His field, Low Country Paintball has hosts several scenario events a year, and in 2008 Smith along with game writer/coordinator “Georgia” Joe Hamilton produced 3 games at Camp Blanding’s MOUT Facility. LCP also played host for 4 SPPL Events to include the 2008 SPPL Championships being held at his field.

In person, the first thing you notice about Smith is that he’s a high-energy individual. At The Free FInale, he was constantly moving, dealing with last minute health problems with his brother Dale, talking to players, answering their questions and generally making himself available to everyone. He’s a consummate showman, using a sound system and 12 foot stage to ensure that everyone can see and hear him when giving game briefings, giving away prizes or introducing Generals for his games.

We caught up with Billy after the 2008 Free Finale, and picked his brain for the root of his success.

Dale Ford: Let’s start with some basic stuff…Tell us a little about yourself.

Billy Smith: Well, I come from a small one red light town in Ga. Been married to the same woman, sometimes not sure how, for 19 years. I have two wonderful children. A daughter who is named Macy who loves the tourney side of paintball and a son nick named “Bubba” , yes we have a Bubba in the family, who loves to play scenarios and fish. He says fish fear him. I live in a double wide mobile home and drive a 96 chevy pickup truck. My wife is self employed at her own convenience store. I try to live life to the fullest each and every day.

Dale Ford: How did you get your start as a paintball player?

Billy Smith: I guess like most people my age, we did exactly what our mothers told us not to do when growing up and played war with BB guns. I am damn lucky not to have had my eye shot out! It was not until the late eighties that I actually found out about paintball, I happened across a paintball magazine article in the breakroom where I worked. Of course, being an avid outdoorsman, growing up in south Ga huntin’ and fishin’, paintball was right up my alley as an adult. I remember thinking ‘What better animal to hunt than another person with a paintball gun!?!?’ I have been hooked ever since. Hell, I don’t even hunt critters anymore, just ain’t as fun once you play paintball.

D: What have you done as a player in either (or both) the Tournament and Scenario world?

B: Well as a tournament player, I tried. I just did not have the time or the money it was gonna take me to get to where I wanted. I have played in tourny’s all across the south, nothing big, just local fun. I did play in the first Spyder Cup. I actually thought my team had a chance at those Mustangs, didn’t happen. Had a blast trying though. I think the best part was the trip to Pa, My team and I bought an RV, little brother Dale drove us and we had a ball. I also played in the 2006 SPPL finals in Ok, took the LCP Short Bus out there. You should see the look on peoples faces when they pass you and your team is licking the windows… HILARIOUS!

I have also played in scenarios all over from Texas to the Carolinas and yes, Wayne’s World in Ocala. PB Charleston is a great field in Charleston SC, My friend Ben Torricelli has put on a few there and you know with MPP being there, it’s gotta be good! I’ve won quite a few MVP as with my team winning MVT but mainly, I play the scenarios to just have fun. I get to go out of town with my buddies and kids, meet up with buddies and act like a kid myself all weekend. Fun, Fun Fun.

D: You are known in the South for doing fundraisers and helping people, can you elaborate?

B: LCP has put on a few fund raiser events in the past few years. We helped a little girl named Eryana last year to help her single mother to pay her hospitable bills and helped her get the transportation she needed to get back and forth to Augusta Ga for her treatment. Eryana passed away last year but LCP and its players were glad to be there when we could. We also helped produce a game at Camp Blanding this past year for a Jacksonville based little girl named Juliana Wetmore. Quite a few funds were raised for her also. Now to say that LCP did these fund raisers would be incorrect. We were just the portal to make it happen. The players that attended the events and donated their time and money for the needful people are the real heroes.

D: At what point did you decide you wanted to get into the business side of paintball?

B: Easy answer, I enjoyed playing so much that the only way I could satisfy my addiction was to own a field! That way I could be involved with paintball all the time. I love this sport!

D: Who do you look up to business wise?

B: Vincent Kennedy McMahon, yes the wrestling promoter. Why, because he came from a small background and made it big HIS way. There is no cost to high for Vince to success. No sacrifice too big. Give it all you got or go home.

D: How did you come up with your strategy for engaging the market in South Georgia?

B: by listening. Players and people will reveal their desires if you just listen.

D: Has LCP been impacted at all by the recent downturn in the business side of Paintball?

B: Not at all. LCP serves an outstanding weekend player base. LCP is open seven days a week. We have Ft Stewart located about 20 minutes from us and the military uses LCP quite a bit for training during the week. We also serve corporate parties, church groups and of course, birthday parties. I really do not feel the downturn is in the local player base as much as in scenarios and tournaments. In my opinion the industry is bringing it upon themselves. Think about it, where does industry advertise? In paintball magazines! Well that is kinda redundant. I am not saying they shouldn’t but why are they not advertising elsewhere? Advertisement should be placed in a number of different venues, NEW players is what makes this sport grow. Budweiser doesn’t advertise to alcoholics, they are already drinkers! They advertise for the cool superbowl parties and such. They make it look cool to the masses that with Budweiser, you can be a cool partier too. We should see ads for paintball in venues like Woman’s World. Who do you think pays for the birthday party for little Johnny or hunting magazines so the hunter can still spend time doing what he like, even in the off season. Unless paintball steadily refreshes it’s player base, how can one expect it to grow. My favorite is the semi trailer with the big shot tourney players on the side either blasting or getting blasted. How many mothers on the interstate that see that say ‘Wow, My family and I should go try that’, ain’t happening! It Scares the hell out of Moms! How come they do not put a nice family out playing paintball or a pic of little Johnny or Susie having a good time playing? You want to attract new players? Make it look friendly to the Moms.

D: What do you think should be done to bring the game out of the slump it’s currently in?

B: New players, again advertise to get new players.

D: Paintball, especially scenario paintball is played and seen differently depending on where you are in the US. How do you see it here in the Southeast?

B: A bunch of in-your-face-type players who will drill the hell out of one another on the field and be best of buddies off. Southeast=Total Aggression!

D: A lot of pundits and commentators characterized the Free Finale as a ‘Middle Finger’ to Wayne Dollack, who’s acknowledged as the grandfather of modern scenario play. Was this an intentional move on your part?

B: Once upon a time, yes. Now the finale has a life of its own, It will continue as long as the players ask me to do it. To continue on this question though, I am by no means saying ‘do not go to Waynes’ Wayne puts on one hell of a show too and the man deserves his respect for what he has done. I have known Wayne for many years, hell, he has produced games at LCP many years ago! The man has put in his time. Go check out one of Vipers games, I have never been to one of his games but I hear he does an awesome job. I have respect for all producers of this game and what they do. We just do it differently here at LCP.

D: In addition to running LCP, you’re also a DraXxus Paint distributor. How has this helped you as you move forward with your business?

B: What I do as far as distribution is use my buying power to help the smaller fields get a foothold. Most new fields can not afford to buy several skids at a time to get a price break, that’s where I try to help. I sell paint all through Ga, Fla and the Carolinas.

D: What’s on your schedule for 2009?

B: We are constantly trying new formats and games and this year is no different. We are doing a game in May that will only be for 21 and older, yes a party is involved. Paintclub21.com is the site for that game. Is it a scenario? No. Is it a Big Game? No. Will it be a whole lot of fun? Well Hell Yeah!

D: Any parting words or thoughts?

B: Just enjoy life! Here is one of my favorite quotes, I do not know who it s by, but I like it. ‘Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, cocktail in one hand, and your body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, looking like Keith Richards on a bad day, screaming “YEE-HAA THAT WAS ONE HELL OF A RIDE!!!!!!!!!”

Proto Paintball is DYE’s sister company, making products that are lower in price, but still meet DYE’s demanding quality standards. They make clothing, masks, and other gear, including their own line of markers. As with DYE markers, all of Proto’s markers are designed around their patented spool valve technology.

Joining the PMR at the lower end of the price scale, the SLG is an entry-level spool valve marker. The latest version, the UL model is fitted with a polymer version of the Ultralight frame, which maximizes comfort and controllability of the marker. What sets the SLG apart from the PMR is the unique “sear-tripper” mode of operation.

The SLG is a spool valved marker, but rather than using a pneumatic solenoid to control the bolt’s cycle, it uses a hardened steel ring on the spool in conjunction with a mechanical solenoid to fire the marker. The SLG UL is a small marker, weighing in at 2.2 pounds. The board has Semi-Automatic, Millenium Series (2008), PSP and NXL modes on board. The SLG UL comes equipped with break-beam eyes to handle the paint detection duties. The inline regulator is DYE’s Hyper 3 Regulator. We did note that the Hyper 3 isn’t threaded for standard ASA threading, instead using a smaller thread, which appeared to be thicker and stronger than standard ASA threading.

Also housed in the polymer gripframe is a metal UL trigger that has adjustments for travel and spring tension. The stock barrel, while shorter than the norm, looks to be well made, which is a departure for most stock barrels in general. While the feed neck isn’t a lever locking type, it looks to be well made as well.

Out of the box, the clear anodized SLG UL comes with a no-rise feedneck, an 11″ Proto barrel, and a Proto ASA. All that’s required to get up and running is to attach the air system and a hopper of your choice. For this review we used a DYE Rotor hopper and a Custom Products 68/4500 air system. A combination of DXS Bronze and Rec-Sport paint was used during the course of the test.

We followed the well written and illustrated owner’s manual to set the marker to PSP Mode and set the trigger to our preferences. During the process of setting the marker up, we dry fired the marker a bit to get a feel for how the mechanical solenoid would feel. Like any other mechanical solenoid in a sear tripping marker, the solenoid was noticeably louder than a pneumatic solenoid.

On the field, the tiny SLG UL is easy to move with, and during the course of a long day at the field the marker’s light weight won’t be an issue. We were pleasantly surprised with the marker’s accuracy using the stock barrel, and the mechanical solenoid’s noise wasn’t noticeable in the slightest. Like most spool valved markers, the SLG UL is quiet.

Helping the SLG keep the noise down vs. earlier SLG’s is an integrated silencer in the bolt assembly. While the SLG doesn’t have the soft ‘thoop’ of a fully pneumatic spool valved marker, it’s an extremely quiet marker, especially when we used the 14″ St!ffi barrel on it.

The feedneck was a bit of a pain to screw down onto the Rotor hopper, and we felt that the commendable accuracy of the stock barrel could be improved on with an aftermarket barrel. Adding a 14″ St!ffi barrel gave an immediate and noticeable jump in perceived accuracy, and a slight improvement in efficiency, which Proto claims the SLG UL gives around 1500 shots per 4500 psi fill. Adding an aftermarket clamping feedneck to the SLG as well as investing in an aftermarket barrel would make the SLG a formidable marker for the vast majority of players.

Maintaining the SLG UL is a snap as well. The bolt system unscrews from the back of the marker, and unlike the PMR, the back cap is made of aluminum rather than polymer, so there aren’t concerns about stripping out the hex opening during the course of regular maintenance. Once the bolt system is removed, lubricating the bolt’s o-rings is a simple affair with the included DYE lube.

Priced at an MSRP of $299, the SLG UL offers a lot of bang for the buck, and is a viable alternative in the entry level market. For more information, check out www.protopaintball.com

It has come to my attention recently that people are still sending emails to dale@68caliber.com.

It has also come to my attention that rather than deleting that email account from 68Caliber.Com’s server, it would appear that my business associates are possibly continuing to receive emails at that address to use my name by proxy to get content for 68Caliber.Com.

Let this serve as public notice that if you receive an email from dale@68caliber.com it is NOT me. It is either Steve or Karen Davidson, the new Editor-in-Chief and Publisher for the site. While I still have a 44% interest in the company, I no longer have day-to-day control of the site and the server, and my business associates aren’t currently willing to speak with me.

If you are receiving emails from dale@68caliber.com , please know that you aren’t dealing with me, you are most likely dealing with Steve and Karen Davidson. I am no longer responsible for emails sent from that address. Furthermore, if you’re receiving emails from jamie@68caliber.com , that is NOT my wife, Jamie Ford.

Jamie and I have private email accounts, and our public email accounts to contact us regarding advertising opportunities, event coverage, or news for inclusion in the Ford Report are dale@thefordreport.com and jamie@thefordreport.com

The Angel 1 was a major step forward technologically for Angel aficionados, offering greater accuracy, smaller size and increased reliability over the A4-based A4 Fly and A4. As is tradition with Angel Paintball Sports, the ultimate expression of a current marker design is the Fly. So it is with the A1 Fly. Angel Paintball Sports’ engineers and designers took the basic A1 platform and went to work on it to increase reliability, efficiency, and ease of use and maintenance.

One of the hallmarks of the Fly version Angels is light weight, hence the name Fly. The A1 platform is already a light marker, but even so Angel’s engineers aggressively attacked any excess weight on the marker, shaving off weight wherever they found it. The result is an aggressive milling design, intended to take off any excess weight whatsoever. This applied to the marker’s internals as well, with a new hammer design to complement the A1 Fly’s Magno-Valve, which allows for lower operating pressures, decreased dwell times and increased efficiency, which was an issue on the A1′s.

Out of the box, the first thing we noticed was the rough texture of the grips and the panels on the inline regulator. Angel refers to this as ‘fly paper’, and it’s intended to enhance the gripability of the marker no mater what is on it, be it dirt, paint or in wet conditions. We also noticed that instead of a one piece foregrip that houses the inline regulator, the Fly has a US-threaded ASA that an inline regulator screws into, which makes upgrading to a different regulator an easy proposition. Also standard on the Fly are Angel’s 3-piece eye covers, which feature more robust rubber nubbin type detents.

The feed neck is new as well, featuring a shorter, stronger lever to clamp the feedneck down on a hopper. The previous A1 lever had a tendency to bend. The feed neck itself is a sleeker, lighter part. What really sets the Fly apart from the parent A1 is the trigger system. In the Fly, the trigger sits on a precision-ground shaft with bearings at either end of it. The trigger is secured to the shaft using a set screw. The trigger is fully adjustable for front stop, back stop, magnetic return and activation point. The result is a trigger that is buttery smooth with no lateral movement at all. We took our time about adjusting the trigger to our tastes, and the effort was worth it, giving us precisely the feel we wanted for the trigger.

The Fly comes with three barrel backs, with .691, .693, and .695 bore sizes. The front of the two piece barrel is made by Sly Equipment out of Carbon Fiber. On the test piece, the front was white in color, to complement the blue velvet dust finish. The Angel Fly uses the same proprietary A1 threading as the Angel 1.

Also setting the Fly apart from the A1 is the Magno-valve, which uses repelling magnets to locate and return the valve stem during the firing cycle. In the A1 model, the valve was located and returned by a spring, which in reality was too long to afford precise opening and closing of the valve, which led to mediocre efficiency. With the new Magno-Valve, which is backwards compatible with the A1, the repelling magnets control the valve, which allows for shorter dwell times, more consistency, and efficiency on par with other high end markers. During testing, we fired 1160 paintballs on a 3500 psi fill, which would get us 1500+ shots on a full 4500 psi fill. While this is somewhat less than what Angel Paintball Sports had observed on their markers, we feel that the paint used during the course of the test was the deciding factor on the efficiency front. We used the stock .691 barrel back with ProCaps Blaze and ProCaps RecSport , which measured roughly .686 in diameter.

On the field the Fly works like any other A1, except that we noticed a lot less time in the air fill station, and with the new, lighter hammer in the A1, almost non-existent perceived recoil. This helped with controlling the marker during high rate-of-fire, keeping the stream of paintballs on target. We found accuracy to be slightly better than previous A1′s, we felt that with the addition of an aftermarket barrel that more closely fit the paint we were using, the accuracy would improve above and beyond the very acceptable accuracy we were seeing with the stock barrel system and small paint we used during the course of the test.

For this review, the marker was fed by a Crossfire LP airsystem, while the paint feeding duties were handled by a DYE Rotor and Hard Corps Torque. We encountered no broken paint during the course of the test, aside from 3 barrel breaks we encountered during field testing, which was attributed to cold weather conditions and the badly abused ProCaps Rec-Sport paint we were shooting at the time.

We did encounter two minor issues with the marker, one attributed to a defective macroline fitting on the ASA, and a small air leak we found in the vertical ASA, which was found to be dry o-rings at the body/ASA joint. These minor issues were quickly and easily corrected, and once everything was sealed up, the marker performed very well.

The A1 Fly is available in several different colors, and several limited edition models exist. The MSRP for the A1 Fly is $1195, while the Gothic Fly goes for $1245. The limited edition Flys like the Cobra Fly go for $1295, and last but not least, the Joy Division Fly goes for $1395. The Angel Fly can be found online at www.angelpaintballsports.com, Ken Crane’s Performance Angel (www.PerformanceAngel.Com), and Bob “P.I.” Moon’s www.fixmyangel.com

Since the dawn of the electronic age for paintball, the aftermarket has
really attacked the marker market, designing boards, chips and other
electronics that enhance the performance of a marker and give it more
flexibility. As things evolved, it became obvious that hoppers would have to
get upgrades to keep up. Enter the HALO V35 board, Gangstar, and now
Hyperdrive PB.

Janek Depczynski, the designer of the HyperDrive chip for the VL Vlocity and
Vlocity Jr. took a hard look at the code on the stock hopper’s chip, then
set forth to improve on it and make it easier for people to use. The result
is being used by pro teams like XSV as they power their way through the
leagues.

Since the HyperDrive chip is physically the same as the chip installed in a
Vlocity as it comes from the factory, installation is simply a matter of
taking your hopper apart to access the board, carefully pulling out the old
chip, and installing the new one.

By installing the HyperDrive Chip, you gain complete control of every aspect
of your hopper’s operation, and you can fine tune it to your tastes. You can
program the timing and power going to your hopper’s motor, tension on the
ball stack, an electronic rip drive to remove jams, how long before you
loader powers down before it automatically shuts off, plus QuickChange modes
for quick and easy setup to feed your marker without delving too deeply into
the programming. There’s also a setting for Hyperdrive Mode time, which
gives the loader an extra burst of speed and power when running in this
mode. This would be used mainly during the breakout portion of the game,
when the absolute need for fast and reliable feeding is needed most.

On field, operating a HyperDrive upgraded Vlocity is the same as a stock
one. HyperDrive PB, Janek D was kind enough to provide us with a upgraded
loader for this review. Janek from HyperDrive noted that this was a demo
loader, used at trade shows for the past year or so. As such, the gearbox
that drives the feed cone is excessively worn, which caused a ratcheting
sound during high load operation or during an anti-jam maneuver. In the
higher power settings, the Vlocity Jr. we tested was also noticeably louder
than a stock Vlocity.

The loader was subjected to a variety of different paint, including DraXxus
RecSport, GAP, and DraXxus Blaze, in a variety of different environmental
conditions. We tested the loader on a variety of markers as well, including
a Dangerous Power Threshold, Angel A1, and a Planet Eclipse Ego 8. In every
case the HyperDrive-equipped loader performed flawlessly, but the electronic
rip drive got a good workout while we were using the DraXxus Rec-Sport,
which we had intentionally abused so that it was misshapen and varied widely
in size. The chip’s code detected and cleared the jams with minimal
disruption.

Priced at $19.95, the VL-Approved Hyperdrive Chip is a must-have upgrade for
your Vlocity or Vlocity Jr. For more information, check out
www.hyperdrivepb.com

The DYE Rotor

DYE has been a mainstay in the sport of paintball almost from the beginning, providing high quality playing clothing, packs and other soft goods for players who wanted the best. As time went on, they started delving into the hard parts, mask, and marker market, with private label autocockers, and spool valved markers like the DM series, which started with the DM4. Their DM series markers are among the most successful in the sport, powering The Ironmen to their 2008 NXL Championship as well as their domination of the NPPL Circuit. For 2009 DYE has chosen to enter the hotly contested hopper market, which includes standouts like the HALO, Reloader B, Magna, VL Vlocity, and Hard Corps Torque loaders, all of which are used by top teams around the world.

So what does the Rotor bring to the table? For starters, it boasts a full 200 paintball capacity, which for the all-important breakout portion of the game, can give a player the advantage by enabling him to put more paint in the air over a longer period of time. DYE has a video on their website showing a modified DM8 with the eyes turned off and the rate of fire set to unlimited. In the video, the marker is firing at 40 balls per second in short bursts, and the Rotor keeps up with no skips or chops.

Out of the box, we noted immediately that the majority of the shell for the Rotor is made of a softer plastic than the ABS or polycarbonates used in current loaders. It’s the same material used on the old VL Revolutions and VL2000′s, which were nearly indestructible. Accenting the matte black plastic of the shell are polycarbonate accents that allow the user to see inside the loader to monitor how much paint he has remaining in the hopper. The lid is color matched to these accents, and if you decide to change the color of your loader or buy a different colored marker, you can buy kits to change the color of your Rotor.

Taking the Rotor apart for servicing or cleaning is accomplished without tools. To remove the top half of the shell, you pull up on a release situated directly beneath the lid, and then push a button further down to release the top half from the remainder of the hopper. Form there, you pop out the various components of the loader, including the drive system out of it. Each piece of the drive line is individually replaceable, which over the long term can reduce the cost of owning a Rotor.

The Rotor uses a mechanical sensing element to detect the presence of a paintball in the loader’s feedneck, so it’s not always running. There are two elements in the force feed mechanism that pushes paintballs into the marker. They’re a pair of gear driven, counter rotating arms to push the paintballs down the feedneck. The anti-jam duties are performed by a pull trigger mechanism, which reverses the feed arms to clear over sized or misshapen paint. The Rotor is powered by 3 AA batteries. For this test, we used Energy Paintball batteries.

We tested the DYE Rotor on two separate markers, a Planet Eclipse Ego 8 and a Dangerous Power Threshold.

What makes it all work!

The profile of the loader on-marker is very low, which reduces a player’s profile on field, which can give him a higher chance of continued survival on-field. On most paintball hoppers, the feedneck is generally located at about the mid-point of the loader. The Empire Magna and VL Evlution II loaders put the feedneck at the front of hopper, placing the bulk of the hopper’s weight at the back of the marker. The Rotor splits the difference between these two extremes, placing the feedneck about 1 inch forward of the loader’s mid-point lengthwise. This gives a nice balance on-marker, without the hopper being subject to spinning around backwards during slides and running and gunning and other high-stress movements on-field.

The Rotor is a very quiet hopper, due mainly to the small, low amperage motor driving the gear train. The on-off switch has a nice, positive feel to it, and the button lights up with a brilliant blue LED when it’s on, so there’s no doubt when the hopper is on or off. The lid is easy to open and close, and while the opening to pour paint in is a bit on the small side, upcoming accessories like the integrated speed feed will make this less of a factor.

The DYE Rotor is an expensive hopper, with an MSRP of $150, and current street pricing right at that $140-$150 range. However, if you’re looking for a hopper for the long haul, the Rotor might be the ticket for you. DYE is known for making quality equipment, and we can’t see DYE staking that reputation on a hopper unless it was up to their very-high standards. For more information, check out www.dyeprecision.com