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Smart Parts Ion Paintball Gun
Summary: The Smart Parts Ion has made waves as a cheap “high-end” paintball gun, and is the most affordable electropneumatic gun on the market. It is a great option for players who are serious about their game, but low on money. The gun’s plastic shell casing and light weight might make one question its performance, but it’s the insides that count. The Ion is dependable and reasonably fast right out of the box. With some relatively cheap upgrades it only gets better.
Features & Specs:
Break-beam Vision Anti-Chop System
Low weight (2.2 pounds)
Custom marker casing (black/black, black/blue, black/red, black/yellow)
Electronic LED grip
Rebound, full auto, 3 round burst, and semi-automatic firing options
Magnetic trigger
Bottom-line adapter
Performance: The Smart Parts Ion paintball gun offers speed in a tough and reliable package. It is a highly air efficiency marker: most users will be able to get 1000-1400 shots from one 68 ci, 4500 psi bottle. Another great asset of the Ion is that it almost never chops paint. The electronic eye does an excellent job of timing the bolt to prevent broken paint. Owners will also find the paintball gun to be maneuverable and pretty compact.
Maintenance: One big shortcoming of the Smart Parts Ion is that it is not easily broken down for maintenance in the field. Luckily, this paintball gun is so reliable that such maintenance is seldom required. When you get your Ion home, be sure to read the directions that come packaged with the gun before attempting to dismantle it for cleaning – it can be a tricky job.
Upgrades: The Ion comes out of the box in pretty good shape. However, there are some essential upgrades that need to be done for this gun to reach its full potential. The most urgent upgrades are a new barrel and new regulator. The barrel, while OK, is not nearly accurate enough to compete with the sorts of guns that would be faced on a tournament field. The stock regulator is known to loose velocity when the gun is fired over 8 balls per second.
Many owners also chose to upgrade the trigger because the stock one isn’t fluid enough to allow for high rates of fire. Others find that the stock trigger is decent enough once some of the magnets that control it have been removed.
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