DarkTamer

Thanks for the support guys, this is the second version of this thread. If you’re interested in the older version which is slightly different and has some older guns, it can be found here: http://www.paintballforum.com/showth...16#post1832316


This is a quick guide for anyone wondering what gun to buy. It is by no means all encompassing, so still feel free to post your own thread asking people what they think of your choices, this is just to help narrow the choices. I will not cover every single gun, that would take too much time and be pointless. I will try to be as unbiased as possible. Keep in mind, these suggestions are all geared towards functionality/tournament play, I do not include guns designed to look cool for scenario games.

I have only covered guns still being produced/sold (as of today, 12/22/06), older guns are not included. This for guns sold being new from the retailer, not used. Some retailers have different prices, have sales, prices change etc. so you may find you can’t find the gun in some category in that price range, or perhaps you’ll find it cheaper; I can’t control this, I’ve tried to be as accurate as possible with prices.

I may decide to update or create newer versions of this thread in the future.


$1-100 Category
This is the lowest category, so naturally these are not the greatest guns, these are the worst. These are meant to be for players who just like to go out and have fun once in a rare while, fool around in their backyard, etc. They are not worth spending lots of money upgrading; general rule of thumb is to not spend more money on upgrades than what you spent on the gun itself.

-Kingman Spyder Xtra:

Kingman Group
A cheap Spyder that has been around for years. It’s fairly reliable, simple design, and no electronics to screw up or mess around with it.
*Stacked tube blowback
*Spyder threaded barrel
*Works on either co2 or HPA (must be a High Pressure tank, LP will not work)

-PMI Eforce GTI 2006:

www.pminetwork.com/
The Piranha line of guns are cheap and pretty good performers, they perform exactly like spyders except are built at a higher standard and use standard parts, while spyders use metric parts which are very hard to find. This gun is cheap, electric (meaning faster than a mechanical gun) and pretty durable. My top pick for this category.
*Stacked tube blowback
*Spyder threaded barrel
*Works on either co2 or HPA (must be a High Pressure tank, LP will not work)


$101-200 Category
This is still no where near the top, so don’t expect too much but guns in this category are definitely worth looking at over the $1-100 Category. Some guns in this range simply the same as guns in the $1-100 Category with some trivial upgrades; others are actually a few steps above. Either way, guns in this range aren’t really meant to be tricked out and be used in competitively.

-PMI Eforce Evo:

www.pminetwork.com/
Again, same operation as a spyder (stacked tube blowback), but this time it comes with a very nice set of break beam eyes, which will do a far better job of reducing chops than the “ACS” bolt.
*Stacked tube blowback
*Spyder threaded barrel
*Works on either co2 or HPA (must be a High Pressure tank, LP will not work)
*Break Beam eyes

-Tippman 98:

Tippmann
It's not fast, or light, but it always works. It’s been described as the “AK47 of paintball”. What makes it such a good choice is it's near indestructibility. So long as you put a bit of oil through it once in a while, the only thing that will ever break on this gun is the feedneck when is something like a $10 replacement. It is mechanical, so there are no electronics to screw up.
*Single tube blowback
*Tippman 98 barrel threads
*Works on either co2 or HPA (must be a High Pressure tank, LP will not work)

-Diablo Wrath/Slayer:

.IABLO PAINTBALL:.
It’s a poppet valve with a spring return ram; this design seems to have a bad rap, although the design isn’t the problem here, it’s simply the gun over all. When they are working, they seem to be pretty decent guns, but reliability is not the best from what I’ve seen and heard.
*Stacked tube spring return ram driven
*Break beam eyes
*Autococker barrel threads

-Smart Parts Ion:

smartparts.com
Most definitely the undisputed king when it comes to bang for your buck, in any category. They have a bad rap for many different reason that I won’t really get into, but the fact of the matter is they’re pretty decent guns: they’re light, pretty robust, and fast. The real problem with these guns is the way they’re designed, you must take apart the entire gun to access the bolt assembly, which needs to lubed regularly. On top of that the electronics and internals are rather cheap, and since they must be handled very often to get to the bolt assembly they tend to break a lot. This is gun is definitely the best buy in this category, if you feel confident that you can strip it down and reassemble it without a problem. It’s not complicated to do, you just have to be extra careful. This is really the only gun in this category that if you felt like spending enough money on it, it can actually be as good or at least nearly as good as some “high ends”.
*Blowforward (Similar to spool valve but simplified)
*Impulse/Ion Barrel threads
*Replaceable plastic body shell
*Break beam eyes


$201-300 Category
Guns in this range are more or less for the same people as the $101-200 category. These guns just come with some better features out of the box pretty much.

-ICD Promaster:

ICDPaintball
It’s light, quite fast, and efficient due to it’s poppet valve innards. It doesn’t come with a bottomline, so you’ll have to spend at least another $15 or so bucks to actually get it up and shooting right out of the box. Beware, I personally do not like anything from ICD, as I’ve seen too many of their guns having strange issues, particularly with their regulators, both the LP and HP.
*Stacked tube air ram
*Autococker barrel threads
*Break beam eyes

-Ion Pro:

smartparts.com
This is an Ion with all the essential upgrades you need: new barrel, on/off, and clamping feedneck.
*Blowforward (Similar to spool valve but simplified)
*Impulse/Ion barrel threads
*Break beam eyes
*Clamping feedneck
*On/off ASA

[continued in next post]

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