[donnrcp]

I am a shooter and reloader with over 25 years of experience. I got a marker because my wife and I gave our son one for Christmas. I put off trying paintball for years thinking it was a waste of time. OK, I was wrong. I've got the same feeling looking to upgrade my Spyder Xtra that I have when shopping for a new Glock! I'm actually going sell one of my pistols to get another marker. Why you ask, possibly because I have been shot up by the likes of Spyder Pilots and
Piranha GTIs? Possibly healing from bruises resulting from an unwise frontal assault?

Yes!

I am going to spend around $400 on my new marker. I prefer to shoot straight and far if I need to. My shooting will be in a Rec Ball type in the desert where I live. I'll be using CO2 since I got a fill station! The Tippman A5 with a flatline is tempting me. What is comparable to that system (providing that I match barrels to the right paint)in my price range?

Thanks, Donn

[Ice98]

some of the upgraded 98s are very nice, also they are really upgradeable

i just bought a pm6, so i sorta skipped the whole 200-700 dollar range guns, but Ions are sposed to be prety good guns, and also you can buy them in different configurations depending on how much you want to pay for it

theres alot of good autocockers in that range, also buying guns used from one of the people here is a good idea to get a better gun for slighty cheaper

but ya, theres alot of guns that are way better than spyders an pirahnas, those are like the guns you get to start out with, even the "upgraded" or "pro" packages

[Trbo323]

the A5 with flatline will give you some good distance, whatever you do, dont think you are gunna be a "sniper" though, sniping in paintball doesnt exist, not the way people precieve sniping anyway, there are a lot better guns out there, are you looking for new or used?? you can pretty mutch dump all your money on a gun and hopper cuz a co2 tank is at most around $28 for a 20oz,

as for what gun, well thats really up to you, do some research, what does your local shop carry extra parts for? what are some of the other players around you using, at the bottom is a link to pbreview, its a great site that has reviews on pretty mutch everything paintball related, the link will guide u to the gun reviews, If i had $400 though, personally id go with somthing a little more high end than a A5, I have a smart parts impulse that i bought for $153 (best $153 i ever spent) off ebay (another great site for paintball stuff) you might want to look into the smart parts ion. hope all this helps, Ill keep an eye on this thread and give u more advise if you need it

Markers Paintball Reviews - pbreview.com

[martix_agent]

Originally Posted by Trbo323

the A5 with flatline will give you some good distance, whatever you do, dont think you are gunna be a "sniper" though, sniping in paintball doesnt exist, not the way people precieve sniping anyway, there are a lot better guns out there, are you looking for new or used?? you can pretty mutch dump all your money on a gun and hopper cuz a co2 tank is at most around $28 for a 20oz,

as for what gun, well thats really up to you, do some research, what does your local shop carry extra parts for? what are some of the other players around you using, at the bottom is a link to pbreview, its a great site that has reviews on pretty mutch everything paintball related, the link will guide u to the gun reviews, If i had $400 though, personally id go with somthing a little more high end than a A5, I have a smart parts impulse that i bought for $153 (best $153 i ever spent) off ebay (another great site for paintball stuff) you might want to look into the smart parts ion. hope all this helps, Ill keep an eye on this thread and give u more advise if you need it

Markers Paintball Reviews - pbreview.com

I couldn't have said it better myself.

i don't see any reason for you not to get a tippman. they're built like tanks and will withstand being dropped in the sand and the dry conditions. Unless you're requiring more speed, a tippman is your best friend (and now you can even buy an electronic trigger for a tippman so you can have the tippman durability as well as speed)

[JH]

another thing you could look at is a mag. they have speed and are built like tanks just like tippmans

[martix_agent]

Originally Posted by JH

another thing you could look at is a mag. they have speed and are built like tanks just like tippmans

DO'H! i forgot about mags. they're crazy awesome as well when it comes to reliability.

[txaggie08]

JH and matrix have it right on the money.

Mags are about the only thing i would deam tougher than tippman(the mag is knid of the kalashnikov of pb guns......theyre everywere, and they dont break......when they do its usualy something that costs sub5$ to fix). They run anywere from a basic classic up to e-mags. The classics are nice guns, and still shoot plenty fast. Setup properly an e-mag is incredibly light, and plenty fast enough to play top level tourny ball with. I highly recommend one, a classic valved ule gun is well within your rang with enough money left over for a good tank etc.(hell an rt valved gun is in that range....)

The imp is also a good choice. Tough, capable of running on CO2 without to many complaints, and dirt cheap.

[Alpha]

Get a mag. The Mag Smith | AGD | Air Gun Designs | Automag | Minimag | Custom Mag | Mag Parts.

CO2 is better for the desert then for colder climates... It boils off from liquid to gas quicker then it would in a cold environment, so you're looking at quicker refresh rates. Just be careful that you don't fill it too much. I've seen tanks exposed to sun when its only 75 degrees outside blow their safety disc.

Tippmanns are alright, although they are the pinnacle of n00bs. Don't expect much of a performance upgrade from your spyder.

The best way to win in any situation is accuraccy by volume, and you just can't get the same ROF out of a $250 gun as you can with a $500 electro pneumatic marker. You're looking upwards of 15BPS with a decent gun, as opposed to a tippmann's 10ish.

[Ice98]

just wanted to say
proto is offering an 07 version of the matrix, called the proto "Rail"
MSRP is 399.95 from proto themselves
pretty good price for a brand new marker in your selection of colors from a reputable company, should check it out

[Trbo323]

all these guys are giving great advise but the best thing to do is see what your local shop carries first, you may have a gun that works great for you but if you have to wait a week for parts everytime it breaks it gets really annoying real fast.

[donnrcp]

Thanks for the input. Searching a forum is helpful, getting good responses to a thread: Priceless.

[Ice98]

well, if you spend 400, you might want to allocate the money to other things than just the marker

like:
$70 hopper
$30-40 c02 OR $80-120 HPA
then like 210-300 gun

unless you just wanted to straight pay 400 for the gun and then buy a tank and hopper on top of that, then get the rail O.o

theres a phrase that goes:
"a chain is only as strong as its weakest link"

well:
"A gun is only as fast as its slowest component" so if you have a stock hopper your stuck with gravity feed at like, i dunno, a few BPS