HELP Etek, mini, or other

[Dalton]

Alright heres my opinion, i owned a invert mini and sold it was to small for my comfort and wasnt impresed. Now i onw a proto rail with a ul frame on it and it shoots great stock but id recremend to get a ul frame. And it will cost about $400 brand new with a ul frame, due to the protos major price drop. : )

[GImpy]

Some food for thought... A etek is much more durable and IMO easier to clean and maintain.
the mini is a very finicki marker and 1 over pressurization and the poppet goes bye bye..also mini's have problems with their inline air filter.

[gfgjester]

OK, revision to what I originally posted.

Yesterday, I had a guy come into the shop with a Mini he bought a week ago. It was blowing air through the grip! Pressurized correctly, it had blown the cap off the bottom of the solenoid. Havent seen this one before. I'll tt PS today and get info. But this is one of the very rare problems I have seen on Minis. The biggest problems (2) being failure to properly lube the bolt and guide, causing the spring to am into the side of the bolt. This digs a crater and is generally NOT good. The other is overlubing the poppet where it spits lube up to the seal. Makes for leaky down de barrel.

What was said about the PMR is true. I built one with a U/L frame and maxed it out with L7 bolt, laser eyes, etc. It ate childrens fingertips if they came near it. But I sold it, (in fact I just put a new solenoid in it after a new owner thought counter clockwise would shut down the Hyper 2...)when I saw the...

ETEK E-Star Urban camo. While it's a step up, price wise, as has been said, a vewwy vewwy nice gun. I love mine and gently caress it regularly. The only thing I did to mine, as far as ups, was bolt, laser eyes (ME blind), blackout screws, and CP trigger. I dream of the STAR frame at night. ("Mommy? Where's Daddy? He's been gone SO long.") Well, he's looking for THAT bad boy. LCD display to help those of us that are only up to - here - on the "You must be this smart to program the ETEK" marker sign. Plus, you get to make it go choo-choo fast with provisions to install a QEV!

"Oprah, if you give me anything this year, let it be a Star Frame!"

Pricing... Street areas - Mini 325; PMR 250/100 w/UL; ETEK 500-600. Now you can be REALLY confused!

[Shrub]

Originally Posted by tank fc1

pmr is a great mid range marker and it shoots faster that both the etek and the minni

It doesn't matter about how fast it shoots as most promoters cap BPS at 15 anyway. But just for the record PMR solenoids max cycle rate is 24-26 bps, Mini I do not know, Etek/Ego6 cycle 24-26 bps... though most eteks are limited by their boards to 15-16 bps max with stock firmware.

But there again PMR's are lower priced than Eteks but higher or comparible to Mini's in price but are not very easy to maintain. Unless you upgrade parts right away for instance PMR's need a Metal back cap out of the box as 99.9% of all leaks are either from the composite back cap or a Tophat O-ring, bolt sail o-rings. Then there is the composite clamping feedneck. I have seen so many of these break it isn't even funny.


Just for the record I am not bashing your statement just stating the facts and from experience. I have shot nothing but Dye markers from '03 to '06 except for an occasional Angel and moved away from Dye mid '06 due to the poor performance and constant problems with a DM6. I still own 2 DM4's and will always own my Trauma Dm4 as it holds a special place in my heart. But most Dye markers are not newbie friendly due to the amount of maintenance that are required to keep them running. Just my .02

[sarge]

my tastes lean towards the etek. mini too small for my taste.
here are a couple from ebay he might want to check out

Planet Eclipe Etek Ego! Olive! Paintball Gun! Marker! - eBay (item 170199477245 end time Mar-08-08 19:50:30 PST)

ETEK EGO PAINTBALL GUN by Planet Eclipse - GOLD! - eBay (item 140212100713 end time Mar-08-08 18:22:49 PST)

07 ETEK EGO WITH 14" .689 STIFFI BARREL - eBay (item 150222055850 end time Mar-10-08 09:31:04 PDT)

Etek Ego 07 with VIRTUE board looks new - eBay (item 270216143507 end time Mar-10-08 23:13:23 PDT)

and they have more just out of the price range you described

i use dm's i like the guns and founf great deals on ebay. i picked up a dm4 and 5 with air for under 700

[FONZ]

thanks for all your input everyone, it is much appreciated

[Shrub]

I have a friend that has an Etek for sale pretty cheap at the moment it is olive with the e-star camo contrast kit if you are interested lmk.

[Chappy]

just remember anything ego, ego5, 6,7,8, etek 1,2 are very very loud and have a lot of kick out the box. Mini cool but in the days of on/offs asa way not add one to the mini is stupid nothing like cutting orings trying to get your bottle off. I would say a rail with Ul would be your best bet. and the feel of a UL frame just cant be beat. Now if you like the high end look for some DM7 I know you can get some dirt cheap on Nation. I have one and love it (tho i cant afford to shoot the paint for it :P)

[tank fc1]

Originally Posted by Shrub

It doesn't matter about how fast it shoots as most promoters cap BPS at 15 anyway. But just for the record PMR solenoids max cycle rate is 24-26 bps, Mini I do not know, Etek/Ego6 cycle 24-26 bps... though most eteks are limited by their boards to 15-16 bps max with stock firmware.

But there again PMR's are lower priced than Eteks but higher or comparible to Mini's in price but are not very easy to maintain. Unless you upgrade parts right away for instance PMR's need a Metal back cap out of the box as 99.9% of all leaks are either from the composite back cap or a Tophat O-ring, bolt sail o-rings. Then there is the composite clamping feedneck. I have seen so many of these break it isn't even funny.


Just for the record I am not bashing your statement just stating the facts and from experience. I have shot nothing but Dye markers from '03 to '06 except for an occasional Angel and moved away from Dye mid '06 due to the poor performance and constant problems with a DM6. I still own 2 DM4's and will always own my Trauma Dm4 as it holds a special place in my heart. But most Dye markers are not newbie friendly due to the amount of maintenance that are required to keep them running. Just my .02

i agree with the parts upgrade right away with the pmr. ok so if you mess with the marker yes a dye marker can be maint intense but for the price and performance the pmr is still tops, i run mine with the borange bolt and virtue eyes and havent had an issue one.. (watch now that i said that it will stop working) but as far as being reliable its been real reliable. ive shot 60 or so cases of paint through my pmr and havent had 1 issue or oring failure or a broken bolt.

[drnez]

just picked up a PM7 myself.. played with a mini a few weeks ago and it was too small for me.. Love the PM7 though, and picked it up BNIB for ultra cheap. (under $400)