looking for a gun

[Rembrandt]

Originally Posted by TheFuzz

Ions are evil. I will *never* use an Ion...they ruined the paintball world :P.

I sure hope you're joking.

[TheFuzz]

Nope...the Ion has ruined the paintball world. The arms race has taken the game of paintball from skilled players to a race to have the fastest shooting paintball gun possible. So now instead of a whole slew of new players running around with a mech M98 that shoots maybe 7-10bps, they're running around shooting upwards of 15+bps for little over $100 more. This makes the game more dangerous for everyone when you have an inexperienced player with that much firepower. Not to mention there is no skill anymore. The game has gone from whoever has the most skill to whoever can sling the most paint.

Lighter triggers in the hands of inexperienced players cause more accidents. How many times have you seen an inexperienced player pull the trigger in the staging area without their barrel plug in? Instead of 1 paintball going down range, you may have 3-5...more of a chance of someone to get hurt.

When you pay $100 more for an Ion than a regular starter mechanical marker, you have to spend more money on HPA and a faster loader. This causes people to pinch pennies elsewhere. This could mean a cheaper mask or a barrel plug instead of a barrel bag. Trust me, I've seen it more than once just by hanging out at the local paintball store.

While most players are in their teens or younger with their parents paying for their hobbies, most will quit when they get in the real world and have to pay for it themselves. Why do you think there's a sharp drop-off of players from 13-17 and 18-25? Now that you almost have to shoot more paint to compete at a lot of fields, you have to pay more. Now really who out there can afford to pay $150 every weekend and take care of their bills/family? A normal person can't. Since the Ion has increased the average paint usage, its increased the average price per weekend.

Those are the reasons that the Ion is evil and has ruined the paintball world.

PS: You notice I didn't say it was a bad paintball marker, because it isn't. You can't beat what you get for the price, but that hurts everyone in the long rong.

[Rembrandt]

Well technically it won't hurt everyone in the long run. People who have families and such should have common sense considering they started one. They should know or learn that other things come first other than a hobby like paintball. So if they spend all the money every weekend of just spend all that money on the sport, it's their decision. It's not the guns fault. You can't blame a gun for what people choose to waste their money on instead of spending it on needs not wants. So you can't say it ruined the paintball world. Hell even if the Ion never exsisted, look at the Spyders now, break beam eyes, rocking trigger up to 20 bps. All those are available at a local Wal-Mart compared to paintball stores. Just because the Ion came out before the Spyders got the huge upgrades they did and took all the hype doesn't mean the Ion "ruined the world". Hell I have seen more people playing at local fields with supe'd up Tippmanns wasting all their money compared to Ions. So you can't say the gun ruined the game. The rest of the market would have gotten there sooner or later with or without the Ion.

I do agree the sport is getting more dangerous with the electric guns so readily available out now. But you can't blame it on the guns. Newer players don't know. They learn from mistakes like anyone else. However, certain mistakes can be prevented. Fields take safety measures as best as possible. Although accidents do happen because alot of newer players, Don't Know. I'm not saying the fields you go to have bad safety, but I know alot of fields I go to do, and yes it pisses me off. But even the fields with good safety can't prevent everything. They can't be constantly watching. And that's when it falls into the hands of us more experienced players like you, me, and others. We know how things go or how they should be, keep an eye out on fellow players new or not. I'm not saying be an asshole although sometimes it calls for being stern. Jump up and prevent something if you see it, then explain to the person or newer people what happened or was going to happen and teach them how to prevent it. They learn not only from experiencing it but from fellow players telling them and teaching them. I mean most players like us get mad and yell, and don't explain. Or they just don't tell or help the other players. I've seen it time and time again, so I try to step up along with many many other people, including 99% of the people on this board.

Also in the original post of this thread he stated it was for a friend who is somewhat of an experienced player and is getting back into the sport. So obviously if he quit or stopped playing once before I'm assuming he has his priorites straight and knows what comes first aside from his hobbies. So you can't not reccomend the Ion for a situation like this. I'm not saying "you have to buy this gun, everything else sucks". But for the money and getting started again it is a great gun. Sure not everyone likes the gun, I mean I don't like certain guns (ICDs, timmys, etc) But I'm not saying I won't reccomend them if the situation arises for it. Because they are good guns.

I understand you are not saying it is a bad gun, all I'm getting at is you can't not reccommend it because of your opinions. And you can't say the gun ruined the game when it was going to get there with or without it eventually.

[TheFuzz]

The Ion has driven the price of all electros down so they can compete. An electro spyder with the rocking trigger cost over $400 when it first came out, yet its had to lower its price to compete with the Ion. As well as BKOs, Wraths, etc. Now an Ion in the hands of any player other than a new player is a great marker. Most of the players on this board are experienced, play scenarios, and are well aware of paintball safety. You notice I even recomended the Ion to his friend.

I really didn't mean to threadjack, but I have my opinion and you have yours and there's nothing wrong with either.

I will admit I've seen some sweet upgraded Ions and almost everyone I play owns one as their primary or backup.

[shooting psyko]

just cause you have any gun doesnt mean your good i know a kid with a karnivor who has no skill and i can beat him with my ion

[TheFuzz]

Oh I know...trust me I've played stock class for the past 4 years and have played against rich kids with $1200 markers and zero skill.

[shooting psyko]

its funny to beat them though since they have those fully automatics and they think they can push the people with semiautomatics around

[Litespeed]

For the same price as an ION, you can get the ICD Promaster which is a much better all around marker. Never been a spool valve fan. Plus i just can't digest what SP has done to the PB world. Everybody is so sue happy now!

Given same pricepoint...

1. Promaster is all aluminum. Ion is composite.

2. Stock trigger is horrible in the Ions i've messed with. It seems to flex. Not an issue with aluminum PM trigger that is greatly adjustable.

3. Solenoid is the biggest thing in my book. The ION uses an exposed spool valve, where the Promaster uses a sealed Humphrey noid. Dirt in valve = bad news. I will say that the ION noid is cheaper to replace, so that helps...spool valve will get the job done.

4. Ions blow hoses all the time.

Overall, the Ion is not a bad marker, but in my experience the Promaster is just a better built marker, and i'm not throwing money at SP! I used to agree with the argument when IONs were much cheaper than Promasters if you threw enough upgrades into an ION to match, they are on par.

However, With both at the same price, stock vs. stock, it would be an easy decision for me to go with the Promaster.

[TheFuzz]

By the time you get done upgrading an Ion fully, you have enough spare parts to build another whole one. So if you want to build an upped Ion, you might as well build from scratch.

I don't like what SP did the the paintball world...but hey that's capitalism.

[REF]

Automag RT/e-mag with x-valve? if his barrels are cocker threaded, get the ULE or other new aluminum body that is cocker threaded.