This marker has been deemed the most affordable high-end marker on the market. The proof of it's value is obvious. Smart Parts is a very prestigious brand of Paintball equipment. Smart Parts products are used by the most talented players in the game. For around $200 a player can buy an older unused Ion, which is pretty much the same as the newer models. The only changes between the old and new models are some minuscule changes in appearance. Jim Carrow of directpaintball.com states that “The Ion would be a wise investment for anybody from the greenest rookie to the most experienced tourney players.” Also, the company is well known for some of the best costumer support. Often times players find that replacement parts for other markers can be so expensive that it would be better to just buy a new marker altogether. It's the performance and the price combined that places the Ion at the top. The only financial negative of the Ion is the fact that it runs via compressed air. This forces a consumer to purchase a compressed air tank. You can get a decent tank for about $80. Cheaper markers tend to utilize C02, which can damage the insides of a high-end marker. It's basically the same idea as putting cheap low-octane gas into an expensive car. Although, this is not uncommon among any marker worth purchasing.

The best thing about Smart Parts is that they never stop supporting their products. The Ion has a longer list of upgrades than every other marker on the market. Jim Carrow of directpaintball.com states that “The Ion would be a wise investment for anybody from the greenest rookie to the most experienced tourney players.” This is because you can always upgrade your marker to suit your needs. These after-markets parts can transform you marker into whatever you want. Body kits are available so that you can change the color, style, weight, and performance of the Ion. Other upgrades include hundreds of barrels, barrel kits, feed-necks, circuit boards, solenoids, triggers, grips, and more. There is an endless amount of variety so that no two Ion's are exactly alike. Every player has a style in which they play. Some like to run up the middle of the field drawing fire while, others stay behind the rest offering accurately placed shots and cover fire. Only the Ion can be manipulated into the exact type of marker you need to fit your style of play. Other markers like the Tippman 98 custom for example is second to the Ion in the most amount of upgrades. The Tippmann 98 custom only has upgrades made by tippmann companies. The Ion is supported by hundreds of prestigious companies such as Redz, Virtue, and Lucky. With other markers the story is the same.

“Smart Parts has earned the reputation of being a leading manufacturer of high-end paintball guns... Many players regard them as one of the top paintball companies in the world.” says Directpaintball.com. Smart Parts products are used by a few professional paintball times. Team Dynasty which has been one of the top teams for the past 11 years and they use only Smart Parts paintball markers. Also, the company has a very good support center that can be reached via phone, mail, or internet. They also have three supply centers one for each coast of the US and one for European consumers. Other companies such as Brass eagle or view loader have very little support for most of their products and a player may end up paying more in repairs for the marker than it is worth.

This truly is an amazing marker that is both dependable and affordable. With all the options of customizing the looks and performance of this product you'll never need to purchase another marker or pay to have it fixed. Overall it's a worthy investment for any paintball player whether they are new to the game or an experienced tournament player.

Sources:

Jim Carrow IV http://www.directpaintball.com/review_smart_parts_ion.html

Copyright DirectPaintball.com 2005

Robby Eichman 02/19/05 http://www.paintballtimes.com/Article.asp?ID=202

http://www.smartparts.com/#/support/repair_centers/

http://www.dynastypaintball.com/

The first recommendation I have for a budget paintballer is to rent your equipment the first time you play. You may not like the sport and if you rent, at least you're not out a huge lump of cash. Rental guns are usually fairly reliable, and will get you by the day. If one of your friends has an extra gun laying around, ask him/her to bring it for you to use.

After you're sure you want to play paintball, the next step is to buy a season pass to the field you play at. This will get you admission anytime, and often will give you discounts on paint and rental equipment. You can best maximize the season pass by playing at least once weekly.

If buying a season pass isn't an option, your next upgrade is a decent electronic hopper. I have found the Ricochet 2KX to be a great hopper for the price ($34 on ebay.) It feeds about 15 balls per second which will help prevent ball breakage. This hopper will fit on most feednecks that can take a normal "shake & shoot" hopper.

Next, I would recommend buying a decent mask, instead of the rental masks. The most economical mask that will provide great reliability is the VForce Pro Vantage which will only cost about $25.

After the mask, you should purchase a High Pressure Air (HPA) Tank. These can be purchased from Ebay or Amazon for as little as $50. If at all possible, do not purchase CO2 tanks. They are cheaper, but HPA tanks will deliver far increased performance. HPA tanks are also called Nitrogen or N2 Tanks.

Once you have a tank, hopper, and mask, your next buy should be a gun. Don't just go to Walmart and buy a 50 dollar Tac-5 (trust me I own one.) The cheapest gun I would purchase is a Spyder Pilot. They can be found on Ebay for as low as $99. If you are looking for a more reliable gun, buy a Smart Parts Vibe. These are both electroneumatic guns which means they use a solonoid to fire the paintballs instead of a mechanical, spring-driven system. (You will most likely need 9v or AA batteries with this type of gun)

Your last major upgrade is a barrel. Make sure when you purchase a barrel, you buy one that is threaded to the gun you're using. For instance if you own a Spyder Pilot, you would search "Spyder Pilot Barrel" on Ebay or Amazon to ensure you get the right barrel. I would recommend a 14 or 16 inch rifled and ported barrel such as a CMI Tru-Flight barrel (approx. $30.) If you are looking for a more expensive barrel, buy an Apex barrel. It will give you great range for only $50 (the competitive model is almost $100.)

Once you have all of these, you will no longer need to rent a gun, and you will be able to play extremely competitively with any other player on the field. So far the total cost of all the equipment I have listed (minus the season pass) is $239.00. You might even be able to find a package deal for less on Ebay or a paintball wholesale web site.

Good luck, and have fun!

1. Electronic: Electronic markers run off of batteries to power an internal computer that regulates firing rate, ball speed, and timing.
2. Mechanical: Mechanical markers may contain some electronic components, but they generally use air and moving parts to reset and fire the gun.

There is a big difference between these two types of markers. 

A mechanical marker is suitable for tactical situations in which you may be playing for days at a time.  Mechanical markers are generally very simple and easy to maintain.  A mechanical-marker trigger is spring operated which means that every time you pull the trigger, you have to let it move all the way back away from the handle before it is ready to fire again.

An electronic marker is the most common type of marker.  They run off of batteries, therefore being electronic.  With electronic markers a player can easily obtain a rate of fire that easily exceeds 15 balls per second.  This is because the the handle of the marker is basically a giant computer.  There is a button on the handle that(every time it is pressed) fired the gun.  To push this button, a player pulls the trigger.  This allow the player to tap the trigger rather than pull it, which helps abtain a higher rate of fire.

There are very few situations in which a mechanical marker would be a better choice over an electric one.

Therefore, when buying a paintball marker, always go for an electic trigger unless you know what you are doing.

Requirements for Airsoft

• Safety Glasses/Goggles - Only place you can get injured seriously. Well there is one other place…
• A gun - You cant walk in with a knife or something.
• .12g or .20g plastic BB's - Metal BB's are dangerous as they can penetrate skin. They hurt if they don't penetrate. The heavier the BB, the slower the BB.
• Camouflage Clothes (optional) - Provides camouflage so the enemy cant see you well, and provides armor so the BB's hurt less.
• Side Weapon (optional) - If you run out of ammo in a firefight, you can switch. Not recommended for beginners.
• Some experience with sports and gun. - Fat couch potatoes wont be able to run away from rapid-firing machine guns.

Desert Eagle .44 Magnum

This airsoft gun packs a punch at 290 FPS (feet per second). It hurts like crazy and it is dead accurate. Use .20 gram BB's to get the most performance. It looks sexy and shoots sexily too. It is spring meaning you have to load it after every shot. It is about 1.5 pounds when loaded. Holds 28 BB's. It is made in china, but spring guns almost never break. I own it and I use it as a secondary. Usually around 26$.

Get at: Dick's Sporting Goods

Price: 24~30$

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Crossman SASR36 Tactical

Wow. This gun is pretty much perfect. Comes with an LED flashlight, a rail system for scopes and lasers, a vertical grip for more comfort and an easy-aim sight. It is around 240~260 FPS and shoots 12 or 20 gram BB's. The flashlight is useful for dark places or for close quarter battles. The sight is easy to use and I believe it is detachable, so you can use the iron I mean, plastic sights to aim if you get tired of the tactical sight. The clip holds 20 rounds and the gun can be used in 3 different positions. I think the one with the grip and the stock is the best. I don't own it, but I know it is great. Range is about 31 yards I think. Not recommended for battles against pros.

Get at: Dick's Sporting Goods

Price: 39.99$

Rating: 4 Stars

Double Eagle M85 (G36C)

This gun is unreliable at times, but is great overall. It has around 240 FPS, which feels like a light punch on armor, and feels like a hard pinch with light or no clothes. (Never airsoft with no clothes. :P ) It is manufactured by Double Eagle and comes with 10 things. This is definitely worth 34.99 (it used to be 100$). It has 1, the gun itself, 2, a clip that holds around 50 BB's, 3, an LAM (Laser Aiming Module), 4, a Flashlight that is “tactical”, 5, A red cross scope, 6, Unjamming rod, 7, The Rechargeable battery, 8, A bag of BB's lasts maybe 1 minute… 9, Safety Glasses and finally, 10, a Fake Silencer (real ones are ILLEGAL!!). Oh yeah, it also has a manual that is poorly translated. If you bought the gun and all the accessories separately, it would be maybe, 30$ for the gun and 62$ for the accessories. I'm just guessing so don't shoot me please. It has a safety, semi and automatic choosing feature. Overall, this gun is OK, but it is perfect for beginners and good to be used in battles/wars.

Get at: Amazon , Amazon 2

Price: 35$

Rating: 3.3 Stars (it is made in china and electrics from china are known to be bad)

Galaxy MP5K-PDW Version

This gun is the best gun ever. It fires at a blazing 340 FPS and has a 200-225 feet range. If you shoot someone with this, it hurts like ********** even with armor. It is compact (portable) so you can carry it easily. It is fast and very unlikely to break when treated carefully. It has an adjustable hop-up. Hop-up is an ability guns have that makes the bullet go up or down more. When adjusted perfectly, it can go very far and can be dead accurate. It has a flash hider, so if you buy a flashlight, then you can attack it to it. It also comes with a vertical grip, a stock and two magazines. The hi-cap mag holds 200rounds and the regular clip has around 45 rounds. It is recommended that you use .20 gram BB's with this gun as it is a good quality electric. It has metal gears that are impervious to most other forces. It can break occasionally, but I've never seen one break all the way. The makers are very trustable and I think this gun is maybe the best SMG (sub-machine gun) on the market. ;)

Get at: AirSplat

Price: 89$

Rating: 4 Stars (5 Stars but price made it go down by 1 star)

Last but not least…

BE Steyr Aug

I own this gun and I have to say one thing about it. It is DA BOM! This gun fires at around 250 FPS on half-battery and 300 FPS on full battery! I think this gun is definitely worth it. The only bad thing is that the handle is wiggly, the gun is larger than scale (I think) and the scope has nothing on it. I had to put crosshairs on the scope with sharpie lol. The gun comes with iron sights too, so if you don't want to make crosshairs, then you can use the sights. The sights are like MP7 and AK47 sights combined, so they are easy to aim with. If you want, you can get an actual zooming scope with crosshairs for extreme pwnage. The manual had horrible translations (wtf does nicety mean?) but it at least told me basics. Since the manual doesn't say how long to charge the battery, ill tell you. The first time should be about 4 hours, and other times should be 1-2.5 hours. You will notice your gun gets slower, and that is when you need to charge. The slower the longer. The mag holds 50 rounds and the gun comes with a speed loader. This gun is probably the best LPEG (Low Powered Electric Gun) in the market.

Get at: Amazon

Price: 24$ (:o)

Rating: 4.9 Stars

The Aim of the Game

Usually, the players are divided into teams. Each team is given a different colored armband to make them easily distinguishable from the others. In the “protecting the flag” version of the game, each team has to protect and maintain possession of their flag. When one team has the flags of all the other teams, the game ends.

The Equipment

Each player is issued with a safety mask which is attached to safety goggles. Guns are issued to all the players, and balls full of paint are issued. The balls have to be purchased, so the amount in your possession is dependant on how much you are willing to spend. The players wear issued clothing, both to protect the player, and also so the referee can determine whether they have been hit.

Playing the Game

Depending on the location of the paintball field, the scenario might be woods, or a city setting. The teams disperse and decide on their tactics. Once a player has been hit with a paintball fired by the opposing team, they are eliminated from the game. So, the teams are trying to eliminate opposing players in order to ultimately capture the team flag. The players hide behind various obstacles on the field in order to escape their opponents. As opposed to similar activities such as laser tag, this is a much more realistic, strategic game.

The Rules

When a player has received a direct hit, they are eliminated. If the paintball hits another object and splatters onto the protective clothing, this does not count. If a player is unsure whether they have received a hit, they may shout “neutral” and consult one of the referees. Wiping the paint from the clothing is not allowed and is considered a despicable form of cheating - as is firing the gun after elimination.

Paintball is high energy, exciting entertainment. The best parts about the game are that it is safe, strategic, and a fun team game. The only downsides are that direct hits can smart when they land, and if you are a bad aim, lots of paintballs can be expensive!

By (5 star major general) russell

The 1st step in commanding is follower ship and leadership you need to have good leaders to have loyal and dedicated followers leaders set examples always remember that. In my squadron the (pueblo eagles) we have 2 commanding officers currently and have a ranking system it goes

• Recruit
• Private
• Private 1st class
• Private 1st class 1
• Lance Corporal
• Corporal
• Sgt
• Staff sgt
• Master sgt
• Senior master sgt
• Chief Master sgt
• (Officer award)
• 1st lieutenant
• 2nd lieutenant
• Captain
• (End of strips)
• Command captain
• Major
• Major general Low grade
• Command major general (med grade)
• Colonel
• Brigadier
• Command brigadier
• (Commanders grade)
• 5 star general
• 5 star major general

it is pretty important to know what you are and to stretch the limits of what each cadet can do this ranking system gives the cadet the opportunity to push it and get ahead of everyone else to see what they can do that is why we are known as a delta team.

Awards

A few things we have in our squadron is awards and this system was made up by myself major general Russell and my other war chief (that is what commanders are called) 5 star major general cassack

We made up this system to give the cadets the opportunity to do things earn stuff to fell accomplished and it goes like this

At the end of the rank chief master sgt you can take the (officer award) or the rank of 1st lieutenant or higher and it is made up of leadership tests guns and tactics tests shooting scores (ect). If pasted cadets below the rank of chief master sgt will start to call you sir. There is also Medal of Honor medal of retirement medal of leadership but those are classified for the stealing of accomplishments.

Specific jobs

Each individual is given a job in the team at a low grade how we do this as commanders is we 1st look at how they behave what the act like. Then give them the job they are going to work on or train in jobs include (sniper) (spy) (1st sniper) (tactics officer)

(Advanced troop) (3rd commander)

If the certain individual does not like this job they can talk to the commanders and tell them or they can go to the paintball academy and earn there job. Paintball academy was my idea and goes for 2 days in my own back yard. lol [remember we are not a certified team don't play other teams]

How join our delta squadron

If you are someone we don't know you can't but the few we selected where chosen they where first watched then asked and both accepted they are one of the best of the best. They are

• Chief Master sgt 1st sniper guddendorf
• major tactics commander yarbrough
• they where selected but we need ed more so we made a series of steps to get in it goes basic troop test
• Normal troop test
• Advanced troop test
• And yes they are given study aids.
• Team members now 6/10/08 Tuesday 10:33.02
• Include 5 star major general cassack
• my self 5 star major general {both are the 2 top commanders}
• master sgt hall spy
• chief master sgt guddendorf 1st sniper
• corporal Yarbrough advanced troop
• chief master sgt carmack tactics officer

and now the end I would just like to say thank you for reading this and I hope you take this knowledge and maybe start your own paintball team

In a game like paintball, it's crucial to have good aim. Without
it, in a game where the enemy must be eliminated, a loss is certain
without hitting targets. Good aim is a skill that is mastered over
time, but it is a skill that can be honed from the beginning.
There are some ways to practice aim prior to hitting the field.
For those that have their own equipment, here are some drills to do
from the backyard:

Hanging targets

Hang some targets, such as cans or bottles, from strings on tree
branches, clothesline poles and other sturdy objects. The idea in
this is that the targets will be of height of opponents in
different positions. Let the wind be a natural obstacle, as it
will mimic the opponent moving.

If this becomes easy, move back a few steps, further to one side or
another, or choose smaller targets. This is a surefire way to
build aiming skills.

Point Game

This is almost like solitaire for the paintball fanatic. Set up
some different size targets in an area. Put a can here, a piece of
wood there, and old doll over yonder, etc. Assign point values to
each of them, and then load the gun with only a certain amount of
balls. (Kind of reminiscent of that amusement park shooting range
game, where players fire at objects that begin to move or make
noise, such as a piano player or a rocking chair....)

Players should first set a goal of a certain score they hope to
achieve. Once the round is fired off, add up the points. If the
goal is met, congratulations! If not, practice makes perfect! Try
again! This could be implemented to play between several people
who would like to practice, each shooting a round and whoever has
the highest score wins. While trying to reach a goal, this method
of practicing also builds aiming skills.

Obstacle Course

Since shooting while moving is sometimes a necessity, aiming on the
move also become something that needs to be practiced. For a more
advanced way of practicing to hit objects, try moving at the same
time! Set up a small obstacle course with targets. Then, move
through the course while shooting at the targets. Not only will
this help aim, but also simply aid in getting the body used to
moving through zigzags while using a weapon.

Overview

The JT Tac 5 is overall, not a very good paintball marker. Although, for the price, you can not expect much more. The JT Tac 5 is not a high quality gun. It has low accuracy, low power, short range, and a slow rate of fire. The JT Tac 5 has one advantage though, it has an adjustable front piece so that you can make the paintballs feed in at a 45 degree angle. I have had this gun for about 1 and a half years. It malfunctioned after about half of a year. The air regulator broke and the gun now shoots about 20 oz of air in 200 shots. It costs me about 20$ in air to paintball for an hour. And, the most unbelievable thing is that the gun broke after firing only 2,000 rounds. This happened because the inside of the JT Tac 5 is all plastic and breaks easily.

Accuracy

The JT Tac 5 is by no means an accurate marker, but it is also not inaccurate. In a target practice it hit a 3 ft target from about 30 ft away, 7 out of 10 times. That is pretty good for an $80 marker. I use the JT Tac 5 as a sniper because it does not fire very fast. I get about half of the team kills every round. Overalol, the JT Tac 5 is a semi accurate marker worthy of a beginner's skills.

Rang and Power

The JT Tac 5 has a decent range of about 24 yards accurately, but it will reach 40 yards if you are shooting high quality paint. (Not Accurately) The power is pretty decent because I shot my friend from about 20ft away and he started to cry. He won't play paintball anymore. The only problem with the JT Tac 5 is that the internal velocity adjuster breaks easily and that leads to horrible range and accuracy.

Durability

This gun is physically durable, because it still does not have one scratch on it after countless games of paintball. I even played woodsball once. The screws are easily removed and the gun is easily disassembled for cleaning. The internals are not very durable though, they are made of plastic.

Other Random Goodies

The gun has a decent barrel with porting at the end of it.(holes to let air out, quiets gun) It also comes in camo color, which looks really cool. The other cool thing about it is that the hopper ( thing that holds paintballs) comes with a camo colored cover to protect it from wear and tear. It also includes a tactical handle for transportation and running situations. That is about it for random goodies.

In Conclusion

The Tac 5 Recon is a semi accurate, durable, and somewhat powerful gun for a cheap price. The gun is a pretty good beginner's gun, especially if you do not have much experience or money. I hope that this review has been a help to you. I hope to write more reviews of other products I have, so keep on checking.

You will also need Co2, or compressed air to give the gun enough power to shoot the paintballs. Paintball often has two teams, playing capture the flag, or other types of games. Regular paintball matches usually last for five minutes to half an hour. Games played by professional players often last many hours.

Paintball has a lot of history. It was first created in 1976, when a stock trader and his friend were walking home. They were talking about how one of them went to a buffalo hunt in Africa. Then they came up with a game where players can eliminate other players by shooting them with paintballs.

That game was called “Survival”. The very first paintball game was played on June 27, 1981. Then stock trader and his friend invited more friends, and they made basic rules for the game of “Capture the Flag” with paintball guns. Later, the game got published in “Sports Illustrated”.

At the beginning of paintball, they used guns that were different from modern day guns. The only guns available were Nelspot pistols that

had to be tilted to roll the ball into the chamber. Then you had to recock the gun after each shot. At around 1981 to 1983, other companies started to make different paintball guns. Their new guns had a front mounted pump that was easier to get to. They also replaced the 12 gram air cylinders with larger cylinders. These new air tanks were called “constant air” tanks.

A famous paintball player is Bill Ayers of the LND paintball division. Ayers was born on 1944 and wrote many books. He worked at Action Enterprises and has competed in many National Paintball Players' League tournaments with an amateur team. Ayers has also gotten people of all ages to play and enjoy playing the sport of paintball. He ran three tournaments including one on July 19, 1998.

Paintball has also a connection to culture. It is used in many military training facilities. This training shows the soldier how it will feel on the real battlefield. It will also let them improve their skills, and make better strategies. This will show the soldiers how to respond to different actions. Realistic training is harsh on showing the realities they will face on the battlefield, so they use a training method with paintball guns and wars. That is paintball's connection to culture.

Paintball is a very exciting sport to play. There are many different types of games to play with it. You can also have backyard tournaments with your friends. Many military training facilities use paintball guns and wars as real world combat simulations. That is the exciting sport of paintball.

Your view is probably decided by what you think the definition of a sport is, the dictionary lists fourteen different possibilities for the definition. The most prudent being the first, which defines it as any activity that requires skill or physical prowess and often competitive in nature. Now if you use that definition paintball is a sport, it obviously requires skill or there would be no learning curve, and there would be no need to separate the national tournaments into divisions. As far as physical prowess goes, paintball players are some of the best conditioned athletes around, especially those that play the increasingly popular format of X-Ball. By the end of a match of X-Ball if you’re not in good condition you will be on the brink of exhaustion. Unlike the traditional format of paintball X-Ball is broken into halves of play that are twenty minutes long each, and after each point is scored teams only have one minute to regroup, refill air tanks, hoppers, pods, clean masks off, clean off any hits and be back at the dead box for the game start. And when you’re playing that fast of a game on a 125’x150’ field there are no breaks in the match where you can walk or jog from bunker to bunker.

The field may sound large but when you have five markers firing fifteen balls per second at 250+ feet per second, it’ll seem like your in a closet trying to avoid being hit. So once again to compete you better have the physical ability to sprint, not jog or even slightly run, for all forty minutes. Now comes the ultimate factor in the argument to make it a sport, and that’s the teamwork element. A lot of people believe that teamwork of some form is essential to a sport, and paintball is the epiphany of teamwork. Just like hockey or football, paintball has its very own superstars, but unlike those sports the superstars alone can rarely win you a match or a tournament. It takes the dedication, hard work, practice, communication and execution of set game plans by all five or all seven people on the field to win a match.

Now for those that say its not a sport, let’s be honest you really have very little basis for your claim. As said above it obviously takes skill and practice to become halfway decent at it let alone great, you can’t just go out one day buy a marker and equipment and compete at the top level of the sport just like you can’t just go out and play in the NFL or NHL. And the game itself is half mental, you cannot win if you go into a match with the stereotypical “you go this way, I’ll go that way” mentality. You have to walk the field and game plan just like you have to for any other sport. It takes a combination of physical and mental abilities of the team as a whole to win a game and more so a tournament.