tournament marker cost - honestly please

[Fragon]

Whats the very cheapest new marker that you will see people use on tournaments, i mean... When i look at dye's website markers are around a grand and unless i'm sponsored i will never be able to afford that for sure! Is there no way around that ? Do you really have to spend around a grand on a marker if you are serious about achieving something in one of the top European tournaments? I know that for a beginner and low level tournaments you will see more of cheaper markers but considering that a person wants to get to the very top at paintball will they at some point have to spend a ridiculous amount of money like that on a gun? I know most of you guys 'pros' have commitments to the industry but i would appreciate a very analytical and accurate advice.

Are all of these cheaper markers for 100, 200 ,300 pounds just really for beginners and casual players rather than pros or determined pro wanabes? If i buy the a marker for £300 and by some off chance they love me on.. i dunno London Nexus trials, and i go to an event with them will i have to spend that ground on a marker so that other players have no advantage over me?

Is that just the cost of becoming pro u have to live with?

many thanx, michael

 

[THE MUGGA]

hi mate if you really want a decent marker for tournaments but dont want to break the bank the best option is look on the forum for second hand guns this way you can get expensive guns that have been used a few times for a fraction of the price new.
if you really want a new marker for a low price then look at protos e.g. slg, these markers are reliable, shoot fast and will be fine in tournaments but are at a very good prices.
hope this helps
the mugga

 

[anthonyoreilly171]

the marker helps but its really who's using it!

 

[dodge-gnome]

I disagree with your comment of "spending £300 or more is for beginners and wannabes". Unless you're buying something truly ****e like an Ion XE then yeah they will hinder your playing ability, but investing in something even like an Ego 8 or 9 which 2nd hand are going for around £250-£350 can get you pretty far. A truly skilled player could use a mid/high range marker like that and still win against someone with an ego 10/11.

There's no reason to fall into this "oh my god something new is announced and double the price of everything else, but i must have it to not be **** at paintball" trap

But that's just my opinion

 

[Mello]

There are deffo good solid markers out that that can easily keep up with tournaments

for around £200 you can get an etek2 or a pm8 both solid markers

for a bit more say £300 you can get an ego 8, dm8 and add maybe £50 more then you can start to look at ego 09 and dm9.

If im honest with the 09 series of markers, not that much has changed to the current line up of 2011 markers. Not saying that the designers haven't made changes, they are very smart people and it must get even harder to better there products every year. But they still manage to do it

Im sure many people will tell you there are but in my situation i cant warrant spending more money for something that i use that works fine

Sure markers mite feel, shoot, look nicer but i dont think some 1 with the same ability would have that much advantage if any at all for using the newer marker.

There are bargains to be had in the for sale section so get shopping lol

but for the £350mark look at a DM9, Ego09 and even Geos all goin for silly prices all perfect for the tournys of today and actually any type of paintball

 

[NitroBall]

You dont have to buy new. A secondhand marker if been looked after well will shoot just as well as the current line of markers.
The difference between older models and newer is mainly the milling and new technology of which does'nt necessarily mean better.
Buy new, there will always be a breaking in period for a smoother and more consistant shot. Can be a few cases of paint upto 10 maybe 20 cases in some markers.
Buy secondhand, someones already done that for you.
Try out at least a few different markers before you commit to buying, one marker might feel better for you, whereas others not so.
Look for comfort, ease of maintenance and reliability, Planet Eclipse and Dye markers are just that.
Learn how to maintain your marker properly (plenty of threads and online vids to help) and you will have least troubles.

If you are on a budget, then stick to that number, no point stretching and not afford to play, after all , its all about getting on that field learning and having fun.

 

[Kevin Winter]

For £80-120, you could buy a PMR or similar which will be fine in tournaments. Slightly heavier, but otherwise no worries. The marker is not THAT important, as long as it is capable of 10.5bps.
My main marker is a an old 2006 Intimidator - I paid £85 for her, and spent about the same adding shiny things to her, but feel in no way disadvnatged by not having a more recent marker...

 

[ShimmerShot]

Paintball is a hobby, therefor afford what you believe is reasonable.

There are this high priced markers which do cost 1k but realistically, get a marker that was made from previous years like ego 10's or geo's. If you are looking at getting something new however I would more then happily point you towards the direction of the Etek 3, they are bulletproof, little maintenance and garenteed by planet to work with great support. If you compare the Etek 3 it's very very similar to the ego08 that was one of my first ever high end marker, and it will more then put you in good stead.

Playing for other sponsored teams such as nexus would not prove to be a problem for you as they will just lend you one of their team markers. You don't have to represent them, that's their responsibility until you are part of a particular sponsored team, which is the only time the duty of representing your team sponsors lies with yourself.

All markers all shoot the same balls per second and at 300 fps the feel might be different but for the most part, it's down to skill, spend money on paint and training, that's where a persons worth is, not just the equipment he/she is using.

 

[Liam92]

its like any other equipment for absolutely anything it is designed for. all equipment does the job its designed for, but some equipment does it better than another version, and for that you have to pay a bit more. exact same with paintball markers.

you can spend as little as you like for a gun that will shoot paintballs at 280fps at 13bps and nothing else.
if you want reliability up your budget
if you want consistency up your budget
if you want ergonomics up your budget
if you want adjustability up your budget
if you want ease of maintenance up your budget
if you want high quality packaging up your budget

if you consider all of those kind of points, if you want the best of everything then obviously a marker is going to end up costing £1000+
in the meantime if you dont think the price is justified or your budget doesnt allow, go buy an ion.

so to answer your question, you can play tournaments with a cheap gun but how long and how well it keeps performing will be questionable.
besides like somebody already mentioned the gun you use is a small part of you as a player, if you play **** with an ion you will play **** with an NT11

 

[Fragon]

i forgot to thank every one

Thanx for your help guys, keep offering used markers via pm! that's also very useful