....ETEK 4, dye nt11 and others.
.....really want the mp7(bt7)
....... tippmann crossover xvr for both woodball and speedball ....
.... magfed or hopper
.
Going through those as choices:
Eclipse & Dye are good choices and you will find fans in either camp.
The BT TM7 is essentially an Empire mini in a 'tactical' body designed with the look of an MP7
The hopper feed neck is offset to one side 'to give you a clear view' down the iron sight, which is pretty much a step back in time in paintball and most will happily have a central feedneck and hopper.
The rails on paintball guns are more about the 'tactical' look - that's what real guns have, so that's what people want to buy
The two main uses of rails in paintball that have a real function are to fit a camera or a torch, which are dependant on whether you will be doing those. Otherwise they are a method of adding additional weight
If you like the look and idea of the TM7, then that's as good a reason to buy and enjoy using what you like
The you've referred to the crossover as an option because you would like to try tournament style as well. That's a marketing element by tippmann with the crossover, that it gives a tippmann user something they can use in tournament style.
Its design lets it run mechanically and electronically
Any paintball gun can be used in the woods and in a tournament environment
The difference between a 'woodsball' gun and a 'tournament' gun is people's perception
A 'tournament' gun has evolved with the ergonomics for paintball which makes them ideal in the woods as well
A 'woodsball' gun has been led by the buyers perception of what a gun should look like, which means that the physical charactistics that come from real bullets don't always come out best for paintball
Taking a basic 'woodsball' gun to a tournament would have the disadvantage against an optimised 'tournament' gun but they both send out paintballs at a velocity & rate of fire
Magfed or hopper:
Magfed is a bit of a lifestyle choice, taking a magfed gun out against other paintballers of mixed styles disadvantages you with the limited amount of paintballs per magazine change.
Magfed in a dedicated magfed only game or a limited paint game gives different dynamics to the game
I wouldn't recommend going magfed up against other general players for a new player, but playing limited paint or pure magfed is worth a try if you might be interested
Take advantage of being at NPF and chat with the different players at diamond wars etc and check out their gear
I'd recommend perhaps being conservative with a standard speedball style gun with hopper and playing general paintball, or hold on as long as you can before committing your first purchases and look around as much as possible
