A few newbies getting started

[Jay Wilko]

ok, so recently a few friends and myself started paintballing playing woods ball, everyone seemed to love it and since have been many times, a few of us have purchased masks mainly chosen due to comfort, price and style.
We are mainly curious on what the next step would be, As in the clothing etc.
Any help, advice and tips would be perfect.

Thanks, Jay

 

[Sid Sidgwick]

My next bit of advice is keep playing, play as much as you can and see if your local site has a team/teams that play there. look at joining in with them and trying out their kit. They will help point you in the direction of best places to buy (here of course) and what to get.

The classifieds here are full of excellent and well priced kit, keep playing, and sort out a budget for what you want to spend then when you have access to the classifieds get spending.

 

[Jay Wilko]

Thanks for that sidgwick, I have been flicking through the forums and checking out what is used where, seems as we only currently play woodball I'm unsure of the type of marker to purchase in the future, I have seen many of the M4 style markers used mainly for woodball where as the lighter, more sleek designs are mainly for tournaments, would you recommend the style to go for in the future? Either way I assume the tournament style models are more easily upgraded?

 

[Sid Sidgwick]

The tournament style (often referred to as speedball markers) offer the advantage of being lighter and can be used in both woodsball and tournaments (although one brave individual does use a Dye Dam in tournaments)

Most tournament markers are very similar in terms of reliability, ease of use and efficiency and some can be picked up very cheaply. Each has its differences and people have their opinions and favourites for a variety of reasons.

Watch some YouTube videos of different markers and if you can see what people are using new at your local site (or if close by head to the CPPS to really see what tournament paintball is like)

Here is a basic list of different markers for you to check out:

Planet Eclipse
1) Ego (variants from 2007-2011)
2) Geo (1-3.5)
3) LV1
4) Etha
5) Etek series (1-5)

Dye
1) DM series (8-15)
2) NT 10/11
3) Rail series

Empire
1) Mini and Mini GS
2) Axe (and Axe pro)
3) Vanquish

Smart Parts/Luxe
1) Ion
2) Shockers
3) Luxe 1/1.5/2.0
4) Shocker RSX

Angel
1) A1
2) A1 fly

Macdev
1) Droid
2) Clone (VX and GTI)

Bob Long
1) Victory
2) Marq
2) Insight
4) G6R

These guns cover a vast array of prices from sub £100-£1000 and some such as the Etha can have the addition of a body kit to make it look more like a woodsball gun if that takes your fancy.

There are many different markers available (and many I haven't mentioned here) but one of these would suit you well. Do your research before you buy, decide what you are looking for in a marker and then search the classifieds. A bit of work goes a long way to getting something perfect.

 

[Jay Wilko]

Thanks again, I have noticed the planet eclipse Etha, mentioned a few times on other threads, will start checking them all out on YouTube, I know I won't be buying one for a while unless I see something that catches my eye, are all normal markers the same calibre? Or are they different depending on where you play?

 

[Sid Sidgwick]

The Etha is a good marker, does all the things a more expensive one would do at a fraction of the cost due to parts being composite rather than aluminium.

Paintball is played with a 0.68 caliber ball and all markers are set to shoot this. This is the same across Europe and the USA.

A smaller 0.50 calibre was brought out a few years ago but didn't catch on with the mass market and is now mainly used for young children to use on some selected sites in the UK (they have specific markers or kits designed to shoot this paint)

The classifieds here present some stupendous bargains as a lot of paintballers like to get new kit each year either through a sponsorship/team programme or to keep up with the latest trends (however most guns from 2005 will do exactly the same as guns from 2015)

 

[Bolter]

Welcome Jay, excellent advice from @Sid Sidgwick as you can see.

A woodsball gun, is classed as such, on looks. It looks military, it has some weight to it, you can attach some stuff to it that is pointless, but very cool, like laser pointers, sights etc.

They are cool, dont get me wrong, but a tournament marker is where its at. In either woods or tournie. And no need to spend £1000 on a new one, a second hand etha or etek or Empire AXE shouldnt break the bank, and are extremely capable. Best advice though is as Sid said, get playing more and more, and just chat to other paintballers. See if you can have a shoot of their gun on the range, try out as many as possible, ask the owners what they think, chat with the staff at the local field. Just get involved mate

 

[Jay Wilko]

Thanks for the input bolter, we are currently working around 1-2 days a month atm, spoke to a few marshals recently about their gear as one or two are sponsored, they mentioned a second hand Etha as well, one is bringing theirs to let us shoot and check out on our next visit, things look and sound promising

 

[dfr350]

The Etha is a good investment as you can always add a rail mounting kit to it to make it more woodsball like if you fancy

https://planeteclipse.com/site/products/emc_etha_rail_mounting_kit

 

[Jay Wilko]

I really like the style of that to be honest, I think with the buttstock, and slightly longer barrel, I'd leave the flash light off etc haha, not into that too much, seen some great reviews though, thanks for that dude