I'm with Dave on this one.
Out of all the Markers I've owned, the Ir3 was perhaps the most disappointing. I think they are nice looking (not as nice as the new breed of Timmys though), better even than my I-framed Toxic ripping machine, but the Ir3 required constant attention to ensure that it was running at the optimum performance level. Maybe I bought into the Angel hype a little too much and expected something revolutionary, ball on ball accuracy and basically made me Ryan Greenspan I dunno. It just never lived up to my expectation.
My recently departed Toxic hardly ever saw an Allen Key, just oiled it every week. Take it out the bag after 2 weeks of nothing, air it and straight to the Chrono and it was 294, 296, 296, 295.
The Angel however was constant adjustment, fudgery, shims etc. I think back in the day with the old Eclipse Leds when they were put together by Naked 18 year old virgins in the Planet shed they really were the biz, now they seem to be like any other mass produced marker, prone to some great ones and some mediocre ones. Get a mediocre one and your never want another. The same could be said for the Impy, Shocker, Timmy or whatever. You own bad anything and you won't want another (probably just been lucky with all the Impies I've owned).
The plus of the Angels is, that they don't need upgrading like some of the Vision Impies out there. Most Impy owners I know have customised their markers "somewhat" to get them to rip (bit like a BMW, the option list on an Impy doubles the cost of the marker). They become Custom machines that will out perform standard Angels because of the wide range of upgrades, they effectively become full on custom markers. Bang a stick trigger on an Ir3 Mem 6 boarded Angel and they do rip too, just could'nt be bothered to have to keep on adjusting this, that and the other to make it consistent for more than half a day.
At the end of the day, you pays your money and takes your pick. Get a Good A4, and you'll never look back, get a bad one and it'll be in the classifieds quicker than LJs last performance with a women.
Currently shooting a Nexus E-blade and despite only playing with it a little bit all I can say is AWESOME. Best Marker ever straight outta the box, totally revolutionalised my thinking on Markers, well until I shoot that Empire Timmy.
To sum up, Angels are good markers, they are highly competent outta the box. Don't buy into the hype too much and your probably won't be disappointed.
2 pence worth
