New to the Gear Market -- Seeking Advice

[Scrumpy]

Buy the mask first and buy the best you can afford! Marker wise look in the classifieds you can buy a decent marker for £150. Why not have a look at the Smart Parts Ion for te money a very good starter marker with a decent rate of fire or if you want something a bit better try a PMR.

 

[shocking]

try this

http://www.northvsouth.com/index2.html

 

[Gee Tee]

Reading back through the original post you mention red dot sights & scopes

Save your budget for other kit as IMO they a total waste of £££'s for paintball. Scopes have a narrow field of view, and are designed to be aimed with your eye pressed up close to the eyepiece, something that's not possible when wearing goggles. Red dot's are a little easier to use in this respect, but still not much good in bright sunlight or at long range.

Most scopes are designed for firearms, where bullets and pellets follow a near flat trajectory to target. Paintballs arc noticably at longer ranges, forcing you to aim higher, and lob shots to hit a target. As you elevate your barrel to compensate for this drop-off, a scope/dot/laser sight would become useless beyond ranges of say 40-50 feet.

Lastly a direct paintball hit to most sights (red dot or otherwise) could be enough to trash it, especially if it's taken from close range. I've seen sights end up knackered after just a few games use... the unlucky owners were less than happy

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Pads... don't rely on padded clothing to save your knees/elbows if playing woodsball, wear pukka knee/shin/arm protection underneath. I've see knees/elbows get smashed by tree roots, rocks and flints in heavy falls playing in woods, and soft padding in lightweight trousers/jerseys often won't prevent this.

 

[ProFlexy]

To be honest mate ive doen alot of woodsball and i have used a red dot and there a waste of money cheap chinese plastic and rubbish in day light DONT buy one.

 

[JWarren]

Although im a noob to the sport starting in August 08 I will recommend a setup from my point of view.

Marker: SLG UL £200 [Battlezone Paintball]
Brilliant marker, I've had no problems with it at all. Suitable for woodsball and speedball. Easy to maintain and it handles paint well with my rotor not sure about it with other hoppers so I won't give an opinion. It's light and comfy and fits nice in every way. Get a nice hopper and you can shoot ropes aswell.

Tank: 48 cu 3000 psi £?
Cheap steely will do until you can afford a carbon fibre bottle

Mask: Empire E vents £40 [Battlezone Paintball]
Brilliant mask. Definitely my favourite bit of kit. Flexible, few bounces, comfortable, quite light. The only problem seems to be the echo when talking bit it's a minor issue. I'd also recommend Flex's and Grillz as people seem to like them but I myself have no problem with them. If your going to splash out splash out on a decent mask as it will greatly improve your performance and enjoyment. Don't make the mistake I did and buy a Proto Switch EL. Although it was a half decent mask the E vents made a huge difference.

Pants: Proto 09 £55 [Battlezone Paintball]
The JT Gear you posted seems a bit pricy. Therefore my suggestion which I think will outperform the JT pants for a better price is 09 Proto pants. They're comfy, manouverable, fit nice and offer pretty good protection. Also fairly priced at £55.

Jersey: Any £10-£40 [?]
I think a jersey is a worthwhile upgrade. Playing in an NBC suit just resulted in mass amounts of sweat and frustration with me. You can pick any old jersey up for less than a tenner but as always i like to look smart and bought new. But jersey is all up to you. Most offer protection and well they look cool.

Pack: NXe SP Series 4 pod harness £12 [Battlezone Paintball]
Great little pack, I use it now but I will be shortly upgrading to a Dye attack pack. Pod ejection system it's nice and comfy and not too much movement when your diving about. I will give you a tip on pods however. Unless your rolling in cash go for standard fatboy pods over locklids. You can go home happy if you lose a £1 pod but if you lose a few lock lids it's quite upsetting. I don't like polishing some mud off my pod and carefully putting it back in my pack during a game I like just throwing them on the floor.

Other gear you might want to look into - Swabs, Pods, Elbow/Knee Pads, Gloves, Sandana/Bandana, Beanie etc etc

 

[Xanten]

Hey guys,

Ok I went down to my local site again yesterday and tried out a couple of things, such as an old model of JT Goggles and some VForces. I loved the JTs and they let me use an old pair for the day . I also tried the Small Parts SP-1 for a few games and whilst it was quite good they advised me that I could do better.

Anyway, after reading around and considering my options for my budget here's a proposed list of what I might go for, was wondering if you could see if it's money well-spent or if there are any other options - please, don't advise me towards things just because you're selling them !

Here it is :

Mask :

- JT ProFlex = £45

Future Upgrades :

- JT Vortex Fan = £28

Markers :

- Tippmann A-5 = £175

Future Upgrades:

- H18 Folding Stock = £27
- Smart Parts Freak 14" Barrel = £28
- Double Trigger = £10

OR

- Invert Mini = £270
- Halo B Loader = £80

OR

- BT-4 Delta = £200
- Halo B Loader = £80

Future Upgrades:

- Smart Parts Freak 14" Barrel = £28

Air Tank :

- 48cu/0.8L 3000psi = £45

Clothing :

- Woodland Colour-scheme = whatever my local site can get me, although the local team wears Multi-Cam -- do you guys have any suggestions ?

Total Price :

Tippmann Option = £265 + Clothing (+ £83 in Upgrades)
Invert Mini Option = £440 + Clothing
BT-4 Delta = £360 + Clothing (+ £56 in Upgrades)

All of the prices come from JustPaintball, however my local site has told me to always check with them as they can generally get things at a wholesale price and they won't add tons on for profit like other retailers. Also a friend's Dad is dealing with a Paintball importer who can get things on the cheap so these prices are generally the worst case scenario.

I need some advice on the air tanks though, I don't want mine to be heavy mainly but clearly it needs to last more than one game with either of the three markers suggested above - what do you guys think ? Also what about the Clothing ?

Cheers again !

/Xanten

 

[Niall W]

http://www.lpspaintball.biz/acatalog/SP_EOS_PACK.html

http://www.lpspaintball.biz/acatalog/PROTO_SLG_PACK.html

http://www.lpspaintball.biz/acatalog/INVERT_MINI_PACK.html

Though if you went for one of these i'd advise to change the Proto Switch mask for something higher spec

 

[JamesH]

EOS's are BADASS mate, other people may disagree but i doubt you will need another marker for a long time unless you just get 'bored' with it as some people do with there markers. but all three of the above posts are good guns. In my opinion i wouldnt get a A5 just incase you play for a while and decide to get on to the tournament scene.