Newbie looking for some marker advice

[KitsuneAndy]

Me and my girlfriend are just getting into paintball and the local arena (Foxwood Skirmish, near Norwich, England) hold walk on days once a month.

We're both interested in getting more involved and want to go along to the walk on days, but obviously need to get our own kit first.

I've been looking over various sites and reading various reviews as well as talking to the guys at the local site and am still a little confused as to what marker I should be looking for.

I was originally tempted by the Tippmann A5 and planning on adding a flatline barrel at a later date. But having spoken to the guys at the site, they've recommended that I dont buy a new marker, but buy a second hand Autococker, which should cost me about the same as the Tippmann.

Does that sound like good advice? and if so, should I be looking for any particular model of Autococker (in the £150 - £200 range ideally). I'm not particularly bothered by the markers ROF, as long as the accuracy is good.

Any help/advice at all would be great

 

[EyeFellOva]

It's been said a thousand times mate, but for £200 you can't get better than the Ion!

If it's your first marker I'd personally avoid autocockers, they need quite a bit of looking after and if you decide not to play very often they may end up letting you down. My second marker was a 'cocker and although it was a great marker, when I wasn't playing much I found that when I went to play it needed steeing up again.

With an Ion, you can chuck it in your bag after a game and it'll work like new the next time you use it, as long as it's not smegged up with paint

If you keep your peepers open you may be able to pick up a cheap used Ion

 

[JoseDominguez]

Our sponsors do the NEW trilogy autococker for £160...... very good if you want new..... pm me, may be able to sort out a deal for two

Pricing at the moment means you may as well get a new one, never been cheaper..... and much better than most of the other markers at comparable prices.

 

[andyp1]

yeh, but the ion is electro pneumatic, has break beam eyes and ramping, which makes it future proof if they wanted to play tourneys at some stage. the autococker u mention jose, im guessing has non of these features (are you talking about the trilogy cocker??? if not, ewhats a trinity????) and as such would cost £££ to upgrade to such spec

 

[johnmassive]

or pay £150 for a used IR3/LCD (theres a couple in classifieds), then use the rest of the funds to buy paint and play as much as possible: which is really what you want to be doing --Playing!

If you decide to get more serious then pay £120 (i think) and put a spitfire board in it (http://www.spitfirepaintball.co.uk (still under construction)), but the IR3 should be sufficient as it is for walk ons.

Dont be a tit buying the ion...,and especially not the tipman. IF you are just getting into paintball though it is worth buying a good pair of goggles (this is somewhere you dont want to skimp on!).

 

[JoseDominguez]

buy a nice basic marker as advised by those you know and trust at the site...... then, if you ever decide to trade up, you can sell it and put it towards your next marker. Also, if it's new, it's under warranty, something a second hand marker isn't.

Why is everyone so hung up on markers being ready for tourney? He wants to play walk on and needs basic, reliable kit....... like he said. He's been advised to get a cocker for £150 second hand, I'm simply pointing out that you can get a new one for that now.
As for first markers........ every marker has it's problems, I've had four cockers and never had a problem (but I know plenty who have) my timmy was maintenance heavy but my shocker was fine...... I've switched to the Angel now, the whole squad has and I'd never bothered with them before........

Just ask the people you know, they know what kind of ball you want to play and will give you better advice than most..... and be careful of anyone who says "the ??????? is great".... "oh, I'm selling a ?????? by coincidence".

Borrow a couple of markers if you can, see which you like..... that's the best way, all you'll get on here is opinion and a thread of "no, the cocker is crap", "no, the ion is crap" etc......

 

[johnmassive]

Originally posted by JoseDominguez
all you'll get on here is opinion and a thread of "no, the cocker is crap", "no, the ion is crap" etc......

Sometimes what you also get on here though jose is money saving advice. After all isn't it far more rational to buy an undervalued electro marker for £150 than a mechanical one for between £150-£200??? Warranty or not.

Originally posted by JoseDominguez
Why is everyone so hung up on markers being ready for tourney?

True, there is a lot of people only interested in recball/scenario. But aren't the features (well the eye) that andyp said also useable in rec...!?

Originally posted by JoseDominguez
buy a nice basic marker as advised by those you know and trust at the site....

It will be interesting to hear why the sites owner/staff/walk-ons recommended a cocker. My perspective from reading the post was the sole reason it was recommended to him was that it was the same price as a new tippy. Or to add a bit of ambiguity at the end of the post he says that he doesn’t want high ROF but want better accuracy. Does this mean that he was specifically told that the cocker was more accurate than other markers; hence that is why he should purchase the cocker. If any of these were the advice given then is the following statement true......

Originally posted by JoseDominguez
Just ask the people you know, they know what kind of ball you want to play and will give you better advice than most..

.....and I agree in the perfect world borrow all the markers within your price range and give them a go. But be prepared to wait a long time to test them all........

 

[JoseDominguez]

See what I mean.......... just turns into an argument.

You'll just get loads of contradictory advice.... no one will agree. For instance, I don't think buying second hand is a good idea if you don't know what you are doing. Others do. Buying new means you have a warranty if the marker fails, and face it, they do. I don't think it's rational to risk £150 on a second hand marker when £200 gets you a guaranteed working marker. You obviously do...... it's fine when you've played for a while, or if you're part of a team that knows what it's doing. But otherwise second hand is a huge risk (people are still paying £200 for automags ffs). Worth taking to get into tourney maybe, but far less important than a working reliable marker for rec and walk on.

Anyway, the ROF fire/accuracy thing..... any electro is faster than the cocker, the cocker is more consistent than anything in it's price range, but no more accurate (just buy better paint, your accuracy will improve more than spending £1200 on a marker). Your best bet is to look around at the next walkon..... see what is commonly in use and have a go..... as for taking ages to try them all? There's really only the trilogy and ion available new in that price bracket. And any second hand marker you consider, you should get to try before you buy.... so that's not a problem either.

 

[KitsuneAndy]

Cheers for the help guys.

I think the best thing for me to do will be to go along to the next walk on and arrange to borrow a couple of peoples markers so that I can form my own opinion on them..

If I do decide on an Autococker then you can definitely expect a pm from me Jose.

I've actually already bought a decent pair of goggles, I wear glasses and wanted something that was comfortable to wear over them so I bought a set of VForce Morph's.

I'll be looking at picking up a marker over the next couple of months, so I'm in no rush to come to a final decision as to which one I want.

 

[Dusty]

i would recommend a mech cocker to anyone starting out. plenty fine for rec ball. accuracy is excellent and it is guaranteed never to have electronic failure.

i used to shoot a left hand feed mech cocker, and by god i loved it. brilliant marker and then if you want a faster marker afterwards, just stick an eblade frame on it. don't buy the trilogy series cockers, as you cannot fit eblades to them.

i now shoot an angel fly and guess what?? i still have a cocker in my kit bag. oerfect for a backup or a rec ball day.