Thursday, January 28, 2010

Ion Paintball Gun Review

By Lyle Curtis

Smart Parts has been well known for its production of high quality paintball guns. Actually, it has been acknowledged by several paintball players as one of the top paintball marker manufacturer worldwide. The company continually lives to its reputation of producing reliable and durable paintball markers at a fairly affordable price.

The Ion paintball gun is an electropneumatic marker introduced and manufactured by Smart Parts. At the time of its release, most electropneumatic markers are too expensive for common players to afford. This model became suddenly popular not only of its low price but because of its high rate of fire.

If you will look at the gun, one would notice that it is quite simple. What makes it different and unique is that you can modify its body shell. This is one feature that was introduced by this model - the interchangeable body. A player has the option to choose from the 4 available colors and color combinations. These are red and black, yellow and black, blue and black and just plain black. The marker is initially made from aluminum. The interchangeable bodies are made from high quality composite material which gives the gun a plastic look. It essentially protects the marker's body from unwanted scratches and fading.

Excluding the tank and the hopper, the Smart Parts Ion weighs 2 lbs and 2oz and has a length of 8.5 inches (without the barrel). It is quite light making it easy to manipulate and to control. Also, it comes with a 12-inch barrel, .45 grip, a two finger trigger, vertical feed and a low pressure regulator. You can choose from one of the four firing modes to suit your game play. These are the semiautomatic, full automatic, the rebound and the three shot burst. This paintball gun has a firing rate of 17 bps in semiautomatic and rebound mode and 10 bps in full automatic and 3 shot burst.

For its anti-chopping feature, it is equipped with a break-beam eyes which nearly prevents chopping. Furthermore, it can perform 1000-1400 shots with a 68 cubic inch 45000 psi tank of either HPA or CO2 with an operating pressure of 140 to 200 psi.

The Smart Parts Ion uses a 9 volt battery which is almost always available in the market. The package does not have its own battery charger so you can either buy one or buy several extra batteries. With this voltage, it enables the marker to shot of about 15,000.

What makes Ion paintball gun good? First, it is easy to control and maneuver because of its light weight. It is easy to handle and control which of course can enhance your performance in the battle field. Another good thing with the Ion is its stock barrel. It can be considered as one of the best stock barrels ever released. If you are planning to upgrade your Ion, this will be the last thing you need to change. Its break-beam is also good, as well as its regulator. Customizing your trigger is one of the best features introduced by the Ion. Most paintball gun triggers needs an experienced and skilled player to adjust it. In Ion, it is just a matter or turning a few screws. A low cost gun with an outstanding performance - that what makes this marker popular and worth investing.

In every product, you will always see some downsides and that includes the Ion. First, the on/off button is quite difficult to push that sometimes you cannot even tell whether you have it on or not. Second, using CO2 is not recommended at all as it tends to freeze the gun that can damage its internals and electronics. For this gun, it is better to use compressed air. And third, this gun uses the o-ring to secure the hopper. A clamping feed would be better. The Ion was first created and manufactured in 2005. Later on, the Smart Parts introduced the Ion XE which is the improved version of the Ion. - 16887

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