Halo Too any good?

[lew]

Howdy,

I had a Halo B circa 2005 that worked brilliantly well. Kept up with my Minicocker with E2 frame at 16 bps without a hiccup. There's not much about that loader I didn't like.

So, how well does Empire's Halo Too stack up? Do I need the Rip Drive or will the basic model work fine? It's a $10 difference on ANS, so no big deal. I want to throw this on a Gen E Matrix and Eclipse/Mouse Impulse, neither of which have eyes.

[Magmoormaster]

Internally, the halo too is basically the same thing. It’ll definitely feed fast enough for you. The shells are nylon instead of polycarbonate like the old ones, so it’s much more durable. The downside with them is that they are much harder to take apart than more modern hoppers.

I would recommend the rip drive, especially if it’s only $10.

[lew]

Noted on the Rip Drive. Sounds like a go to me.

New hoppers- Spire, Rotor, et al- don't appeal to me one bit.

[Magmoormaster]

Why not? Don’t like the shape?

[Cunha]

I agree with Magmoor's question.

The halo too is a good hopper, but it weighs like a full pound more than more modern hoppers.

Spire 3, Prophecy Z2, Pinokio (HK) speed are all a lot lighter. The prophecy is an upgrade in every way meaning speed and weight savings and more gentle on paint.

The spire 3 is lighter than the prophecy z2 but slower, but more gentle
The pinokio is lightest and gentlest and pretty much like a revvy in reliability

The Halo TOO is heavy, fast, and fairly low capacity. But there is nothing wrong with it.

[lew]

Why not? Don’t like the shape?

Mostly aesthetic reasons. 180 rounds is fine with me, and the weight is no issue.

Might look at the Pinokio...

[fullofpaint]

You couldn't pay me to go back to a Halo. I can open, strip, clean, and reassemble a Rotor in the time it takes you just to unscrew a Halo. Plus I don't remember the last time I changed a battery in it, whereas I used to keep a pack of double AA's in the gearbag for the Halo.

[Jordan]

I'm a big fan of my Vmax+ - keeps up fine with everything I shoot and doesn't weigh a ton. I have a HaloToo, I just never use it.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Modern hoppers like Spires are so much easier to clean and maintain then a Halo. I recently picked up a Prophecy with a bunch of gear so never used it, but has an interesting hopper shell design but I’d take a Spire over it due to how easy to is to breakdown and clean.

[lew]

Modern hoppers like Spires are so much easier to clean and maintain then a Halo. I recently picked up a Prophecy with a bunch of gear so never used it, but has an interesting hopper shell design but I’d take a Spire over it due to how easy to is to breakdown and clean.

All right, the Spire IR has my eye. Anyone know what the feed rate on that one is?

[glaman5266]

All right, the Spire IR has my eye. Anyone know what the feed rate on that one is?

From what I've read it tops out around 15 BPS. Maybe slightly higher. But that's a non-issue unless you're playing in a format with no BPS cap.

I recently picked up a Pinokio/HK Speed and I really like it. Not sure what it tops out at BPS-wise, but I've read it can edge out the Spire IR (can't confirm myself tho). It balances well with the weight of the motor being in front of the feedneck and, also because of that, my field of vision seems to be greater w/o the huge back end of virtually every other loader in your face. I really like it. The only issue I've had with mine is when running a speedfeed. Because the back end is smaller it's harder for the paint to move to the front of the loader while the fingers are depressed into the loader. It'll be hard to dump a tube in quickly unless you have a speedfeed with a wider mouth or fewer fingers.

[ATBen]

Halos, reloaders, first gen rotors, and revvys are my go to. Halo is by far the fastest one, but a PITA to clean out, even with they hybrid suicide shells.

Get that halo, you want it!

[Siress]

I bought a Halo Too sometime around 2010, I think. The electronics were a major improvement over the older Halo. My shells cracked in the front within the first few hits. Added duct tape and got through the season. I replaced those before the next season, and the new ones cracked quickly as well. Note that this wasn't due to over-tightening the screws - I own more torque wrenches than you'd imagine and am very careful with it. I basically duct taped the shells together around the nose and used that infrequently for a while, then stowed it away and stopped playing for years. The new shells I bought in 2017 have held up well.

The rip drive I bought isn't actually compatible. The axle is far too long. Not sure what's up with that, as it's labled as a Halo Too rip drive kit.

I've had a few jams over the years, resulting in the need to take the loader off the gun, dump all of the paint, and shove fingers/sticks in the feed tube to clear the jam.

I've had my eyes on the Spire for a while. If I start playing much, I'll definitely pick a Spire up.

[Jonnydread]

Might look at the Pinokio...

I LOVE my Speed. Great profile, feeds well, wicked easy to clean. It's sort of a love child between an eggy & a rev, it's become my go-to hopper for electros.

[lew]

Halos, reloaders, first gen rotors, and revvys are my go to. Halo is by far the fastest one, but a PITA to clean out, even with they hybrid suicide shells.

Get that halo, you want it!

I'll probably get the Halo now and something more modern down the line. I don't know why people are saying it's a pain to clean; I found it only slightly more involved than a Revolution.