What marker should I buy for my kid?

[Trbo323]

I think you are trying to look 5 miles down the road with the anno and you need to look at the first intersection instead.

Get him playing first, pretty much nobody uses their first marker long term so I really suggest not worrying about the anno and color matching on whatever you get him because chances are he won't have this marker as his primary shooter for more than a year or two.

ALL THAT is even assuming he likes playing long term which you don't even know yet. Get him playing first, then worry about what color his marker is. If he doesn't like playing then having his marker anno matched to yours isn't going to change that. Really the anno does absolutely nothing for you on the field anyway.

Eteks are not plastic body, they are aluminum body and composite frame

Emeks and ethas are composite body.

Etek would fit most of your requirements though (can't convert to mechanical if he wanted to though) but one reason I still like the etha instead is putting that ID body on it gives him the option to choose the body shape he wants. There's a lot of upgrades for the emek/etha platform so you can really do a lot of things with it.

But get him on the field before you try to have him hit a home run, I think you are trying to game plan way too far ahead



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[Pumps4ever]

Just saw a M170 that sold for $440 or something near that price... that could not be more solid of a marker.

And if he wants to go to electro then its an easy transition. or the otherway around... I see 170R's cheap as hell

the PE platform just makes sure he is playing with a top tier piece of machinery and not working on it in the parking lot during games....

[Reflex0283]

Trbo323 I think the reason why he's considering the ability to get it annoed is because he has been doing anno stuff at home, he has a thread in the dealers section (I think) for trades for some really cool stuff he's done so far

[Maxwell]

I think the 170R and a Spire IR2 would suit you really well. 170Rs can be found for $450 no problem on the used market, and can be anodized. The Spire is a tank that's insanely easy to maintain.

You're looking at $600 vs. the Axe deal but in terms of reliability and ease of maintenance you're making a large jump. Another benefit of buying used would be resale value should your sons interests change. I know I went through a lot of phases as a young buck.

And since this is on MCB my above all recommendation is to just buy him a stock class Phantom.

[Grendel]

Owned an Axe Pro 2.0 for a while, and it worked fine, was light, and did what it was supposed to do. I no longer own an Axe Pro 2.0. I sold it at a minor loss, put the money toward an M170R, and never regretted the change. The Axe Pro 2.0 was a fine marker and did what it was meant to do, but to me, the downside is that it needs batteries, and Empire is fickle, so you never know when they'll discontinue stuff. PE, IMHO, is a more stable company, and my Mechanical 170 I'll put up against any Electro for effectiveness on the field. I have way more trust in the PE engine/system and essentially do ZERO maintenance beyond a wipe down if it gets messy and a once-a-year greasing, whether it needs it or not.

[JohnB]

I will beat the pe drum here. Gamma core is something else. I basically got rid of anything that wasn’t a pump or gamma core. You get x days to play paintball per year, give yourself the best chance at not sitting out tooling.

[JeepDVLZ45]

[Glovebox Operator]

I like my 170R over my Axe 2. The screen is nice to be able to change settings easily so I'm not ramping on rentals, I hated trying to remember what the different colors meant and counting flashes. The 170 just seems a little more modern and updated. I feel they both shot basically the same though.

[Vegabond]

if you want something that wont break the bank and if he breaks it or stops playing you are not out much there is this up currently that I'm eying as a cheap hand out or give away: hard to beat 100 for an electro. Last I checked I was snagging it but I'm more than happy to let the kid have it (or snag it so he can take a friend lol)

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[Cunha]

Etha 2 or 3 or stock class phantom.

[Cunha]

But yeah get a good mask and rent whatever a field rents.

[murderbymodem]

Owned an Axe Pro 2.0 for a while, and it worked fine, was light, and did what it was supposed to do. I no longer own an Axe Pro 2.0. I sold it at a minor loss, put the money toward an M170R, and never regretted the change. The Axe Pro 2.0 was a fine marker and did what it was meant to do, but to me, the downside is that it needs batteries, and Empire is fickle, so you never know when they'll discontinue stuff. PE, IMHO, is a more stable company, and my Mechanical 170 I'll put up against any Electro for effectiveness on the field. I have way more trust in the PE engine/system and essentially do ZERO maintenance beyond a wipe down if it gets messy and a once-a-year greasing, whether it needs it or not.

I'm kinda confused by this post, Empire has definitely discontinued some products here and there, but the Axe 2.0 is a decade old at this point and is still widely available. It is probably still their best selling marker? Even better, if you have an original Axe from... 15 years ago? Almost all parts from the Axe 2.0 can still be used to repair the original, as it is mostly the same design. Need a new Solenoid? No problem, $65 on ANS gear. The new Method development poppet that was just released a few months ago? Throw it in your old original Axe from 2011, the poppet on every Axe is the same. The Axe is a Simon Stevens (pre-Inception) Design that Empire has kept pumping out after his departure from the company with only very minor iterations, for better or worse. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Similar situation with the Halo - if you have any old Halo, even from 10-15 years ago, you can throw a Halo Pro shell kit on it. If you have a new Halo Too, you can get the Halo Pro accessory kit and upgrade it to be spring-loaded.

While I agree that a mechanical Planet Eclipse marker is a simpler and more reliable option...OP said the son seems to prefer electro markers and may want to get involved with speedball. I don't think the Axe 2.0 / Halo Too combo is a bad option at all in this case. Especially if the local field already has Emeks available as rentals, which seems to be becoming the norm these days.

[Trbo323]

I'm kinda confused by this post, Empire has definitely discontinued some products here and there, but the Axe 2.0 is a decade old at this point and is still widely available. It is probably still their best selling marker? Even better, if you have an original Axe from... 15 years ago? Almost all parts from the Axe 2.0 can still be used to repair the original, as it is mostly the same design. Need a new Solenoid? No problem, $65 on ANS gear. The new Method development poppet that was just released a few months ago? Throw it in your old original Axe from 2011, the poppet on every Axe is the same.

Similar situation with the Halo - if you have any Halo from 10-15 years ago, you can throw a Halo Pro shell kit on it. If you have a Halo Too, you can get the Halo Pro accessory kit and upgrade it to be spring-loaded.

While I agree that a mechanical Planet Eclipse marker is a simpler and more reliable option...OP said the son seems to prefer electro markers and may want to get involved with speedball. I don't think the Axe 2.0 / Halo Too combo is a bad option at all in this case. Especially if the local field already has Emeks available as rentals, which seems to be becoming the norm these days.

I don't necessarily disagree with anything you said but the flip side to me is I fully believe the money spent on a axe or halo is better spent elsewhere. I hate the mini/axe design with a passion. I don't remember where I read it but the mini was originally a Chinese design that empire bought. Nothing particularly wrong with that but empire had the option to go through it and replace all the metric o rings with as568 and didn't so it uses a mix of metric and as568. They could have redesigned the reg to be more user friendly and didn't. The mini in particular (and still the tm7) uses the hall effects trigger which is one of the worst triggers I've ever used imo.

It's funny you should mention the solenoids because those are one of the known weak points of the mini/axe. I've replaced way more of those than on any other marker, heck I just came across one at supergame 3 weeks ago. It was a tm7 but same deal and for those you have to know which version of the noid you have because they changed the manifold after Gen 1. Anyway my point is, own and use a mini/axe long enough and you have a much higher chance of needing that solenoid vs if you picked just about anything else

Halos, original and the current, anything except the nylon infused matte black shells are weak. Ok, get a halo too and put a pro shell on it? That puts the hopper at $125

Problem with that is you can regularly get a spire ir2 at around $99 if you can wait for the next holiday and someone always puts it on sale. Even if you can't wait it's typically $125 The ir is a better hopper in just about every way.

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[murderbymodem]

I don't necessarily disagree with anything you said but the flip side to me is I fully believe the money spent on a axe or halo is better spent elsewhere. I hate the mini/axe design with a passion. I don't remember where I read it but the mini was originally a Chinese design that empire bought. Nothing particularly wrong with that but empire had the option to go through it and replace all the metric o rings with as568 and didn't so it uses a mix of metric and as568. They could have redesigned the reg to be more user friendly and didn't. The mini in particular (and still the tm7) uses the hall effects trigger which is one of the worst triggers I've ever used imo.

Halos, original and the current semi clear shells are weak. Ok, get a halo too and put a pro shell on it? That puts the hopper at $125

Problem with that is you can regularly get a spire ir2 at around $99 if you can wait for the next holiday and someone always puts it on sale. Even if you can't wait it's typically $125 The ir is a better hopper in just about every way.

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Halo Too only makes sense if you are getting it used, or in OP's case, the ANS Gear bundle makes it basically free with the purchase of an Axe 2.0. The $350 for an Axe 2.0 + Halo Too is a good deal imo.

I believe Simon Stevens designed the Axe, while working at Empire before he started Inception Designs. Not sure what you're talking about when you say it's Chinese. I believe they are manufactured in Taiwan, but that is the case for many products, especially electronics.

I'd also say that the shell kit is a good convenience upgrade for cleaning, but the real upgrade is the accessories kit, which adds the spring-load functionality and makes it a true force-fed hopper. I don't follow the pro scene super closely, but as of 1-2 years ago, a lot of pros were switching back to the Halo and finding it performed better than the more modern designs they had been using. I forget the details, it may have been forced on them by GI as a way to promote / test the Halo Pro, but either way...

The Axe and Halo have both been around forever, they may not be the best, but they are prolific and you will never have trouble finding parts for them. Also - this may be a chance for OP's son to learn to maintain a marker, seek board and electronic upgrades, etc. as many of us have in the past. We all know how to maintain markers because we started with less reliable platforms, or platforms that needed a few upgrades. So not buying the most bullet-proof platform could end up being a positive.

[Trbo323]

Halo Too only makes sense if you are getting it used, or in OP's case, the ANS Gear bundle makes it basically free with the purchase of an Axe 2.0. The $350 for an Axe 2.0 + Halo Too is a good deal imo.

I believe Simon Stevens designed the Axe, while working at Empire before he started Inception Designs. Not sure what you're talking about when you say it's Chinese. I believe they are manufactured in Taiwan, but that is the case for many products, especially electronics.

I'd also say that the shell kit is a good convenience upgrade for cleaning, but the real upgrade is the accessories kit, which adds the spring-load functionality and makes it a true force-fed hopper. I don't follow the pro scene super closely, but as of 1-2 years ago, a lot of pros were switching back to the Halo and finding it performed better than the more modern designs they had been using. I forget the details, it may have been forced on them by GI as a way to promote / test the Halo Pro, but either way...

The Axe and Halo have both been around forever, they may not be the best, but they are prolific and you will never have trouble finding parts for them. Also - this may be a chance for OP's son to learn to maintain a marker, seek board and electronic upgrades, etc. as many of us have in the past. We all know how to maintain markers because we started with less reliable platforms, or platforms that needed a few upgrades. So not buying the most bullet-proof platform could end up being a positive.

Halo Too only makes sense if you are getting it used, or in OP's case, the ANS Gear bundle makes it basically free with the purchase of an Axe 2.0. The $350 for an Axe 2.0 + Halo Too is a good deal imo.

I believe Simon Stevens designed the Axe, while working at Empire before he started Inception Designs. Not sure what you're talking about when you say it's Chinese. I believe they are manufactured in Taiwan, but that is the case for many products, especially electronics.
.

If that's true then it's even worse because it means someone intimately familiar with paintball made the choices to design things like a non serviceable regulator and a marker with both metric and as568 rings and do things like require both a 1mm cs ring and a 1.1mm cs ring on the transfer tube and expect players to be able to tell the difference between those when they arrive in a bag.

The design is like someone got all the pieces for a good fasor together but lost the ram and said, "well let's make it work anyway" .

.

I'd also say that the shell kit is a good convenience upgrade for cleaning, but the real upgrade is the accessories kit, which adds the spring-load functionality and makes it a true force-fed hopper. I don't follow the pro scene super closely, but as of 1-2 years ago, a lot of pros were switching back to the Halo and finding it performed better than the more modern designs they had been using. I forget the details, it may have been forced on them by GI as a way to promote / test the Halo Pro, but either way...
.

Yeah firstly the pros will use slingshots if the sponsors want them to. Don't put any stock in what they have, it's all for marketing.

Everything you mentioned, the ir2 already has. No needing to replace anything. Also, the shell kit +accessory kit is $90 together, not counting the base hopper.

All that to get a hopper that is much taller, is way worse on batteries and with today's super quiet markers can have issues sensing the shots.

I think there are situations where a halo would do better. A tippmann 98 with an RT for example but for a mid range electro that's not shooting over 10.2 or 12, ir all the way.





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