Spire V review

[cfos00]

My review for the Spire V. I would say that plenty will like them, but wouldn't say it's all sunshine and rainbows for all of us. Take a quick read.

https://www.hp-wt.com/taking-the-5th...-v-review.html

I would say that for slower mech shooters, it's a good fit. For electros with eyes, also a good fit. For fast mechs or blind electros----that's a hard no.

[glaman5266]

Very nice. Thank you. 👍

[Mps18]

will only be picking up a purple for the color.. this is a good review.

[Myrkul]

This is a great review. Exact same conclusion I came to with spires. Great for cockers, mech spyders, and classic mags, but it's chop city in mech ions, guns with R/Ts, and blind electros.

[Cunha]

z2 still the best loader for speed and no jams and moderate disassembly. Rotor for kinda more speed and some jams and easier disassembly

dreaming of a z3

[cfos00]

I want to get my hands on the new JT loader---it's basically an updated z2, from what I've been told.

[Cunha]

They should have called it the prophecy 3 just like this should be called the speed 2.

There’s a lot of wannabe hoppers on the market and these two brands aren’t doing themselves and favors by not referencing prior hoppers. The jt loader does look like it maybe the new prophecy with a smaller cone (that will feed slower, but be smaller)

[Cdn_Cuda]

Nice review! Thought it was video review so waited until I had time to watch and surprise! It’s a written review, which I prefer. I’ll check out your other content as well.

[kevin qmto]

great review, though does anyone else think virtue should be ashamed they released a loader that can't even manage a stable 12.5bps on marker feedrate? Eggy's from 20 years ago could feed 15-17 all day and also never jam, VLocitys will not hesitate to feed 25 on marker, and also had auto-unjam. and of course, Halos, while weighing 50 pounds and having shells that cracked the moment you touch the ground, would enter the 30bps range when equipped with the later chips. Just a bizarre thing for Virtue to do, especially since the earlier Spires could get high teens in feed rate at least.

[Myrkul]

Yes and no. It *is* disappointing that these things can't keep up with wildly outdated technology, but at the same time it doesn't really have too. When I look around at the field, everyone is either using a rental 98, their brother's Spyder, or an Emek. Spires do great on all of those. I have never once seen anyone else running a blind Imp or B2k. Or an RT mag for that matter. I'll occasionally see a RT A5 or 98, but they are rare and those usually break paint regardless of the loader. I'd straight up shit my pants if I ever had to go against "real" speed like a Timmy, and even those have eyes so would probably do okay with a Spire if tuned right, and let's face it, if someone is running a Timmy in 2022 then it's going to be tuned right or it's just not going to work. Virtue is building hoppers for the current environment, and while it's disappointing that it can't keep up with the high rate of fire from 15 years ago, it really doesn't have too.

[shadow191]

The market seems to be people with modern electros with eyes. As a tournament hopper it makes sense as long as it does 10.5bps, doesn't jam, and is easy on paint. I can't imagine a lot of people with Spyders or even Emeks are dropping $250 on a hopper. I've got an original Spire and a IV, I can say I've never had one break paint or jam so I suppose they're doing their job. But I also don't use them shooting uncapped semi either as they don't keep up well.

[glaman5266]

I agree with Myrkul . I get what you're saying & I sympathize with it. It'd be nice to have those options. A fast RT Tippmann is something I would love to build someday. But we need to remember that MCB and the tourney market aren't the majority of the overall paintball market. We're maybe 15-20% tops, combined. The other 80% are renters & weekend warriors who have little need for something like that & never really have needed it anyway. And for those who really need it, we have the Dye LTR, which is a fantastic loader for most other applications as well.

The BPS wars are also almost non-existent in the tourney market. From what I can tell, lower BPS restrictions have led to a safer (& less painful, lol) tourney scene. And combined with the great performance of midrange-priced electros the entry barriers to the tourney scene have dropped significantly over time. We simply don't need super fast loaders outside of certain play styles & specific markers/builds.

[Cunha]

It’s a design made in the 10.5 era and it dominated the era. At unlimited bps the rotor and prophecy and z2 are so superior it’s not even funny. The new jt triad might be a decent compromise of speed and size and weight and reliability, like a small drive cone z2.

[cfos00]

I really want to review a Triad to be honest. They look promising, but don't want to drop $150 to pick one up and then likely sell it. I am just trying to figure out how to get my hands on one.

[kevin qmto]

I preordered a JT Triad and will make a quickie review of it if not a full one. Been needing to unretire from video making.

[zinger565]

As soon as my local shop gets them in, I'll be doing a full review on the Triad. cfos00, when I'm done with that, if you want to borrow mine, we can work something out.

kevin qmto looking forward to that, always like to hear what you have to say