HK Army Sonic long form review

[Casualwarrior]

Thanks for the review! I ended up buying one and just tested it today. Initial impressions are that I love the weight, it’s like half of my R2 (I love my r2 though and the ability to hold a lot of paint, especially when we play hopper ball). This thing does not seem to hold 200 balls as others have mentioned, kind of bummed about that, but I’ll have to actually fill it to my comfort level and count the actual number to see how much it truly holds.

One thing I noticed is that the hoppers interiors ball funnel/paddle area is up front as opposed to the rear compared to other high end hoppers. So if you have the hopper titled back even a little while consitently lettting it feed, it will not feed the back of the hopper till it gets made level or titled forward, allowing paint to roll to the front portion of the hopper. I’ve never noticed this in my other hoppers, as they feed the paintballs from the rear. And the spring in the back is way to weak to lift the balls forward with a large number of balls on it. Anyone else notice this? I wonder if HK can remedy this by adding a stronger spring in the rear.

I can see this being an issue if you play an area where your taking long shots for a while and are shooting long ropes while tilted up to compensate for the ball drop. So I would not recommend this to guys who play in the back. I prefer to play up front, so I find myself running/moving with the barrel pointed down, which can keep the balls moving forward, but I honestly don’t think the hopper should need this movement, it really needs a stronger tray spring knowing it’s designed to feed from the front.

My testing has only been at home thus far and not in the field during play, which I will hopefully do this weekend or next (or both of the wife let’s me ). So take this with a grain of salt so far, but figured I would share that info.

Will try and post up more info as I have it and let me know if anyone has experienced any issues with feeding while the hopper is titled back.

[glaman5266]

"And the spring in the back is way to weak to lift the balls forward with a large number of balls on it. Anyone else notice this? I wonder if HK can remedy this by adding a stronger spring in the rear."

I honestly don't think it's needed, at least based off my testing. As I said in my initial review, this is based on the Speed. The Speed is horrible to use with a speedfeed due to the extremely shallow back end. I can see the Sonic's design (deeper back end w/spring ramp) as being far superior for use with a speedfeed. A stiffer spring may make it harder to dump paint into when using a speedfeed. The fingers fold in, and with a shallow floor or a stiffer spring the fingers will meet the bottom & not allow paint to roll up front, thus not allowing the tube to empty.

I can see potential issues if you take long shots/play in the back. It warrants some exploration, but I don't see it's design being an issue for normal gameplay distances. I don't think it's actually marketed toward hardcore back players like other hi-cap loaders are, and this hopper isn't nearly big enough for a back player anyway IMO. Again, I don't feel this warrants a stiffer spring, as it may hinder reloading.

[Casualwarrior]

Perhaps a two stage style spring, where the bottom portion is so stiff, it prevents it from being bottomed out completely, so the tray always has a some type of angle to keep the balls rolling forward and the first stage of the spring is soft enough to compress enough to make reloading easier.

I play upfront a lot so it may not be an issue as I constantly move my marker around. But there are some games where fields are combined and they are huge, so your forced to shoot across the no man zone, and having the marker titled upward is a must anytime your shooting.

Can’t wait to try it out in play, I really like the weight!

[glaman5266]

So I ordered a Bunker Kings speedfeed. When I get it in I’ll toss it on & mess around with it. I really want to see how well it reloads with the spring ramp in there. I don’t anticipate any issues though. Excited to try this since I hardly ever use speed feeds.

[Redragoon]

One thing I am wondering is what the behavior is when out of paint? The LTR and Spire IR would keep spinning until paint is added to activate the eyes or tension.
Mic/Vibration hoppers like the Reloader design got around this, but would have trouble with quieter/smoother guns. I think even my normal Spire pulses if it doesn't sense paint or the marker.

The original market for the Ricochet design was woodsball so the hopper only feeds when paint moves. If you are low/out of paint, the hopper doesn't constantly spin to stay quiet.
Does the HK version still do this, or does it spin until the tab senses paint again?

[zinger565]

Same behavior as the Ricochet. When empty, it does nothing (unless your marker has some blowback to trip the sensor). That's actually one of the things that tripped me up the first time playing with it, I was used to my prophecy spinning to let me know I had about 7 shots left.

[Redragoon]

Ok. So even the circuitry/software logic is the same. That's actually good to hear for myself.

It's a learning curve from other hoppers, and maybe not ideal for speedball.
But it does make it an excellent mech/woodsball hopper. Having it go silent was one of the key features that separated the Ricochet line in the early days. It also fits with HK's entry - intermediate level market target for a lot of their products.

[glaman5266]

I also put this in post #3, so as to be with the rest of the review.

1/13/2023
I got my Bunker Kings speedfeed in today. I installed it & tried dumping a few tubes into the loader to see how easy/difficult it would be. I was very curious about this given it shares a design similar to the Speed loader, which does not play well with speedfeeds. Some notes:

-The fingers do not interfere with the spring ramp when bent in. This is good.
-The fingers do not like to pop back up. This is likely because of the loader's small size- the loader fills up quickly & buries the fingers. I've found the best way to deal with that is to tip the loader forward a bit when reloading it. Most of the open space is in the front where the impellor is. Giving it a shake after dumping a tube in would also work. Both methods worked reliably in my testing. Note that it was being loaded from completely empty, with a plain 140rd tube.
-Speaking of tubes, I would not recommend loading it with Dye Locklids or anything of similar size. I think you'd have a hard time fitting it all in without burying the fingers, leaving the top open (spilling paint) or having to hold the tube there until it empties out.

A speedfeed doesn't work as well on this as one would on a Rotor/LTR, Spire or other rear drive cone loader. However, it is a TREMENDOUS improvement over using one on a Speed loader. Not ideal but nothing I can't work with. Also note that the speedfeed I have is the Bunker Kings feed, so the fingers are wider, offering more coverage than the standard Crown feeds. Your results with other Virtue-style speedfeeds may vary. Just remember this is a smaller loader & you may have to adjust for that if you’re used to a hi-cap loader.

[Brokeass_baller]

You can trim the rubber off of the BK fingers. That might help with the congestion holding them down.

[glaman5266]

Hey, that’s a good idea, lol. Didn’t think of that. They seem almost designed to be trimmed if you wanted to. I’ll try it as-is first though. A tube does fit- you just have to run it pretty much empty to do so & give it a quick shake after. It works.

If HK released a hi-cap top shell I’d buy one. Even with the extra weight I’d wager it’d still be much lighter than a Rotor or hi-cap Spire. Just an extra 20-30 rounds worth of space is all I’d want.

Or maybe someone could 3-D print a collar for the mouth like those old JT ones? It’d be kinda janky but kinda fun. I’d rock it.

[Casualwarrior]

Played with mine today, actually worked pretty well! The forward feeding tray didn’t give me any issues that I can remember. I was played upfront today, not in the back, so didn’t need to really arch the marker up very far. For an electronic hopper at its cost point, it’s a great value and I still can’t believe how light it is. I used it on a light weight setup, Emek/Sonic loader/Hk 36/4500 tank. It was a super fun small setup.

I have yet to count the balls, but a simple pod seams to fill it up, so hard for me to think it truly holds 200 balls as advertised, but then again I have yet to actually count, so who knows.

Overall, so far I’m liking it!

[glaman5266]

I also put this in post #3, so as to be with the rest of the review.

I used this loader, with a Bunker Kings speedfeed, for the first time in-game on 4/15, playing hard bunker speedball. I used it on my Pro Carbine & Emek. It fed perfectly at all times, all day, with no issues whatsoever. Performance-wise, this thing is perfect.

I noticed, however, that the feedneck is slightly smaller in diameter than the feednecks on the Dye Rotor/LTR & ProToyz Speedster. I noticed this when I bottomed out the feedneck clamp screw on my Emek & the loader would still turn easily. I had to wrap the hopper neck with electrical tape to get it to stay tight w/o bottoming out the Emek feedneck clamp screw. But it is indeed thicker than the old Revolution. Just something to note.

The only gameplay issue I had was when I went to reload. I would have to run the loader down to next-to-nothing to get a 140rd tube to fit without the speedfeed fingers getting in the way. (I assumed this may be the case) But the games weren't super high-stress, so I was always able to get a quick shake in to fit the rest of the tube in. If HK Army releases a standalone hi-cap top shell I will likely be buying one.

Another note: I purposely left the same 9v battery in the whole time between my first testing date (1/1) and 4/15. No low battery indication, no feeding issues.

Overall, I really like this loader. I'll be using this for my main loader for the foreseeable future.

And, if I may add something somewhat unrelated to this review, my Pro Carbine shot super well that day. After a good internal polishing & trigger job it shot way better than I expected. Not that it shot badly to begin with (always shot quite well, actually), but I actually think it shot better than my Emek. I feel like I shouldn't have swapped it out halfway through the day.

[zinger565]

I noticed the feedneck issue as well. Thought maybe it was just the marker I was using it on, but it is quite small.

Totally agree on the capacity issue. Honestly, it's the most disappointing part of the hopper. If it held just a little bit more paint, I'd use it regularly. As it sits, I tend to reach for my Prophecy's and GI LVL loaders over this one.

[glaman5266]

zinger565 Yeah, it’s the biggest issue with this loader. But from a practical standpoint it’s really the only one IMO. None of the other little things are deal-breakers. I’m willing to work with the lower capacity in exchange for the lighter weight & great weight distribution.

If anything, I’ll just get better at reloading.

[Criticalhammer]

I bought one a month ago.

Pros:
Very light, compared to all other electro hoppers on the market today.
Much more balanced compared to a LTR.
Small profile, compared to all other electro hoppers on the market today.
Simple to take apart. No tools required.
1 9 Volt battery.
Fast enough to keep up with any mech gun.
Piezoelectric tongue vs break beam eyes mean longer lasting battery. Also paint gunk wont cause it to malfunction as easily compared to break beam eyes.

Cons:
Made out of ABS plastic.
Thin, and flimsy. Can easily bow the side flats in with my thumb.
Stock lid is a nightmare to open. Had to push the center of the lid down, to bow it out, then lift up. Ended up filing off tabs and epoxying on magnets (increase weight).
A direct side hit on the flats will most likely cause it to crack.
Thin feed neck.
Front loading so any aggressive upward shooting will most likely not feed when low.

Overall I like it, but I don't think its worth 99$, especially when an LTR is 10$ more and contains WAY more material. A Revy will keep up with it, so find a old style thick shell VL revy with x board for less price.

After reading some other reviews on here and other sites, im beginning to think that because of how thin the hopper material is, the manufacturing process is causing inconsistencies leading to a variation in outcome. Some people have a hard time keeping the trey in (I dont), some people have a hard time opening the snap lid (I do).


EDIT: Going to experiment with tsunami VL paddles to see if it cures the odd jamming/blocking issue.

[Meleager7]

will you grab a speed feed for it eventually?

[Criticalhammer]

No, I don't shoot enough paint to justify one. I want a solid cover to keep dirt and rain out, and with the modification its good enough. Have better things to spend money on.

[Embier]

Agreed on the feedneck being a bit small. And agreed on the lid being really stiff.

That said, I had my Sonic fly off at Castle Jam and land lid side down into the ankle deep water in front of the castle killbox where it sat until the ref was able to fish it out (2-3 seconds). I popped the lid and...honestly? I dumped some of the paint out of caution but it all looked fine and proceeded to feed just fine once I respawned.