Regulator questions

[Deerslayer]

While I am probably not going to run out and buy a new $175 regulator for my $50 Ninja bottle, I am curious about the relative quality of different brands. I expect some of my questions will have answers that are more opinion than fact, but there is always some agreement on which doodads are higher quality and which ones are run of the mill.

What are the names of some good brands of regulators? I've seen names I recognize - Dye, Custom Prod, Bob Long. Within a given brand, which are the better ones?

I'll define my 'better' to mean more durable, consistent over time, easy to maintain/adjust/repair.

Do you buy your regulator separately from the bottle or just take what comes (my cheap Ninja HPA's came with their reg).

Do you adjust the pressure of your regulator or do you leave it set as it came? Obviously, few mechanical systems work well wide open...you don't drive your car in low gear just to keep the tach at redline. If a regulator is rated at say 200 to 850 psi, where do you set it (assuming your marker has the same air pressure range requirements)?

How often do you remove, rebuild or check your regulator? Annually or when you rehydro?

[Hobbes]

I don't think Bob Long ever made a tank regulator. The old Dye ones were of questionable quality. Never tried a CP. Ninja makes a good regulator and I don't think you need to replace it in terms of quality. There are some QOL features like being able to rotate where the fill nipple/gauge lands for comfort (Ninja Pro reg for example). The Powerhouse regulators are popular, but from what I've seen much more expensive than the Ninja Pro tank reg. In terms of pressure I would just leave it alone unless you have a marker that requires a low pressure tank.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I clean my reg more often than most. It’s the key to consistency and top performance. However you can get away with not cleaning it ever for a long time especially if your air source is clean and you play in clean environments. Most people don’t touch their tank regs unless they stop working. That works fine for them.

Ninja makes a good reg. I prefer the older ones with the pin valve as the ball valve had issues with some popular ASA designs that made them difficult to operate. They would still work mind you. Just hard to an activate and some tanks needed to be backed off 1/8th of a turn so they don’t choke on some ASA designs. But those are all due to the pore ball valve design.

Things I like in a reg.
-Reliability/Durability
-Ease of adjustment
-Quality components (reg piston design, bonnet materials)
-Least amount or proprietary parts possible (longevity)
-Customer service (big events, Tec service, parts availability)

As for pressure it’s important to figure out what pressure your markers run. Markers like Bob Long require Low pressure. Co2 sprung makers like 800+ like some AutoMags. Most new Electros like mid pressure 450ish. So it really depends on what you shoot and how it’s sprung. I have reg/bottles for different setups based on what I’m shooting for the day.

First strike regs I dislike. The fill nipples leak all the time they are red locked into the reg body and the only way to grip them is to place an Allen down the middle of the fill nipple. Well the material they use can not take the torque required to remove the fitting. They are cheap and poorly designed. I have had 3 fail on me. The rest of the design is fairly good. It’s small adjustable and has a very cool stainless bonnet design. But the people who assemble them don’t know what they are doing. For that they are junk unless you easy out the fill nipple and replace it with another brand. I have changed most all of my first strike reg tanks out. I think I still have one left, but I usually keep an extra reg in the toolbox if and when the FS reg fails it will go in the parts box with the rest of them.

Ninja are all around great. Easy to service, adjust, and are rock solid reliable and consistent. Big adjustment ranges on these regs. They even sell ones that go higher off needed SHP, and lower SLP. I despise the Ball Valve bonnets it was sold as “upgrade marketing” but it was a failure fix for a problem we didn’t have that created more problems then it fixed. Early Ninja Regs are better #ChangMyMind. Although I do believe they went back to the pin valve on the new regs. If a bottle came with a ninja rag, I wouldn’t change it out for a Powerhouse.

PowerHouse this is what I run and it’s complete over kill for 90% of what I shoot. But their dedication to quality and customer service is 2nd to None. They are at all the major events with a tech dyno testing cleaning and insuring their products perform flawlessly. The regs powerhouse make are built really well come in all kinds of fancy finishes that even match popular machining techniques. They come in different length bodies to adjust bottle position. They have a good range of adjustable pressure options with more with a simple piston change. Sapir parts are thrown around religiously but rarely needed for free. My original Haymaker has never let me down. I go to a national event hand them my bottle and they clean tune and often throw brand new guts in it regardless if they need them or not. Not one time have they charged me. But yes they are expensive I don’t mind paying a lil more for the quality, cool finish, durability, and consistency. They also flow really well so they work really well on higher end electros at high rates of fire.

Honestly I would just rebuild you ninja reg the parts are dirt cheap. Add or Remove shims based on what you shoot. If you go to an event and Ninja tec is there they will rebuild them for free most of the time. I get extra shims from them for adjustment purposes all the time. I don’t think they have ever charged me.

You won’t see the benefit of a Powerhouse on most setups but I believe they make the best tank regulators.

[iamthelazerviking]

There's Chuck again, preaching truth

[imped4now]

"Bob Long require low pressure" is an incorrect blanket statement.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Correct there are exceptions however a lot of them require lower input pressures and they are one of only a handful of markers that require it to work. The New Mini CCM regs require lower tank input pressures now as well (450psi) they choke at higher pressures. The full size CCM regs don’t have this issue I even run mine @ 12g pressures with great results.

[iamthelazerviking]

I love the quality of Powerhouse. But the Ninja V3 with steel bonnet is pretty comparable. I will say, after using steel reg threads for so long, aluminum definitely feels more rough when screwing/unscrewing. Steel is butter. I also really like PH's burst disks, nice and flush. Not a huge deal but pretty cool. Also the long version is great and no one else is making different length regs.

[iamthelazerviking]

I was referring to the bonnet threading into ASA feeling smoother than aluminum.

[martix_agent]

ninja has gone away from the ball valve and is using the pin valve again, in case you were wondering.

[Brokeass_baller]

I can't imagine never seize going well on the bottle threads. Sounds like it would make it too easy to accidentally unscrew the reg off and turn the bottle into a rocket.

[Cyberpyr8]

I recently switched over to a powerhouse reg and I will probably replace the rest I have with them as well. I bought the ridiculously expensive 1 of 30 model but it has been a good reg so far. I have been hit or miss with the ninja regs. I have had a few that worked great and lasted forever, and I have a few right now that are junk. They were bought more recently and have both failed or had issues. I don't have the new ninja regs that adjust like the powerhouse, but they are V2's. I think the old V1 regs worked better than any of them. Like I said, I will probably be switching all of mine over to powerhouse in the near future. I used to never think much about the regs but as I have been having issues with mine, I decided it's time to upgrade. The last thing you want is for your reg to go down on you and leave you with a useless tank.

I agree with what was said about the first strike regs. They are cheaper in terms of quality and they are almost impossible to get off the tank. I get that those tanks are lifetime tanks, but I might want to change the reg and should be able to.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Your FS regs were red locked to the bottle? Mine just had it on the crappy fill nipple that leaks all the time and requires drilling with an Ez out to get out of the reg body. Those flush mount fill nipples suck!

[flyweightnate]

I had good luck with a CP reg, and decent customer service. I don't think they're the highest- performing on a dyno, but good enough, reliable, and easy to rebuild. Mine originally had some red locker on it, so they sent me parts for free with an apology.

I run Ninja regs on my main bottles, though, because they're also easy to rebuild. I tend to go for the cheapest stuff that works. Ergo, I avoid FS, and avoided the old Dye, Pure Energy, and Tippmann regs. But yeah, the Ninja ball valves were a huge step backwards, especially with Eclipse and Empire on/offs. They work, but they're super hard to open with a push button or cam ASA.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I had a CP forever I removed the nipple filter because it would clog and fill super slow no good for the Xball I was playing at the time. It’s a great reg and had a lifetime warranty that I took advantage of for many years.

[wthomas333]

I have CP, PH and Ninja. My favorite is my CP reg. I just wish it had the ability to rotate the collar to orient the fill nipple and gauge however you want it, like the PH one does.

[Arthur]

Ninja. The ball valve did gove me issues with my PE Etha 2 but it was an easy fix, I forget what I did but it works.

Lots of resources, support, parts, etc.

[Trbo323]

Ninja. I have 3 tanks by them.

A standard 68/45 with a standard adjustable regulator that I have set to around 900 for my mag and any blowbacks I'm working on. This one probably sees the most use overall since I do all my bench work with it

Lite 68/45 with a ball valve reg (don't remember exactly which reg this is)

Sl2 77/45 with pro v2 pin valve reg. This one sees the most field time

Parts are easy to come by, adjusting pressure is straight forward, costumer service is excellent (they have helped me out with a few questions not even necessarily about their products before). Overall good company and products

Sent from my motorola edge 5G UW (2021) using Tapatalk

[martix_agent]

in a year or so, ill be in the market for a new tank. This regulator stuff is making my head spin and they're SO EXPENSIVE! I also don't think they're all that different, especially how i use paintball guns anymore. (even at 10.5 does it really matter??
I think I'll just stay with Ninja, they're good to me and I can still buy rebuild kits for them.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Ninja is a good choice. They make good regs just get one in the operating range you are looking for and you will be G2G.

[flyweightnate]

Where do people go to buy their "naked" tanks? I always wind up with expired tanks with practically unused regs... I use each reg maybe 50x over the life of a tank.

[Cyberpyr8]

You can buy them easier now than a few years ago. https://ansgear.com/search-results-page?q=bottle%20only

[BrickHaus]

A lot of places offer bottle only sales now. But I'm in the same boat. I have a pile of V1 ninja regs I keep reusing as their parent tanks die off. I keep the other extras as it's nice to have partd to swap. I have a few other oddball regs also. But I have my 1x powerhouse, and my 10x ninjas.

[uv_halo]

Back when regs were being independently bench-tested, Ninja regs were in the top spot. I here good reviews of Powerhouse but, I hesitate to support them due to the IP battle between them and Ninja.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Got to sand the feedneck a lil and lid mod it but the CF Winchester looks pretty cool. Probably going to put a mat clear on it.

[Brokeass_baller]

I say put a Nitro Duck on it and get a drop forward, like a man.