Coming back after 15 years, and then some.. I'm so lost.

[Daltech]

Dye dsr, or PE 170 will just work and you’ll get the most bang for your buck from space-spool/whatever they call it super marker.

I went down the Angel LED tunnel. It was allot of fun. I’ve still got a LCD. 99-2000 was the pinnacle imho. The first electros the first baggy size 44 pants, and the first to flex-7.

[Pumps4ever]

Welcome back... I just came back a few years ago after a 30 year hiatus.

Talk about culture shock lol.

Went out when pumps reigned came back to a pretty cool time and space as far as a matured sport go.

The Planet Eclipse guns are flawless. Absolutely love them. You can find a cool upgraded emek for good price and great deals on 170's and even 180's from time to time... Talk about amazing markers... Easy to clean and maintain.

Although this weekend I am pulling out the 30 year old pumps and hitting the field...

Most importantly... Have fun!

[romeoecho84]

I’ve already got a list besides a trophy Angel to buy… sounds like i’m heading down your same path. I’m not quite up to 8, but I’m definitely on my way. I’ll be heading to the shop tomorrow to do exactly what you said: Just feel them in my hand

[TinCan1154]

Went through this last year. Hadn’t played in 20 years, pulled out my 20 year old marker, it worked, then proceeded to buy 8 different guns. Some new cool ones, some old ones that I couldn’t afford back “in the day”.

Every somewhat high end marker produced in the last 10 years is mind blowing compared to what I remember, but the 10’ish bps cap levels the playing field so to speak so you have options. Pick a reliable spool that fits your hands good and go to town.. then buy something else if you want to tinker.

[Socalpumpballer]

Sandana collecting was thing in 2010 though.

[cheapguitarscheapthrills]

Definitely check out the different styles of today Speed, mech, pump, and even stock class if you have the scene where you live. Stock class has the best camaraderie bar none and it makes you way better at snap shooting. Pump open class to dip a toe. Mech for the 10 man and to keep your trigger finger quick. Just fun to mix it up. Welcome back! I just got out of my 3rd paintball hiatus a few years ago

[boomersruckus]

Heres a good one for ya. Morons paying between 400 and 600 bucks for headbands.

[romeoecho84]

All day air is implied now. No fields charge per fill anymore.
modern speedball bunker callouts are more coded than just yardage and shape. Modern x ball format has made down time more about quick turnarounds like air fills and reloading pods more than chatting about each individual game even in casual walk on games. All compressed air tanks have regulators. They are just screw in instead of hard mounted to the gun, and most guns have internal secondary high pressure regulators instead of screw in. Turn out for fields is so small these days it’s not practical to separate players by experience or gun style anymore

Hmm, I'll go do some homework for updated bunker callouts and Xball format; This never occurred to me. Screw in regs seems really nice to have (Why didn't we have this "back then"), but I do remember still having a drop forward and hard mount even in 2010 on my Ego, though I guess that was maybe just me "using what I already had" if I think back on it. Having a rental with a screw in CF tank and then receiving instructions on how to fill your own tank (from a general recball perspective) seemed surreal. Like SignOfZeta said, time and place I guess; In Florida, filling was always a "hand over" event with the marker to field personnel. Tournaments, being the exception, but it was still a monitored table.. here it was just "walk up, hook up and fill" to people just picking up the marker for the first time.

I definitely can imagine the turnout being reduced as time goes on, but we had 32 players of all flavors packed into our field(s).. it was wild (with our group of 5 being totally new).

Lots of old habits & knowledge to let go to make room for new things! I'll get to learn (again) with "totally new to the sport" players.. so that makes me a re-newbie?

[Sneak Miester]

. When I asked "How do I clear a jammed bolt, there is no bolt-pin", I was told "They don't work like that anymore". I'm still processing that one...

• Spool Valves markers reign supreme JUST ABOUT EVER COMPANY OFFERS A SPOOL VALUE ( usually has lots/more o-rings, bolt is moved by air in a “can” air rushes through the bolt to shot the paintball
• Poppet Valve markers are damn near extinct ONLY COMPANY I CAN THINK OF OFF HAND IS PLANET ECLIPSE , MacDev is supposed to release a new Cyborg soon but $$$. ( ram is attached to a bolt via a removable pin, ram is moved by air- hits a value pin, opens and lets air up the value through the bolt shoots paintball. Less o-ring , easy to maintain
• Hard to identify what brands are on top nowadays, who survived/bought out
• Tank Regulators are no longer common / tanks are all just screw in now?
• Timers (on heads or built into markers) are also a missing thing
• Theres now 'Mechanical' play and Electronic play (still getting up to speed on this)? ELECTRONIC TAKE A BATTERY , HAS COMPUTER CHIP, Mechanical has no batteries, works off a sear like the old Spyder paintball markers
• Talking about props in yardlines and shapes was like speaking Greek to the pick up speed ballers (they had enough modern equipment > "they looked the part")
• Almost no communication, let alone friendly trash talk/after game banter YOU WILL FINE SOME GOOD PEOPLE maybe just not the day you played

The game felt different. The random woodsball felt the same, but speedball and airball felt "empty & different". I'm not sure what all I was expecting, but the individualism of the game and play really struck me as stark.

I'm glad to be getting back into the sport, and seeing the change, but I feel like I've got some shell-shock. I know I've got a lot to catch up on, but I feel like I have to learn everything all over again. I know what I used to know, but not how to translate it to 2025.

[romeoecho84]

Hell yea grab a LCD and a rotor and go play. I haven't found one yet that all it took was a new battery to get it going. If you don't want to get a new board and don't care to have/need ramping and have even a modicum of soldering experience, it's easy enough to put some AA terminals on the stock battery harness and run it on a pair of 14500 lithium batteries in the stock tube position with a little shimming.

I never got into the ramping, even when it was a new thing. I'm definitely not afraid to solder if I had to, but getting creative to run on AA's sounds like fun way to both tinker/update things.

[Socalpumpballer]

All day air is implied now. No fields charge per fill anymore.
modern speedball bunker callouts are more coded than just yardage and shape. Modern x ball format has made down time more about quick turnarounds like air fills and reloading pods more than chatting about each individual game even in casual walk on games. All compressed air tanks have regulators. They are just screw in instead of hard mounted to the gun, and most guns have internal secondary high pressure regulators instead of screw in. Turn out for fields is so small these days it’s not practical to separate players by experience or gun style anymore

[Axel]

Welcome home

[Ramfaux]

Hell yea grab a LCD and a rotor and go play. I haven't found one yet that all it took was a new battery to get it going. If you don't want to get a new board and don't care to have/need ramping and have even a modicum of soldering experience, it's easy enough to put some AA terminals on the stock battery harness and run it on a pair of 14500 lithium batteries in the stock tube position with a little shimming.

[Sneak Miester]

Well my take on it is
- any newer marker uses only compressed air, which is usually free with field registration fees
- most markers are more air efficient now a days
- you should find a used marker $400- 600 that will work great for you
- planet eclipse, MacDev, luxe, field one
- check out trademygun web site for ideas ( I don’t support Dye, CEO was accused of child molesting Dave Youngblood)
- get a good mask
- it won’t take you long to get back into the groove
just have fun and welcome back

[romeoecho84]

Wear a watch.. man ya got me there. It never dawned on me to "just look down at my wrist". I do see some PE setups, but still trying to navigate the Spool vs Poppet markers before brand. I did manage to only take a hopper hit and 1 graze on the arm. Felt good not getting instantly peppered. The guys I was playing with were doing some recball in and out of our group on the speedball field, but they were claimed they were practicing for an upcoming tourney, which is why I thought I could 'talk' to them on the field.. whiffed on that I guess.

I never thought to 'teach' about the Angel, but that does sound like a great time. If I do end up getting one (I'm trying in another thread), I wonder how much of a conversation piece it would be? Are they rare to see these days?