The Tippmann Division of Kore Sports hates money!

[Meleager7]

I just picked up kind of an odd duck of a Tippmann, a Tippmann Cronus in .50 cal, and i'm inspecting this thing and it got me thinking.

Their Cronus , TMC, and now Stormer line have basically done away Tippmanns huge accessories revenue stream!

When Tippmann came out with Cronus design, they were able to finally shorten their in line hammer / valve designed guns , by moved the trigger frame farther forward. This was an improvement in my view, since Tippmann in line blowback guns have always been really long and unwieldy at times, but this design choice came at a cost!

As part of that design they decided to use a hoseless, gas thru grip asa , and in one fell swoop, killed off a whole line up of accessories they could have sold as upgrades! No more electronic boards / sear tripper kits , no RT kits , no double triggers, etc . We haven't even seen the Cyclone loader return for these series of guns!

Seems so odd to me they just left paintball dollars on the table like that!

[devilzcall]

My guess would be that some features like RT, cyclone feed or even e-grips would be selling points for their other markers. Not a good argument tbh

[Trbo323]

My guess would be that some features like RT, cyclone feed or even e-grips would be selling points for their other markers. Not a good argument tbh

Yeah this is exactly it

Want those things? They are compatible with the 98/at etc, just buy one of those!

This is why you see players with 5 tippmann markers that are largely the same design

Buy a gryphon to get into the sport
Buy a chronos for that tactical look
Buy a 98 for that double trigger/rt
Buy a a5 because you want the cyclone and it comes stock (and because tippmann convinced you it was better)
Buy a phenom for the better valve train
Buy a tmc for mag feed
Buy a tipx because everyone always needs a backup pistol!

Tippmann has designed their markers to not be compatible with the same parts, so they have just switched to selling whole markers rather than individual parts

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

[moving_target]

Yeah this is exactly it

Want those things? They are compatible with the 98/at etc, just buy one of those!

This is why you are players with 5 tippmann markers

Buy a gryphon to get into the sport
Buy a chronos for that tactical look
Buy a 98 for that double trigger/rt
Buy a a5 because you want the cyclone and it comes stock (and because tippmann convinced you it was better)
Buy a phenom for the better valve train
Buy a tmc for mag feed
Buy a tipx because everyone always needs a backup pistol!

Tippmann has designed their markers to not be compatible with the same parts, so they have just switched to selling whole markers rather than individual parts

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

if only they still made the phenom...

But pretty much this. The accessory game is not as profitable as the full marker markup.

[The Inflicted]

Yeah this is exactly it

Want those things? They are compatible with the 98/at etc, just buy one of those!

This is why you see players with 5 tippmann markers that are largely the same design

Buy a gryphon to get into the sport
Buy a chronos for that tactical look
Buy a 98 for that double trigger/rt
Buy a a5 because you want the cyclone and it comes stock (and because tippmann convinced you it was better)
Buy a phenom for the better valve train
Buy a tmc for mag feed
Buy a tipx because everyone always needs a backup pistol!

Tippmann has designed their markers to not be compatible with the same parts, so they have just switched to selling whole markers rather than individual parts

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

I'm not sure most of those guns are even in production anymore. What with the economy and the contraction of the sport, my understanding is that Tippmann has been trying to streamline their product line. The Phenom, 98, A5, Cronus, and Gryphon have all been replaced by the Stormer.

Don't know if they're still making the TiPX anymore either.

Mind you, part of the reason a lot of Tippmann's products haven't been available for a while is that a large portion of their 2020/2021 inventory was destroyed in a huge warehouse fire in China, but my understanding is that the TMC/Stormer is now pretty much it.

[kevin qmto]

As someone who worked in a store and attempted to sell tippmann tactical accessories at huge discounts and still no takers, I can say that market is dead. It peaked in 2007 with the original X7 and all its different looks and it slowly died from there. Hell, in 2020 we still had some leftover accessories like stocks and rails for the original X7.

[Bow]

Yeah, the shop I worked at had a ton of tactical junk that just sat and sat and sat.

Once people come around and realize that their big heavy cool looking marker is unwieldy and hard to move they generally start to lighten the load piece by piece until they're bare bones. Then they usually end up buying a nicer marker a few months/years later.

[Trbo323]

I'm not sure most of those guns are even in production anymore. What with the economy and the contraction of the sport, my understanding is that Tippmann has been trying to streamline their product line. The Phenom, 98, A5, Cronus, and Gryphon have all been replaced by the Stormer.

Don't know if they're still making the TiPX anymore either.

Well, everything except the phenom is still on their web page, most says out of stock but they are still listing it

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[Ecapnation]

Nobody upgrades guns any more.... Yeah the emek brought that back a bit but for the most part lower end stuff is tossed and something new is bought.

[Meleager7]

As someone who worked in a store and attempted to sell tippmann tactical accessories at huge discounts and still no takers, I can say that market is dead. It peaked in 2007 with the original X7 and all its different looks and it slowly died from there. Hell, in 2020 we still had some leftover accessories like stocks and rails for the original X7.

I totally agree, that anything tacticool like bulky shrouds, picatinny rails, and siterails, etc have long lost any appeal to paintball buyers. I was talking more about the upgrades that tippmann offered that actually yielded more performance. The electro boards, and RT kits for the 98 custom were\are legit ! The cyclone was a decent performing loader, with no batteries required.

Someone said above a new player can just buy a 98 custom, since there is still lots of stock out there. But maybe they don't want a gun that with barrel and tank installed is as long a 1800s musket !

If they want the more compact stormer, their upgrade path is zilch ! Their only option is to upgrade guns, and maybe (very probably) the next gun won't be a Kore product. All i was postulating above, was if they did not abandon upgrades to their current line of guns, they might keep their customer a bit longer

[DocsMachine]

The Chronus was always intended as a basic beginner and rental gun. Ease of manufacture, low price, and ease of maintenance and repair were more important than accessorizing.

Doc.

[Ecapnation]

Also worth mentioning...

Tippmann gryphon predates the chronos

[Meleager7]

The Chronus was always intended as a basic beginner and rental gun. Ease of manufacture, low price, and ease of maintenance and repair were more important than accessorizing.

Doc.

Yeah, maybe the Cronus was a bad example. Let's focus on the Stormer line, which seems to be Tippmann's next workhorse to replace the aged 98 custom ( approx. 25 year run!)

So to rephrase , has Tippmann lost out by picking a design path like the Stormer, that won't see many upgrades beyond switching between the mag fed or hopper version, or putting a different extendable stock on it?

[THE SHOOTIST]

Bring back the AK-47 of Paintball: Prolite.
Make it like they used to.
Rental user resistant.

[Euphie]

The problem is the CVX valve is just better for modern usage, so perhaps bring back the pro-carbine instead? I have a Pro-lite and it can be a hassle to get proper velocity with HPA

[Euphie]

I loved my Tippmann 98, I put a Lapco direct feed on it, Pro-team Elbow, stainless steel screw kit, Lapco bigshot, some aluminum bolt, and pully polished the internals and it was great. I had it on a Palmer stabilizer and a remote with a gas thru stock of course. It wasn't upgradable like the 98 custom was, but it was still one of the best markers I ever had. It had Automag level trigger pull, but never complained about co2, and it was incredibly consistent too.

My friends however all bought 98 Customs instead and well, their experience was quite a bit worse. Most of them immediately bought response triggers and rear velocity adjusters without electronic hoppers so they were messing with spring pressure so that the marker wouldn't stop on paint it would chop right through it and keep firing, and since it wasn't bundled with a cyclone feed (which IIRC wasn't even available at the time unless you bought an A-5) it would just blend up paint and hit nothing. Most of them had much more negative opinions of the Tippmann 98 than I did because of this.

I do still have a Tippmann Pro-lite and my partner has an A-5, Stormer, and 98 Custom Pro. I am sad at the loss of the upgrades, but I get it.

[glaman5266]

The Chronus was always intended as a basic beginner and rental gun. Ease of manufacture, low price, and ease of maintenance and repair were more important than accessorizing.

Doc.

To add to this: I don't think GI/Kore views Tippmann as a main brand. They're making it the latest Brass Eagle by cheaping out on it. The 98C and A-5 haven't been designed with anything beyond basic upgrades in mind for some time. I've read somewhere that the current 98C was redesigned so the low pressure kit WON'T fit. If that's indeed true, it's further evidence that GI/Kore just wants to use them as throw-away guns. The new Brass Eagle.

GI/Kore really seem to be pushing their midrange stuff over anything else, which is not what the majority of the market uses. Not a smart business move IMO, considering they're the largest conglomerate in paintball. They're all about holding the majority of the market at the cheapest cost possible, which is also evidenced by their paint business. And I have no faith in Kore, being an equities business. They likely don't care about the game itself at all.