Masterboy
02.03.2005, 19:22
http://www.pbportal.de/files/2005/logos/smartparts.gif
Rom Manning schreibt einen ausführlichen Text über die ION von Smartparts scheint wirklich töfte zusein:
Out of the box:
The Ion
I cracked open the box of the Ion (nice cardboard offering with simple but effective graphics, I must say. Attractive packaging makes me a happy man.) The box lid fanned open to reveal the Ion manual, Ion marker, stock barrel, battery, parts kit, barrel sock, and a double ended wrench nestled in a closed cell foam cutout. One thing that did catch my eye was the grip panel was open, and the battery wire and connector was hanging out. Rather unprofessional, in my opinion, but I suppose it drives home the point that you need to put a battery in. Pulling it out of the box, I took note of the shell construction and the looks. This gun looks MUCH better in person than in pictures. It looks quite sleek, and much less clunky than pictures would suggest. The finish on the dusted parts was nice and consistent, and felt very high quality. The shell was of good quality polymer and the “ribs” are actually rubber, which is nice. The marker was surprisingly light and compact, and side by side with a Shocker, it was almost the same weight and size. I found this to be a definite plus. The feedneck was a non-clamping neck, but did have o-rings set into grooves in the inside of the neck to hold a hopper securely. It took an Evolution II with little effort, and a Halo B (both un-sanded) with a little muscle and coercion. I found the feedneck to be very adequate, and another plus for the marker-but it’s still not a clamping feedneck. It’s a plus and a minus at the same time.
Electronics and dry firing:
I looked over the marker to ensure it was in good shape, and then pulled the battery from its little slot in the foam, unwrapped it and proceeded to attach it to the harness. I placed the battery and harness into the frame, and noted that the harness was excessively long for its use, and there was no convenient notch in the frame to fit the end of the battery connector well. It was more of a case of jamming the battery and harness into the frame and shutting the grips. One thing that was a minor annoyance was the fact that I had to go into the spare parts kit to find the grip screws to be able to seal up the grip. I’d rather Smart Parts attached them at the factory, but it’s a minor inconvenience.
I screwed in a Crossfire tank, and noted that it aired up with a barely audible cocking sound. There were no leaks heard at this point, and none throughout testing. Now the moment of truth: I pushed the membrane button to turn on the marker. UGH! Those of you who have used an Intimidator will know what a membrane button should feel like. This button was STIFF! Very stiff in fact. I also don’t care for the button itself being the LED to show marker and eye status. With your finger over it, it’s tough to discern the status of the LED (lit or not), and this is especially true for changing eye status. The LED is also difficult to discern in sunlight, much like the Shocker, and it does NOT work well at all with gloves on.
The trigger is a VERY magnetic double finger offering with a rather snappy feel to it. One problem, however, is the trigger is stiff and snappy, not free and snappy. With the marker set in semi mode and the eyes off (no paint at this point) I took a few shots with the Ion. Not bad. Not much kick, not very loud, but the trigger leaves a lot to be desired. A few adjustments to the trigger (mostly to the magnetic pre-travel), and I laid on it to see what it could do. Now, I don’t claim to be that fast, but this trigger made it impossible to hit more than 10 BPS. It’s just NOT possible in semi mode.
The Ion's Bolt
I unscrewed the grip and hit the internal button to bring up the speed setting menu optin. Sure enough, it was maxed out, and I was still unable to get much more than 10 BPS out of the marker in semi. I hit the internal button again to bring about a mode change. I set it for rebound, killed the eyes, and went again. Rebound was much, MUCH better. Yes, it was ramping, but it actually makes the Ion a decently speedy marker. Shooting, I noted that it took up to about 4 or 5 BPS to get the marker to begin to ramp, which means two or three balls on a bunker move won’t be giving you 14 balls in the head (a la Chris LaSoya). That’s a good thing in my book; the ramping was fairly well controlled on this marker and the user has good control over the marker. The rebound mode on the board actually wasn’t bad at all, and would be my mode of choice (until I see something like a Shocker trigger put on one of these, then semi may be a new revelation). Burst and full auto were as expected: a burst and a 10 BPS full auto. Not too thrilling, but it’s there. One thing to note about the Ion is its lack of kick and its sound signature. The marker makes a distinctive “thuck” sound as it shoots, and doesn’t kick at all even when rebound is used and the marker is cycling in the 15 BPS range.
A quick note you should take to heart: Read the manual before trying to change settings. I found the manual to be fairly good at explaining operation of the electronics and how to change settings. Read the manual first then change things.
Test shooting with paint:
First off, set up specs: I set up the Ion with a Crossfire 68/45 carbon fiber tank with an 800 PSI (tested) output, filled to 4300 PSI. I fitted an Evolution II with Y board hopper to the feedneck and filled it with 3-week-old PMI/RPS Polar Ice (a decent fit for the stock barrel) and settled on 4 pods for my initial testing purposes.
With my pressure set at approximately 130 PSI, I took it over the chrono. Average velocity was 243 FPS with a variation of about +/- 6 FPS. I raised the input pressure (using the supplied wrench) to approximately 150 PSI, shot off about 10 test shots to stabilize the pressure, and tried again. This time, average velocity was 279 FPS with an average variation of +/- 8 FPS. I shot 50 (yes 50) chrono’d shots to get a better idea of the variation. Average velocity of 50 shots was 283 FPS with an average variation of +/- 5 FPS, with the hottest shot at 295 FPS, and the lowest at 273 (variations of +12 and -10 respectively). The regulator supplied ISN’T bad at all, consistency wise.
After chronoing the Ion, I took it to the target. Shooting at a 12” square target from approximately 30 yards out, I was getting about 60% accuracy with the stock barrel. Now, conditions were about 30 degrees with a slight wind, which may have had something to do with it, but 60% is about what I expected, considering the quality of the stock barrel. The marker was fairly quiet with the stock barrel (surprising, considering the scant porting on the barrel and muzzle break).
The Ion's Solenoid
With about half a hopper left, I switched to shooting for speed. In semi mode all I have to say is the Ion falls flat. The Ion’s trigger does NOT allow for more than approximately 10 BPS in semi mode, no matter how much you adjust it. It’s just too resistant and too unforgiving in terms of smoothness and feel. I quickly changed into rebound mode to test the limits of this marker. Ripping off a string, I noted that the accuracy was a hair better than in single shots; perhaps hitting 65% to 70% accuracy in sustained strings.
Finishing the hopper meant it was time to indulge in the dreaded chop test. I can’t say I was thrilled about the possibility of cleaning out a brand new marker, but I was pleasantly surprised. The eyes worked flawlessly, and even as the last few balls dropped without any assistance, the marker failed to chop a single ball. There was no noticeable blowback either. A second pod of paint yielded the same results in terms of accuracy, speed, and lack of chopping.
Following my second hopper, I removed the stock barrel and screwed in an aluminum (Impulse threaded) Freak back with .693 insert and a 14” All American tip. Back to the chrono I went, and came away with results that were nearly the same, if not just a little bit better, than with the stock offering. Back at the 12” square target at 30 yards, and the Ion recorded a very pleasing 90% accuracy rating. There was quite a bit of difference in accuracy, with a large difference in barrel quality (as I expected). Sound signature with the Freak was also softer as well, most likely due to an increase in porting. Ripping off strings with the Freak barrel proved to be much more pleasing than with the stock barrel. I’d definitely suggest looking into purchasing a high quality barrel with this marker.
One thing I was NOT entirely pleased with was the Ion’s regulator. While it remained consistent on a shot-to-shot basis when shooting single shots, when ripping strings, there was noticeable shootdown. Shootdown was much more prevalent in rebound mode, but this is to be expected since you’re taxing the regulator to a greater extent. Consistency remained fine, but shootdown was definitely noticeable, and irritating. I found myself readjusting my aim constantly while pulling high numbers in rebound mode. I pulled a CP off of my cocker, and dropped it onto the Ion, and shootdown disappeared. I would suggest replacing the regulator on this marker as well as the barrel.
Post shooting impressions:
I finished my final pod and checked the tank pressure to find it at approximately 2750 PSI. A quick moment of mathematical genius tells me that the total gas consumption for four pods is about 1550 PSI of tank pressure. 4x140= approximately 560 balls, so you’re on par for 1100 balls at 3100 PSI of pressure, and you’ll be at about 1535 balls at 4250 PSI. Realistically, you should be getting about 1400 balls off a 68/45 fill. The Ion certainly lives up to its reputation in this respect. ***Please note that I only used 4 pods for testing purposes, but have put nearly 2 cases through this marker thus far in testing.***
As I stated in the dry-firing section, there was very little, if any, kick with this marker. This may be adjustable and you may be able to dial it out by playing with the dwell settings, which I didn’t do to any huge extent. The marker was a bit on the back-heavy side with an EggII and 68/45 tank on a duckbill, but this can certainly be remedied. Once again, when turning on and off the eyes, the LED/membrane button proved to be a bit of a pain, but it’s tolerable, at least without gloves. The trigger leaves quite a bit to be desired, but I’m also coming from shooting a Joy Division Fly prior to this marker, which makes a huge difference.
The composite and rubber cover over the regulator was actually quite comfortable in my hands, despite looking hard and uninviting. The grips are surprisingly comfortable as well, but people with small hands (younger players, I’m talking about you) may find the grips a bit bulky and a little too large to be comfortable. This could be remedied with panel grips such as Hybrid or the like, but since I don’t happen to have them handy, I can’t comment on it. The trigger guard is a little on the small side, but it works for bouncing your walking fingers off of if you walk with your fingers straight. If you’re using your fingertips, you’ll have a little bit of a problem getting your fingers inside that trigger guard, but you’ll do ok with a small adjustment. The entire marker was just a little too long for me to get into a comfortable shooting position with (and I have fairly long arms) but screwing a 45ci tank into the duckbill brought it into a good, comfortable position to shoot from. I’d recommend adding a rail and on/off to this marker to bring it a little more into balance regardless if you’re using a 68ci or a 45ci tank, but that’s personal preference.
Tech impressions:
Following the shooting tests, I brought the Ion back to the shop and took it to my workbench to strip down and check out the internals and the construction. With manual in hand, I followed the instructions for stripping down the marker, and the only word of caution I have is to make sure you remove both sides of the grip frame to ensure that the board doesn’t hang up on the screws. You may also need to slide the board out with your finger from the bottom to help it out if it doesn’t slide out readily. Follow the directions very carefully the first time through and you’ll be just fine.
My impressions were that the internals (solenoid and air fittings) are of decent quality construction, not the greatest out there, but not too shabby either. As is known, the solenoid is not a Humphrey style solenoid, but a new style design which appears to be very high flow and quite robust. The eye ribbon, on the other hand, appears VERY brittle, and I recommend using a pick along with a gentle tug to get it out of the eye socket on the body. The air hoses are cocker style, but are nice and large for high flow, and the barbs on the solenoid itself seemed satisfactory, if a little brittle, even though I did not remove any barbs and test their durability. I followed by removing all the fittings from the body itself and sliding off the composite cover to expose the firing tube. The breakbeam eye board is a simple removal at this point: just pull it out of its recessed slot and set it aside. A quick look at the tube revealed the swivel donut, held on by a circlip. Removing the circlip and the donut revealed the rear o-rings of the firing chamber, and a generous helping of DOW 33. This also confirms that the Ion is indeed a spool valve style marker. The body is an interesting screw together design, which makes accessing the bolt a fairly simple affair. The bolt, upon removal, is somewhat cheaply constructed, but I don’t see it breaking any time soon. The bolt was also generously lubed with DOW 33, and is an 8 hole venturi design. We can most likely expect to see some open faced designs of this same bolt, and most likely in delrin or nylatron which will decrease cycling times and increase maximum number of cycles per second.
When examining the ASA where the regulator screws in, I noticed there was a fine screen in the ASA (which I’m guessing is in place to screen CO2 for debris). This was a bit of a moot point, however, because upon removal and inspection of the screen, there was a fair amount of debris in the ASA already beyond it. However poor in construction this may be, it does attest to the reliability of the solenoid to continue working in adverse conditions (in this case, debris in the air lines).
I noted a few things during reassembly. First off, once the air fittings have been rethreaded, the board is back in place, and the grip frame screws have been started in their holes, I would advise lining up the body, cover, and grip frame and installing the front screw FIRST, then tightening down the grip frame screws. Other than that, reassembly is the opposite of disassembly. Just be careful to align everything properly and screw it in carefully, just as you would with any marker.
The bottom line:
Ok, so after all the tech and the shooting, what’s the bottom line? I’ll list this sequentially:
Cons:
Trigger is very unforgiving
Stock barrel leaves something to be desired
Feedneck is not a clamping feed
The membrane button is hard to work with gloves on, and is stiff in general
LED is difficult to see in bright light
Modes of fire are difficult to change, can be confusing until you get it down
3 LEDs make it somewhat confusing to change modes
Composite parts may not appeal to some
Duckbill makes for a horribly long setup
Stock reg drops off at high rate of fire
Pros:
Good quality, well finished metal parts
Composite parts are of good quality with nice rubber trim
Comfortable grips and comfy regulator grip
Small, light, and compact
Hardly any kick
High flowing internals (minus the bolt)
Customizability (new shells remove in a matter of minutes)
Consistency with the stock regulator
Eye logic works well
Efficiency was very good for a marker of this design
Feedneck securely held a Halo despite being a non-clamping feed
When you consider the price of this marker, and what you get for your money, I’d say this marker is about an 8 out of 10. What would I like to see on this marker? I’d like to see the following:
A different, high quality barrel (used in testing)
A different, high quality regulator (used in testing)
A different bottomline setup (duckbills are so mid 90s and SO long)
A clamping feedneck
A new trigger without the horribly powerful magnets
A set of nice Sticky Grips to make everything nice and comfy on the hands.
Overall, for what you get, once you’ve had your hands on one and shot a few pods through it, you’ll be very happy. I usually shoot an Angel Fly, and I’m impressed enough with the potential of this marker to consider adding one to my bag of tricks. A few well-chosen upgrades and this marker could be a serious performer. The bottom line comes down to this: shoot it and see how you like it. I’ve found no bugs in two cases through it so far, and no real problems other than what’s listed above.
Rom Manning schreibt einen ausführlichen Text über die ION von Smartparts scheint wirklich töfte zusein:
Out of the box:
The Ion
I cracked open the box of the Ion (nice cardboard offering with simple but effective graphics, I must say. Attractive packaging makes me a happy man.) The box lid fanned open to reveal the Ion manual, Ion marker, stock barrel, battery, parts kit, barrel sock, and a double ended wrench nestled in a closed cell foam cutout. One thing that did catch my eye was the grip panel was open, and the battery wire and connector was hanging out. Rather unprofessional, in my opinion, but I suppose it drives home the point that you need to put a battery in. Pulling it out of the box, I took note of the shell construction and the looks. This gun looks MUCH better in person than in pictures. It looks quite sleek, and much less clunky than pictures would suggest. The finish on the dusted parts was nice and consistent, and felt very high quality. The shell was of good quality polymer and the “ribs” are actually rubber, which is nice. The marker was surprisingly light and compact, and side by side with a Shocker, it was almost the same weight and size. I found this to be a definite plus. The feedneck was a non-clamping neck, but did have o-rings set into grooves in the inside of the neck to hold a hopper securely. It took an Evolution II with little effort, and a Halo B (both un-sanded) with a little muscle and coercion. I found the feedneck to be very adequate, and another plus for the marker-but it’s still not a clamping feedneck. It’s a plus and a minus at the same time.
Electronics and dry firing:
I looked over the marker to ensure it was in good shape, and then pulled the battery from its little slot in the foam, unwrapped it and proceeded to attach it to the harness. I placed the battery and harness into the frame, and noted that the harness was excessively long for its use, and there was no convenient notch in the frame to fit the end of the battery connector well. It was more of a case of jamming the battery and harness into the frame and shutting the grips. One thing that was a minor annoyance was the fact that I had to go into the spare parts kit to find the grip screws to be able to seal up the grip. I’d rather Smart Parts attached them at the factory, but it’s a minor inconvenience.
I screwed in a Crossfire tank, and noted that it aired up with a barely audible cocking sound. There were no leaks heard at this point, and none throughout testing. Now the moment of truth: I pushed the membrane button to turn on the marker. UGH! Those of you who have used an Intimidator will know what a membrane button should feel like. This button was STIFF! Very stiff in fact. I also don’t care for the button itself being the LED to show marker and eye status. With your finger over it, it’s tough to discern the status of the LED (lit or not), and this is especially true for changing eye status. The LED is also difficult to discern in sunlight, much like the Shocker, and it does NOT work well at all with gloves on.
The trigger is a VERY magnetic double finger offering with a rather snappy feel to it. One problem, however, is the trigger is stiff and snappy, not free and snappy. With the marker set in semi mode and the eyes off (no paint at this point) I took a few shots with the Ion. Not bad. Not much kick, not very loud, but the trigger leaves a lot to be desired. A few adjustments to the trigger (mostly to the magnetic pre-travel), and I laid on it to see what it could do. Now, I don’t claim to be that fast, but this trigger made it impossible to hit more than 10 BPS. It’s just NOT possible in semi mode.
The Ion's Bolt
I unscrewed the grip and hit the internal button to bring up the speed setting menu optin. Sure enough, it was maxed out, and I was still unable to get much more than 10 BPS out of the marker in semi. I hit the internal button again to bring about a mode change. I set it for rebound, killed the eyes, and went again. Rebound was much, MUCH better. Yes, it was ramping, but it actually makes the Ion a decently speedy marker. Shooting, I noted that it took up to about 4 or 5 BPS to get the marker to begin to ramp, which means two or three balls on a bunker move won’t be giving you 14 balls in the head (a la Chris LaSoya). That’s a good thing in my book; the ramping was fairly well controlled on this marker and the user has good control over the marker. The rebound mode on the board actually wasn’t bad at all, and would be my mode of choice (until I see something like a Shocker trigger put on one of these, then semi may be a new revelation). Burst and full auto were as expected: a burst and a 10 BPS full auto. Not too thrilling, but it’s there. One thing to note about the Ion is its lack of kick and its sound signature. The marker makes a distinctive “thuck” sound as it shoots, and doesn’t kick at all even when rebound is used and the marker is cycling in the 15 BPS range.
A quick note you should take to heart: Read the manual before trying to change settings. I found the manual to be fairly good at explaining operation of the electronics and how to change settings. Read the manual first then change things.
Test shooting with paint:
First off, set up specs: I set up the Ion with a Crossfire 68/45 carbon fiber tank with an 800 PSI (tested) output, filled to 4300 PSI. I fitted an Evolution II with Y board hopper to the feedneck and filled it with 3-week-old PMI/RPS Polar Ice (a decent fit for the stock barrel) and settled on 4 pods for my initial testing purposes.
With my pressure set at approximately 130 PSI, I took it over the chrono. Average velocity was 243 FPS with a variation of about +/- 6 FPS. I raised the input pressure (using the supplied wrench) to approximately 150 PSI, shot off about 10 test shots to stabilize the pressure, and tried again. This time, average velocity was 279 FPS with an average variation of +/- 8 FPS. I shot 50 (yes 50) chrono’d shots to get a better idea of the variation. Average velocity of 50 shots was 283 FPS with an average variation of +/- 5 FPS, with the hottest shot at 295 FPS, and the lowest at 273 (variations of +12 and -10 respectively). The regulator supplied ISN’T bad at all, consistency wise.
After chronoing the Ion, I took it to the target. Shooting at a 12” square target from approximately 30 yards out, I was getting about 60% accuracy with the stock barrel. Now, conditions were about 30 degrees with a slight wind, which may have had something to do with it, but 60% is about what I expected, considering the quality of the stock barrel. The marker was fairly quiet with the stock barrel (surprising, considering the scant porting on the barrel and muzzle break).
The Ion's Solenoid
With about half a hopper left, I switched to shooting for speed. In semi mode all I have to say is the Ion falls flat. The Ion’s trigger does NOT allow for more than approximately 10 BPS in semi mode, no matter how much you adjust it. It’s just too resistant and too unforgiving in terms of smoothness and feel. I quickly changed into rebound mode to test the limits of this marker. Ripping off a string, I noted that the accuracy was a hair better than in single shots; perhaps hitting 65% to 70% accuracy in sustained strings.
Finishing the hopper meant it was time to indulge in the dreaded chop test. I can’t say I was thrilled about the possibility of cleaning out a brand new marker, but I was pleasantly surprised. The eyes worked flawlessly, and even as the last few balls dropped without any assistance, the marker failed to chop a single ball. There was no noticeable blowback either. A second pod of paint yielded the same results in terms of accuracy, speed, and lack of chopping.
Following my second hopper, I removed the stock barrel and screwed in an aluminum (Impulse threaded) Freak back with .693 insert and a 14” All American tip. Back to the chrono I went, and came away with results that were nearly the same, if not just a little bit better, than with the stock offering. Back at the 12” square target at 30 yards, and the Ion recorded a very pleasing 90% accuracy rating. There was quite a bit of difference in accuracy, with a large difference in barrel quality (as I expected). Sound signature with the Freak was also softer as well, most likely due to an increase in porting. Ripping off strings with the Freak barrel proved to be much more pleasing than with the stock barrel. I’d definitely suggest looking into purchasing a high quality barrel with this marker.
One thing I was NOT entirely pleased with was the Ion’s regulator. While it remained consistent on a shot-to-shot basis when shooting single shots, when ripping strings, there was noticeable shootdown. Shootdown was much more prevalent in rebound mode, but this is to be expected since you’re taxing the regulator to a greater extent. Consistency remained fine, but shootdown was definitely noticeable, and irritating. I found myself readjusting my aim constantly while pulling high numbers in rebound mode. I pulled a CP off of my cocker, and dropped it onto the Ion, and shootdown disappeared. I would suggest replacing the regulator on this marker as well as the barrel.
Post shooting impressions:
I finished my final pod and checked the tank pressure to find it at approximately 2750 PSI. A quick moment of mathematical genius tells me that the total gas consumption for four pods is about 1550 PSI of tank pressure. 4x140= approximately 560 balls, so you’re on par for 1100 balls at 3100 PSI of pressure, and you’ll be at about 1535 balls at 4250 PSI. Realistically, you should be getting about 1400 balls off a 68/45 fill. The Ion certainly lives up to its reputation in this respect. ***Please note that I only used 4 pods for testing purposes, but have put nearly 2 cases through this marker thus far in testing.***
As I stated in the dry-firing section, there was very little, if any, kick with this marker. This may be adjustable and you may be able to dial it out by playing with the dwell settings, which I didn’t do to any huge extent. The marker was a bit on the back-heavy side with an EggII and 68/45 tank on a duckbill, but this can certainly be remedied. Once again, when turning on and off the eyes, the LED/membrane button proved to be a bit of a pain, but it’s tolerable, at least without gloves. The trigger leaves quite a bit to be desired, but I’m also coming from shooting a Joy Division Fly prior to this marker, which makes a huge difference.
The composite and rubber cover over the regulator was actually quite comfortable in my hands, despite looking hard and uninviting. The grips are surprisingly comfortable as well, but people with small hands (younger players, I’m talking about you) may find the grips a bit bulky and a little too large to be comfortable. This could be remedied with panel grips such as Hybrid or the like, but since I don’t happen to have them handy, I can’t comment on it. The trigger guard is a little on the small side, but it works for bouncing your walking fingers off of if you walk with your fingers straight. If you’re using your fingertips, you’ll have a little bit of a problem getting your fingers inside that trigger guard, but you’ll do ok with a small adjustment. The entire marker was just a little too long for me to get into a comfortable shooting position with (and I have fairly long arms) but screwing a 45ci tank into the duckbill brought it into a good, comfortable position to shoot from. I’d recommend adding a rail and on/off to this marker to bring it a little more into balance regardless if you’re using a 68ci or a 45ci tank, but that’s personal preference.
Tech impressions:
Following the shooting tests, I brought the Ion back to the shop and took it to my workbench to strip down and check out the internals and the construction. With manual in hand, I followed the instructions for stripping down the marker, and the only word of caution I have is to make sure you remove both sides of the grip frame to ensure that the board doesn’t hang up on the screws. You may also need to slide the board out with your finger from the bottom to help it out if it doesn’t slide out readily. Follow the directions very carefully the first time through and you’ll be just fine.
My impressions were that the internals (solenoid and air fittings) are of decent quality construction, not the greatest out there, but not too shabby either. As is known, the solenoid is not a Humphrey style solenoid, but a new style design which appears to be very high flow and quite robust. The eye ribbon, on the other hand, appears VERY brittle, and I recommend using a pick along with a gentle tug to get it out of the eye socket on the body. The air hoses are cocker style, but are nice and large for high flow, and the barbs on the solenoid itself seemed satisfactory, if a little brittle, even though I did not remove any barbs and test their durability. I followed by removing all the fittings from the body itself and sliding off the composite cover to expose the firing tube. The breakbeam eye board is a simple removal at this point: just pull it out of its recessed slot and set it aside. A quick look at the tube revealed the swivel donut, held on by a circlip. Removing the circlip and the donut revealed the rear o-rings of the firing chamber, and a generous helping of DOW 33. This also confirms that the Ion is indeed a spool valve style marker. The body is an interesting screw together design, which makes accessing the bolt a fairly simple affair. The bolt, upon removal, is somewhat cheaply constructed, but I don’t see it breaking any time soon. The bolt was also generously lubed with DOW 33, and is an 8 hole venturi design. We can most likely expect to see some open faced designs of this same bolt, and most likely in delrin or nylatron which will decrease cycling times and increase maximum number of cycles per second.
When examining the ASA where the regulator screws in, I noticed there was a fine screen in the ASA (which I’m guessing is in place to screen CO2 for debris). This was a bit of a moot point, however, because upon removal and inspection of the screen, there was a fair amount of debris in the ASA already beyond it. However poor in construction this may be, it does attest to the reliability of the solenoid to continue working in adverse conditions (in this case, debris in the air lines).
I noted a few things during reassembly. First off, once the air fittings have been rethreaded, the board is back in place, and the grip frame screws have been started in their holes, I would advise lining up the body, cover, and grip frame and installing the front screw FIRST, then tightening down the grip frame screws. Other than that, reassembly is the opposite of disassembly. Just be careful to align everything properly and screw it in carefully, just as you would with any marker.
The bottom line:
Ok, so after all the tech and the shooting, what’s the bottom line? I’ll list this sequentially:
Cons:
Trigger is very unforgiving
Stock barrel leaves something to be desired
Feedneck is not a clamping feed
The membrane button is hard to work with gloves on, and is stiff in general
LED is difficult to see in bright light
Modes of fire are difficult to change, can be confusing until you get it down
3 LEDs make it somewhat confusing to change modes
Composite parts may not appeal to some
Duckbill makes for a horribly long setup
Stock reg drops off at high rate of fire
Pros:
Good quality, well finished metal parts
Composite parts are of good quality with nice rubber trim
Comfortable grips and comfy regulator grip
Small, light, and compact
Hardly any kick
High flowing internals (minus the bolt)
Customizability (new shells remove in a matter of minutes)
Consistency with the stock regulator
Eye logic works well
Efficiency was very good for a marker of this design
Feedneck securely held a Halo despite being a non-clamping feed
When you consider the price of this marker, and what you get for your money, I’d say this marker is about an 8 out of 10. What would I like to see on this marker? I’d like to see the following:
A different, high quality barrel (used in testing)
A different, high quality regulator (used in testing)
A different bottomline setup (duckbills are so mid 90s and SO long)
A clamping feedneck
A new trigger without the horribly powerful magnets
A set of nice Sticky Grips to make everything nice and comfy on the hands.
Overall, for what you get, once you’ve had your hands on one and shot a few pods through it, you’ll be very happy. I usually shoot an Angel Fly, and I’m impressed enough with the potential of this marker to consider adding one to my bag of tricks. A few well-chosen upgrades and this marker could be a serious performer. The bottom line comes down to this: shoot it and see how you like it. I’ve found no bugs in two cases through it so far, and no real problems other than what’s listed above.