Paintball Buyer’s Blog

We just got a screaming deal on these JT 08 Pro Armor Chest Protectors and have them for a steal of a price. These were without a doubt the best chest protector ever made for paintball but really… they were priced too high for most people to take notice! We bought them up at a steal of a price and now offer it to our customers at over a 30% savings.

Most chest protectors either A) Fit like a cardboard box, or B) make you look like a pro football linebacker. The JT 08 Pro Armor have a comfortable stretch shirt base that breathes to help keep you cool. Attached to this base is dense yet flexible memory foam. This foam is only half as thick as other competing products, yet it absorbs paintball impacts even better. This padding moves with your body so you don’t feel like you’re wearing football pads.

Taking the sting out of being hit by the paintball can be a big confidence booster to making game-winning moves, especially among inexperienced and youth players.  The JT 08 Pro Armor Chest Protector delivers.

Well, we are in the midst of summer now and while you may have some free time to play paintball more often the heat of summer can play havoc with gear and your body. Paintball Online wants you out there playing so here’s some suggestions for going out to play this summer.

1. Coolers are your friend.

Bring or invest in two coolers, with at least one being a family-size Coleman or similar brand. I suggest one that will fit at least two cases of paint and has a slot for a padlock. Keep reading and you’ll see why.

2. HYDRATE! HYDRATE! HYDRATE!

Really, this cannot be stressed enough. Dehydration will ruin your day and is easily avoidable. Drink a pint of water early in the morning before going to play, and drink a pint of water while gearing up. One trick to avoid debilitating dehydration is to get fluids in you before you begin strenuous activity. Did you buy two coolers? Good, make sure one has ice and several bottles of water and real fruit juice, not soda or sugary psuedo-juices. Between games, drink a few ounces even if you’re not thirsty. If you don’t drink until you are thirsty you’ve waited too long. For big games and scenarios definitely invest in a hydration bladder. Models such as the NXe Extraktion Hydrate will attach to the MOLLE webbing on your tactical vest. Another trick is to carry a waterbottle with a spigot top and keep it in one pod slot in your paintball harness.

3. Protect your paintballs and CO2 tanks.

Did you get a big cooler? Good, because you need to store your paintballs and air tanks in there. Summer heat will cause the shell of your paint to soften and expand. They deform in your loader causing jams, swell up and cause feed problems in your marker’s breech and hit like a bean bag, refusing to break on target. Store them in a cooler and keeping this cooler in the shade, padlocked and chained to a tree or your car if at a public field. This will keep them at a consistent cool temperature as long as possible. If its really hot, don’t put ice in with the paint. The humidity from the ice will be almost worse than the heat itself. Instead, take an ice pack or a frozen bottle of water, wrap it in a small towel and place it in the cooler. This will keep it a few degrees cooler and not ruin your paintballs.

When you come off the field, remember to lay your gear down in the shade! A pod is a natural greenhouse and a few minutes of intense sunlight will transform your paintballs into a spongy mess.

CO2 tanks are especially notorious for blowing their burst disc if left in the sun. Store them in the cooler as well. HPA tanks are not as volatile in the heat but that doesn’t mean you can just leave them in the sun, either. Intense summer heat is not good on the seals in your regulator.  Keep them in the shade when not playing.

4. Invest in good paintball masks and spare lenses.

Summer heat means sweating in the sun, and sweat translates into mask fogging. The more humid a locale you play in, the more likely it will happen. To alleviate this as much as possible, invest in a good paintball mask with a thermal lens. The dual pane lens helps prevent fogging much better than single lenses. Invest in a spare lens as well because a lens change is often in order in high humidity conditions. If your goggle system lens change system is slow, consider just investing in a second mask and switching between the two, letting one cool and air out while you play in the other.

Goggle fans are kind of loud and noisy but work wonders. Its better to hear a loud buzzing sound but be able to see than hear all the incoming paint whizzing by your head and not see where its coming from! You can get the JT Vortex Goggle Fan for JT goggles, the Dye Invision Turbine Goggle Fan for Dye goggles and the Proto Turbine Goggle Fan for Proto Switch, Axis and Axis Pro goggles. The Invert 20/20 Paintball Goggle already has a fan built-in.

Bring several sweatbands or bandanas and wear them Karate Kid-style around your forehead. These will absorb sweat and keep it from rolling down in your eyes and evaporating on your lens. Swap them out throughout the day as they become soaked. Consider headwear that will keep you cool and vents heat. Between games, take your mask completely off your head and either hook it over loader or carry it. Don’t wear it on your forehead; the hot humid air radiating off your head will ensure you fog!

Glinting sun in your eyes will ensure you can’t see your opponents. Consider a smoke goggle lens and use your goggle visor.

5. Don’t over do it.

Heat exhaustion and dehydration will sneak up on you and then quickly lay you out. No one will think less of you for stopping under the occasional shade tree for a few minutes here and there. Good knee pads will let you kneel down and take a load off the feet comfortably. Don’t forget to drink some water while you’re stopped, too!

6. Be aware of the sun.

If you can help it, try to attack and defend through areas of trees or other shade. Once you leave the protection of the shade you can overheat quickly. The paintballs in your pods are also going to turn into gooey blobs if out in the direct sunlight too.

Don’t forget the sunscreen! You’re going to get a serious sunburn if you do. You’re not out there to get a tan so don’t mess around and use SPF 30 or higher. Remember that you’re going to sweat a lot so look for a waterproof brand that will stay on through moisture. If it is used by surfers then it’ll work great for paintball. Apply in the morning and again during the lunch break. Make sure you get the back of the neck and the forehead… nothing looks worse than a goggle tan line!

There you go, a few tips to help keep you on the field this summer. Remember to drink that water and periodically rest!

Hello all,

JT called us and made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. They had a surplus of JT Spectra Flex 8 Thermal Goggles in Navy Blue and negotiated a sweet price to take them all. Now we could have milked it, continued charging $59.00 as the other Flex 8 masks but that’s not what Paintball-Online is about. We find killer deals and pass it on to the customer. So right now, while supplies last, you can get the JT Flex 8 Goggle in Blue for just $29.99! That’s a premium thermal lens goggle for the same cost as most replacement lenses alone.

One thing we’ve noticed when we do goggle specials is that customers often order in twos, whether it be buddies ordering together to save on shipping or for both sons and daughters. To make the deal even sweeter, we are doing a twofer price for $56.99! That’s two Blue Flex 8s for less than the cost of one Olive, Red or Gray!

The JT Flex 8 Paintball Goggle features the classic Specra Thermal Lens, rated by many as the best goggle lens system ever in the sport. The Spectra provides 260 degrees of distortion free vision and excellent fog prevention with its dual pane construction. The Flex 8 utilizes JTs ‘Dual Fusion’ process that seamlessly welds rigid plastic venting to softer, more pliable base material. The result is a facemask that retains its structure for blunt impact protection (no whacks on your nose or lips!) yet flexes with you for comfort, like when you press against your shoulder stock or bonk the ground during a slide. The JT Flex 8 also features a short visor for playing in the direct sunshine or rain and a chinstrap for safety. Having had a mask snag a tree branch and get yanked off in a paintball firefight once, I highly recommend using the chinstrap!

Get’m while you can!!

Be sure to enter to win a 2009 Dye DM9. Drawing will take place on June 30th, 2009.
http://ping.fm/fkKcC

NXe has been providing camo options for paintball players since their inception, offering 2 Pod and 3 Pod camo belt pouches, a popular wraparound 4+1, a full vest and a light vest and the trend setting Elevation Series. About a year ago my sales rep told me that they had something in the works to appeal more to the high end woodsball/ tactical player. Now this really piqued my interest because scenario/ rec ball is finally recognized as a significant portion of the industry… and I love new toys for myself as well !

Finally, NXe felt the product line was ready for the market. The Extraktion Series is a modular harness and accessory system utilizing elements from both their previous paintball harnesses and current military/ police gear. The beauty of this system is that it can be set up as just a traditional waist pack, a light shoulder harness-style vest or a full vest, easily customized to the role you’ll be on the field that day. Everything is available in either a green digi camo (similar to MarPat but not as much browns) or good ol’ SWAT black.

The backbone of the Extraktion system is the BASE waist belt. Anyone familiar with the Elevation Series harnesse will see the instant similarities. Textured dense rubber foam wraps around and grabs your lower back for comfort and three big rubber-covered foam points cushion where the harness meets the base of the spine and prevents the whole works from twisting around. A two part stretch waist belt, similar to a lumber lifting belt, wraps around your waist for a snug and proper fit. On the front of this is a convenient velcro ID pouch with a plastic face so you can keep your scenario ID or mission card tucked away safely yet show it to a ref in an instant. Instead of the usual static pod slots and tank pouch across the back there is MOLLE (Modular Lightweight Loadbearing Equipment) webbing to let you place whatever accessories you want wherever you want them. Extraktion’s MOLLE webbing is also a bit different in that it is the loop (fuzzy) side of velcro. Most of the accessories have the hook side on their backs for more ‘grab’ and more secure mounting. Two stiff plates with more MOLLE are positioned on the front of the BASE harness as well.

The BASE in itself is a versatile system giving you tons of options and excellent mobility for quick missions, belly crawling through thick brush and general recreational play. However, for big games/ scenarios where you might be out on the field for hours at a time you need extra room to carry more gear. Extraktion offers two choices for this, the FLANK light rig and the SHELL heavy vest. These attach to the BASE via plastic rings and adjust for length. The adjustment straps feature thick sturdy velcro and are elastic to stretch and move with your as opposed to your body twisting around inside .

The FLANK is more of a rack/ rig than a vest for a smaller and more mobile load out. The FLANK is comprised of a large back panel and two front shoulder panels connected by stretch material. The outer material is a tough nylon fabric while the inside is mesh lined for ventilation with thick padding at the shoulder cup, base of the neck and lower back for comfort. The back and two front panels are covered in rows of MOLLE webbing.

The SHELL is a more traditional tactical vest layout. Attaching to the BASE, the SHELL provides maximum real estate for mounting gear. Again its a durable nylon fabric, mesh lined and padded, with loop velcro MOLLE webbing. One feature I like is that the left front side side of the SHELL lays over the zipper. This gives you a bit more mounting space and keeps paint and crud out of the zipper!

Next comes the fun part… accessory pouches! Each is available in green digi camo or black.

RELOAD pod pouches are what you will buy the most of. These utilize the same S2 technology as NXe’s Elevation harnesses in that the pods are encased in a formed low-friction slot with elastic ejectors. Pods slide in and out with ease. To increase the mounting capabilities of the RELOADs they were designed with a narrow no-nonsense pull strap, external MOLLE webbing and attachment straps that can be angled outwards. This allows the user to stack additional RELOADs between or on the side of others.

The FUEL tank pouch features a stiff backed base and two sets of velcro for horizontal or vertical mounting. Two long keeper straps hold the tank in place and is spacious enough to accomodate even 88ci tanks.

The CARGO is a general purpose pouch with padded sides to protect whatever it carries. The zipper has a large pull tab to its easy to grab with gloves on.

The HAUL is a dump pouch that quickly folds out, providing a handy sack to carry empty pods or scenario props you need to collect. It can fit up to 6 pods.

Need to carry some paint grenades? The FRAG grenade pouch will transport every size paint grenade on the market. It has an elastic band inside to help lift smaller size grenades up for easy withdrawal.

HYDRATE is one accessory every big game/ scenario player should have. Dehydration is a serious matter for any day of paintball and having it on you the whole time makes the day much more enjoyable. This hydration bladder pouch packs double sets of three attachment straps each for a secure mount. Included is a 2 liter hydration bladder and hose with bite valve for no-hassle fluid replenishment. Because HYDRATE uses up so much space NXe took a tip from the military and added six rows of MOLLE webbing and two cinch straps on the back to build over, such as the FUEL tank pouch.

The DRAW holster is different from every other paintball pistol holster out there. Because there are such different shapes to paintballs pistols, from the Tiberius Tac 8 and Miltec G1 to Sheridan PGP, the Extraction DRAW holster is designed as two sleeves. You wrap the inner sleeve around the underside of your pistol, then wrap the outer sleeve over the top for a custom fit! Three attachment straps on each side allow an ambidextrous left or right hand draw.

The CHART map/ document pouch will hold up to an 8 1/2″ by 11″ sheet of paper, yet folds to a convenient 5″ x 6″ size. It clips through MOLLE webbing by a strong metal clip and rotates 360 degrees so you or others can view your field map, mission objectives or scenario documents with ease.

COMM is a radio pouch featuring a split elastic strap to fit most sizes of radios and cel phones. The MOUNT is a unique poch that provides an adjustable bank of four elastic loops. These loops can hold 12gr CO2 cartridges, ten round tubes, small flashlight, folding squeegee… you name it. The LOOP is simply an elastic loop that can carry a pod, similar to those found on NXe’s high end harnesses. The difference here is that it can attach via a MOLLE strap anywhere you want it. A simple and cheap way to carry a few more pods out with you… and they make a great holster to slip the quick disconnect end of your remote in when its not attached to your marker.

The new Extraktion is going to be a huge hit. It is possibly the most versatile load bearing system in paintball right now with its ability to become three different size harness systems with just a few minutes of mixing and matching… and its the only MOLLE waist harness system at this time. For the same cost as a high end waist harness and tac vest you can have it all in one, saving you more gear bag space!

Here are some sample configurations from my own personal set of Extraktion gear…

A light set up on my BASE with a FUEL tank pouch for my remote, three RELOADs and a rear mounted DRAW holster to keep my Tiberius Pistol tucked away where I won’t crawl on it. A CARGO zipper pouch for my small items and a FRAG grenade pouch rounds out the front.

My usual light load for most trips out on the field during a big game when I’m not going too far, here using the Extraktion system with a BASE harness and a FLANK rig. On the back are four RELOADs for 560 rounds, a HYDRATE water bladder and a FUEL to hold my remote tank. On the front is a CARGO pouch to carry my valubles, a HAUL pouch to pick up prizes (most of the local big games here hide pods on the field with raffle tickets and such) and a FRAG grenade pouch because I typically will do a banzai grenade dash when I’m out of paint and ready to head back in…

Hint… since the interface between MOLLE webbing and straps needs to be snug its sometimes hard to get the straps through the webbing. A trick is to slip the tip of a butter knife under the webbing and lift it a bit. This way the snap slides under the knife blade and doesn’t snag on the webbing!

Here’s a little something I’ve been waiting months to talk about. Select dealers got a chance to place orders for a limited edition Invert Mini, something that not everyone would have a chance to carry direct from the manufacturer. When I saw it my jaw dropped, its one of the most gorgeous finishes I’ve ever seen on a paintball marker! Then came the hardest part… keeping quiet. I consider many of the paintball sales reps I work with friends as well as business associates and I honor their requests to keep a soon-to-be-released products hush-hush (if only the rest of this industry would do the same !).

Well, they finally arrived yesterday! I brought the box into my office…

and was greeted by a pair of white gloves, the kind they give you to handle rare books and valuable antiques.

Lifted the next layer of foam and… wow, it was more beautiful than I remembered!

These are Limited Edition Black Chromium Invert Mini Paintball Markers, polished and then plated in the expensive black chrome finish as seen on custom Harley-Davidson motorcycles and other luxury vehicles. These cost a little bit more than your standard Invert Mini but the money is well worth the stares and “ooooh, can I hold that” comments you’ll be getting at the field. There are only 1000 being made ( a usual Mini LE run is 2000 markers) and each comes with a numbered Certificate of Authenticity.

These things are so shiny and polished that if you look in the following pictures you can clearly see my reflection holding the camera. Thats what the gloves are for, so dealers in showrooms don’t get the marker covered in fingerprints!

Here’s a chance to pick up a truly beautiful paintball marker with performance to back it up !