Paintball Buyer’s Blog

Long story short, we stumbled across a stash of the old school Smart Parts Renegade Knee/ Shin Paintball Pads. If you’ve never seen them before, they are a long pad made of compression-formed dense foam with a tough outer layer of poly/ cotton fabric that cover from the lower shin up to the knee. Wide adjustable and stretchy velcro straps wrap around your leg at four points to secure them.

I used to have a pair that I bought in 1999 and I wore them for 4 years when they finally had to be retired. I never thought I’d see a brand new pair until now… seeing these back on the shelf nearly brought a tear to my eye! I personally bought several pair for myself so I will never run out again. Let me tell you, these things are awesome for woodsball ! Ever catch your shin on an exposed tree root or broken branch? Trust me, it hurts. These pads cover from the top of your ankle on up to save you the agony of such accidents, plus they make fast crawling or ‘crab walking’ between cover a lot less painful. They take the sting out of getting shot on that bony part of your lower leg and also contribute to a fair amount of paintball bounce as well.

Because they wrap snug around the leg of your pants you can move through dense brush easier without your cuffs and such snagging on every bramble. When its really really hot out (like, oh, playing paintball right now in the summer heat!) you can play in shorts (or a kilt, like me!) and still protect your legs. They also make a handy place to secure your Tippmann Straightshot Squeegee… simply slide it down the side under the straps and its always within reach.

The available colors/ patterns are:

Basic Olive Drab, which goes with everything.

Foxwood Camoflauge, a good universal pattern.

Rhodesian Camoflauge, very rare camoflauge much sought after by collectors. Old school cool!

Treebark Camoflauge, a woodsy pattern with green leaves for contrast.

Oak Leaf Camoflauge, similar to the old German camo and a good all-around pattern.

Image Camoflauge, the pattern that was used by the All Americans in the 10 Man woods days.

Belgian Camoflauge, which pants and shirts can be had for fairly cheap at surplus stores.

and Mossy Oak Camoflauge, which is an extremely popular hunting pattern so lots of items can be found to match.

These knee pads are a lifesaver playing woodsball and I highly recommend picking one or two pair up now before they are gone forever… again!

Well, my Proto rep called with some offers I couldn’t refuse. Yay, free stuff ! Rather than just sell it all individually for pure profit we like to reward our customers with specials to let you all know we appreciate your business. So, while supplies last I present to you our Proto Goggle Summer Specials… a chance to pick up some cheap deals on quality Proto paintball goggle systems and accessories. There are deals here to appeal to the speedball and woodsball players !

First up is the Proto Axis Goggle System with Free Game Timer. I always thought this was an underrated goggle system. It is lower profile than the Proto FS and softer to encourage more bounce shots when hit in the mask. It utilizes the same quick change lens system as others in the product line and features an optically-clear dual pane thermal lens to prevent fogging. Free with a purchase of a Proto Axis is a Proto Switch Game Timer, which is $39.95 on its own. This unit snaps onto the ear section of any Proto goggle system and can be set to audibly count off minutes up to 60 minutes, and then the seconds of the last game minute. This way, you can keep track of how much time is left in gameplay without having to take your eyes off your opponent to look at a watch. These two items are a $100 value for $59.95.

Second cheap paintball goggle deal we have lined up is the Proto FS Switch Camo Paintball Goggle with Free Proto Switch Turbine Fan. The Proto FS Switch Goggle was the first in the Proto line and introduced its awesome quick change lens system. A rigid main frame with rubber lower faceplate helps mask hits bounce off flexes with your face if you bump against your marker’s tank. The Camo model is by far the favorite amongst players and is in itself a sweet deal for a paintball goggle… but while supplies last we are throwing in a free Proto Switch Turbine Fan with the Camo goggle ! The Turbine Fan, which at $49.95 sells on its own for as much as the goggle, snaps into place quickly and painlessly to draw out hot humid air to keep your FS’s single lens from fogging up. Again, that’s a $100 value for only $49.95 !

Last up is the Proto Olive EL Switch Goggle with Free Dye Hat. The single lens EL Goggle is the more economical model of the Proto line, featured a rigid plastic facemask which does not encourage bounce but does protect from felt impact better without the player getting a fat lip from a close up shot! Ever notice how your hair is all kinds of messed up after playing and you want to look somewhat presentable when stopping to eat and share war stories with your buddies on the way home? Well, with the purchase of an Olive EL goggle you can get a free black Dye hat to wear! The hat is a Large/ X-Large FlexFit to fit just about any noggin out there.

Remember, all these are while supplies last… and our free stuff promotions never last long !

Every time someone tells me that the blowback marker is dead, I laugh and think of Kingman. The Spyder line of paintball markers became an institution, quality semi auto at a price anyone could afford. The key is in its simplicity and efficiency. A stack-tubed blowback typically requires about two minutes of maintanence after playing. Less o-rings, less fragile wires and connectors and not finicky over the proper amount of grease makes it easier for kids and beginners to maintain over spool-valve markers. At approximately 100 shots per oz of CO2 or 30 shots per cubic inch of 4500psi HPA the average player can play all day on one air fill! Based on the number of Spyders sold it has been estimated that 33%… a full one third… of all the paintball players in the world either use or have owned a Spyder in the playing career. How’s that for a success story?

This month Kingman is releasing two new models, the 08 Spyder Electra with Eye and the 08 Spyder Pilot with Eye. Both models feature changes that have been suggested for some time now, significant improvements instead of cosmetic.

Their first major feature is the new LEAP board designed by Tadao. The new electronics and solenoid means you can now use a standard 9v battery instead of the once required 9.6v rechargeable. No more under or overcharging… you can just toss a new battery in there and go. You can carry a spare 9v in your gear bag and have plenty of juice with no worries. There is still a charger jack if one wishes to purchase and use the Kingman rechargeable 9.6v battery but these are no longer supplied with the marker. The CAMD (Color Access Mode Display) is a bright and easy to navigate readout to see what mode you are in (Semi, PSP or Millennium Ramping) protected by a clear panel. The two mode buttons are covered with a rubber membrane. They have a nice ‘clicky’ feel to them, easy to manipulate but not so clumsy as a slide switch. The red lockout plug is still there if one needs to lock the marker into semi-only mode.

As the name implies, the new Electra and Pilot both feature breakbeam anti-chop eyes. When activated, a paintball has to drop completely into the chamber before a signal sent to the circuit board allows the bolt to come forward. This helps to prevent “chop”, or the bolt slicing the paintball in half and requiring a full breakdown to clean. Dual rubber ball detents prevents double feeding and the bolt is a non o-ring type with a captured pull-pin. That means the pin has a detent to keep it in place and you don’t lose it. Non o-ring bolts cycle faster and are less maintanence because they require no lubrication and no o-rings to get shredded passing over the breech. However, they do tend to have a bit more ‘blow by’ into the feedneck. That means air pressure forced back up into your hopper, pushing your paintballs up instead of down and slowing your feed rate. To combat this, I suggest using a fast forcefeed loader like the Kingman 18v Fasta or the VL Vlocity Jr… but really, good loaders have come so far down in price there is no reason not to have one!

The trigger is a sweeping arc of aluminum using magnets to return the trigger to rest. Triggerpull weight, pretravel and overtravel are all externally adjustable so you can set up the trigger exactly how you like. The gripframe is still a bit larger than most markers because it needs to house the board, battery and a large pancake solenoid but they did redesign it to become progressively slimmer from front to back for better comfort and smaller hands.

Both the Electra and the Pilot will accept CO2 or compressed air (aka nitro or HPA), with compressed air being the preferred pressure source. It doesn’t freeze up like CO2 during periods of heavy shooting and remains consistent through the day in any weather conditions. Notice there is no more LPC, or Low Pressure Cel, forward of the valve under the barrel? Kingman’s new valves made it unnecessary so its been replaced with a flush valve plug. More aesthetically pleasing, less weight and more comfortable for players who like to wrap their thumb over the barrel for stability when shooting. The vertical ASA is standard tank threaded so if you want to replace the foregrip or regulator with your own favorite model you can without an adapter.

Barrel covers, not barrel plugs! Thank you, Kingman!

There you have it… two new Spyders with the improvements we’ve all been wanting. Hats off to Kingman, they know how to make a solid, good looking marker loaded with features and still make it accessible to every player out there

The 08 Spyder Pilot with Eye features a composite gripframe and eye covers, angled bottomline ASA, vertical foregrip, 1 piece 12″ barrel and vertical feed with plastic elbow. The 08 Electra with Eye features an aluminum gripframe and eye covers, on/off ASA, vertical regulator with tournament lock, 2 piece 12″ barrel, clamping vertical feed and more 3D milling.

Notes:

- The feedneck threads on both models is the same threads as the older Ion theading if one wishes to change it.

- The eye covers house the ball detent and the eye sensor with channels under the body for the eye wires. I found squeezing the covers in place the easiest way to align the wires when reassembling to prevent the wires getting crimped.

- That little red o-ring that comes with the spare seals pack? That is the striker o-ring. Even though it works as a tank o-ring you better not use it for that, because a tank o-ring does not work for a striker o-ring. Save the red one for when your striker does need a replacement.

- As always, please read the manual!