Period of Product Use: Less than a month
Paintball Experience: 4 years
Similar Products Used:
Brass Eagle Tigershark - Very nice beginners gun. Suggested if you ever wanna try pump without breaking the bank. However, in terms of customizability, it\'s on par with the phantom, in all other measurements, it\'s inferior. Buck for Buck, though, it lasted me 3 years with very little maintenance, and only cost me 40 bucks... I guess that\'s good. Actually, now, thinking about it, it got better gas efficiency out of a 12 gram at 45 good shots and 7 decreasing ones.
Marker Setup: CCI Backbottle stock class phantom. .45 frame, acid blue.
Backup - Brass Eagle Raptor - Eagleworks barrel.
Recommended Upgrades:
T-stock, and a decent sight (yes they are worth crap on this marker.) Dont forget a stock class harness. Nothing\'s more annoying than running with your hand covering the pocket full of 12 grams in an effort to stop the rattling.
Strengths:
This is a beauty of a paintball gun, I have to say off the bat. It just looks sexy.
For accuracy - Definately ranks an excellent. Better accuracy and therefore effective range than any other marker I\'ve seen for under a thousand dollars.
Feel - Solidly Constructed, nothing rattles around too bad, I can get running pretty fast without worrying about it falling apart. It\'s very light. It\'s not bad running with it at all. And it balances perfectly in the palm of my hand, since most of the stainless components are right over the grip frame.
Durability - I havent given it a torture test, but it feels solid. All internal parts are stainless steel, it hardly rattles (Just the plastic pump arm.) The exterior is aluminum so you can have it ano\'d. I have a feeling it will last a while.
Gas efficiency - This matters in a stock class gun. I get 30 good shots before changing cartridges. I imagine I could get more if I were able to keep liquid co2 from being fired (1 shot of liquid is something like 7 shots of gas at 850 psi, if I remember correctly.) But anyway, you get good gas efficiency running 12 grams out of the backbottle position.
Looks - The acid wash patterns (like my acid blue.) are excellent.
Reloading - Yes this is a stock class gun, so you have to reload a little differently than you would have if you were using a direct-feed gun. Reloading paint is pretty easy once you get used to using little cigar tube thingies. Co2 is very easy, the changer comes off in two or three twists.
Weaknesses:
I couldn\'t find anything I didnt like about it. A couple friends who shot a couple shots expressed their concern with the lack of an anti-double pump, but if you know how to test the trigger without firing, you should be good to go. I\'m not gonna go into detail.
Conclusion:
An excellent gun overall. A must buy. I don\'t give a crap about not possibly being a ten since no gun is perfect. That may be true, but this is based on experience and my Phantom is the best gun I\'ve used in my experience, earning it a \"Perfect\" ten.
Rating:
10 out of 10
This review was written on October 19th, 2002 by PBReview User, Murph1. (18 out of 18 viewers thought this review was fair and helpful)
http://www.pbreview.com Paintball Reviews By Players, For Players!
[Submitted by Dusky]
Last edited: