What a waste of time. I read through twelve pages of mostly misinformation and speculation on a site populated by people who (again, mostly) disdain electronic guns, have no real appreciation for tournament play (see the comment "does anyone really need to superman dive?"), have little connection with paintball as an
industry, and in general seem to hate what one aspect of modern paintball has become. I did it all in an effort to find the one person stating that Bob Long guns are machined in China or are built on castings, just so I could blow them up and tell them what idiots they are. Is it more sad that I wasted the time for such trivial reasons, or that I actually had it to waste on a Saturday morning? I should be playing.
Anyway. So the frame bent. Anyone that has really looked at an new Ego should not be surprised that one bent, but rather should be surprised that they don't ALL bend. Actually that they hold up to the abuse as well as they do is a testament to how well they are designed and built. And save the comments like "For eighteen hundred bucks it shouldn't bend!" Hell, when it comes to MACHINED parts, its far more expensive to take material off than to leave it on. Now I don't have an "inside source" at Planet, but I imagine the decision to make the gun as thin and light as they did went something like this.....Warning, the speculation that I bitched about earlier starts now: "Ok, since lighter and smaller sells, lets give them what they want. We'll make the new Ego as light as we can get away with and assume an acceptable failure rate to get it there. We'll design it so that the failure rate is as low as possible given how light and small the customer seems to demand, even though it will be more expensive to do so. We'll make it so that when it does fail it is unlikely to threaten anyones safety, and then we will repair the guns that DO fail with smiles on our faces, and do so quickly and professionally. We'll also charge what the market will bear". Given Planet's reputation, does that not seem more reasonable than them just throwing out a piece of weak, shoddy equipment and bending the customer over to give it to them? And for the record, I never have and probably never will own an Ego. I love the fit and finish, the packaging, the esthetic design, and the customer support, but just don't like the (admittedly subjective)
feel of the way they shoot.
As an aside...I have seen one of our Marq frames bend and they are comparatively beefy. Machined from billet too. Then again, I saw Derrick Obatake core sample his Closer's barrel so hard, he felt like the tank cracked ribs. The only thing that was damaged (other than Derrick's ribs) was the duck bill. Yep, the gun was fine, but that chunky, clunky, piece of old school hardware bent at an almost forty five degree angle. Anything can fail..even the ribs of an old Samurai.
