Paintball

[cyclops-yankee div]

Strengths:
Short
Hopper Further back
Well balanced
Durable
Well Designed

Weaknesses:
heavy
Frame may not seat together correctly
Hard to add some accessories
Cumbersome to clean

Review:
The Good:

Short: Well, that pretty much says it. This mod makes the A5 perfect for CQB style fighting. It is only 20" long so it allows for quick target acquisition. Really gives you that tactical feel.

Hopper is moved further back out of the sight line: Because of the design of the B5, the trigger is moved up beyond the hopper so the hopper is several inches behind it's normal location. This totally frees up the sight line in front and to the side. It has to be held to really be believed!

Well balanced: Once you bring that thing up to your shoulder, it feels like it is part of you. Very easy to move around, acquire the target and eliminate them.

Durable: This thing is tougher than my grandmother and she is one tough chick! Seriously, the B5 is made out of ballistic nylon. You can run it over with your car and it will still function (well, the A5 part may not...but the B5 part will!!).

Well Designed: The guys from ICP took a long time trying to figure out the best way to make things fit. Well, they did it with this mod! You can add just about any A5 accessory you can think of and it will fit just fine. You can also add a ton of stuff they have just for this gun. Rails, scopes, lights, lasers, tac grip, magazines...all sorts of things. I have seen all sorts of configurations on this thing! I personally have a tac light, scope and grip. This thing is bad arse!

The "not so" Good (ain't nothing bad about the B5!):

A little heavy: Well, when you add all that crap to it, it seems a little weighty. The nice thing is, because of the design, once you shoulder it, it's fine. The weight is distributed nicely so it's not too much of an issue. HOWEVER, if using a gun that weights 1.2 oz is the what you like, then this is NOT the gun for you.

Frame may not seat together correctly: This is a minor thing I've found with mine and heard about others. Sometimes you get a little space here or there when putting the two halves together. There are quick fixes for this so it's not too big a deal.

Hard to add some accessories: Just because of the design it's a little hard to add some of the rails etc. Again, not a big deal. It just requires a little patience.

Cumbersome to strip for cleaning: The A5 is cumbersome to strip on it's own, doing it with the B5 is just plain time consuming! Again, a little patience goes a long way. This is why I now have TWO B5's! When one gets messy (during game day, of course), I just grab the second one!
Conclusion: Overall, I love this thing. It is very easy to get over the few weaknesses. When my team and I first saw them at ION in July 07, we knew we had to have this gun. Well, now the team as about a dozen of them! The YD loves the B5!

Rating:
9 out of 10

[Jaan]

You're not the one who spray painted one ugly green and then sold it to Vector are you?

I was at the PW's when he brought in the "box", man what a mess

[cyclops-yankee div]

Originally Posted by Jaan

You're not the one who spray painted one ugly green and then sold it to Vector are you?

I was at the PW's when he brought in the "box", man what a mess

LOL no, infact as far as I know he doesn't own a B-5.

He's getting his after X-Mas. The painting I've done has all been duracoated ACU's.

[ChaplainBane]

The other shortvoming of the B5 is that it takes away the ability to be used left handed. Which is detrimental if you have to switch which side of cover you're firing from, firing out the left side of a bunker you are exposing too much of yourself.

But then again I notice these things only because I'm left handed.

[Jaan]

Originally Posted by cyclops-yankee div

LOL no, infact as far as I know he doesn't own a B-5.

I wouldn't be too sure about that Paul had someones B-5 box-o-spraypainted mess the other day. PW and Brian at the store got it working after a while.

Originally Posted by ChaplainBane

The other shortvoming of the B5 is that it takes away the ability to be used left handed.

Are you talking about the remote? Without the remote, it felt fine in my left hand. I prefer the hopper to be on the right side of my lefty guns.

[cyclops-yankee div]

Unless you are color blind the only B-5 I've painted at a light tan base for the ACU pattern. I need to have the A-5 basecoated as well or it comes out looking horrible. I haven't been able to get the paint stripper to finish that step. Mine will be the first one completed I think.

As for a great mess of spray paint? I have no clue where he picked that up.

[Quacker]

You know, the manual claims it's "2 pin field strippable". Is it not that easy?

[cyclops-yankee div]

Originally Posted by Quacker

You know, the manual claims it's "2 pin field strippable". Is it not that easy?

No you can take the shell apart with 2 pins.You can field strip it, give it a quick wipe down and get back to shooting...but to give it a complete cleaning you need to take some "alone time".