Paintball

[VonOrt]

This is my review of the Mac Dev Droid. To say I'm sadly disappointed in this marker would be an understatement. For the price of this gun and supposedly being a high end marker it came up way short of my expectations.

The good: (not much)
Light weight
Nice looking

The bad:

1) The biggest issue I had with this marker was it would not shoot solid paint. Something that you would expect from a $1000 marker. The gun was not chopping paint. It was breaking paint about 1" down the barrel. I shot 7 different brands of paint. Including winter shell paint that dropped from 6' and bounced off of concrete. This paint was all fresh and purchased from my local pro shop. All of the tested paint shot fine through my Intimidator, Mini, and Blazer. I also tried at least 4 different barrels on this gun to no avail. Thinking it might be a barrel issue, I put the Mac Dev barrel on my Intimidator and had zero problems. I was shooting semin uncapped with a brand new Reloader B. The hopper was set for the highest speed but that did nothing for the issue. I also tried to slow the hopper down thinking it was too much pressure on the paint. This did not help. The same hopper was used on the highest speed on the Intimidator and the Mini with no issues.

2) Now some will say I'm being nit picky at this point. But the finish on the gun was not that great. You can see brush marks through the anno. Sorry if your trying to market this as a high end marker and charge high end price for it, everything should be perfect. I have seen better anodizing and polishing on mid range guns like PM7's.

3) The screw in the top of the gun that holds the drive train in place looks cheap and Spyderish. This is something I would expect on a $200 gun, not a $1000 gun. At least on the Mini they use the grip frame screw to accomplish the same thing. (and a mini is only $325)

4) Effeciency was no where near the advertised numbers. Using a 45/4500 tank witha a good 4000 psi fill, I was lucky to get around 800 shots. I do not call that effeceint. With the same tank and fill I can nearly get 2000 rounds through my Intimidator.

5) Shoot ability was so so. I'm not one that will say a marker has "recoil", as I reserve that for real firearms. But this marker definetly has a muzzle climb to it. Making it harder to keep on target when attempting to fire long strings. Of course firing long strings was usally only about 10 to 20 balls before it would start breaking paint.

Overall I think this gun is way overpriced, and just not that good. I have shot many mid level guns that out perform this marker in pretty much every category. And they cost significantly less money. Overall I would give this gun a 1 out of 10. And personally I don't think I will ever shoot a Mac Dev product again. I have no faith in the product or the company. This marker was a total waste of money.

edit*
Just received information from the person I sold this gun to. He had the new bolt and new software installed from NOX. He says he used the gun over the weekend with no problems. I'm glad its working for someone. Does it change my view of the gun, not really. But I will say at least MD stepped up and started making a new bolt. Was that the issue I have no idea.

[Heebs]

WOW! Definitely not something I would expected. Trade it off on PBN and go pick up a Vice from Bob Long. Nothing but quality in that camp

[Treadstone]

Sounds like you got a dud from Mac Dev. You may want to contact them to see what they will do to correct the paint breakage and efficiency issues, if those issues are correctable. You wouldn't expect with a 1K+ gun you would need to go right from box to RMA and it certainly wouldn't make me happy either. If MD can correct the issues you can at least sell it off with a clear consciences.

[TheAznInvazn]

yeah, something about that doesn't sound quite right.

perhaps you got an uber lemon or something.

[Mr. Furious]

But they are sponsoring HK so you've got that going for you........

[sdawg]

Spoolers are not as efficient as poppet valves, right?

I've had the same problem occasionally with paint breaking in the barrel. What causes this problem. Is it the force of the bolt that hits the paintball and, combined with the blast of air, breaks it?

I've heard nothing but good things about the MacDev Cyborg. It's surprising to read such a negative review of a MacDev product.

On the other hand, lots of first year models have had problems. I believe the Mini and the beloved (by MCB) Fusion both had boards that had to be replaced. The first batch of Minis were widely reported to be paint-blenders, from the factory.

[Frink]

I've have a Droid and have been using it steadily since they came out. It sounds like you've had some serious issues that aren't common.

Out of all the high ends I own, the Droid is right up there. I currently own a Droid, Ego07, and a BL Vice.

Originally Posted by VonOrt

This is my review of the Mac Dev Droid. To say I'm sadly disappointed in this marker would be an understatement. For the price of this gun and supposedly being a high end marker it came up way short of my expectations.

The good: (not much)
Light weight
Nice looking

The bad:

1) The biggest issue I had with this marker was it would not shoot solid paint. Something that you would expect from a $1000 marker. The gun was not chopping paint. It was breaking paint about 1" down the barrel. I shot 7 different brands of paint. Including winter shell paint that dropped from 6' and bounced off of concrete. This paint was all fresh and purchased from my local pro shop. All of the tested paint shot fine through my Intimidator, Mini, and Blazer. I also tried at least 4 different barrels on this gun to no avail. Thinking it might be a barrel issue, I put the Mac Dev barrel on my Intimidator and had zero problems. I was shooting semin uncapped with a brand new Reloader B. The hopper was set for the highest speed but that did nothing for the issue. I also tried to slow the hopper down thinking it was too much pressure on the paint. This did not help. The same hopper was used on the highest speed on the Intimidator and the Mini with no issues.

There's a V2 bolt with a different face design that's supposed to address any breaking issues. Some Droids need it, some don't.

Originally Posted by VonOrt

2) Now some will say I'm being nit picky at this point. But the finish on the gun was not that great. You can see brush marks through the anno. Sorry if your trying to market this as a high end marker and charge high end price for it, everything should be perfect. I have seen better anodizing and polishing on mid range guns like PM7's.

I did have a few brush marks, and my eye covers are a slightly different shade of blue, but from any distance at all it looks great. Pretty minor overall, but I'll agree it's not as finished as other high ends.

Originally Posted by VonOrt

3) The screw in the top of the gun that holds the drive train in place looks cheap and Spyderish. This is something I would expect on a $200 gun, not a $1000 gun. At least on the Mini they use the grip frame screw to accomplish the same thing. (and a mini is only $325)

I don't even notice mine. I'd rather have a locating screw than a have a large lip inside the marker, as have a consistant ID makes cleaning much easier.

Originally Posted by VonOrt

4) Effeciency was no where near the advertised numbers. Using a 45/4500 tank witha a good 4000 psi fill, I was lucky to get around 800 shots. I do not call that effeceint. With the same tank and fill I can nearly get 2000 rounds through my Intimidator.

I've been getting good efficiency, but I can't quantify that at the moment. My Vice does seem significantly more efficient, but it's advertisted as such (1700 off a 68/4500 for Droid, 2100 for Vice)

Originally Posted by VonOrt

5) Shoot ability was so so. I'm not one that will say a marker has "recoil", as I reserve that for real firearms. But this marker definetly has a muzzle climb to it. Making it harder to keep on target when attempting to fire long strings. Of course firing long strings was usally only about 10 to 20 balls before it would start breaking paint. [

Haven't had that problem with mine.

Originally Posted by VonOrt

Overall I think this gun is way overpriced, and just not that good. I have shot many mid level guns that out perform this marker in pretty much every category. And they cost significantly less money. Overall I would give this gun a 1 out of 10. And personally I don't think I will ever shoot a Mac Dev product again. I have no faith in the product or the company. This marker was a total waste of money.

MacDev's a stand up company, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. But in their defense, it sounds like you gave up fairly early on, without letting them or anyone else help you fix it.

Did you buy new or used? Did you try setting the board back to factory defaults? Did you ever dis-assemble the bolt and relube it?

[Marauder_Pilot]

Yeah, you definitely got a dud. The reports from pretty much every new Droid owner have been praising and drooling over how much the gun beats the pants off of every competitor...I'd definitely give MacDev a call and let them know. And don't give up on MacDev, their guns are top-notch. You just got a brutal lemon.

[sdawg]

Originally Posted by Marauder_Pilot

Yeah, you definitely got a dud. The reports from pretty much every new Droid owner have been praising and drooling over how much the gun beats the pants off of every competitor...

The other possibility is that the maker is not designed/made well and people don't want to be objective after forking over $1K to a beloved company such as MacDev.

[Marauder_Pilot]

I haven't shot a Droid yet, but ever since buying my 'Borg well-used from Frink a few months back, I've been beating the hell out of it in woodsball, and it still shoots as nice as one fresh from the factory. They're not crappy markers.