Paintball

[halfpint96]

hey is the tipman a better gun than spyder? just wondering so i can help out my friend.

[DarkShadowHunter]

Pretty much all markers can be very reliable as long as they are maintained propperly. I used to owne a Piranha, which is pretty much the same thing as a Spyder. It was a rather reliable marker with maintance. I want to say it was about as reliable as my 98 Customs. I have also used a couple differant Spyders and had no issues with them.

Even with the legendary Tippmann reliability I have seen them go down and players have all kinds of issues with them through out the day. I found out the the players having constant issues with their Tippmans did not do anything to maintain them. The same goes for Spyders and even Ions.

The one advantage that Spyders have over Tippmanns is the compactness of a stacked tube blowback design. Also many Spyders these days are designed for a lower operationg pressure out of the box. This means less issues with liquid CO[sub]2[/sub] getting into the marker.

Tippmans on the other hand are great for players who want to go the mil-sim route. Of course you don't have to go the mil-sim route. However if you want a more compact design on a Tippmann you will have to get a drop forward. The other option for a compact design is to get an ASA that has the output on the side and reverse mount it.

What exactly is your friend wanting to do with a marker? If we knew what your friends intentions are in paintball we might be able to help you out a lot more.

[Omegara]

I own both a model98 and a pro/carbine, plus I own a spyder pilot ACS and will be getting a classic, they are all great guns and very easy to maintain and upgrade. Like dark said though, which your friend would want depends on the type of game he is going to play. If you want woodsball/scenerio then go tippman or spyder MR series, but if you are going more speedball, then go spyder pilot or spyder VS series.

[Gunhand]

I'll take a tippmann(especially older ones) over a spyder anyday, the design of the spyders is a poor one. They have issues with liquid(older ones are meant to run on straight liquid), and chopping. Most of the issues with spyders can be remidied, but I am a believer that a gun should not need to be fixed out of its box, i've not needed to fix something designed bad on a tippmann.

Spyders are also prone to chopping a ball and getting so jammed up that it takes 20 minutes and two people to just get the bolt out the back(personal experience, but have seen it happen numerous times)

Anyhow that is what I say, I had a spyder a loong time ago that was a good gun, but it took work to get it there. I say go with a tippy.

[Chappy]

I've personally watched 3 people show up at a field with 3 brand new spyder pilot acs's, and 2 of the three breakdown before the end of the day. To me, that seemed unnacceptable, and I've never wittnessed anything close to that failure rate with tippmanns. Spyder's are known to be fairly reliable, but in my experience, not nearly as reliable as a 98, a5, or better yet, an older tippy.

[Azzy]

Easy, tippmans come from the factory oiled.... thus fast breakdown on the spyders (if they arent oiled)

It comes down to this. Is the length of an inline blowback (tippman) your cup of tea, or is the stacked tube design more comfortable in your hands?

it all comes down to comfort these days.

[Chappy]

Originally Posted by Azzy

Easy, tippmans come from the factory oiled.... thus fast breakdown on the spyders (if they arent oiled)

Nope. They were fairly new players, so we helped them out. Made sure their guns were all oiled up, helped 'em chrono and all. One busted its cocking rod, the other pretty much destroyed the whole rva assembly. It was sad really...
And this isn't the only experience that has turned me against spyders, just the most prominent memory. But they do have a good rep, so meh, just my experience.