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| Smart Parts - Ion XE |
| Manufacturer Information |
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Product Description |
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Smart Parts
100 Station Street
Loyalhanna, PA 15661
Phone: +1-800-992-2147
Fax: +1-724-539-2298
Email: customersvceast@smartparts.com
Website: http://www.smartparts.com
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The Ion XE has all the proven performance of the affordable Ion but the bolt is removable through the rear of the body. |
| Release Date: |
2007 |
| MSRP: |
$224.95 |
| Average Rating: |
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| Reviews: |
21 |
| Rating Summary: |
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| Link: |
| Reviews |
05-17-2009, 11:56 PM |
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#6108
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C.Falcon
Falcon Punch
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Canada
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Length of use: |
Less than 6 months |
| Overall Rating: |
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| Appearance: |
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| Performance: |
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| Reliability: |
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| Value: |
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| Price paid: |
$300.00 |
| Pros: |
read below |
| Cons: |
read below |
 Price: $300 (Canadian Dollars) + upgrades you will most likely buy.
Alright so this is my first marker, and i got to say it is a great platform. I have fired about 10000 balls so far and i am very happy with my results. Its very reliable, fast, and easy to use. I rarely chop balls, and i got +/- 15 FPS with almost no tweaking stock. (if you some one tells you thier $1000 dollar gun shoots +/- 1, they are BSing. The pros at my field are happy with +/-10 and they spend hours upgrading and tweaking)
I have not had any major issues and almost no minor issues with this gun so far. The only major draw back was that i had to pay for a bunch of upgrades (another 125 bucks canadian) to complete it. Read my review for details.
Pros:
- The Price: This gun is cheap. Dollar per quality you really get a deal on this marker. The stock marker is good enough to enter any rookie torunament. *some upgrades are strongly recomended though*
- Firing Modes + Eyes The stock board comes with multiple firing modes, the 2 you will care about are semi, and ramping. You can also do 3 shot burst and full auto. The board is capped at 17 bps, but show me a rookie or that can pull more than 17 bps on semi... most pros can't do this without some kind of electronic assitance. Also the guns comes with decent break beam eyes stock.
- Easy To maintain: The maitenece is simple and striaght forward. The back out bolt is 10000 billion million trillion times better than the old ion system. Standard maitence is about 5 minutes. Unscrew back bolt, lube, screw back bolt in. You should do this after every day of "intense play" or about after every case.
- Very Common Gun: Everyone knows this gun. Most pros carry one as a practice gun or a backup. If you ever run into problems you will more than likely find some one at your local field that can help. That being said, you will not run into many problems. You will more likely ask the local ion experts for help installing your upgrades
Cons:
Required Upgrades Ok, no upgrade is required, but there are many things smart parts "cheaped" out on to keep this gun under 300 dollars.
- Feed neck +$25. The reason you need this is simple, if you plan on moving a lot on the field, your hopper will fall out or you will wedge it in so tight you will break the hopper. I thought i didn't need to buy a clamping neck. I was wrong. Very wrong.
- Trigger +$20-$50. Every ion owner i have met has had thier stock trigger break. Its cheap plastic, and if you pull quickly it will eventully break. In my case, i was shot in the trigger from 7 feet and my trigger snapped.
Thats it! Those are all the "manditory" upgrades for the ion xe. Everything else is up to you. The following is a list of optional upgrades that are worth while eventully.
- QEV, $20 I bought the SP 360 QEV, it was designed for the ion and it was very simple to install. This was the first upgrade i got before the feedneck or trigger. I dropped my dwell from the stock 52 to about 20. This basicly doubled my shots per a tank. Also when I improve my skillz i will able to shoot faster
 . Definatly worth while. - Barrel, $30+++ dollars. The stock barrel is fine, i know some people dont like it, but as a starting point, it gets the job done. This is the kind of thing you wait untill you get a deal to upgrade. You can always find a cheap 2nd hand UL or Stiffi on the forums or at your local field. Just make sure its an impulse threaded barrel .
- On/Off ASA $40: This is also a nice upgrade to have. It allows you to turn off the air supply at the tank end of the gun. Basicly it makes unscrewing a tank easy and saves o-rings. *when you turn it off the gun may still have air in it* make sure you safely dry fire the gun even after you remove the tank. My foot learned this lesson the hard way.
- New board. $50+++. This is something you may consider if you want to persue tournaments. I am still using the stock board, and i will continue to use it untill i find a deal on a better board. I dont like taking the grip frame off to adjust the settings but its not that bad.
- The bolt. I have yet to see a reason to change the stock bolt. I noticed that i was only getting poor air effiency with the stock set up, but the QEV upgrade quickly fixed it. Changing the bolt will not make a big difference, (or so i am told) If a deal comes my way i will probbaly take it, but otherwise the stock is fine. I heard there was a batch of bad sotck bolts, if yours breaks, call SP for a replacnment under the warrenty!
- The reg. Again, i have yet to see a reason to change the stock reg. From what im told, the stock reg is really quite good. Dont waste your money untill a really nice deal presents itself. Do some research if you want to change this part.
All in all this gun is a great buy. As i said above many pros keep them as back-ups. It a reliable and easy to maintain gun. In conclusion, if you are looking for a good starter gun buy this thing. Keep in mind you will immedaiatly want to spend another 70 bucks on the "manditory" upgrades after you play one round with it stock.
EDITs: Maken my reviews more friendly to read 
EDITs: Friend pointed out a minor mistake
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This review has been rated: |
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03-21-2009, 06:59 PM |
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#5673
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xXSmackyXx
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: West Lawn, PA
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Length of use: |
More than 6 months |
| Overall Rating: |
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| Appearance: |
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| Performance: |
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| Value: |
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| Price paid: |
$225.00 |
| Pros: |
fast, more bang for your buck |
| Cons: |
not alot of firing modes |
great paintball marker that gives you more bang for your buck compared to other markers in the same price range.
cool looking with a lot of upgrades avaliable like sick bodies, barrels, bolts, chips, and regulators.
can take a beating due to the hard plastic body and very light.
alot of people use ions on the feild due to smart parts great quality, the speed of the marker and the price.
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03-09-2008, 11:30 AM |
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#2572
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Kumdo0770
Dark Hazard
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Length of use: |
Less than 6 months |
| Overall Rating: |
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| Appearance: |
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| Performance: |
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| Value: |
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| Price paid: |
$250.00 |
| Pros: |
Very affordable first marker |
| Cons: |
see below |
Appearance: Again, personal preference.
Performance: The performance of the Ion XE very good. Not that heavy, so you won't be tired just carrying the marker, and you'll be shooting for a while with a 68/45 [with the "right" dwell settings]. The main change I like is the bolt-out-back design put into the Ion, really helps with maintenance. The stock barrel is ok, however you should always get an All-American. It'll shoot straighter with a newer barrel.
Reliability: [where the cons are]. The Ion XE that my team-mate had was leaking...REALLY leaking out air, while my other team-mate's Ion XE didn't. There are those "bad batch" of Ions, and I think my friend was the unfortunate one who got it. He eventually fixed it with some tech support, completely new internals, but letting you guys know, it may leak very badly.
Value: For 250, I think it's worth buying, but there are some recommendations for the gun. A new board (Don't need a Virtue...but you can), and perhaps a new QEV. And a new bolt would be preferred as well.
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10-05-2008, 05:49 PM |
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#4660
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Jake7
Jake7
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: delaware
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Length of use: |
Less than 6 months |
| Overall Rating: |
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| Appearance: |
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| Performance: |
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| Reliability: |
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| Value: |
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| Price paid: |
$205.00 |
| Pros: |
accurate, light, easy maintenance |
| Cons: |
bad feed neck, bad ASA |
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great for starters or people with not a lot of money, good if you plan to upgrade. not a big fan of the trigger, ASA, and feed neck. great out of the box (good batch). its light and the litterally took me 5 minutes to clean with bolt out the back
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This review has been rated: |
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12-29-2008, 08:04 PM |
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#5157
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ZachCaswell
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Bellwood, Pa
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Length of use: |
Less than 6 months |
| Overall Rating: |
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| Appearance: |
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| Performance: |
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| Reliability: |
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| Value: |
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| Price paid: |
$225.00 |
| Pros: |
acurate, good all around gun |
| Cons: |
trigger, feed neck |
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this is my first high end dun, and i love it, its easy to maintain, easy to clean, and user friendly. this is one of the best money can buy when your getting into this sport
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11-11-2008, 09:29 PM |
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#4861
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Ego53
egopwnr
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: South Dakota
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Length of use: |
More than 6 months |
| Overall Rating: |
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| Appearance: |
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| Performance: |
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| Reliability: |
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| Value: |
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| Price paid: |
$220.00 |
| Pros: |
Bolt-out-back, consistant, value |
| Cons: |
asa, trigger!!!!!!!, feedneck |
Totally worth the 20 extra bucks for the bolt-out-back, though there aren't really any uprade bodies from other companies that i could find. If you keep the seals lubed shouldn't be any leaks. a QEV helped alot on air consumption and a blackheart board is a good upgrade. The BB eyes are a nice feature, with wicked fast loaders it's hard to know whether or not they really help.
The asa is stupid, i would have paid more money for a better one, easy instalation but still! and the trigger sucks!!!, who still uses that kind of trigger anyway, I put a cp sling on it and I didn't feel like i was shooting a cheap spyder. The feedneck is not too bad, I had to sand down my halo to get it to squeeze in because I didn't realize it used nxt threads and not ion threads, why......? never shot the stock barrel, but with dye precision it was very accurate, The orange unicorn nano bolt made air consuption, accuracy and speed better. A cp reg. didn't give a noticable difference, a litte more comfortable to hold. It looks kind of cheap but w/e, almost embarassing when someone pulls out their shocker.
It has worked great as a backup to my ego Sl8r, doesn't really see the competitive field but in practice it works nicely. Great value for a decent electroneumatic
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07-12-2008, 09:54 PM |
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#4102
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Gryffan
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Length of use: |
Less than 6 months |
| Overall Rating: |
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| Appearance: |
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| Performance: |
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| Reliability: |
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| Value: |
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| Price paid: |
$205.00 |
| Pros: |
Decent bps, Accurate, Out the back cleaning |
| Cons: |
Could use a better look. |
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I bought this marker this week and shot it down in my woods to get a feel for it. I loved it since the first shot. Today I took it to the local paint ball fields and played with it all day. I love the accuracy and rate of fire. I wish it looked more like the EOS but thats just personal reference. The trigger could be a little less touchy, I found myself "accidentally" firing because my fingers got to close to the trigger. The only difference between the XE and the plain ION is the "out-the-back" cleaning system. The out-the-back is simply 20 times easier than the old unsrew this-then that-then take this apart-clean it-then put it back together method. It is worth the 30 - 40 extra bucks.
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03-05-2008, 11:33 AM |
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#2436
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thegris
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Length of use: |
Less than 6 months |
| Overall Rating: |
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| Appearance: |
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| Performance: |
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| Reliability: |
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| Value: |
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| Price paid: |
$200.00 |
| Pros: |
No maintenance, fast cleaning, high ROF |
| Cons: |
Programming sometimes confusing |
This marker is fantastic! It came ready to pwn straight out of the box. It's very light, nimble, and consistent. The eyes work perfectly and I've never had any problems.
The only time I had an issue was when I set the dwell to what someone recommended on the internet (MY stupid mistake). It was easy to fix and a couple minutes later it was shooting GREAT. I've never had a problem with shoot-down (keep your bolt clean and well greased!!) on compressed air. I have a freak on it and it is damn accurate, even with $40/case cheap rec paint.
I've put a qev in it and it's so fast that sometimes I have to check to make sure I didn't accidentally put turn on ramping.
It's impossible to program without first reading the manual. It uses a series of flashes to indicate which mode is being changed, and you have to push the power button to "make a change". It's no problem with the manual, but kinda annoying for someone that hates instructions. :-D
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06-04-2009, 06:24 PM |
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#6228
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Zach Thell
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Length of use: |
Less than 6 months |
| Overall Rating: |
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| Appearance: |
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| Performance: |
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| Reliability: |
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| Value: |
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| Price paid: |
$230.00 |
| Pros: |
bolt out back, speed, comfort, weight |
| Cons: |
gay feedneck, bad air consumption, |
Alright, were gonna start with some Pros for this gun. The new bold out back design gives quick and easy ability to clean. The speed it shoots as fast as most paintball fields let you shoot. Comfort, im a small kid, so i needed a drop on my XE but once i got one i cant stop holding it. Weight, it is very light weight. Some Cons are the piece of pile feedneck they got. looks like something viewloader would put on their guns. WTF o-rings. and the air consumption on this gun is pretty brutal.
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08-04-2008, 11:37 PM |
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#4296
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moon333
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Length of use: |
Less than 6 months |
| Overall Rating: |
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| Appearance: |
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| Performance: |
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| Reliability: |
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| Value: |
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| Price paid: |
$200.00 |
| Pros: |
down |
| Cons: |
down |
this gun is great for beginers and people with a low budget also a great woods ball gun
pros- bob
relible
not very loud
acuricy is ok
price
cons- asa! is horable smart parts your ****ing stupid to put that asa on this gun i like the vibes asa better and it is a chepper gun
needs alot of ups to be a turnmate winning gun barrel, asa, feedneck, bolt, qev, and a board might be more
i do like this gun it is a great gun but if your going to git this gun plan on spending muney uping it
hope this review helped
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