[YeloSno]

pretty much all of the good masks come with visors, though.

[rtrostrud]

Thank you!

[Jinrak]

Would you still recommend a ICD Freestyle? I was curious if it would be hard to find parts for them.

[YeloSno]

I'm going to say yes and no, but mostly no.

The freestyle involves more work and technical interest/workmanship, if that makes sense. While I would hope, at the least, that a majority of people could easily learn how to be one with the marker, a massive portion do not or aren't up to it. I kind of stick it with Angels and, say, vikings/excaliburs. They provide more for what they are, but there's more of yourself you need to invest into it to get it right.

Still worth it if you're down for sure.

They're fun to upgrade as well since upgrades will make much more noticeable differences.



You also have to submit to understanding that you'll never have a very air efficient gun. Can it be consistent and smooth? oh yeah. Shoot great? mmmhm. Efficient? mmm, i think I would suggest to avoid using it for a back position at a tournament or a lengthy scenario game.

[Jinrak]

I really appreciate the advice! I've always been a huge fan of Freestyles and while I was hoping you might give me a mostly yes response I figured it would be a mostly no instead.

If I currently had more time and money to invest in paintball I would totally buy a Freestyle just because I do love to tinker, but I just really need something cheap, efficient and relatively competitive.

Anyways, thanks for this awesome thread. This is a wealth of knowledge.

[YeloSno]

Hey, by all means, if you're down to actually service your guns like you're supposed to, the freestyle will be a walk in the park.

I just feel that more often than not, beginner players (even people who have been around a while) just don't take care of their **** like they're supposed to unless it's super straightforward or easy, whatever.

The FS just involves more than one hand is all.

I'd say it's a perfect secondary due to the tinkerability, but you should probably have something else as a main.

If you don't **** around, just buy a beat up Axe that shoots perfectly and throw the Lurker poppet and bolt assembly in there, set it up (ask for help if you need it) and tune it right, write down what was necessary to get it shooting that way (for when you remove stuff for maintenance) so you can really quickly get it back in order, and you can make that your fire and forget workhorse of the ages while you can pour your resources into the Freestyle and make it your special lil' fun gun.



Thanks!

Btw, if you ever come across any manuals of any kind for anything that isn't a cheesy blowback or spyder, feel free to shoot it my way

making a database.

[YeloSno]

information updated slightly

[Mahkal101]

awesome post, this is just what i needed!

[YeloSno]

thanks for the kind words! glad it helped ^_^

[zmastervader]

This is a great topic for someone getting into the sport. Thanks for the information and having it concise and well laid out.

[YeloSno]

glad I could help ^_^
Thank you for the helpful insight

[VictorWTF]

I think it depends on what your situation is really. For me I have an amazing club that I joined who have made my getting into paintball an absolute blast.

This is my list, I was kindly let to borrow a vice, tank, rotor, and i4 mask to play while I get things together, which to me is really nice. For me I will borrow a used rotor and tank while I get my pants after my marker is bought since I have that option I went mask, gun, pants, tank, and then hopper.

1- Mask and a headband!, it gets hot, you sweat, headband. I got Dye i4s
2- Gun, tank, hopper, New Etek 4 for me
3- Pants, they do wonders and you wont ruin your sweats, I like the HK hardline series
4- Shirt, now you wont ruin shirts! a long sleeve T worked and will get a jersey at some point
5- elbow pads, or shoes
6- elbow pads, or shoes
7- accessories, gloves, and beanies and such

IMO the first three are the most important, a gun you can get comfy with and take care of, a good mask to be comfy in and see clearly, and a pair of pants so you don't go through sweat pants every couple of weeks. After getting those first three things imo it's whatever you need most personally, need some shoes for just pb? get them, really want a shirt for pb? get one, feel like short sleeves but wanna slide around? get some pads, its pretty open after you have a gun setup and some pants.

[YeloSno]

See, here's the first thing that raises some flags is that you already had help and a really rare kind at that.

Most of these people fly in solo, work their way up, and then their next step is to find social establishments within the paintball realm.

You got lucky indeed.

The reason I put all peripherals up before the gun is because the gun is not only what's the most fun to finagle with and upgrade and have multitudes of (no, really, you ask anyone with lots of guns and they're probably only gonna have like a couple pairs of pants, etc) but it's also what's the most prone to being a money sink and the least benefit to your safety.

Padding is what will protect your joints when you fall, not shirts or pants. Hopper and tank are the most difficult "choke points" to deal with because if your gun's fine and what supplies it isn't, your gun isn't gonna be worth much on the field is it? But you can play with a rental that has these in check and your balls will always hit your target (or, like, however bad your aim is, whatever you're aiming at) as long as you're pulling the trigger.

Hope that makes sense/helps

[YeloSno]

pads are paramount.
Pants and Jerseys are there to cover the skin (pfsh, whatever) and stop you from abrasive **** as well as give you some bounce protection and/or camouflage and some storage space.

And obviously if you're on a team, signifies who you are and your sponsors, so on so forth.

[VictorWTF]

No, I agree, Just thought it is worth mentioning that if you have some nice people around you willing to let you borrow an extra hopper and tank it's maybe worth taking them up on that for a week or two while you get something you can't borrow first that may make life easier.

To me at least I found actual pads not much use unless on a speedball field. I do think elbow pads are useful but there isn't a lot of places on the rec fields to full on dive in deep, mostly just enough room or clearing to slide in and crawl about. You can get pretty reckless with pants and elbow pads.

[YeloSno]

It's not about diving as much as the "oh ****" moments.


Believe me.

I've never failed a dive, but I did get kicked off the track team at school for ****ing my knee up the one weekend I was like "nah, not feeling the padding situation today."

Still stoked about that one ._.

[VictorWTF]

That's so vague....

I mean yeah pads are important but that money can go to something much more useful imo. You don't really need knee pads to get playing in the woods or rec fields, or even get playing on the airball field, but they are nice when you can get around to it. I guess if you are a smaller individual you might want to weigh knee pads more heavily, but I think most people can run, slide, even the occasional dive with just their pants padding, get the elbow ones to help you crawl and lean out more comfortably while being in a tight spot. Again not saying knee pads are bad just that I don't see them as high priority is all.

[YeloSno]

What do you mean by vague?

You have insurance in case you **** up, not from every day shenaniganry.

I mean you might accidentally **** up in the process, in which case everyone either laughs or cries, but you're accounting for that moment by buying something to be your failsafe in case that happens to be the case.


If you're a motorcyclist, you should always buy proper protective gear before you ride for the same reason. Who gives a **** if you're good? One day, you're the one who pays for the lack of care and foresight, no one else. (at least directly)

[VictorWTF]

This has nothing to do with being good, what are you on.

"i got kicked off my school track team, trust me i'm an expert."
"well you might **** up and then you have pads"

Vague.

Knee pads help absorb impact on the knees, there for landing, or sliding on knees. First off knee sliding isn't often the best option as it is slow and you don't get very low, and secondly knee pads don't actually help you with anything not directly putting force on your knees, a compression sleeve is probably actually more effective in an overall sense than a knee pad. Sure a knee pad might be more comfy to kneel down on than your pants but that's far from a safety concern.

[YeloSno]

Where did I say I'm an expert?

Ask anyone who has had a long term injury in a sport and ask them how they got it and what they were doing.

Chances are a lot of the responses will be something along the lines of "I didn't wear pads/protection and ______ happened one day."



And you just pointed out yourself: " First off knee sliding isn't often the best option as it is slow and you don't get very low"

Not only are there people accidentally doing things who know how to do things "properly" (subjective term), but there are also those who continually do not.

Pads are there to protect from that as well as imagine you're sliding on your knees in a ****ty speedball field and there's a rusty nail coming up from what is holding the turf down or boards down, w.e.

Just lay out potential scenarios with and without compression sleeve (no protection, just helps keep things together, which by all means is really good and especially so to wear under the knee pads if you don't want to feel like your leg's being strangled [some pads are like that. that's life.].) and with/without knee pads and their outcomes.

If you really believe that at the end of the day, pads will do nothing, then I really hope you don't like motorcycles or other extreme sports as well because that's a great way to **** yourself up real quick.

[YeloSno]

Or who else to believe: doctors? sports medics? professional athletes? retired professional athletes? construction employees? motorcyclists? The list of people who can tell you that protection is paramount (and it isn't so ironic that it's called protection) is borderline endless.