I'm used to taking the batteries out of my old Vlocity so they don't drain. It's actually 10 times easier to take the batteries out of the V-Max
no problem there.
I went out to my captain's place and picked up the V-Max. I've got a few initial impressions.
I brought my Axe and a tank and gave it a little test-run with some old G.I. Sports paint he had on hand. Just pulled it out of the box, loaded up a pair of 9-volts and started testing. No modification at all.
Just dumping back into a caddy, the V-Max didn't hesitate. It would empty itself no problem. I clamped it on my Axe and filled it up. It runs balls right down the feedneck automatically and is just about instantly ready to feed. No "priming" or anything needed. Running the hopper completely dry, then topping it off required no other action. It loads itself pretty much instantly and is ready to fire.
Firing my Axe at 12.5 bps ramping (what we are usually capped at in most tournaments around here) the V-Max seemed very capable of keeping up right out of the box with a fresh pair of Duracells. I had a couple "hiccups" but nothing that really made me raise an eyebrow. I proceeded to paint the crap out of my friends back fence to get rid of half a case of old paint without any problems from anything. If the V-Max runs like this all the time it will have no problem keeping up with normal play.
Back at my own place, I did another little test. Timing 560 balls (4 pods) through the V-Max into a caddy took a pretty consistent 26.7 - 26.8 seconds (4 tries) So - 560 divided by 27 = 20.76 - someone who is better at math than me will have to say whether this is a proper bps measurement or not
I'll tell you this much - I'm hustling to keep up with the V-Max during this test.
I'm not too sure how to think at this point. Seems to me that the V-Max is a pretty damned decent hopper for the price right out of the box. I'm sort of inclined to use it as-is the next time I play (the 18th) and see if it cuts the mustard. I'm thinking it will not have a problem after what I've seen tonight.
And combined with a new Custom Products no-rise Ion feedneck, it considerably lowers my profile compared to the big ol' Vlocity...