This page is a continuation of my SuperIon creation page. This article related to everything after I built the setup, including performance, impressions, and some revisions I've made.
The first time I fired the maker was after a shockerowners.com regional game that I hosted in the backyard ydnafield. We took some videos:
The first thing I noticed is that it was very heavy. Obviously! The entire setup weighs eight pounds without tanks or hoppers or paint. Adding everythign together it's surely over 25 pounds when all is said and done. It was obvious from the start that this would be heavy.
Skipping ahead a few weeks; the weight turned out to be a major issue. The setup weighs a friggen ton and nobody wanted to haul it around for even a short period of time! My solution to this was relocating the two "side" tanks to a backpack would be carried on the player's back. I leave the middle tank on the gun because it makes a good counterbalance, as seen the below picture.
Back to the debut and my observations;
- There's virtually no recoil to the whole system. This is likely due to the fact that it has such high weight and can't wiggle during firing. Regardless, this low recoil makes it a very effective tool for throwing a huge amount of firepower downrange. I hadn't really thought much about this until I experienced it on the field.
- Interestingly, you can actually feel the difference in recoil when only two of the three markers fire. Out on the field I've used this for quick troubleshooting.
- The three shots appear to bend and swirl around each other in flight (although it's probably an illusion).
- Paint consumption is very high. I went through around 380 rounds after emptying the guns' hoppers. I might need to buy a whole new pack to carry paint on the field. Either that or I'll be able to refill the gun once then be out of the game. I can't be much of a back player if I run out of paint and have to beg it from the dudes around me (although I'm sure they would be happy to help).
Please note that I didn't end up doing a new laint-hauling pack simply because I can't resist being a front-player, even at the big games. I carry at maximum 7 pods on me as well as a smoke grenade, and try to get as close as possible to the front line so I can do the most damage. This setup, combined with a well-placed smoke grenade has been DEADLY in the past.
Big Game Events of 2006:
Action videos of the SuperIon can be found below (via Youtube embed). The clips of the marker that were captured tend to show a lot of firing around at nothing in particular, so unfortunately a lot of the actual eliminations were missed.
I also used the gun at the Tippmann Challenge in September 2006, however the action simply wasn't as good, and none of it was caught on film. I can't spend the entire game with the SuperIon due to the weight, and frankly much of my time on the field was wasted by standing around awaiting action. But...the other event that happened was a lot of technical difficulties. I did almost no preparation of the markers before the game, and had to take everything apart a few times to fix issues that should have been caught by some simple preventative maintenance.
1. Middle marker hose was worn out and blew off during re-chronograph. From that point onward I had to use only the side markers.
2. Frame screw (one of two) wiggled out of place during the game, and I lost it since we were out on the field. It left the right marker moving around with every shot.
3. Left marker begun to experience shooting problems and also leaked from one of the internal hoses. I attempted to fix this but wasn't able to do it.
All in all, the whole setup was virtually incapacitated by the end of the game. It became clear that a major overhaul would be needed.
The Great Rebuild: (Spring 2007)
I disassembled the entire setup after half a year of inactivity. This happened in June 2007 and is a time that I refer to as the "great rebuild". I call it that because it took nearly two days of nonstop work to fix the gun up.
Essentially the problem was, amongst other things, the markers' hoses needed to be replaced and the whole setup needed to be repainted. The paint had started to flake off from the chevron mounts, and some of the exoskeleton was showing through as well. Since everything had to be disassembled to handle these two tasks (hoses and external paint) I ended up just rebuilding the entire setup from scratch. This included all new hoses, new o-rings, new eye boards and eye wires, new paint coats for the frame, mounts, exoskeletons, and barrels, and lastly all new wiring for the electronics (this included a new trigger switch wire, and new indicator LEDs for the boards).
I feel I should mention the choice in color. I originally painted it bright yellow because I wanted the markers to be noticeable, both on and off the field. And it was indeed noticed by many people, however the most common comment I received was that I should paint it green so I could "hide better". I always resisted this because I didn't feel it necessary to "hide". Who am I hiding from? Come get some!
As it turned out, I really didn't have too many options for the paint color. I wanted to choose a color other than yellow to replace the old look. I couldn't choose red since that was the color of the paint fill that the field uses. In addition, the field uses both red and yellow as team colors, so I would surely get shot by people mistaking the marker color for my team (this happens all the time). I didn't want to use blue because 90% of the markers I owned at the time were blue. When I was shopping for paint I noticed there were lots of variations of white, black, grey, and a few other colors...but not much else.
In the end, I selected a nice bright green color and gave that a few coats. It turned out darker than I wanted but I'm okay with it. I used some black to give it a contrasting stripe.
Also please note the addition of a foregrip. I had it lying around from an old Shocker Sport which I easily attached to the marker using a threaded stud. I tried out several different positions for the foregrip handle, but the position in the above pics turned out to be the best. Although if I want I can always change it with a few turns of an allen wrench (perhaps even on the field, if needed). This makes it a lot easier to carry.
I also removed the unused vertical ASA ports and such. At the time of writing this paragraph (late June 2007) the Monster Game is one month away...I'm ready for some action!
So....why no action videos from 2007?
As it turns out, I never got the chance to use the marker after the "Great Rebuild" in 2007. The SuperIon was stolen shortly after writing the above paragraph from June 2007. After several months I was able to get the equipment back from the police, but by the time I reclaimed everything the Big Games were all done for that year.
So, I'm again looking forward to using it in 2008's Big Games, but we'll have to wait until the summer for any new action videos, since I probably won't be using it until June or July.
Rebuild Day 2008:
Since I now had the markers back in my possession and ready to be used, I decided I would take them apart to perform general maintenance and prepare them for the Monster Game in July. To this end I actually made a vlog-style video to show this task, which I then posted on YouTube:
Interestingly, the rebuild proved to be more or less pointless. The markers hadn't been fired ever since the Great Rebuild from 2007, so they were probably ready to go as they were. I did replace some o-rings and hoses just for the sake of it but I don't think it was necessary.
Regardless, everything is now working and ready to go!
Monster Game 2008:
I finally had the chance to use the markers again, and I must say it was a complete success. We took a lot of footage out on the field, and a good percentage of it was of the SuperIon. An action clip video of this can be found below.
Most of that video takes place at a field called the Meatgrinder, which is a netted area adjacent to the deadzone. The Meatgrinder sees constant action since the two team's insertion points are located at either end. In this particular video the action was somewhat thin, but I was still able to take out a few groups.
I made one slight change to the markers, that was adding a shoulder strap the relieve myself when carrying the markers around. This turned out to be very helpful, since it removed a lot of weight from my arms. I will admit the weight had been merely shifted to my shoulder instead, however it was better to be sore there than not be able to lift my regular-sized marker when I wasn't using the SuperIon.
Failed Second Demo video: August 2008
I had three full tanks and over a bag of paint ready to be wasted in yet another demonstration. I had originally wanted to demo the markers using three Halos, firing theoretically 3x17-bps. This never happened in all the two years since I built the setup, but I wanted to make a second demo video regardless.
Well, make a long story short, the demonstration didn't go over as good as I wanted. I wanted to get a clip of somebody getting longballed by the markers, and have that person hold the camera to see the paint raining in. We decided to do this, however a few things went wrong. First, it wasn't a longballing clip, rather we stood about 40 feet away.
The second thing that went wrong was the camera getting shot. Twice. We wanted to protect it with a lens but I was being idiotic at the moment and didn't want to bother. It proved to be a horribly stupid move on my part.
Anyway, portions of the video can be found below. I didn't have much actual firing footage to use so I instead decided to present some of the candid audio from the guys at the field. It's a horrible demonstration for the SuperIon, but the audio is pretty amusing.
Monster Game 2010:
I had used the markers a few times in the last couple years, but there weren't any videos from those events. By the time 2010 rolled around, I had begun using a Contour helmet camera so I captured some good first-person video of the markers in action. Check the video below!
In addition to 1st person action, the second half of that video also shows some clips filmed with my camera directly attached to the front marker mount's underside. The sound of the marker firing is pretty loud but the view is also interesting.
Future Games...
I don't play with the SuperIon much lately because as time goes on I enjoy playing without having to spend a lot of time with maintenance. The SuperIon requires a lot of maintenance, much more than a typical marker, so I don't take it out to the fields as much. A few other players have used it in the years since, but there's no useful video of this.
I'd love to take the markers out on the field again, but I can't say when that will happen. Until then...!