Smart Parts SP1 - a failure?
Saturday, January 5th, 2008
I had such high hopes for this marker. An electropnuematic milsim marker that can run on c02, is easy to maintain and looks fantastic. Out of the box this marker is nice and light and was very comfortable to hold. Its covered in rails to mount all the bi-pods, red dot sights and lasers you could ever want. All for under $180 Canadian, was this too good to be true?
Yes.
I admit its first use was on a cold December day, but this marker is supposed to be able to run at <= 180psi. Its not that it didn’t work at all, its just that it didn’t work enough to use to play. The marker would turn on and appear to be functioning, it just wouldn’t fire all the time which is pretty essential to play paintball. Someone else in our group who had also bought an SP1 on boxing day was having the same problem so I’m confident I didn’t get a lemon.
Aside from the disappointing winter performance of this marker it is impressive, in concept. Maintenance was too easy, 2 Phillips screws on the back remove a plate and another hex key removes a bolt and everything falls out the back for cleaning. The Smart Parts SP1 comes stock as a true semi auto electropnuematic but can take a black heart board as an upgrade later on. The clamping feedneck was nice and sturdy and held a full VL Revolution nicely. I cant comment on the regulator and how it performed, since it really didn’t, but it is there.
All in all if you like to play paintball year round, and are using strictly c02, im going to recommend you pass on this marker. I ended up trading in my Smart Parts SP1 straight across for a Tippmann Custom 98 w/a.c.t. go figure that id choose a marker that’s about a decade old over something that just came out.
