Originally posted by Cobra427 on A5OG.

A Guide To Electronic Hoppers
I know this isn't an end-all hopper post but I hope this clears a few things up regarding the following hoppers that I can think of off the top of my head. I will gladly edit my post if anyone has more information on these hoppers and will probably edit/add onto my post.

****The upgrades I post are at the user's discretion and are will usually void your warranty should you decide to change the internal (and sometimes external) workings of your loader. I do not take any responsibility for problems associated with your loader if you decide to modify it past the manufacturer's intents.****

Here's a breakdown of hoppers for you:

1. Odyssey Halo B $95-ish W/Rip Drive $110-ish: a great force fed hopper that relies on breakbeam eyes to operate. The Halo puts pressure on the stack of balls between your breach and your drive cone via a spring underneath your drive cone. This is the biggest difference between Halo/Reloader B/Vlocity and other loaders. This pressure on the stack makes it so that there is already pressure on the paint feeding your marker and thus does not rely on just the force of the impellers to push paint into your breach. Once the paintballs are stacked from the breach up to the drive cone the motor on the "force fed" hoppers continue to run, winding the spring underneath the drive cone and putting pressure on the stack via the spring. Essentially this gives the Halo/Reloader B/Vlocitys less lag time between when you shoot and when the paint moves since the paint is already being pushed on via the spring/drive cone.

A normal Halo B does not come with Rip drive (allows the Halo to still be manually fed if batteries fail), and I strongly recommend this as an upgrade. Whether popping out a jam or using it when you're batteries fail, a Rip drive is a very nice add on.

2. Empire Reloader B $140-ish B2 $160-ish: nearly identical operation to the Halo B, though the Reloader relies on sound rather than breakbeam eyes to know when the gun is being shot and the loader needs to be activated. In addition to the difference in boards the Empire Reloader B also comes with a Rip Drive stock, as opposed to spending extra cash to upgrade an existing Halo or opting to pay more for a Halo with rip drive. I own one of these and absolutely love it, I have never had my Viking outrun my loader even up into the 25+ BPS range (goldwaved). I have a BONE pack for my loader and if you decide on the Halo/Reloader B I strongly recommend this upgrade, it needs to be charged every 6-8 cases and will give your loader a larger and more constant supply of energy, allowing up to 25+ BPS on my Viking (goldwaved, files on other computer).

*1&2 have a wide selection of aftermarket parts available to increase speed and reliability from new boards to battery packs

**Since both the Halo and Reloader B are similar in design they also have similar flaws. One of the main flaws with these loaders is that the drive cone pin, located underneath the drive cone, breaks. This makes your drive cone useless and leaves you the choice of buying another stock drive cone or upgrading to a delrin/aluminum/or other drive cone. I personally have a delrin Critical Drive cone and absolutely love it to death, though nearly all aftermarket drive cones are designed to add better reliability so it does not matter much which brand you go with.

Other upgrades include different shells, speed feeds (I love mine), boards, and interior motor and drive upgrades such as the Shocktech speed wheel.

*In addition to these upgrades it is also possibly to upgrade your Halo/Reloader B in multiple ways, such as replacing the stock motor with a RadioShack XMod Motor and various battery wiring modifications.

3. Viewloader Vlocity $130-ish Jr. $90-ish XSV $180-ish: same "force feed" technology as the two above, though made by Viewloader and has a different profile. It has more modes of adjustment then the two above (with the exception of the Vlocity Jr) and again is a great loader that will feed nearly any gun on the market. It runs off of a breakbeam eye system for detecting paint similar to the Halo. I personally do not own one but have used at least 2 on the field and found that they are very nice and a little lighter than a standard Halo/Reloader B (though my personal Reloader B has a lighter battery pack).

*Like 1&2 this also has a good selection of aftermarket parts, though not as many as the Halo/Reloader B yet. One of these aftermarket parts is the speed feed, which I strongly recommend.

**What I really like about the Vlocity is that it allows you to change chips on the board, not the entire board itself like the Halo and Reloader B. Multiple chips are out or will be out on the market, the main one off the top of my head being the Gangstar Chip.

4. Viewloader Evolution 1/2/3 $60-65-ish: these hoppers do not have the force feed technology built in that the previous three do. The differences between the 1/2/3 comes down to small adjustments in shell specifications (strengthening) and board choice. They run off of breakbeam eyes similar to the Halo and Vlocity and rely on the paintballs to break the beam of the eyes before there is any force on the stack of balls due to the absence of force feed technology.

The most common problem is the fact that the shell and design of the Egg is not as strong as other designs. As a result you'll see many people with broken shells and/or shell lids.

Upgrades include board versions (if you are not running a Egg III) and do it yourself impeller upgrades. Check PBNation to see the best upgrades for the Eggy, I don't have any experience with Egg mods.

5. Viewloader Revolution $30-ish: again, no force feed technology and runs off of breakbeam eyes to tell the loader when to feed the paintballs. There are a few upgrades for these loaders though with the new loaders and they're technology the Revy does not have as many upgrades and many people view them to be obsolete.

Upgrades include aftermarket impellers, board upgrades, and again do it yourself upgrades such as wiring and motor upgrades

6. Empire Reloader A/II $50-ish : originals looked similar to the VL Revolution but instead, instead of breakbeam eyes, the board relied/relies on sound much like the Empire Reloader B. The newer style Reloader A has a more streamlined look with a sharp nose but, like the older style, still relies on a sound activated board without force feed technology to load the paintballs.

Not many upgrades off the top of my head, I'll search it out and edit if I find any.

7. Spyder Fasta 9V $70-ish 18V $90-ish : depending on which model you get (different voltages) the Fasta can run right around the 20BPS range. It does not have the force feed capabilities of the first 3 and instead of eyes or a sound activated board it relies on a tab that moves back and forth with the stack of balls, similar to the Ricochet products. This tab makes the board kick in when it's depressed and stops the board when it is back to its resting position (think diving board, person on end-->person jumps off = loader actuating).

8. Ricochet Products AK $50-ish 2K $60-ish Apache $70-ish : I don't know much on them, though I do know that they are all actuated by the tab design as the Fasta above. Varying models have varying speeds and like the Egg, Revvy, and Fasta it does not have force feed technology and relies on the movement of the tab to push paintballs into the breach. I believe the Apache is the fastest loader Ricochet makes while other models include the AK, 2K, 2KX and a few others. If anyone has more information on these loaders I will gladly edit my post to include it, I know I do not have all the facts.

9. Draxxus Pulse $160-ish : the Pulse has an almost identical look to the Halo/Reloader B and like the Halo/Reloader B/Velocity, however instead of spring wound technology it relies on either the loader to know when the pressure from the stack of paintballs is released, showing that a ball has been shot or, when in RF mode, having the loader timed directly with the gun's shooting sequence. The Pulse has the option of having the raceway taken out from the back of the loader, making it much easier to clean and do quick maintenance on.

In addition to this Draxxus has also allowed the use of an RF chip to time the loader with the gun, much like an old intellifeed. However, instead of wiring the loader right into the gun, the RF chip is wireless and only requires that you install the RF transmitter in your board and have the transmitter inside of the grip frame or tray. Some users have had problems getting their Pulse to pick up the wireless signal and have taped their transmitter to one side of their gun (I only included this to show where the transmitter could go, not to say the RF chip doesn't work).

Along with the RF "Pulse" mode there is also a standard mode that I mentioned above. In this mode the Pulse "feels" the paintball stack and applies light pressure to the stack, making sure to put just enough to be similar to a spring wound pressure like the Halo/Reloader B/Vlocity. When pressure is released by the shot of a paintball and the loading of another, the Pulse feeds paint until it feels a sufficient force from the stack of paintballs again.

*A common problem with the Draxxus Pulse is the shell breaking at the feedneck. I'm assuming this has been addressed by Draxxus since I have seen fewer and fewer threads relating to this problem, but if there is a problem with your loader you can send it in to Draxxus and they will replace any parts free of charge, great customer service in my opinion.


*******Batteries make and break your loader's abilities, I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!!!*******

All loaders eat through batteries, some more than others. By far the best upgrade you can get for your loader is a rechargeable battery pack. You'll save money and have a more reliable power source because they generally have a longer life per charge than a normal alkaline or lithium battery would. A lot of tests have been done on this, most notably from PBNation. Page 1 has battery packs for sale (The BONE pack that I have for my Reloader B) but also has some good facts about battery pack reliability and the difference between rechargeable, alkaline, and lithium batteries.

Rechargeable batteries can come in many forms, though the most common are Ni-Mh and Lithium batteries (Lithium batteries can be both non-rechargeable and rechargeable). You can find a lot of research on the different kinds of batteries especially from radio-controlled enthusiasts and I strongly suggest you look into every option. I personally run a Ni-Mh BONE battery pack and couldn't be happier, though other rechargeable battery packs are widely available and I'm sure that they deliver better performance over Alkaline/Lithium batteries.
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I used to run the Ricochet Apache LED on my 98. The Apache came in two styles, LED or LCD, all user preference and the LCD had the game timers and what not. The shape of the loader was supposed to deflect paintballs in theory, however, I have never experienced it. It uses a "tab" in the neck of the loader to sense when shots are fired. It does this by having a ball drop onto the tab and moving it as it passes. This activates a small impeller in the loader and agitates the balls. The impeller was small enough so that if your batteries died in battle, the loader would still function fine without the impeller moving at all, only requiring the user to shake the loader in the same manner as a gravity hopper requires. I would not hesitate to use this loader again. However, the Apache model is really the only model worth getting, the AK and the the 2K don't quite stack up. My Apache was good for about 15-18 bps.

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Xbox Live- SilentAgent047