Paintball Gear Buying Guide

Whether it is your first time playing or you have been playing for a few years, Tri-City Extreme is here to help. We carry items that have been proven in the field, are durable and last a long time, and are easy to fix if they do go down.

When looking at paintball equipment at Wal-Mart, Dicks and Sports Authority, all offer starter packages. However, most of them come with CO2 tanks. If you are considering playing at local fields (example: Capital Combat Zone and Albany Xtreme Sportz Park)you should know that they usually only fill compressed air. Compressed air is much easier to fill and works much better with your marker.

If you are thinking about putting together your own package, the most important piece of equipment is the mask. When looking at masks, you get what you pay for. All the masks we keep in inventory have a thermal lens or come with one. A thermal lens means the mask won’t fog or will have a much harder time fogging. When you have a single pane lens (non thermal) your mask will fog much quicker, even if you use the anti-fog spray.

MI-7 Mask: https://www.tricityextreme.com/?p=6780

MI-9 Mask: https://www.tricityextreme.com/?p=4304

The next piece of equipment is the marker (paintball gun). Markers that we carry will range in price from $79.00 all the way to $1449.95. If you are planning to play back in the woods a few times a year we would recommend any of the Tippmann markers. They are very easy to maintain and they will work when you take them out, throw a couple drops of oil in the ASA (where you screw the tank in) and you are good to go.

Tippmann Cronos $79.00: https://www.tricityextreme.com/?p=6704

Tippmann Cronos Package $179.95: https://www.tricityextreme.com/?p=6615

If you are planning to play a few times a month and want to keep up with the players who have the electronic guns, we recommend something along the line of a Valken Proton. It can do all kinds of firing modes, from semi to fully automatic and it is very easy to maintain. This is the only electronic marker where you are able to put a few drops oil in the ASA and the solenoid will be able to handle in. The other marker that we recommend is a Planet Eclipse Etha. Planet Eclipse makes the best guns on market and have the best customer support!

Valken Proton: https://www.tricityextreme.com/?p=2794

Planet Eclipse Etha: https://www.tricityextreme.com/?p=5725

The next item you are going to need is a tank. Prices on tanks can range $50 to $230. The reason for the large range in pricing is because the cheaper ones are made out of aluminum or steel which are heavy and limited to 3000psi of air. The mid-range tanks are made out of carbon fiber and can have a max psi of 4500. The very expensive tanks are made out of carbon fiber but are wrapped differently and weight a lot less.

When looking at tanks you will see numbers like 48/3000psi. The first number, 48 refers to how large the tank is in cubic inches. The larger the number, the more air it can hold. The second number is the psi rating of the tank. If you compare a 48/3000 tank and a 68/4500, you would get a lot more shots per fill with the 68/4500 because you have a larger cubic inch and a higher pressure air in the tank.

If you are planning to play a few times a year, I would recommend just the 48/3000, but if you want to get out there and play a lot or have an electronic gun, I would recommend the 68/4500

Ninja 48/3000: https://www.tricityextreme.com/?p=1766

Ninja 68/4500: https://www.tricityextreme.com/?p=1770

Ninja Super Lite 68/4500: https://www.tricityextreme.com/?p=1772

The last piece of equipment you really need is a hopper. Again, these prices can range from $5 to $205. The simple $5 dollar hopper would work with any of the Tippmann guns we mentioned earlier. With electronic markers you want the Valken V-Max in order to keep up with the gun or if you wanted the best performance, a Dye rotor or Virtue Spire.