There is a huge wave sweeping the paintball world. Its called the Smart Parts ION. For a long time people have been singing high praises about this marker and so I did a little research, shot it at a field couple times and wrote this article about it. Keep in mind that this is my opinion if you don't like it or have a different one send me an e-mail proving your point of view or keep it to yourself. Just don't send me "inteligent" messages like "you have no f&(*&(* idea what you are talking about, f&^% you as^%$@ ..... "

The ION gets problematic when it comes to cleaning and maintenance. Routine maintenance on this marker requires almost complete disassembly of some delicate plugs and wires (ION has a very exposed and unprotected solenoid). By no means the solenoid is in plain view when marker is in one piece but during a dissasembly its right there, Smart Parts could really invest extra 20 cents and put up a plastic cover over it. Lubing the bolt requires complete disassembly, and partially disassembly of the card. The potential to break something while doing this is very real. The potential to misalign the air tubes, causing leaks, is even greater. You cannot afford not to fully clean the ION after a game since it is delicate and requires everything to be in top condition to work. However your chances when doing maintenance of breaking something or causing some sort of damage are high – especially when you are not very tech oriented or are new to the marker. The whole expirience really reminds me of the Rainmaker, in that marker to say change the hammer spring I need to pull the grip frame out, deatach the pneumatics and remove the top part of the marker holding the bolt and lincage. But Rainmaker was made in 1998 and this was innovative, its just funny that the lesson has not been learned.

ION should never run on CO2, by that I mean you as a user should not connect a CO2 tank to the ION since you risk liquid CO2 of getting to the solenoid and damaging it (solenoid is very fragile), Smart Parts suggests using anti-siphon CO2 tanks (if there is no other way) but trust me, the anti-siphon modification is costly and does not work 100% it all depends on bottle’s position. Bottom line is that you will need to fork out anywhere from $60 to $260 in addition to the marker if you don't have a HPA tank, most likely you will want to get something bigger than 47ci 3000psi tank, which will set you back some $120 or more.

There was a number of complaints about leaks coming from various places in the marker. The leaks are generally the result of not lowering the input pressure on the first gas-up, keeping this in mind might prevent blowing or damaging some lines.

ION's look can be altered by replacing the plastic cover pieces which ION is using. The whole body as it appears on the outside is a plastic tube(cover) that goes over the actual mechanism and body. Same for the regulator which is actually much slimmer but is wrapped in a rubber sleeve with designs on it. This is where people who want to customize the look of their marker can have a field day. The pieces can be changed, swapped out, tons of them are avilable on e-bay and in online paintball stores.

This brings me to a point where Smart Parts advertises "Expect a reliable 1000-1400 shots from a 68ci, 4500psi bottle without any modifications. " - this is not efficient gass use, with my Pirahna regulated at 350psi I can safely say that I will get 1000 shots from a PMI 48ci 3000psi tank. Before some of you will start raising red flags - ION is also regulated but at 200 psi max according to guidelines in the manual. PMI Low-Flow 68ci 4500psi fiberwrapped tank costs $205.50 at actionvillage.com.