threaded, fourteen inch, two-piece aluminum .689 bore sized barrel with an
excellent internal polish and plenty of porting, anti-chop eyes, an on/off
bottle adapter, a fully adjustable, microswitch-activated trigger, the same
SL-4 regulator found on Eclipse’s higher-end markers and a clamping feed
neck, the GTek offers a list of features comparable to most top-end markers
available today.
Getting the Eclipse GTek ready for play takes only minutes and consists
of removing it from its case, ensuring a fresh, high-quality 9volt battery is
installed, adding a compressed air bottle, assembling the barrel halves and
threading the barrel in, adding a hopper into the clamping adapter, adding
paintballs to the hopper, turning the marker on via the on/off button at
the rear of the grip frame, airing up and then heading to the chronograph
(with a barrel cover and goggles, of course). The process actually takes less
time than it did to read this, assuming you stay focused. Weighing just over
two pounds, the GTek is light and well balanced. When used with the right
peripherals like the Ninja SL Pro-Series 68 cubic inch bottle and Pinokio
Speed hopper used for these tests, a GTek ready to shoot can be ready to
play at 5 pounds, 7 ounces.
If spool valve performance is what might draw a player to the Eclipse
GTek over its ETek brother or other competitive markers, their confidence
in the platform is well placed. The marker shoots smoothly with very little
perceptible recoil or “kick” and, almost as importantly, the marker is very
quiet thanks to its operating system and the plethora of porting drilled
into its barrel. Both the grip frame and fore-grip surrounding the marker’s
regulator are comfortable in the hands and create a stable platform that,
in addition to the marker’s smooth operation, deliver impressive accuracy
at all ranges. Inside 10 yards, the marker delivers one large splat on target,
while at longer ranges groups are predictable and streams land where
they’re intended, allowing the shooter to lane easily or dominate the edge
of an opponent’s bunker on a competitive field, or through gaps in foliage or
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