PaintballX3 Magazine August 2014 Issue | Page 92

92 getting the snot beat out of it on a regular basis without much in the way of hiccups. Until now Machine Paintball has been known primarily as a marker manufacturer. With the introduction of the Gear, the company is looking to dive right into the high end hopper market. It joins the DYE Rotor and Virtue Spire in a relatively small market, but one that is currently dominated by the offering from DYE. It’s normally a no-no for a review to include a comparison of the product being reviewed to another company’s product, but in this case it’s almost a necessity in order to properly illustrate the pros and cons of the Gear. In this case, I’ve been using a DYE Rotor since 2008, with a short time of using a Virtue Spire, which was eventually sold in deference to the Rotor. My Rotor in particular is a workhorse, rarely jamming and August 2014 Given my long experience with the DYE product, I was curious as to how the Gear would stack up. Initial impressions were good, since Machine obviously spent time and money on the box the Gear arrived in. It includes a sleeve to keep everything together, and the box itself is nicely decorated with graphics while protecting the hopper in transit. There is no owner’s manual included, but there is a card inside the box noting the 6 month warranty on the hopper. The Gear is made out of polycarbonate material, giving the hopper a shiny finish,and I would assume in the future would open up the option to make the shell out of different colors. Obvious attention to detail was given to making the molds for these parts, with nicely done radii for critical points on the hopper to ensure strength and durability. Out of the box, it took me a few minutes to figure out how to disas-