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Part Three - PaintballX3 Magazine, February, 2015
2005, Smart Parts Ion
If you’ve been around the game of
paintball since the mid-80s you’ve
seen a handful of marker releases
that just dominated talk at paintball
fields, stores and later, internet chatter. Some of those releases were the
Line SI Bushmaster, the CCI Phantom,
the Autococker, the Automag, the WDP
Angel, Bob Long’s Intimidator and the
Planet Eclipse Ego. When Smart Parts
released the Ion electronic marker in
2005 it had every bit of the panache of
those huge releases before it. In fact,
the Ion was so much in demand that
Smart Parts allowed store owners to
come to their Latrobe, PA warehouse to
assemble and build their own gun orders. Smart Parts simply couldn’t keep
up and field and store owners wanted a
piece of the action.
the market in its day. Boasting 17 balls
per second capabilities and a variety
of firing modes including full auto, the
Ion quickly became popular with players and field owners (that used them
for rentals). In the first 12 months of
production Smart Parts reportedly sold
more than 100,000 Ions.
Chock full of features usually found on
markers costing double the price, the
Ion included Break Beam anti-chop
eyes, long life ball detents, Impulse
barrel threads just to name a few. Additionally there were a ton of add-ons
and upgrades for the Ion—body kits,
upgrade boards barrels and more.
The spool valve, blow-forward designed
Smart Parts Ion, retailing for just under
$300 was one of the least expensive
electro-pneumatic paintball guns on
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