What Paintball Marker Should I Get?

There are many factors in play when you are picking your ideal paintball marker. Each person has a different way of playing. In many cases aesthetics has a good deal of influence when picking out a marker. All in all, your main marker represents how you play and who you are as a paintball player.

One question you have to ask yourself is: Do I want to play speedball, woodsball, scenarioball or recreational? This may be the most important question since your marker will be based off of any of the 4 choices above. You need to know the difference between the four types of games so you can better understand what kind of marker you need for the game.

Speedball is what it sounds like. It’s fast paced and will require your marker to fire fast and consistent. You will most likely be going up against players who have markers that can ramp up to 20 bps. So your marker will need to keep up. As far as I know, there is no limitation to what kind of marker you want to bring out on the speedball field. But keep in mind that the heavier your marker, the harder it is to maneuver. The one thing that separates speedball from any other style of paintball is snapping. Which is the act of popping in and out of your bunker to do check-fire-and-post. It requires quick movement of your upper body to be able to tuck in and out to either shoot people out or tuck them in their own bunker so you can post. If you have an M16 replica paintball marker, it will be much harder to do this and since most milsim markers have their hopper feedneck offset to the right, it’s hard to hide your hopper from enemy fire as you are popping out.
Typical speedball markers are your Planet Eclipse Egos, Empire Axes and Bob Long G6s. They are light, electronic and are designed to be wielded ambidextrously. These markers will pretty much require that you have a hopper that can keep up with its rate of fire. Otherwise you’re stuck with a high rate of fire marker and no paintballs being fired because they can’t make it to the chamber fast enough.

Woodsball and Scenarioball can be one and the same depending on what game rules your are playing with. Woodsball, however, is just as it sounds. It will be mostly in woodland areas. So camouflage is great for this type of game. I have seen people with elaborate setups like MP5 replica markers and ghillie suits to match the surrounding terrain. Scenarioball can be anything. You can be in the woods playing regular elimination, or you can be indoors rescuing hostages. In each type, you will need a marker that suits the situation.
It’s a little easier to find a marker for woodsball because it doesn’t demand too much like speedball. You can take it slow and steady or you can be fast paced and rush. If you like sitting and waiting, camouflage is your friend. Any marker will do for woodsball as long as it matches the terrain so that it will be harder for enemies to spot you. But in any case, as long as the marker fires, you’re good to go.
As for scenarioball, it varies from mission to mission. I suggest something lightweight and easy to maintain on the field. I found that an Empire BT TM7 is the best choice for me. It’s small and reliable. You can use it for large scale games and/or indoor small scale games. It’s very versatile. If your marker is an MP5 size or smaller (except of pistols), you should be fine for any scenario.

Recreation is pretty much whatever. You can bring a high end marker that is designed for speedball or you can bring a Spyder MR5 with a scope, flashlight, laser pointer and grenade launcher for all I care. It’s recreation.

Keep in mind that whatever you choose to go for as far as game type will also dictate what gear you will have to go along with your marker. Typical speedball players have a pod pack, full set of paintball padding gear, paintball pants and jersey, and cleats. Woodsball and scenarioball can use speedball gear as well, but is more versatile when it comes to additional gear. Some have pod packs that can carry their tanks and use a remote line (which limits you to using your dominant arm and won’t be able to switch. Some players wear ghillies suits, tactical body armor, a sidearm, add-ons on their milsim markers, etc.  Don’t forget that the more serious the players the more elaborate the set-up. In those cases, grendes, trip-wire booby traps, mines, mortars, tanks, etc. come into play. In many ways, large scale scenario games can get expensive.

As long as you know what you want to be as a paintball player, you will have an idea of what kind of marker you need. But if you really need an opinion, here is what I have so far for all types:

Speedball: Empire Axe (I have 2 because I need a spare for tournaments)
                   -The Axe is reliable and consistent. It’s up to par with most speedball markers and is cheaper than most

Woodsball: Spyder MR5 (I use first strike rounds for my magazines)
                   -a combination of weight, intimidation factor and dual loading capability makes this a good milsim woodsball marker for your money.

Scenarioball: Dual Tippmann TipX or Dual Tiberius T8.1, Empire BT TM7
                      -I usually go dual Tippmann TipX because they are fun to use and light as far as dual wielding goes. The TM7 is great if you want to have more ammo rather than go magazine per magazine.

Recreational: Any of the above depending on my mood
                    -My choices range from any of the above to rocking a goblin deuce marker to a homemade paintball sword for fun. Recreation isn’t supposed to be serious, so go out and just have fun with it.