Finally, some good news in paintball. Tom Kaye, the legendary paintball designer behind AGD and the Automag has returned to paintball with, in my opinion, the most exciting paintball announcement in the last few years. He has announced plans to build a miniature paintball air compressor that will run off electricity and a cheap shop compressor (which only will run occasionally) and will be able to fill compressed air tanks to 4500psi. The concept is simple - create a low-power, low-cost pump that will fill tanks to high pressures over a long period of time. Current guesses are that a 68/45 could be filled in about 4 hours. While the slow fill time will mean you can't refill a tank between games, you will be able to fill a tank overnight without paying several thousand dollars as the expected retail price is $300-$400.
For those of you who use compressed air, you know how its reliability, consistency and ease of use make it the preferred (and sometimes required) air for competitive paintball. You also know how difficult it is to keep your tanks full when you're not at a professional field. This new compressor solves that problem by allowing you to play (or tinker) where you like and fill your tanks at home. With the expected cost of $0.05 an hour to operate, filling a tank will now cost twenty cents - less than the gas to drive to a paintball field or store.
I will definitely be in line to get one of these when they are released. I'm a big fan of Tom's work at AGD (and still own some of his products) and I'm an even bigger fan of the idea of filling my compressed air tanks without going to a scuba store or paintball field. The mini-compressor is still several months from production, but you can view a video of a prototype to see what it's all about.
Comments
WOW!!!!! If this can hit the market at a 100-150$ range Tom will makes his second million ( or third ,forth what ever he’s at).What a great concept for paintball that could bring hpa to everyone, even out in the rural areas of north america.
They already have these now. I’m not going to pay 300-400 dollars to fill my tank over night. Scuba is a better way to go, even if only at 3000psi. IMHO.
You can also use it to fill a scuba take (for paintball use) overnight.
As much as I miss my old double action automag and would love to see AGD back in the game, I don’t think a 4-6 hour fill for a 68/4500 as game changing. I wouldn’t by one to fill my paintball air tank. A scuba tank would be a far quicker option, at the same price.
Tom is one of the most innovative men around. Too bad he has not been too much into paintball over the last 10 or so years.
I’m a casual player and fill a 50 lb CO2 tank once a year. My friends and I can play off it all season long. It’d take me a decade to make an investment in a product like this pay off.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great idea, but it’s just not for me.
If my friends and I started playing every weekend I’d reconsider. For now, though, CO2 is the fuel for me and my 98.
This really is a pretty cool innovation. I started off with a small tank like this one.
http://www.airsplat.com/Items/PA-PE-50CU-4500.htm
But have been increasing the size ever so often, and even at the good price this is was at, being able to refill them more frequently and easily, is going to save everybody a lot of time and money.
How long til this unit comes out????????
Available now for $549, and you also need a shop compressor($$$), pay for the energy this trinket and the compressor consume($$), besides waiting for almost 4 hours to fill a 4.5k, 68cu tank (now the norm).
Umm, I guess it will work if you have a 4 or 6 people team, in such a remote location were nothing else is available and you are willing to just play 1000-1400 shots per session. And at that rate of use, how will the wear and tear be? (probably more $$$ in parts). I think scuba @ 3k is still a better choice