Smart Parts Vibe

The Smart Parts Vibe is a basic electropneumatic paintball gun that looks good and also performs solidly. It can't quite compete with more expensive electros, but it shines in its price range.

Design

The Vibe is Smart Parts' entry-level electropneumatic paintball gun aimed at the beginning speedballer or anyone who wants to upgrade from the Spyder clone line of paintball guns. It has a nicely-designed, contoured body with a comfortable grip and blade trigger. While it lacks anti-chop eyes, it does have a low-force bolt which does a good job at eliminating chops. It does have several firing modes including full-automatic and 3-round burst.

Performance

The Vibe is one of the cheapest electronic paintball guns available, but shooting it does not feel cheap at all. It's much quieter than a comparably priced mechanical gun and it does have a decent rate of fire at 11 bps, though that can be improved with an upgraded circuit board. The Vibe is quite accurate and consistent and I found it to be easy to walk the trigger and get a decent rate of speed, though the stock circuit board is quite weak and under-performs. I didn't have any problems with the anti-chop bolt and found it to be quite gentle on standard, non-brittle paint.

Maintenance

The Vibe is simple to care for with it's bolt-out-the-back design and it should be relatively problem free. Make sure that you regularly clean and lubricate the gun and always make sure your 9-volt battery is charged. If you ever have to completely take apart the gun, be prepared to spend a little time to get everything taken apart and put back together again.

Upgrades

There are multiple upgrades that fit the Vibe including upgraded circuit boards and barrels. The upgraded board will add additional firing modes and increase the gun's rate of fire. The Vibe uses standard Smart Parts threading so any Smart Parts barrel should fit.

Thanks to Matt for the use of his Vibe for testing.