Great review format. Excellent, blunt, informational approach. I dig it. CTRL is a lesson in how not to release a product. I pre-bought immediatly after doing so with their CMD masks and loving them. The releases just aren't comparable. Why that is I couldn't say, but I'm curious if this has something to do with bk no longer having Max's involvement. We were led to believe that this loader had been in testing for a full nxl season. How is it possible to still have all these stupid, small, lack of attention to detail issues? Their pricing is a dumpster fire. They've adopted the Kohl's or Art Van method, which is to say that you're getting bent over hard if you buy at regular retail price. Why not wait for a 40% off? This stupidity porks pro shops trying to sell their gear. Sure, why not deter companies from selling your gear by undercutting them yourself? Another related point. Pre-buying a product, only to find out that they'll actually be cheaper just a few months on the market. Why the hell would I ever pre-buy their stuff again? Both the CMD and CTRL could be bought direct from BK for less than the pre-buys. I gave them my money to pre-fund a product release, 3-4 months, zero interest. No thanks. Never again.
I know this is an older vid but I have to say this is a great hopper, at the right price. I bought the denim version, already marked down to 170, then their 40% World Cup sale. With the speed feed, ramps and NCharge I'm all in at $170 and it is perfect for my Axe, Vanquish, Emek, Pro Carb and Trilogy Pro. I've found the feedneck fits snug in all, including the Trilogy, and it feeds perfectly every time. It has punched my OG Rotor to the back of the gear bag, although I do like my Revvy and VSL too. I would never pay MSRP for ANY paintball product.
Good video. I just purchased one on the sale with the coupon and only paid 96$ for it so I’m hoping it’s worth it. Appreciate the straight forward perspective when it comes to paintball stuff.
I have 3 VSL loaders and like them more than my Spire3 and IR ... I laughed when the Spire IR2 came out - thought it was a VSL knockoff. Two halves mate the same way, the tab is on top vs the bottom
Got mine on a sweet deal; $180 for hopper, springs, and speed feed. Still feel I overpaid. Performs nearly identical to my IR. And I agree for sure, the power button is trash and the 'angle indicators' is purely a gimmick. I am a fan of your candor and meticulousness. Great content! Spire 4 review in the future possibly???
Totally agree with everything you said this should cost more then 170 all In. I was able to take advantage of the spring sale and got one with the springs and sf for 140 shipped.
once you add the battery with tax & shipping its 312.... but with the battery you can turn it on & it will run for 24 hours sencio game & still have 30% left so there is no need to turn it on & off all the time because you can fire 5 cases of paint with full charge
Great hopper. But price point is to high. The level thing in the back is about useless in a scenario game. And I really don’t think it holds 200 paintballs. Others may love this hopper but for me it will sit in my gear bag unless one of my Spire 3s goes down.
In Canada the Spire 3 and the CTRL are $300. Unreasonably expensive for a hopper. When you can get older highend hoppers like Rotor V3's or Prophecy Z2's at below $80, or brand new Spire IR's or LTR's at $150, these higher end hoppers just look like a cash grab. Like, we know Virtue can just price them at a lower cost, but they don't, because people still buy them at full price
Spire IR and LTR best bang for your buck. More reliable, feed better and more definitely more durable than LVL or VSL. Spire lll is still the best hopper around.
Thanks for watching! I don't agree that the Spire 3 is the best though; I believe that the Spire IR2 is the best hopper available, despite it being less expensive. Now, we have the Spire 4 which has everything good about the Spire 3 plus CTRL logic...pretty cool!
Virtue bought out bunkerkings years ago. Everything the CTRL is, is exactly the same as the Spire 3. You can actually cross fit the tray in each loader and it will fit. The only difference is the shell, but all internals are exactly the same. Even the VIO and CMD, the lenses are the same. You can cross exchange them on the mask.
I wish I had bought a second Impact edition LVL 1.5! Its super reliable and has never jammed once. Also the batteries last a really long time. They all gone now and they want around $150 for the plain jane ones. I'd still buy one at that price....Just bought an IR2 after watching your Spire IR review and so far I'm diggin it.
Close! It's a Dangerous Power and Spyder Fenix (I assume that's what you're asking about). Including some that aren't in view and a few that aren't on the wall, there's also a ProStock Autococker, a Trilogy Autococker, a Planet Eclipse Geo 2.1, (2) Syxes, an Axe Pro, a 170R, A MacDev Drone2, A Shocker XLS, a Shocker RSX with a really cool multi-color ano, and an OLED Etek 5. I've got a few more incoming right now due to arrive this week at some point, so if there's any others you'd like to hear about let me know! Actually, if you happen to see any of the other vids, the wall is rarely the same day to day. I just put them up there because I thought it made a nice background. Thanks!
@@Filby47 hi there! If you're on FB, go to the Paintball talk/buy/sell group and you'll find me in there...Dave Arkle. PM me and I'll be sure to send pics when it gets here. Thanks for watching!
As I mentioned in the video, the LVL 1.5 comes with the speed feed included at no extra cost. Alos there are many other hoppers with speed feeds that are a fraction of the price of the CTRL. That's my whole point: it's $235 retail. It should include everything you need. If a $120 hopper can do it, this one can too. Thanks for watching!
I love my R2. The 2 things I don't like about it is how hard it is to change the batteries and how hard it is to find a rain lid with spring and screws.
The value should start Lvl because even the more expenaive ones are in the low $100. The rotar Lt since its $100 and speed feeds can go from $3 exalt ones to $30 dye ones. I have jams in it once a month, but that could be the paint. Bevause that batch will have it jamming a lot. Other then that never had any problems with it. Just got a cntrl for $170(ramps and feed included) so I hope I like it. Edit: Just got it in and honestly the best way to describe it is like dating a manic pixie girl. I threw it on my cs1 and manbuered with it. Threw paint in it. Absolutely well balanced in the hands. Does not intrude when pointing. Lovely to actually manuver with. But his points stand, the power button(while I think fixed in terms of how much force you need at this point) is stupidly placed. Also the feature, that only one person will be using in game, is changed by the power button. Good luck with that. Im sure it would help with training, at home with not paint at least to get uaed to setting up a good lane, but if you change it turning the hopper off, then you have to recalibrate it. Also, this may just for coustom color mixes, I have to buy a vase for it. It came in 3 boxes for me to build myself. I got the ramps and Ncharge with it, so not a bad thing for me, but inhave nothing to hold it in too take it to the field. If your looking at a spire IR2 and cannget this at the same price tyen go with the CTRL. The speed feed problem is fixed, mine came with the new topshell with a lip to hole the speed feed in place and it wont fly open. The magnets are awsome feature, when they work. Now compare it and LVL 1.5 or an LT-R with the km speed feed in have and were talking a $50 to $70 diffrence and thats a good case of paint at my field. Also the LT-R 'jams once a month' I mentioned may be getting better. I got in the sport after the lockdowns ended in my area so they had a lot of old paint to get through. Now that we have good fresh paint i have seenuch less jams. In the last 4 trips in saw it jam once. Iwant to stay that out of 5k rounds one jam is not the worst thing in the world, but not ideal for competitions.
Thanks for the feedback! Ya, the whole 'jams once a month' thing is exactly what I'm talking about. I've been using the same Spire IR for over a year now, playing nearly every weekend, and it's never jammed once, ever. Good luck with your CTRL!
@@airtimepaintball463 well I just got it. May be my experince buying there custom color pacage but I have tonshell out more money too get a loader carrying case.
Could you figure out the programming? I have 2 of these and early in the year I think I put the settings on the slowest speed because I figured that can handle 10.2.. and would be softest on paint.. and moved up the sound ( I think ) it’s been a while.. but I’ve had 2 used them for 5 xball tournaments, 4 5 mans and 3 3’mans… no jams, top never has flown off (Never dove into a snake off break though) .. agree it is over priced but I had nothing and virtue had a buy hopper get pants free deal and won the other in a tournament. Speed feeds and ramps, haven’t needed the extra teeth for speed feed. 2 black 170r’s. 2 ninja 68/45.. I don’t have a backup I have two exact same primary’s.. don’t like the idea of a different feel and shot in my backup. Love the channel good work
Cntrl hopper is trash would never look to buying it nor think about it wouldn’t even pick it up off the shelf I’ve seen those garbage speed feeds pop open when diving and also have seen the hopper dropped right in front of me about 2 to 3 feet in distance off the ground and completely popped open and spilled all the paint spire ir over that hopper any day of the year
The whole hopper even pops in half hahahaha im telling you ive seen them open from diving dropping your gun and I spose any collision so say goodbye to you paint hahaha
