Paintball x3

When upscale aftermarket upgrade company Planet Eclipse announced the release of their own high-end tournament paintball gun, the Ego, in 2005, players flocked to it. The Ego’s mix of light weight, high performance and reliability made it an instant hit that has only grown in popularity since. However, many players simply couldn’t afford its over one-thousand dollar price tag. To remedy this situation and bring Ego-level performance closer to the masses, Planet Eclipse released a more simplified but no less effective version of the Ego, the ETek.

Planet Eclipse’s ETek is a simplified Ego, offering practically all of the Ego’s performance at roughly half its price tag. For well under one thousand dollars, an ETek buyer can walk out of the store with a stacked-tube electropneumatic paintball gun with a quick-pull Delrin bolt, clamping feed tube, blade double trigger, multiple firing modes, in-line vertical regulator and low pressure regulator, on/off bottle adapter, anti-chop eyes and decent ported barrel. The main differences between the ETek and its Ego big brother is the ETek’s lack of an LCD screen, it uses flashing LED lights at the rear of the grip frame instead, and simpler machining and anodizing on the receiver to keep costs down.

Due to its less extreme milling, the Etek is slightly heavier than its Ego brethren, but the difference is nominal. It still offers very fast semiautomatic firing and adjustable ramping modes able to be set to whatever rules a tournament promoter might throw at it. Thanks to its top-quality inline regulator, the velocity consistency of the ETek is excellent, shooting shot after shot with less than a seven foot per second deviance as long as quality paint is poured into the hopper and well-matched to the Autococker-threaded barrel, which is delivered with a large .693 bore size enabling it to shoot practically any brand of paint and most gumballs or jawbreakers (Editor’s note: this is a joke, no gumballs were harmed in the creation of this article).

On the field the ETek proves it has the heart of an Ego, chattering away in semi-automatic or ramp at high rates of fire with excellent accuracy and stellar reliability. Keeping a fresh nine-volt battery in the grip, the rammer lubed, the breech and anti-chop eyes clean and a few drops of oil in the on/off adapter is enough to keep the ETek hammering for months without any problems whatsoever. The gun’s wrap-around rubber grips are comfortable if somewhat thick in the hands and the double trigger pulls smoothly, actuating a microswitch that tells the gun to fire. With a 68 cubic inch, 4,500psi bottle threaded in, the ETek can shoot well over 1,200 shots per fill, ideal for scenario players or tournament competitors playing back-to-back points without the time to air-up. The only conceivable down-side to the ETek is its somewhat loud report when firing, as most Egos tend to bark with each trigger pull. If this is the worst problem an ETek user can find out of the box, he’s made the right choice. No paint was chopped or broken by the ETek during testing in both hot and cold weather with various brands and quality levels of paint used.

For serious players on a budget or recreational players looking to seriously outgun their opponents at the local field, the ETek is an outstanding choice. Reliable, simple, attractive, durable and accurate, the ETek does everything well and has proven itself on fields from one side of the world to the other.

Manufactured by Planet Eclipse

Website: PlanetEclipse.com