My review...
Packing - Once I opened the shipping box I pulled out a nicely packaged small box. The box is well designed with trendy graphics and a slick finish. Upon opening it, I was greeted by the G3 itself, sitting snugly in molded foam. I removed the marker and found another layer of foam below hiding the user manual, barrel sock, warranty card, an allen key set, and a complete set of orings. The user manual is informative, but not very practical. It's not a traditional book, but a multifold poster. One one side is a slick poster of the G3 and it's specs, and on the other is a breakdown of the marker, operating instructions, and a troubleshooting guide. The poster is sweet, but if you hang it up that's going to make it difficult to refer to if you need access to the instruction manual.
First Impressions - Onto the marker itself. I chose brown and black for the color of my G3. It's a dust finish and the annodizing is flawless. The finish of the body is excellent and there are only very, very light mill marks under the anodizing. Now onto weight...I expected it to be light but not that light. Very impressive, it reminds me in feel of my SLG, except I think it's actually lighter and a little shorter than my SLG was. I was also pleasantly suprised to find the marker wasn't shipped from the factory dry, it was already lubed and the internal aluminum parts were finished with no alumninum burrs or shavings that you can find in some lower cost new-in-box markers. Also the stock features like clamping feedneck and flip on/off ASA are VERY nice.
Programming - I realized pretty quick that the marker was shipped with a ramping mode enabled so I removed the grip panel and flipped the dipswitches in accordance with the manual for 25bps NPPL capped semi and I was good to go. Modes of fire are very easily changed by simply removing the grips and flipping dipswitches. It is extremely easy and user firendly to the change modes with the G3. You turn the marker on and off as well as disabling the eyes with the thumbad on the back of the gripframe. It's a very convenient feature and you have to press it pretty hard to register, which is nice so you don't accidentally diable your eyes or turn off your marker in the middle of a game.
In game performance Day One - I spent a full day of play at Three Rivers Paintball with my G3 the day after Thanksgiving for their annual Turkey Bowl Paintball game. It was 39 degrees with a fair amount of humidity. I ran a Ricochet Apache hopper, an Angel Sports Barrel kit with a .693 back, and a 48ci 3k Pure Energy preset HPA tank(850psi preset).
So I applied the included barrel sock, aired the marker up with a simple flip of the asa lever(or RAPS - which is amazingly smooth and convenient) and turned it on. The DP reg was closed so I went over to the Chrono station and gave it some pressure. First let me say I was VERY impressed with how well balanced the G3 is with an HPA tank and a full hopper. It is very maneuverable and comfortable. Over the chrono straight out ot the box it chronoed 278, 268, 270. So we were about +-5fps out of the box - pretty damn good, and it should get tighter as the seals and reg break in. The marker has a very, very slight amount of kick(I mean it's almost non-existent) and cycles rediculously smooth. The stock trigger is a little heavy for what I like and has some slight side movement but very smooth and is completely and easily adjustable.
Actual in game play was fantastic from start to finish. I had no ball breaks in the G3(just one in the hopper one game). Shot to shot was fantastic, and it shot equally accurate with no shootdown for single shot longballs, several shot bursts, and all out ropes of paint. I did notice FSDO once after the marker sat aired up for about 45 minutes - it could have been the paint but I don't know. I didn't see it any other time though.
Day Two - I took my G3 to All American Paintball Park in Greensburg, PA for some indoor speedball play. I didn't get the temp but my best estimate would put it in the mid-high 60's and dry. I was using a Viewloader Evolution 3 loader, 72ci 3k Pure Energy tank and a 16" Angel Sports Barrel kit with a .687 back. I was shooting Smart Parts branded Procaps Contender paint that was .687 bore, perfectly matching my barrel back.
Now that I had about 3000 rounds through my G3 from previous play and backyard testing, is seems that the marker is starting to break in. At the chrono it read 268, 271, 270, and 268. Needless to say I was impressed, +- 2 says an aweful lot about the stock reg. I was a little concerned about the FSDO I thought I saw on day one but I think that was a paint issue or some oddball occurence. I intentionally let the G3 sit aired up for 30 minutes to test this out and when I shot it over the chrono it read 269 so I think I can rule that out. I played 7 matches in the NPPL 25 bps semi auto fire mode and it performed flawlessly. It was single shooting like a dream and I was also able to rope lanes like nobodys business all night. At one point I was at the fifty and the back stand up had a player who only had his barrel exposed two me, I nailed it in two shots. Again, there was no shootdown at high rates of fire, and the shot groupings were extremely close as well. I had no breaks whatsoever either and the eyes were very effective as I know I outshot my egg on several occations.
EfficiencyDay one - After one hopper and 2 pods I was under 1000psi. Bear in mind I was using a small 48 ci tank that was filled to 3k. Not spectacular but not bad either.
Day two - I shot just under 1000 rounds and left the day with my 72ci tank at just below 1000 psi. Not too bad.
Customer Support - Top knotch. You need anything or have a problem. Call them, it'll get resolved asap in a very efficient and professional manner.
Closing thoughts - The G3 is one of the smallest, lightest markers you can get your hands on. The lines are clean and it's a very slick looker. My ONLY gripe is that there is no guage on the G3 to read its operating pressure, oh, and a milled trigger would be nice too. This is available as an upgrade from DP though, which I'll be investing in soon. Performance and stock features are absolutely wonderful - it's what I'd expect from a marker costing twice as much.
