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Im Rahmen der Paintball Expo hatte Bea Youngs für Pb2X die Chance Graham Easton ein paar Fragen zu neuen Ion zu stellen. Graham Easton arbeitet seit neun Jahren für Smart Parts und offenbart unter andrem das man bei Smart Parts bereits seit zwei Jahren an der Ion tüftelt. Das ganze Interview:Bea's Sting On Smart Parts' Ion – An Interview with Graham Easton2-16-05: Smart Parts has been an exhibitor at the Paintball Expo since its inception and at the 4th Annual Paintball Expo, Smart Parts revealed its entry-level marker, the Ion, to more than 6,000 attendees, most of which were new to the sport. On top of that, 59 other exhibitors, some in competition with Smart Parts, were there to witness the jaw-dropping faces of those seeing the Ion for the first time face-to-face.Graham Easton, Smart Parts Senior Sales Executive, took the time to sit down with us at the Expo to share a little bit about the Ion. Graham has been a big supporter of the Expo, and says, „The Expo is professionally run; it brings paintball into the public light in a professional setting.“ Thus the reason why revealing the Ion at such an event like the Expo since no other event in the industry of paintball provides such a platform for paintball companies. He continues, „I believe that major companies should take advantage of an event lie this, bring the public into awareness of their product. For us, it's been a great place to showcase the Ion.“Having played for 11 years, Graham obviously has a wealth of paintball experience not just as a player, but as an industry representative. He met Billy and Adam Gardner during his time when he was running a store in England and had come over for the Nashville Masters to play in a 5-man competition that they won. Easton was a guest player for the All Americans II team at the time and received a phone call from Billy at 6 in the morning and asked if he would come and work for Smart Parts. Nine years later, Graham is still working for Smart Parts and remains good friends with the Gardner family.Smart Parts has been known to be one of the biggest and best paintball manufacturing companies worldwide, sponsoring such teams like NXL Champions Philadelphia Americans, NXL team Detroit Strange, and Super 7 Triple Crown Champions, Dynasty. Famous rap artist, Cypress Hill's B-Real, and his team, Stoned Assassins (Division II team) are also supported by Smart Parts – All of which were also at the recent Paintball Expo and were situated around the new reveal of the Ion.Graham shares, „It makes an ideal rental gun, and we have plans to make a 'rental-only' Ion, which will just have one mode – the semi-automatic,“ (The Ion has three different modes, which will be explained below), he goes on to say, „It can still be used at the tournament level, especially as a back-up.“The Ion has been undercover for close to two years. „It's probably been our best kept secret ever. The whispers on the internet only really broke out about two weeks ago,“ Graham cheerfully says.Bea: Who is responsible for heading such a project?Graham: Billy Gardner, Daniel, and Hans. Hans was overall supervisor for the past year over the gun.Bea: What kind of material is it made out of? Will the plastic molding warp?Graham: Exoskeleton – It won't warp. It's plastic polymer, reinforced with a rubber outer layer. The concept is kind of like changing the cover on your cell phone, or even lately, the I-Pod.Bea: So, it's not entirely an all plastic gun.Graham: It's not. The only part that is made out of plastic is the Exoskeleton. The rest of the gun is made out of aluminum.[img]../newsimages/produktnews2003/2005-02-16-ion01.jpg[/img]Bea: Tell me about the Internals.Graham: It only has one moving part – the bolt.Bea: What makes this unique to other entry-level paintball markers on the market right now?Graham: You got a whole lot of gun for a lot less buck; It's got all the Smart Parts patented technology, three different fire modes, three-shot bursts, including a full-automatic mode, which is capped at 10 balls per second. It's a low maintenance gun, easy to fix (that's if it goes down for whatever reason). There are very few o-rings, and like I mentioned before, the only moving part is the bolt.Bea: It can go into full-auto right out of the box?Graham: Yes.Bea: Describe the three modes.Graham: The first mode is a three-shot burst capped at 10 shots per second. The second mode is full-automatic that's also capped at 10 shots per second. The final mode is like a ramping mode, which shoots at 17 balls per second.Bea: Is this something that a tournament level player can use during competition?Graham: Yes. As a matter of fact, a couple of the Miami Effect kids are using them, even in the NXL competitions. Other teams like Punishers Paintball X-Ball team, as well.Bea: It resembles the Shocker.Graham: Yes, the shape does, but it runs on the three-way whereas the shocker runs on a 4-way. Low-pressure technology applies. It runs at 180 PSI. Any tournament player will benefit by having this in his bag as a backup.Bea: What makes it so affordable ($299 retail, USD)?Graham: We're using a solenoid that costs less to make. The gun is almost 100% American made except for the Exoskeleton. All the engineering, the barrel, etc., are all made in Pennsylvania.[img]../newsimages/produktnews2003/2005-02-16-pbx218.jpg[/img]Bea: How much does the Exoskeleton cost?Graham: Kits are going to be around $40 MSRP, to be released in about 2 months. Currently, the color choices are red, blue, black, and yellow. In the kit, it includes, the upper-body cover, and the front regulator foregrip cover, all interchangeable colors, even reversed (stripes will be colored, for ie). We'll also have two or three scenario versions of the Ion, as well.Bea: What kind of programming does it entail?Graham: The only programming you really have to do to the circuit board is interchange between the three modes and turn it on and off.Bea: The Eye?Graham: It is a break-beam anti-chop eye and has rubber ball detents.Bea: The Exoskeleton helps keep those ball detents in?Graham: Right.Bea: How do you adjust the velocity?Graham: To adjust the velocity, it has it's own wrench that you use to turn the inline reg.Already, Smart Parts has sold over 5,000 units since its release on February 11th. Graham concludes, „I've got an order for a 1000 from one company. And it's only been two days…“Interview conducted on Sunday, February 13, 2005 at Paintball Expo, West.