Paintball guns, Ion vs Vibe?

Question

I am a pretty good paintball player, however i really have a bad gun. I need a new one and i wanted to know what the differences are between the ion and the vibe. Also is the vibe customisable like the ion is?

I really want more of a personal review of the gun from some one who has used them both and has personal experience with them. That would be best.

Answer 1

I own and have used both.

The Ion is definitely capable of higher rates of fire. Its stock board is capped at a limit of 17 bps, compared to the 11 bps limit on the Vibe. The Ion has anti-chop eyes, and the Vibe does not, but at 11 bps, that's not such a big deal, especially if you use a good loader.

When it comes to maintenance, the Vibe is much easier, because it has a bolt-out back design, whereas you have to take the whole Ion apart to get out its bolt and valve.  

Of course if you want the best of both, the Ion XE is the newer model Ion, and it has the Ions features plus the bolt-out-back system that is on the Vibe.

In the two review below you can see the difference in how easy/hard they are to clean the bolt/valve for normal maintenance.