Month: August 2014

Morgan, UT (PRWEB) October 24, 2013

Planet Eclipse Etha Paintball gun

Planet Eclipse has long been known as a market leader in high-end paintball markers and accessories. The aim has always been set high; to produce the very best paintball equipment possible. Unashamedly, Planet eclipse products to date have always been aimed at the higher-end of the paintball market. They are feature- laden, finished to the very highest standard and immaculately prepared and presented.

Planet eclipse understands that not every player has the budget for markers at that level. New or recreational players within the sport may not see the benefit in such fully featured products, but why should those players be precluded from receiving exceptional value and quality?

“No matter at what price-point… there are some fundamental features that every customer should demand…”

The Planet Eclipse Etha uses the same materials machined to the same tolerances as those found in other Eclipse markers such as Ego, Geo and the Etek. In many cases, such as the regulator internals, they are the exact same parts as those used in those other markers. The philosophy behind the Etha is to reduce costs by simplifying the design of both the internal and external components, and manufacture those components to the same level of accuracy and quality as “Etha is repeatedly tested on state-of-the-art equipment before making their way to the testing room…” those found in other Eclipse markers and not to reduce cost by using cheaper materials machined to lower tolerance on less accurate machines.

Though long and laborious, the testing of every single marker by this method means players can be fully confident that when a customer opens up that case for the first time that the marker should work flawlessly, achieving full velocity and completely leak free.

“The design has to be robust enough to work in all conditions, all of the time, shooting all kinds of paint…”

Eclipse has always been about a lot more than just what you get in the box.. Eclipse prides itself in having one of the most comprehensive technical support and dealer-backed networks in the industry and that network is there to support you whether shooting an Ego CSL or an Etha. Planet eclipse invests heavily every year in making sure that the stores and dealers that sell the equipment know how it works and how to fix it and have access to all the parts and accessories needed to maintain and repair our products. These trained technicians can be found in stores all across the globe.

But what of the Etha itself? Well, internally the Etha is a radical departure from anything seen before in an Eclipse marker. For the first time the paintball marker utilizes a spring return bolt system in the firing mechanism, allowing to simplify the pneumatic side of the marker and use a Pull Poppet spool to release air from the firing chamber.

The Etha bolt features dual-stage acceleration so that it picks up the paintball at a lower speed before accelerating further to push the ball fully into the barrel. The front of the bolt has a ramped rubber section. This extended rubber piece is both removable and replaceable and designed to flex freely in order to prevent clipping of the second ball in the stack as well as to be flexible on the face to cushion the paintball as its pushed toward the barrel. Both of these features work hand-in-hand with the Deftek Feed System and Break Beam Sensor System to keep any occurrences of barrel breaks to an absolute minimum.

The Pull Poppet that releases the air from the firing chamber is driven by a new, super-robust high pressure solenoid that is controlled by the fully adjustable PCB. The PCB controls the firing mode (semi-automatic and ramping), rate of fire, dwell and De-bounce through the multicolor LED mounted in the rear of the frame. It is pre-programmed with modes compatible with all major tournament series meaning no upgrade needed.

The frame, together with the lever operated clamping feed-tube, eye covers and the new OOPS knob are all manufactured from extremely resilient glass reinforced nylon. The Etek3 LT has proven to us just what this amazing composite is capable of: it is extremely strong, very tough, and more than capable of handling the abuse that even the roughest and toughest paintballer can throw at it. When it came time to specify the materials for Etha there was no Etha OOPS question that this material would be at the top of our list for these parts.

Inside the frame there are sintered brass bushings for the trigger pin to pivot on and a captured, fully adjustable leaf spring similar to that found in the Ego11. These components combine with the externally adjustable trigger to produce a crisp, smooth trigger action with which to operate the micro switch. And for the first time in an Eclipse marker the trigger can be fully removed for maintenance or cleaning without having to separate the frame from the body – it makes cleaning up after a hit to the frame a breeze. To help keep paint and debris out of the inside of the frame, the grip panels are sunk into the frame around their perimeter, they also use a clever upper locating tab that means that each grip panel only requires one screw to fix it in place making access to the board and battery quick and easy.

On the bottom of the frame there is a brand new OOPS (On/Off Purge System) ASA with front exit porting and the same internals that are found in the POPS ASA. It actuates Etha X-Section with the twist of a knob and fully vents the entire marker when turned off. It mounts to the frame via the robust T-Slot system.

The OOPS feeds through a macro-line and up to an SL3 regulator. The SL3 reg was first seen on the SLS and has since made its way onto the Geo2 and the Ego11 as well as the CSL where it has been very well received. With the ability to run HP, MP or LP compressed air tanks without adjustment it makes it a truly versatile regulator. And with its replaceable and reversible main seal it is robust, reliable and easy to service too. Like all other Eclipse markers, the Etha is designed to run solely on compressed air and not CO2.

The barrel also shares some similarities with those found on its bigger brothers. The Etha barrel is a 14.5 inch, two-piece, precision honed, 0.693 bore barrel that has a ‘Cocker’ thread into the gun body and uses the same threading as the Shaft4 barrel to join the front section to rear section. This means it has the longer control bore as well as being compatible with all other Shaft4 barrel accessories such as the Boost Kit and 16″ tip. With such a good standard barrel there should be no reason to run out and spend money on an aftermarket system.

The Planet Eclipse Etha comes delivered in a hard case, lined with shock absorbing foam and packed with everything needed to look after and maintain it: a full color manual; a full set of hex keys; a tube of Eclipse Grease; a comprehensive marker and regulator spares kit; and a barrel safety device.