Even though the original VL-2000 was undisputed as THE agitated loader to have,
and shares its market with no other, it was not quite perfect. The gears in the servo
would strip if the hopper were overfilled, battery life was short, the IR-LED and
photodetector (The "eyes") were exposed to paint contamination, and exposed
soldered connections were prone to corrosion and breakage.
The Revolution
goes a long way towards fixing these problems.
First and foremost, the Rev uses two 9-volt
batteries, as did the 'Shredder' version of the VL2K, but the Rev's supply is electronically
voltage-regulated to feed 12 volts to the servo. In the original 2K, the servo was
designed for 12 volts, but fed only the 9 volts of the single battery; the resulting
drain reduced battery life and strained the motor. The later Shredder used two 9Vs,
but unregulated, so the servo was now overdriven, also resulting in gear stripping
and motor failure.
Finally, in the Revolution, the 18 volt supply is regulated
to the 12 volts the servo requires, not only extending servo life, but battery life
as well. Now, both batteries have to drop below 6.6 volts before the motor begins
to lose speed.
Secondly, the gearing in the servo has been strengthened to
not only resist stripping or damage, but also to actually agitate a full loader.
Third,
the paddle that actually does all the work has been completely redesigned; It now
has four blades, and it is big enough that they actually 'wipe' up and down the sides
of the hopper. Rather than rigid plastic, the new paddle is flexible enough to distort
a bit when encountering jammed paint. Which is quite probably why its called a 'FlexProp'...
The prop, instead of shoving the paintballs aside to agitate them, will tend to 'wipe'
under the paint, like those icecream scoops with the little flapper.
The
electronics have been given a big dose of reliability, as they now incorporate miniature
plugs on the connections, in lieu of the fragile soldered PC board attachment.This
leads to a more 'modular' assembly, and faster repairs. If a LED/detector module
goes bad, the module itself can be changed, rather than having to have the factory
resolder or repair the entire package.
I suggest a tiny dab of dielectric grease
on the connections to help prevent corrosion and extend contact life.
The
battery connections, once dependent on problematical wiring, now utilize spring-loaded
contacts which are permanently attached the the primary brain-board. The only problem
here lies in the possibility of installing the batteries backwards. If the polarity
is reversed, the circuitry can and most likely will be damaged. The battery door
shows the proper alignment of positive and negative terminals; it is a very good
idea to pay close attention while slapping in fresh batteries.
Finally, the IR-LED (infra-red light-emitting diode) and its photdetector are now encapsulated in a resillient elastomer (Flexible plastic, like the paddle) to protect the fragile electronic connections, and keep the 'eyes' aligned. The module itself is far more forgiving when being cleaned of paint, then the original IR board was, but still not quite waterproof. Again, I suggest a tiny dab of dielectric grease on the connections to the rest of the wiring harness to combat paint-induced corrosion.
The Revolution also sports a few all-new
features, the best of which is the low-battery indicator light. When the batteries
start to get tired, the light will begin to blink each time the agitator spins, and
when they are almost flat, the light will stay on continuously.
Also, theres
a small tab molded in just under the switch, to help prevent it from accidentally
being turned on while in your gear bag. I don't know about you, but that feature
alone will double the life of MY batteries...
So does it work?
The best loader is
the one you never have to think about. You won't have to change your shooting rythym
or speed to let the loader keep up, you don't hear it work, you don't have to worry.
The
paint is just there, each and every trigger pull, and fast enough there are
no snips, chops or misfires. The Revolution does this.
A footnote: This example is covered with
ViewLoader's VL/FX treatment, which lends a very nice glossy, blue and black marbled
effect. However, with minimal use, there are already small signs of the covering
beginning to peel. We shall see how well the FX fares once its been smacked a couple
of times with a paintball.