Okay, onto my comment. Tippmanns are good for first paintball markers. Spyders/Spyder Clones are what you upgrade to when you decide you’re going to play paintball frequently and are sick of sick of shooting a Tippmann. Then, if you stick with it, you’ll move up to a Proto/Ion, and then, if you get really good, you’ll move up to a high-end marker. It’s like a ladder.

High-End Markers (Dye, Angel, etc.) >
Proto/Ion >
Spyder/Spyder Clones >
Tippmann >
Walmart Markers (Brass Eagle, Viewloader, etc.)

Don’t let anyone choose for you, though.

Tippmanns aren’t bad markers, they’re just big, slow, not very upgradeable (i.e. functional upgrades), and hard to fix if anything goes wrong. On the other hand, nothing usually goes wrong with a Tippmann. Nxwtypx was right about one thing, Tippmanns are the Kalashnikovs of the paintball world. It’s not like Tippmann made a mistake. They wanted they’re markers to be cheap, require little to no maintenance, and look like a real gun. If that’s what you want in your paintball gun, buy a Tippmann. If you want a fast, compact, reliable marker that you can work on yourself, get a Spyder. One of my favorite things about Spyders is that you can understand exactly what makes them tick after the first time you take them apart. (make sure you use the manual the first few times, or have someone show you how to do it.) They are definitely easier to clean and maintain than Tippmanns. The only issue is, you have to do it every time. This is actually good practice, considering every mid to high-end marker needs at least some maintenance.

Bottom-line is, get what you think is best for you. It’s good to ask for opinions, but don’t let anyone tell you what to get. Your opinion matters more than anyone else’s. Thank you for reading my essay. I mean comment.