Best Paintball Loaders in 2022
Tony: Ooh, baby! We are bringing the heat today, Mark. What is up, guys? It is Tony from Lone Wolf Paintball, and we are talking the best of the best loaders on the market.
Mark: And why? 'Cause who's the best source for paintball?
Speaker 3: Lonewolfpaintball.com.
Tony: You guys already know that. You know also, to visit pbswagbag.com, use our code LWP10 at checkout to save 10% off your first monthly subscription. Enough of the small talk, let's get on to... You guys voted, you guys picked, we're talking the best loaders out there on the market. So, Mark, what are we starting with?
Mark: We are starting with the best entry level hopper.
Tony: Best entry level hopper, according to you guys, these loaders are definitely under 100 bucks, it is the Halo Too by Empire. These bad boys can feed 20 plus paintballs per second, fully programmable, and you can also throw a speed feed on this bad boy. So, under 100 bucks, best entry level loader that can feed 20 plus per second is the Empire Halo Too Hopper.
Mark: Nice.
Tony: Good choice. I don't think of any other loader that I probably would have picked best entry level on.
Mark: I heard a few people mention the Speed, but I think the Speed's a higher price point.
Tony: Okay. The Speed. Yeah, I could see that as well. I think for a loader, I think these are 80 or 85 bucks. So I think, yeah, entry level, this is probably a really good choice. I appreciate that guys. Next up, what's the category?
Mark: What's the easiest speed feeds to install?
Tony: Easiest speed feeds to install is definitely what they voted probably the Spire's? The Virtue.
Mark: Yeah, it was really close between the Spire IV and the Spire IRs. But it's basically the same format.
Tony: Correct. Yeah, so pretty much this is the 4, Spire IV. You flip open your rain lid, your standard lid, whatever you wanna call it. You press that button there in a matter of literally two seconds, your rain lid, standard lid comes off. You go on over to your speed feed, simply snap that bad boy on, and then you guys are off to the races. So, that's how quick and easy it is to install the speed feed. Rain lid off and speed feed on, just like that. Super, super simple. Press of one button and you guys are off to the races. What was the... Oh, boy it's a little tough.
Mark: A little stiff when it's brand new.
Tony: It's brand new, but what was the next category?
Mark: The next category was easiest loader to clean.
Tony: Easiest loader to clean.
Mark: Which one could you tear down, and get on...
Tony: Was it the Spire IV? Yeah?
Mark: It was the Spire IV.
Tony: Yeah, these things, there's a... Well, once again, I already got at my hand, press the button in the back, hinge lid right here, if you wanted to get in there and actually clean this bad boy. I know it does have that magnetic drive cone, simply pull that off, held on by magnets. You guys did happen to break a ball in the race withal, microfiber, a piece of paper towel, you'd be able to get in there easily. If you had something else stuck, paper towel right up through the actual feed port here. I mean, you guys can literally get in there and clean that thing within a press of a button and to pull off of the magnetic cone.
Mark: The tray pops out real easy too.
Tony: Oh yes, if you wanted to get the tray, there's a push button back here, the entire tray comes out. You can literally hit this with a hose if you wanted to, not your electronics obviously, but yeah, press of a button, super easy to take apart, maintenance and clean. I would say you guys definitely voted that one correctly as to all you have to do is press a button to get in there, pull it off and you're ready to rock. So, good choice. Next up, what is it?
Mark: It's the fastest feed rate, which hopper can keep up with the fastest guns on the market? The mechanicals? The guys ramping it way higher than they should be.
Tony: So this one kind of... It surprised me, but it didn't. They voted the LTR, wasn't it?
Mark: They did.
Tony: The Dye LTR Hopper, this bad boy, it doesn't have the eyes in there, or this thing feeds and it feeds until it can't feed any longer, it is the Dye LTR Hopper. So, yeah, this thing is, it's a juggernaut. Obviously, this is the re-do version of the original rotor, but it's literally the same exact thing in my opinion. This bad boy has a very, very fast feed rate, it never stops until you're ready, so obviously people would say, You know, my Spire IV is great, it feeds good, it doesn't jam. But that's nice, but is it the fastest out there on the market, free fall and drop? Who knows? You guys voted the Dye LTR and here it is. So a hopper that's 100 bucks. That was the only reason I was kind of surprised. I mean, these Spire IVs are around the $200-ish price point, so you chose the fastest feeding hopper as a $100 price point. Mark, what's your thoughts on that?
Mark: I think it's just a lot of the old school guys that like to run 15 balls a second or faster punching around one a hopper that just shoves the paint down the barrel and I mean, I've got my LTR, I love it.
Tony: The thing doesn't stop, it doesn't really miss a beat, and if you guys ever do get jammed up, it's got the little shark fin on the bottom here, so yeah, you guys voted it. I don't think you're wrong. I mean, I shoot an R2 and I've shot Spires before, and they're great. LTR, also obviously a little brother to the R2, great choice, I think it feeds super fast.
Mark: Alright.
Tony: What's the next category?
Mark: Next up was capacity, which hopper holds the most paint?
Tony: So, first off, when we we're out at the field and asking people around the shop, I was like, It's definitely the R2 Hopper, it goes standard and then it goes up to the 260, but then I was reminded, we do have the Spire IV 280. We have the big boy. So, capacity-wise, other than like... What's that? Like a Pinokio?
Mark: Yeah.
Tony: I think one or two people voted for the Pinokio, but most people were like Spire 280 all day long. Here it is, 280-round capacity, it's obviously standard. Standard, it's got the standard big boy shell, so yeah, this will be the hopper that's probably gonna hold the most paintballs for you, unless it's someone else... One of the guys out there voted the Max, I think they said it was the max loader. It was like the thing that goes on your back that holds like two cases of paint. I was like, "Not many people have that, but a standard tournament Hopper, it is the Spire 280."
Mark: Nice.
Tony: Next category.
Mark: An important one. Which one handles brittle paint the best?
Tony: Brittle paint, I definitely thought it was gonna be the Spire IV, which had a ton of votes, Spire IV did, but the HK Army TFX 3 won it because of, it has... Here, I'll just pull it out. It has soft touch paddles, which is nice, and so does the Spire IV. So it has the soft touch paddles in here, obviously, it's gonna help with your nice brittle tournament paint. But, a lot of people brought to my attention, it has a tension control system on the bottom portion of the hopper. So if you guys happen to be shooting super brittle paint, you guys can spin this blue little dial around, pull up, and you can spin this piece to however you want it, depending on if you're shooting super brittle paint, tension control is down here underneath the actual tray itself, and you guys can move that left or right, read in the manual, I'm not sure which way it is. But, super brittle paint, it has tension control, which I like, so TFX 3 takes the hopper that shoots brittle paint the best.
Mark: And a couple other hoppers have that tension control too, but the TFX 3 was definitely the easiest one to access and manipulate. You didn't need any extra tools or anything.
Tony: Very, very true. So that was a good vote out there. Do we have any other categories, Mark?
Mark: We do, we got two more, and I would argue probably two of the most important. Alright, doesn't mean it's the cheapest, doesn't mean it's the most expensive. But which Hopper gives you the best bang for your buck? You're gonna get the most value when you sell it.
Tony: Bang for the buck hopper, Did they vote the IR2?
Mark: They did.
Tony: 'Cause we haven't talked... I figured the IR2 is out here for a reason. Best bang for the buck, same thing, speed feed, you wanna change it, press that button, you can take off your standard lid in a matter of seconds, and throw your speed feed on there. If you wanna take this bad boy apart to kinda get in there and get some cleaning done, you can also do that. And these things aren't gonna cost you 200 bucks, these hoppers retail right around $120-130, depending on whatever color you guys want. But Spire IR2 takes the best bang for the buck. If you want high-end features and not paying that high-end price, this is gonna be the hopper for you. So, you guys chose it, let us know if we're wrong on any of this. Throw it in the comments below. What Hopper is your favorite? What ones did we miss? And all that other good stuff.
Mark: Yeah. We got one more category, arguably the most important category and the one we're gonna get the most feedback on, I'm sure. But you guys picked it, so don't yell at us. Who's the best overall hopper? Hands down the best one.
Tony: Give me a hint behind the camera, Mark. The best overall Hopper? Oh, boy, so I know. Oh, everyone's gonna go, "It's the... " Oh, this is what you guys voted, it is the Dye R2. You guys also on the R2, not as easy per se to change the speed feed, but it is just the press of a button. Not as quick as the Spire IV, but I think the biggest reason why you guys voted, it has a external anti-jam shark fin, it has a spring wrap on the inside, right here in the back. Also, it has the capacity, it has the limits to go from a standard 200, if you slide this lever and pull it up, it goes right to a 260 capacity just like that. You don't have to change any top shells and if say you were shooting a lot of paint that day, you can raise it up, if you're not shooting a lot of paint, you can simply press that bad boy over and raise it back down to your standard 200, and yeah, the Dye R2 takes the best. According to you guys, the best overall loader. I know a lot of people... And we did have a ton of votes for the Spire IV, but just happened to be out kicked by the Dye R2. Put in the comments below, like I said guys, I wanna know your thoughts, opinions, and feedbacks on all of these hoppers. And until next time, they are all available at lonewolfpaintball.com.
Mark: And just so you know, there's gonna be somebody that says something, like just control loader is the best too. We had a lot of votes for those, but they kept getting nudged out by other hoppers. See ya.