Virtue Spire IV vs Spire IR2 Hopper Comparison | Best Loader?

What's going on guys. It's Tony from Lone Wolf Paintball.

And today I bring you a quick comparison between the new Virtue Spire IR2 and the Spire 4 hopper.

Let's jump on into this bad boy.

Virtue Spire IR2 vs Spire 4 Price Comparison

Obviously the Spire IR2 just came out. People are gonna want to know what's the difference between, you know, the Spire 4 hopper. I'm assuming.

So you've got the Spire 4 hopper retailing around $249 - 250 bucks.

We're going to call it the Spire 4 you've got the IR2 retailing around $130.

So we're looking at, you know, $120 price point.

Math… $130 plus $120 should equal about $250.

Okay. Sounds good.

So which one do you want me to start with Mark?

[Mark] Let's go over the classic Spire 4 first.

Virtue Spire IV

So let's go with the four. So the four, obviously, do you want me to go over the features that it has currently that's better than this or just in general?

[Mark] Yeah. If they want to see the overview of the Spire 4 we have a video on that. I just need to know what makes this special.

What makes it better than-

What makes it special?

First off, I'm going to tell you right now that technology can sync up to the virtual ACE gun and it can sync up to, I think in production right now, some of the Planet Eclipse like the CS2 pro gun, stuff like that.

So it's got the board in there, which is very nice.

Second thing I do like about the Spire 4 is it actually hinges up and it doesn't come completely off.

So, in case that you take the shell off of this and it falls on the ground, this one won't do that.

It’s stuck, and it's got a front hinge where you can easily get in there and clean it.

Also, it does come with a spring ramp compared to the IR2 which does not come stock but obviously you're paying $120 more for this hopper you know, for the board technology to spring ramp the actual magnetic drive cone here.

So there's a couple of different features that this you know, the four has that the IR doesn't but there's a big price point there.

[Mark] Low paint indicator?

Yeah, it's got that two on each side. It's got blinking lights. So when you start to get low on paint, whether you shooting right-handed or left-handed, it's got it on both sides. So that's cool as well.

They've got a seat. You can buy different color kits. These Stripe like the race, all along here you can buy different kits, chromatic ice blue.

I mean, the list goes on, but you can more easily upgrade this hopper cosmetically wise, then you can with the IR2. But once again, price point, ladies and gentlemen, both of these are great hoppers, and..

[Mark] What's the button on the bottom?

That's really sink it.

And it's got a little, it's got a little option, you know you want to get fancy, pull out your Bluetooth phone, download the apps, do all that.

Good.

[Mark] I only bring it up cause some people think that's like the anti jam button and it's not.

No, no Spire actually says their paintball hoppers never jam. So that is not an anti-jam button. Definitely not. Yeah. I was going to say the speed feeds but those are the same.

So, let's go onto the IR2.

[Mark] Yeah. So, those are the home of the upgrades on the 4.

Similarities

So what are the similarities real quick between the two? Like I was just showing you here I'll pop the lids open on both of those similarities. These are going to take the exact same speed feeds. The tool is quick change, push the button on these. And let me just take it off the stand and push a button since it's brand new and it comes right off.

You can slap on a speed feed quick with these same thing with the Spire 4 hopper. So similarities too, as you guys might notice we'll get a front shot of these. They look, you know, from the front end, Mark. how's it look on the camera?

They're both very slim and dynamic.

[Mark] Yeah. The profile is very similar.

[Mark] You can tell, once you look at them up close that it is a different mold, for sure. So it's not like they just retooled an existing shell.

This one with the Spire 4 is an enforced glass nylon. And they've actually kind of use the same durable nylon two-piece shell on the IR2 as well. So they're obviously taking note of how hard their players are on their gear and putting together a very good quality product.

Virtue Spire IR2

Let's crack into the IR2. So speed feeds are the same the way they actually come off from the backside. The Virtue Spire IR2 paintball hopper has a tab and the Spire IV should, let me see if I can find it, has a press button for the hinge. And the Virtue Spire IV paintball hopper, like I said, has a tab. You can pull it up and it comes out like that in a two piece design, like I said earlier compared to the actual hinge portion, the Spire IV hopper hinges and the Sire IR2 is a two piece shell that actually comes completely off.

So reverting back to kind of talking about I don't know if you can see that Mark, how you were up at that drive cone on the Spire IV that just pulls up in and out magnetic.

The Spire IR2 has the two clips you have to pinch and then pull up an out, which is obviously trying to do it on camera but there's two tiny clips here.

This one, on the Spire IR2, will come out and you can easily get it cleaned with a nine ball Raceway inside of here, but you do have to pinch the two tabs there but it still will come out and you can clean it and that's not too shabby.

[Mark] Can you tilt both of those towards me while they're open so I can see the Raceway comparisons?

Yep.

[Mark] Okay, cool.

Virtue Spire IV vs Spire IR2 Inside Trays

So next, what I'm going to do Mark is pull out the actual tray and see what we've got going on in here.

So this is going to be the IR2 paintball hopper tray operating on three AA batteries. It's got three-I technology around there. So I'll set that down for a second.

Let's pull out the tray on the Spire IV and the trays, by the way come out the same way. There's a little lever in here. You pull forward and the tray will come out completely to us.

So let's pull this tray out. Now let's look in here. So the difference... I've got the IR2 on the right side and I've got the Spire 4 on the left side. So looking pretty similar. There's definitely obviously board upgrades on the Spire 4 compared to the IR, but in general a lot of it is the same.

[Mark] It's, it's a different eye technology though, right?

The, IR2 has the new, like the infrared eyes. And then the Spire four is obviously based off of like the control loader feeding logic if you want to call it that, but they're operating on three AA batteries in both of these hoppers, I mean killer, absolutely killer out there.

[Mark] I assume that you can do the in-charge on the new IR2 as well, correct?

Yeah, this is definitely in-charge compatible, and also you guys will notice once again the spring ramp for the four. I'll put it here right there. And then obviously the IR does not come with the spring ramp. So that's an option, you can do that,and then you can also buy the in-charge battery for either or of them.

So, Mark, do you got any other questions in this quick, you know, quick comparison for me, I mean the way the trays come out, similar you can access the drive cones pretty easily on both of them spring ramp doesn't come stock with the IR2. Obviously we see the hidden shell versus the two piece nylon.

So is there anything you'd like, I mean.

[Mark] The only thing I can think of that we didn't mention is that the IR2 should be lighter too.

The IR2, I think, weighs in like 14 ounces, and I believe the Spire IV is just over a pound.

[Mark] Yeah. I want to say it was 16 ounces or just over yeah.

Yeah, either. So a couple ounces difference. The IR2 is going to be lighter for you but obviously this has more components to it.

Paintball Hopper Capacity Comparison

[Mark] Do you know what the cause of the capacity on the IR2 is over 200 falls over 200 and this one is the same.

[Mark] So over 200 as well I guess for future is there going to be a 280 version of the, IR2?

I don't know. That's a good question. Probably, cause they currently have a 280 version of the Spire 4 right now, but probably cause all they would have to do since it's now two-piece shell is just make it a little bit bigger, taller top shell and I'm sure that's in the works if not already headed to market.

And if not guys might want, think about it.

[Mark] If not, we want our royalty check for coming up with the idea.

So yeah, just a quick comparison.

Obviously these are family members here Spire 4 versus the IR2 and yeah there is $120 difference in price point though. So it's up to you guys, both great hoppers, you're not going wrong.

[Mark] Let us know in the comments, if there's any other hoppers you want to see us compare the IR2 to we've got a slew of them versus the 4.

So go check those out in the old videos.

Question from our Audience

And we have a question from the YouTubes, Levi Smith wants to know “why does wearing a visor make you look like a nube?”

Why does wearing a visor make you look new? Cause a lot of goggles like back in the early 2000’s came stock with a viser, you know, obviously in case it was raining but now it's kinda come full circle. If you wore a visor, I dunno, we'll say 10 years ago you were looking like a newb now the old school OG guys put a visor on to make themselves look cool, block-out rain, block-out sun, stuff like that. That's just my personal opinion. But I feel you, you know, Hey sometimes you're going to get shot by a dude wearing a visor. It happens.

[Mark] I think it's because it's also the easiest thing to make your mask custom is to just rip that visor off as soon as you get it out of the box.

For sure.

And a lot of, like I said, early 2000’s all that stuff came with visors kind of got out of it and now it's kind of cool again. So I don't know.

[Mark] That's interesting.

All right.

Leave a comment. If you've got one and maybe we'll pick you randomly for a future video otherwise go to our website, and pick up one or both of these amazing hoppers and we'll see you next time.

Take it easy guys.