Valken Paintball, a division of Valken Sports, is a sales, service and distribution company dedicated to serving the paintball community. Valken Paintball seeks to provide exceptional service with competitive, quality products that meet and exceed the needs of paintball business owners and paintball players alike.
Gino Postorivo founded Valken Sports almost two years ago to manufacture and distribute hockey, lacrosse and the new craze MMA (mixed martial arts) supplies and equipment. He had left the paintball industry for a brief spell but never lost passion for the sport. It was this passion that served as his inspiration to form Valken Paintball.
Valken Paintball is introducing certain products now with additional products rolling out over the coming weeks in advance of the full paintball product launch later in the year. Additional products will regularly be developed and released as Valken continues to work to meet your needs and earn your confidence.
Valken may be a new name, but behind the name there is experience and history that has created Valken’s unique character and a corporate philosophy that places the strength and profitability of it’s customers, paintball fields and stores above all else.
If you want to learn more about Valken Paintball or about our customer and pilot customer program, call Valken Paintball at 866-97VALKEN (978-2553).
We would like to say a big thank you to the Management of LJ Entertainment for becoming our sponsor for our 2010 season. We would be proud to represent your company on the fields.
We would like to say a big thank you to the top Management of Skirmish Paintball Asia for accepting and sponsoring us for our 2010 season. We would be proud to represent you company in the paintball scene.
We are proud to announce our new sponsorship deal from Dynamic Paintball. We would like to wish a big thank you to the management of Dynamic Paintball for accepting our proposal and would like to welcome them to the family of sponsors for NoMercy Paintball Team. We would be proud to represent your company in the paintball scene on the fields.
As the day goes on he just can’t take it. Just standing around while his son and friends play around is tiresome. He starts to wonder if maybe just maybe I could do this. It went from just a drop off to the start of a great journey and an inspiring captain. The rise of Explicit and the future that lies ahead of them. Robert Montiero was just another father at the field learning the sport. Making sure his son had fun and supporting him in whatever he does. He has a family and runs a logistics company but today he takes on one of the greatest challenges, “Paintball”. As his son plays for the first time his mind starts to wonder and impulse kicks in. He buys everything: marker, hopper, tank and all the apparel you could think of. Once you begin playing there is something that just over comes’ you. Adrenaline starts pumping and you want more. Paintball had already grabbed him before he started playing. Here’s where it all was set in motion. Paintball had turned this father and son duo into weekend warriors. They continued this every weekend streak of practice for two months before meeting friends that loved the sport too. As they grew together so did their knowledge of the game. A couple young gun tournaments here and there and they were ready. Explicit set out to their first big tournament with a team of 9. XPSL is one of the many leagues that were around for the experienced players. This introduced Explicit to 7-man style of play. XPSL Vegas ’06 was the unveiling of Team Explicit. Although they finished 23rd out of 74 teams they held their heads high. Rob was determined to make this team a top contender. Practice schedules came soon after this tournament. Explicit started practicing non-stop against the best teams around. Rob had a saying that “You only get better by practicing the best. Tournament after tournament they missed the cut just barely to make the day that everyone hopes for, Sunday. This only made Rob train the team harder and harder. This led to practicing both Saturday and Sunday. They began trying out new things and different players. One thing you have to learn is that players come and go. Rob only wanted players that have the hunger to win and play for Explicit. As things came together and they had a few wins under their belt Rob made a promise no one would forget. “We will go pro in two years no matter how we do it.” This resonated in the boys mind for months to follow. With the ’08 year coming to an end and only the NPPL Commanders Cup left Explicit went in guns blazing. They ended up placing 7th but had learned a lot. A couple weekends had passed and Rob got a call that would change Explicit forever. With the NPPL going under and new leagues emerging they were offered a once in a lifetime opportunity. With USPL coming into play as the new 7-man league they had met and made a huge decision. Every pro team manager had met and chose to bring a select few divisional teams up into the big leagues. Rob was offered a spot to become a professional paintball team. As the entire team had learned of the news it was unanimous. Explicit would be a newand upcoming pro team. This was a dream come true to every one of our players. We all play to get better and one day get to the level of pro. Having Robert as a coach you learn that he aims high and never misses. Becoming pro came a little faster then he had expected but he got them there. Through out their journey from the bottom up they had settled down with a set squad and would go into their first pro tournament ready for anything. Family, friends and the players of Explicit weren’t ready for the fan base they were about to witness. The grand stands announced their first game on center court and the crowd went wild. Roars from every corner came in and gave the boys the confidence they needed to win. Ending the tournament with only missing Sunday by 20 points made Explicit proud of their first pro event. They had gained experience and more important the respect. To most, paintball is a way of life and your team turns into your family. To know that when you step on the field that everyone wants what you want. It’s a feeling that you never want to give up. Practice every weekend, lots of running, and a whole book of drills. They strive to get better at every turn and won’t stop till they reach the top. Explicit couldn’t have gone this far without the drive and determination of Rob Montiero at the reins. San Francisco EXPLICIT
One of the top class team in the Paintball World -Team Vicious
Starting as Data Support Systems (DSS) in 2006 PSP Division 3, the original members of the team consisted of: Bryan Bortol, Christopher Hooker, Mac Moriarty, Paul Naylon, Parker Rosenthal, Zak Sherman, and Josh Voss. Coached by Greg Pauley and backed by Karen and Carl Bortol, DSS had a great showing their first year in tournament paintball and went on to win the PSP SoCal Open and the Division 3 X-Ball Series Champions Title for the 2006 season.
In 2007, it was decided that DSS would now play as VICIOUS after they made the move to D2 X-Ball. Because of this division move Greg Pauley was now able to both coach and play on the team. VICIOUS proved to be successful in their second season by winning to 2007 PSP Chicago Open and once again found themselves the 2007 Series Champions in D2 X-Ball.
In 2008, VICIOUS moved up to Division 1 in the PSP. Rivalries proved to be prominent early on in the season. VICIOUS did well in their third season but their glory did not come until the PSP World Cup. VICIOUS fought their way to the finals and came out victorious as the 2008 D1 World Cup Champions. VICIOUS was also able to finish as Runner-Up in the series standings for D1 X-Ball. Shortly after World Cup, VICIOUS went on to take 2nd in Semi Pro at the 2008 NPPL Commander’s Cup. This was an accomplishment as well because VICIOUS usually does not play the 7 man format.
Moving up to Semi-Pro for the 2009 season, VICIOUS has finished in the top four in the first three PSP tournaments. They also finished fourth in the USPL Huntington Beach Event. At the PSP World Cup in Lakeland, FL VICIOUS was able to win once again, remaining World Cup Champions.
The Eclipse Ego10. This 6th Generation Ego is the start of a new direction for Planet Eclipse and the focus of the engineering behind the marker. For the first time since the inception of the Ego model, the Ego10’s main design brief and focus has been placed on smoothness of shot and even finer resolved paint handling. Every previous Ego has been developed with the express intent of maximizing the cycle speed of the Ego design, speeding up rammer and bolt movement and minimizing pneumatic and electronic delays wherever possible. Whist this has produced arguably the fastest under-and-over poppet paintball marker on the planet, it can equally be argued that the Ego has not been one of the smoothest shooting.
Well that is all about to change. Paintball is changing. No longer is the perfect marker the one that will shoot and cycle the fastest. Today, more than ever, players want and need to be able to shoot the most fragile paint, with the smoothest shot. And this is the direction that the Ego10 will start taking us in.
Using some of the very latest Ultra High Speed Video recording facilities, as well as micron-accurate, 50,000hz sampling speed, laser displacement sensing equipment, the Ego10 has been developed to produce bolt speeds that are more gentle on the fore-stoke so that paint is handled in a much more gentle manner when being loaded, and that opens the poppet valve in a way that helps reduce sound signature, and then returns in a way to help minimize the recoil imparted into the body by the rearward motion of the bolt and rammer and reduce rear-stop rebound.
Yet even though the cycle has been significantly slowed down, due to the unique design of the direct-mounted solenoid, the Ego10 still has extraordinary pneumatic responses that mean no time from switching on the solenoid to the bolt starting to move is wasted. The result: Still 28+bps fire rates, but smoother, quieter, better-handling feel.
With a smoother cycle, come other benefits. Wear and tear are significantly reduced. Bumpers, valves, and all other dynamic components suffer less brutal forces on every cycle hence longevity is added to each of those components.
Mechanically the Ego10 incorporates some of the technology of last seasons SL94. The Zick2, which is an intrinsic part of the pneumatic drive system, is designed to both have a softer initial kick-off on the forward stroke, which helps load the ball more gently and helps minimize bolt-strike breakage of the paintball, but also cushion the system on the return stroke into it’s rear-stop position. Both these attributes are key to helping achieve the fundamental goals of the Ego10.
Sitting above the Zick2 kit there is now a body-cut contoured Cure3+ bolt. The main body of the bolt carries the same upper profiling and cupping as the standard Cure3 bolt, which massively reduces both bolt-strike impact on the ball being fired, but also ensures that the bolts leading upper edge has the least amount of impact possible on the second ball in the stack. Impact fractures from the bolt on the second ball are common place when using force-feed loaders, and the Cure3 ensures those fractures are kept to an absolute minimum. But what is new on the Cure3+ bolt is a new 2-piece design. The new second piece sits inside the main body, is held in place with the bolt pin, and is removable and interchangeable without the need of any tools. The standard Cure3+ found in the Ego10 comes with a ramped insert that gives the air path from the valve to the face of the bolt a nice smooth transition through its 90 degree turn. But the real beauty of the design means that the insert can be quickly and easily removed and replaced for any future upgrades that may be developed for this bolt design.
Up at the front of the Ego10, below the lightened LPR cap, there is now an additional vent in the main body. This little vent hole is further testament of the desire to make the Ego10 the most reliable high-end marker out there. The little hole is nothing more than a vent, but its simplicity is its beauty, in that it makes it impossible for any kind of HP air from the valve chamber to bypass the internal LPR body seals and contaminate the LP air that feeds the Solenoid and Rammer. This added protection for the solenoid further enhances the durability and reliability of the whole marker.
Electronically the Ego10 has also had a complete overhaul. Of course the key features that have kept the Ego at the top of its game, such as Opto and Micro switch trigger actuation, are still there. But the heads-up display, GUI, microprocessor, solenoid drive circuit and expansion socket have all seen some major changes.
The four layer circuit board is home for a 16-bit, 16mips PIC microprocessor, running at 3V and with advanced power saving features. The increased number-crunching power of the processor allows for much more sophisticated control algorithms, leading to a smooth and seamless operation of the marker, and the 64K of internal program memory provides ample space for future firmware expansion.
The solenoid drive circuitry has been optimised with a focus upon the consistent and repeatable operation of the solenoid and multi-level prioritised interrupts within the control firmware ensure that timing fluctuations are virtually non-existent.
Standards have traditionally been a problem within paintball’s manufacturing community and so the Ego10 expansion connector supports UART, SPI and IIC interfaces, providing flexible upgrade capabilities. Planned expansion boards from Eclipse include USB and RF interfaces.
The liquid crystal display module (LCM) has been completely redesigned from scratch. This is not a commercial display, made to fit into a paintball marker but a custom unit engineered specifically to withstand the rigours of the modern game. The chip-on-glass design is completely sealed against the ingress of paint, water and aggressive lubricants and is further protected by a plastic surround which also serves as a rigid mounting system. Transflective LCD technology means that the display doesn’t wash out in strong sunlight, contrast actually improves in brighter conditions whilst using significantly less power than OLED technology. When light levels are lower, a tru-colour RGB backlight can be configured to the user’s colour of choice via software.
The viewing area of the LCM has been increased by 92% over the previous model, improving the resolution while maintaining dot pitch and the Graphical User Interface (GUI) has been overhauled in order to take advantage of this larger viewing area. Readability has been improved with increased font sizes; Windows pop-up with useful status information; Range bars indicate the adjustability of parameters; Smart Menus reduce clutter by removing parameters when not required. Usability has been improved in a number of subtle, but important ways.
It is now possible to scroll through the run screens with a single button press, allowing the user to quickly access all of the available information; The tournament lock can be quickly toggled with the press of an internal pushbutton; All of the user adjustable control parameters have been grouped into a single menu and can be easily viewed regardless of the state of the tournament lock. Along with the instant and peak ROFs the two Rate of Fire screens display historical data in the form of histograms allowing the user to monitor rate of fire consistency and thus analyse the way in which the trigger is being pulled. The Shot Counter screen features an adjustable and selectable Shots Remaining Gauge which allows the user to quickly estimate how much paint they have remaining.
All together, the changes made to the Ego10 have been entirely player-focused. It’s been designed to be easier to shoot, smoother to shoot, more reliable, more consistent, require less day-to-day maintenance, easier to adjust and just generally nicer to live with. What you won’t find different with the new Ego10 is our industry-leading levels of customer support, our commitment to support the players in the locations they use Eclipse products, and our commitment to educating and training technicians and service centres the world over. An Eclipse Marker is more than just a collection of metal and wires. It is the Complete Package.
Weight – 903g/1.98lb Including 14” Shaft3 Barrel, Battery, Feed Tube, OOPS
We have been receiving more and more e-mails from people asking about the crazy prices you can get on Eclipse products (And many other companies) from several different internet based web sites from Indonesia. We have done some research into these companies and as far as we can tell theses web sites do not have any of the Eclipse product and therefore we can only imagine that they are trying (in quite a sophisticated way) to get hold of your credit card details, and please for the love of god don’t transfer money into their accounts. Our advice would be to be very careful. These sites are nothing to do with Planet Eclipse. The prices they have on some products are so cheap they can’t be real. It is impossible for them to be back doored guns out of some random factory in the Far East because are markers aren’t assembled in the Far East. So be warned.
· Don’t Walk Under a Ladder.
· Be wary of a Black Cat crossing in front of you.
· If you taking something out of the oven it WILL be hot.
· Don’t buy Eclipse Paintball guns from a dodgy on-line store selling them for peanuts.
People have also been asking if we will honour the warranty on the markers, our answer is yes it could ONLY have come from England but it needs to have any warranty carried out in the country you bought it from at the regional service centre. But the chances of you getting the marker are well, pretty slim. Like I said to one customer. I’d get your money and bury it in a hole in your garden. That way you will still get nothing in return but at least you will know where you money is..
