Monday, April 6, 2009

Furious Paintball Lotus Barrels


When Furious Paintball passed me a Lotus Barrel to try out - the first thing Matthew told me was that the barrel will shoot with better efficiency and it will be quieter.

The porting of the barrel tip is unique in that it has 3 lines of porting that are scalloped which aids scooping out of air as it travels down the barrel. Only the last 4 holes are slightly larger and have a normal straight cut. The porting only starts 8 inches from the back to maximising air efficiency in keeping as much air in the barrel until the very last moment

The other unique thing about these barrels are that they are hand horned out of high grade aluminium. It rare that you get things hand made these days.

Whenever you change barrels - it will change the velocity of the paintballs coming out of the new barrel. So you would most probably have to go and get it chronoed.

When I re chronored with the Furious Barrel on it increased the spped slight from 280-290 to slightly above 290. I didn't think much of it until later on when I chornoed for a game - it beeped it. My Cyborg and Ego have always been consistent that they hardly need readjustment but with the Furious Barrel on- it definitely increased the speed and needed to be tuned down. I am not sure if it quietened the notoriously loud Ego. I didn't notice it that much but I noticed that after shooting 3-4 pods per game I still had a bit more left in the tank.

The first time I used the Furious Barrel it was trial by fire - I took a chance and tried it during our second round. My first impression of the Furious barrel that it was a solid performer. I didn't know what to expect but it surprised me with its accuracy and more importantly consistency in roping the shots. I really liked the smooth delivery of the balls and even to this day after 3 tournaments shooting the Furious Barrel I haven't had a single ball break.

In the world of carbon fibre barrels I still think the aluminium tubes are slightly better as they have a bit of weight which hold better balance on the overall set up. Carbon Fibre tubes are light but I think they off set the balance of some set ups especially if you have a heavy tank.

The other thing I like about the Lotus Barrel is that the back is shorter than most other barrel backs. It is more compact and thus lighter.



The other major factor is that Lotus Barrel is lighter than the 2 major stock barrels namely Eclipse's barrels and Dye's Boomstick barrels.

Furious Lotus Barrel weighs in at 113 grams

Eclipse Barrel weighs 126 grams

Dye Boomstick with the Ultra Light back is 130.5 grams

And surprisingly Proto barrels are lighter than Dye at 118 grams

To compare the difference in weight of Carbon Fibre barrels
SLY Dual Carbon 98 grams
Deathstix 95 grams

Which is why I think Carbon Fiber barrels are still a bit too light to hold the balance of your marker. I think a aluminium barrel like the Lotus still has a big part to play in paintball. It is much more affordable than a Carbon Fibre barrel- the performance is good if not better than most other 'good' barrels plus you save money and it maintains just the right amount of weight of your rig.

On a personal note this review is long overdue - my sincerely apologies for the long delay to Matthew. With Team Vicious now shooting Furious Barrels this is an exciting time for Furious Paintball and I wish Matthew all the best in signing more teams on and growing the brand further.

For more information please check out
Furious Paintball. www.furiouspaintball.com
And Furious Lotus Barrels on PbNation
http://www.pbnation.com/reviews/products/877/furious_paintball_lotus_barrel/

6 comments:

Matthew said...

Thanks for the awesome review! Matthew - Furious Paintball

Batosai said...

Funny, I didnt see Matthew using this barrel during his tourney games.
Imo, this is a staged review. And for the readers info, this barrel is purely made in Malaysia.. Malaysia Boleh!!

SEBURO said...

That's because Matt gave me his Barrel to review.

I'm sure Matt will be happy to tell you where they are made.

Todo Boggy said...

Dear Batosai,

Matt does use his Black Furious Barrel in the tournaments ;)

Matthew said...

Batosai, I use this barrel exclusively all the time!! :) which pictures are you looking at?

I wont use any other barrel. Nothing comes close.

Dan @ How to Marker said...

I think it's a pretty good barrel. I don't know where it's made but it gave me good business.

Cool beans...