Emmit
09-29-2003, 04:48 PM
This was posted in the Angel 4 section as well, but we felt we wanted it on the front page. Hope everyone enjoys it, and I hope that everyone can gain a little insight into this new marker.
Angel 4 Review
The object of this review is to give a thorough understanding of the new Angel 4 from WDP. I will attempt to hit on all the important features as well as discuss it’s operation and efficiency etc.
Initial Impressions: Upon receiving the box you notice that the box is done very similar to that of the IR3. The box is a deep dark blue, with a very nice finish. When you open the box however you note that WDP returned to their Styrofoam ways of the past. The marker comes complete with the standard allen keys, charger, macro-line, fitting, o-rings, regulator, manual and barrel like we’ve come to expect from WDP. The 4 also comes with a bottle of Love Juice™ (something I believe they started doing with the Speed), as well as the 3Sum volumizer kit. It’s laid out nicely in the box, but they certainly didn’t kill themselves on putting together the packaging. Styrofoam is just Styrofoam, accept it for what it is. I really liked the packing on the IR3 I thought it added a special touch that just leapt out to you that you were getting a very special marker. However to try and nitpick over the way it’s shipped is dumb. The marker arrived intact, and scratch free. The appearance of the marker is another thing to marvel at. When you first pick it up you notice the significant difference in weight between the 4 and the IR3 or the Speed. This is easily the most commented on feature from the get go. It’s the first thing everyone notices when they hold the marker. Even with an Angel AIR system, which some people seem to think is extremely heavy, this marker is still super light. Chopping ½” off the back end of the marker and milling the sides down significantly makes a serious amount of difference.
Assembly: Assembling the 4 was simple. Attach the regulator, attach an air system and you are ready to rock and roll. The only difficulty you might experience is in putting your hopper into the clamping rise. WDP includes 2 different sized o-rings for your clamping rise as they accept the fact that not all loaders are made the same. You might need to change out the stock o-rings, which are quite fat, for the slightly smaller o-rings. An additional tip has been to apply a small amount of Love Juice™ to the o-rings before sliding your loader in. I also found that a little dab of saliva on your finger rubbed into the o-rings accomplishes the same thing, and you don’t waste your Love Juice™. You should now be ready to start shooting the marker.
Operation/Performance: I believe that this is what you’ve all been waiting for. How well does this new marker from WDP work? My current set-up consists of an Angel AIR system, an Evlution2 loader (with the new board), and no volumizers. I running ~350psi out of my AIR, and with a chrono of approx. 290 fps I am getting slightly over 200psi into the marker. I chose this current set up on the advice of a couple of techs, and this seems to be a very efficient set up for now. I was able to shoot ~850 rounds and only used ~2000psi. Now here is the only little thing that kind of scared me at first. When you air up the 4 you really need to make sure you’ve got plenty of air, what happens is that if you don’t have enough air pressure you will not seat the exhaust valve properly causing a large leak. It took approximately 600-1000 shots of dry firing with plenty of air to give it a good seating. After that this leaking went away. Upon speaking with a Master Tech this was apparently also a problem with the Speeds, but it was simply fixed by slamming about 500psi into the marker, and then firing a few hundred times. I am assuming that this is just simply part of the break in process due to the extreme low operating pressures of this marker. As it stands now, this is no longer an issue with the marker, and once it is aired up to 350 psi there is no leaks.
Like with the Speed you will need to calibrate Sensi every time you turn the marker on. In my opinion it’s not really an issue and I don’t mind the few shots to start the day out. I feel that this is better than the COPS version as this allows the marker to set itself to how your loader operates. There are 4 modes of Sensi. Mode 1 is designed to allow high peak rates of fire and no chopping at all, mode 2 is designed to allow high peak ROF’s but gives you a small window for chopping, mode 3 is designed for sustainable ROF’s and no chopping, while mode 4 is designed for sustainable ROF’s and will allow chopping. Now even in these modes where the manual states that it will allow chopping it’s still fairly difficult. If no ball is sensed on the sensor it will add a slight delay into the firing sequence before allowing the bolt to go forward in an attempt to prevent the chop. This is similar to the BAS settings in COPS2 on the IR3. With modes 1 and 3 the manual says that it will not allow the bolt to cycle forward until you have released the trigger and pulled it again. I am currently running in Semi Mode 2, and I have not had any chopping issues at all.
Part of the software in the 4 is what is called the “Load Detection System” or LDS. What this does is the marker measures how fast your hopper is feeding paint into your marker and it automatically adjusts your ROF. With Sensi on the marker is supposed to be capable of achieving 31bps. With Sensi off you are capped at 25bps. Using Sensi and this new LDS there should never be any chopping issues as it will simply adjust it’s ROF to accommodate your hopper.
The ball detents are the same as those found on the Speed marker. I chose to change mine out as I felt that even using a coin damage to the housing of the ball detents was very easy. I chose to go with the Warped Sportz Iron Cross detents as you are able to install them with your fingers.
I gave my new 4 a good solid 4+ hour charge before taking it anywhere, and as for now there doesn’t seem to be any issues with that. I will likely continue to make sure that it has a good charge anytime I plan to be playing. No reason to risk a dead battery in the middle of the game.
Now on to the bells and whistles. Some people were wary of WDP putting an LCD board into this marker and they commented that it was simply a Speed with an LCD board. The only similarities this marker has to a Speed other than the Angel name is it’s ridiculously low operating pressures. By adding the LCD into the 4 WDP was able to give players back some of the things they liked. You now have your timers back, and as with the IR3 the timers are adjustable in increments of 30 seconds as well as multiple timers that you can have set to go off at various times during the game. You have a digital display of your dwell. To me this is important. With the old LED Angel, and even with the Speed you were never really 100% what your dwell was set at. Now you know exactly where it is. Another common complaint that many users seemed to have with the Speeds was not being able to determine what they’re ROF was, with the LCD board you know exactly what it is, again due to the digital display. The digital display also allows you to see exactly what mode you are in. Temperature display is back again, now this is a feature that many users have always said isn’t really useful and I think I have to agree. Admittedly it does allow you to know what the temp of your marker is, it doesn’t seem to have any uses other than to warn you not to leave it in your vehicle on a warm, sunny day. Just as with the IR3 you are also able to set your “Boot Text” to say whatever you want it to as long as it’s 5 spaces. The default is again “LIVE ANGEL”. You can also set a PIN code to your marker as with the LCD and IR3. Unlike with the IR3 there are now 2 menu options for the external buttons. You have the option between an advanced menu or a basic menu. With the basic menu you have access to Fetch, Timer, A1, A2, A3, and Sensi test. The Advanced menu gives you access to everything else, fetch, timer, A1, A2, A3, Sensi Test, MROF (adjustable range of 8-25), Hopper time, Hopper activation, Temp, Vibrator, Trip, Backlight, Send, ROF, Mode, Dwell, Trigger Offset, Cycles, and ID Number. The board still comes with a plug for the intellifeed capability and it’s obviously programmable for intellifeed, it’s simply a wait and see to determine if someone will make an intellifeed site rail for the 4.
New Features: WDP incorporated some new features into the 4. They have finally incorporated a clamping feed neck. They also introduced their externally adjustable trigger, and Trigger Off-Set. A lot of people are referring to the Trigger Offset as “Debounce” and it basically is. The trigger offset is designed to allow you to set your trigger as short as you want it, and then take out any bounce you might have electronically.
Adjusting the trigger is probably one of the easiest things you could ever do. You simply loosen up the 2 set screws on either side of the marker, and adjust your wheels until you’re happy. Now comes the hard part. Locking it down again. Obviously as you attempt to lock down the set screws you’re going to move the adjusting wheels and change your trigger. You will have to play with it a little until you get manage to figure it out for yourself. By putting these wheels externally on the marker WDP has given you no reason to open the grip frame and remove it from the body. This should seriously cut down on people frying boards by pinching wires as well as people cutting their Sensi wires and shorting out their Sensi. Yet another great move by WDP.
The clamping feed neck is another new feature on the 4. Now WDP didn’t invent this, and I’m sure they aren’t taking credit for it. They did however take it a step further by incorporating the “Gated Feed” into this clamping feed tube. Having the “Gated Feed” allows those front guys who get into really awkward positions to still have a couple of balls left. As a Mid/Back player I chose to remove the membrane for the “Gated Feed” on my 4. Placing a hopper on the marker is still fairly easy. You simply unscrew the clamp so as to take the pressure off of the o-rings. Once this is done you can slide the hopper of your choice into the feed neck before clamping down. As I stated earlier WDP includes 2 different sizes of o-rings in the box. This is to allow you to change the o-rings out if you’re un-sanded feed neck is still a little tight. Also a little bit of lubing of the o-rings will help to install your hopper.
Trigger off-set has been included in the new 4. This is designed to allow users to set their triggers super short and then remove what ever bounce is there electronically. You must open the grip frame to adjust your trigger offset and this is one of the 3 things you must open the grip frame for. This will stop you from being able to chrono with no bounce, and then change your Trigger Offset before you go on the field allowing you to have bounce again.
Overall Impression: Overall I am very happy with this new marker. I have not bothered to adjust the trigger as the factory trigger seemed to be able to achieve fairly high ROF’s without changing anything. The 4 is extremely light and easy to move around. When you fire it is not noticeable louder than any previous Angel or any other marker on the field for that matter. The marker is fairly consistent, and is getting more so as it breaks in. Like all previous Angels there seems to be a fair amount of grease packed into it. Other than the small leak of the exhaust valve prior to breaking in, there has been no issues with it yet. It performed flawlessly in it’s first field appearance and managed to take out more than a few targets in it’s debut.
Thank you WDP for such an AWESOME marker!!!!!
Please understand that this is simply the beginning. I will be more than happy to add to this as time goes on and update anything I feel needs it. If there are specific questions ask and I'll do what I can to answer them
Angel 4 Review
The object of this review is to give a thorough understanding of the new Angel 4 from WDP. I will attempt to hit on all the important features as well as discuss it’s operation and efficiency etc.
Initial Impressions: Upon receiving the box you notice that the box is done very similar to that of the IR3. The box is a deep dark blue, with a very nice finish. When you open the box however you note that WDP returned to their Styrofoam ways of the past. The marker comes complete with the standard allen keys, charger, macro-line, fitting, o-rings, regulator, manual and barrel like we’ve come to expect from WDP. The 4 also comes with a bottle of Love Juice™ (something I believe they started doing with the Speed), as well as the 3Sum volumizer kit. It’s laid out nicely in the box, but they certainly didn’t kill themselves on putting together the packaging. Styrofoam is just Styrofoam, accept it for what it is. I really liked the packing on the IR3 I thought it added a special touch that just leapt out to you that you were getting a very special marker. However to try and nitpick over the way it’s shipped is dumb. The marker arrived intact, and scratch free. The appearance of the marker is another thing to marvel at. When you first pick it up you notice the significant difference in weight between the 4 and the IR3 or the Speed. This is easily the most commented on feature from the get go. It’s the first thing everyone notices when they hold the marker. Even with an Angel AIR system, which some people seem to think is extremely heavy, this marker is still super light. Chopping ½” off the back end of the marker and milling the sides down significantly makes a serious amount of difference.
Assembly: Assembling the 4 was simple. Attach the regulator, attach an air system and you are ready to rock and roll. The only difficulty you might experience is in putting your hopper into the clamping rise. WDP includes 2 different sized o-rings for your clamping rise as they accept the fact that not all loaders are made the same. You might need to change out the stock o-rings, which are quite fat, for the slightly smaller o-rings. An additional tip has been to apply a small amount of Love Juice™ to the o-rings before sliding your loader in. I also found that a little dab of saliva on your finger rubbed into the o-rings accomplishes the same thing, and you don’t waste your Love Juice™. You should now be ready to start shooting the marker.
Operation/Performance: I believe that this is what you’ve all been waiting for. How well does this new marker from WDP work? My current set-up consists of an Angel AIR system, an Evlution2 loader (with the new board), and no volumizers. I running ~350psi out of my AIR, and with a chrono of approx. 290 fps I am getting slightly over 200psi into the marker. I chose this current set up on the advice of a couple of techs, and this seems to be a very efficient set up for now. I was able to shoot ~850 rounds and only used ~2000psi. Now here is the only little thing that kind of scared me at first. When you air up the 4 you really need to make sure you’ve got plenty of air, what happens is that if you don’t have enough air pressure you will not seat the exhaust valve properly causing a large leak. It took approximately 600-1000 shots of dry firing with plenty of air to give it a good seating. After that this leaking went away. Upon speaking with a Master Tech this was apparently also a problem with the Speeds, but it was simply fixed by slamming about 500psi into the marker, and then firing a few hundred times. I am assuming that this is just simply part of the break in process due to the extreme low operating pressures of this marker. As it stands now, this is no longer an issue with the marker, and once it is aired up to 350 psi there is no leaks.
Like with the Speed you will need to calibrate Sensi every time you turn the marker on. In my opinion it’s not really an issue and I don’t mind the few shots to start the day out. I feel that this is better than the COPS version as this allows the marker to set itself to how your loader operates. There are 4 modes of Sensi. Mode 1 is designed to allow high peak rates of fire and no chopping at all, mode 2 is designed to allow high peak ROF’s but gives you a small window for chopping, mode 3 is designed for sustainable ROF’s and no chopping, while mode 4 is designed for sustainable ROF’s and will allow chopping. Now even in these modes where the manual states that it will allow chopping it’s still fairly difficult. If no ball is sensed on the sensor it will add a slight delay into the firing sequence before allowing the bolt to go forward in an attempt to prevent the chop. This is similar to the BAS settings in COPS2 on the IR3. With modes 1 and 3 the manual says that it will not allow the bolt to cycle forward until you have released the trigger and pulled it again. I am currently running in Semi Mode 2, and I have not had any chopping issues at all.
Part of the software in the 4 is what is called the “Load Detection System” or LDS. What this does is the marker measures how fast your hopper is feeding paint into your marker and it automatically adjusts your ROF. With Sensi on the marker is supposed to be capable of achieving 31bps. With Sensi off you are capped at 25bps. Using Sensi and this new LDS there should never be any chopping issues as it will simply adjust it’s ROF to accommodate your hopper.
The ball detents are the same as those found on the Speed marker. I chose to change mine out as I felt that even using a coin damage to the housing of the ball detents was very easy. I chose to go with the Warped Sportz Iron Cross detents as you are able to install them with your fingers.
I gave my new 4 a good solid 4+ hour charge before taking it anywhere, and as for now there doesn’t seem to be any issues with that. I will likely continue to make sure that it has a good charge anytime I plan to be playing. No reason to risk a dead battery in the middle of the game.
Now on to the bells and whistles. Some people were wary of WDP putting an LCD board into this marker and they commented that it was simply a Speed with an LCD board. The only similarities this marker has to a Speed other than the Angel name is it’s ridiculously low operating pressures. By adding the LCD into the 4 WDP was able to give players back some of the things they liked. You now have your timers back, and as with the IR3 the timers are adjustable in increments of 30 seconds as well as multiple timers that you can have set to go off at various times during the game. You have a digital display of your dwell. To me this is important. With the old LED Angel, and even with the Speed you were never really 100% what your dwell was set at. Now you know exactly where it is. Another common complaint that many users seemed to have with the Speeds was not being able to determine what they’re ROF was, with the LCD board you know exactly what it is, again due to the digital display. The digital display also allows you to see exactly what mode you are in. Temperature display is back again, now this is a feature that many users have always said isn’t really useful and I think I have to agree. Admittedly it does allow you to know what the temp of your marker is, it doesn’t seem to have any uses other than to warn you not to leave it in your vehicle on a warm, sunny day. Just as with the IR3 you are also able to set your “Boot Text” to say whatever you want it to as long as it’s 5 spaces. The default is again “LIVE ANGEL”. You can also set a PIN code to your marker as with the LCD and IR3. Unlike with the IR3 there are now 2 menu options for the external buttons. You have the option between an advanced menu or a basic menu. With the basic menu you have access to Fetch, Timer, A1, A2, A3, and Sensi test. The Advanced menu gives you access to everything else, fetch, timer, A1, A2, A3, Sensi Test, MROF (adjustable range of 8-25), Hopper time, Hopper activation, Temp, Vibrator, Trip, Backlight, Send, ROF, Mode, Dwell, Trigger Offset, Cycles, and ID Number. The board still comes with a plug for the intellifeed capability and it’s obviously programmable for intellifeed, it’s simply a wait and see to determine if someone will make an intellifeed site rail for the 4.
New Features: WDP incorporated some new features into the 4. They have finally incorporated a clamping feed neck. They also introduced their externally adjustable trigger, and Trigger Off-Set. A lot of people are referring to the Trigger Offset as “Debounce” and it basically is. The trigger offset is designed to allow you to set your trigger as short as you want it, and then take out any bounce you might have electronically.
Adjusting the trigger is probably one of the easiest things you could ever do. You simply loosen up the 2 set screws on either side of the marker, and adjust your wheels until you’re happy. Now comes the hard part. Locking it down again. Obviously as you attempt to lock down the set screws you’re going to move the adjusting wheels and change your trigger. You will have to play with it a little until you get manage to figure it out for yourself. By putting these wheels externally on the marker WDP has given you no reason to open the grip frame and remove it from the body. This should seriously cut down on people frying boards by pinching wires as well as people cutting their Sensi wires and shorting out their Sensi. Yet another great move by WDP.
The clamping feed neck is another new feature on the 4. Now WDP didn’t invent this, and I’m sure they aren’t taking credit for it. They did however take it a step further by incorporating the “Gated Feed” into this clamping feed tube. Having the “Gated Feed” allows those front guys who get into really awkward positions to still have a couple of balls left. As a Mid/Back player I chose to remove the membrane for the “Gated Feed” on my 4. Placing a hopper on the marker is still fairly easy. You simply unscrew the clamp so as to take the pressure off of the o-rings. Once this is done you can slide the hopper of your choice into the feed neck before clamping down. As I stated earlier WDP includes 2 different sizes of o-rings in the box. This is to allow you to change the o-rings out if you’re un-sanded feed neck is still a little tight. Also a little bit of lubing of the o-rings will help to install your hopper.
Trigger off-set has been included in the new 4. This is designed to allow users to set their triggers super short and then remove what ever bounce is there electronically. You must open the grip frame to adjust your trigger offset and this is one of the 3 things you must open the grip frame for. This will stop you from being able to chrono with no bounce, and then change your Trigger Offset before you go on the field allowing you to have bounce again.
Overall Impression: Overall I am very happy with this new marker. I have not bothered to adjust the trigger as the factory trigger seemed to be able to achieve fairly high ROF’s without changing anything. The 4 is extremely light and easy to move around. When you fire it is not noticeable louder than any previous Angel or any other marker on the field for that matter. The marker is fairly consistent, and is getting more so as it breaks in. Like all previous Angels there seems to be a fair amount of grease packed into it. Other than the small leak of the exhaust valve prior to breaking in, there has been no issues with it yet. It performed flawlessly in it’s first field appearance and managed to take out more than a few targets in it’s debut.
Thank you WDP for such an AWESOME marker!!!!!
Please understand that this is simply the beginning. I will be more than happy to add to this as time goes on and update anything I feel needs it. If there are specific questions ask and I'll do what I can to answer them