This gun is small, built upon a single tube design. The IR3 is lighter and shorter than all previous Angels. Even on the base model it features elegant milling. On the Cut and Carved model you will see deep cuts and on the Fly model even deeper cuts. For those of you who have been on the moon for the past 30 or so years the Angel is a vertical feed open bolt electro pneuematic marker with many unique and innovative features. Let's start with the top of the marker. Up top you have the new, gated feed system which has a Bi-Pivotol, Uni-Directional ball retention system which doesn't allow the balls to leave the feed neck even if the marker is held upside down. On the front is the stylish top rate infinity barrel, one of the highest rated stock barrels. Inside the marker is the C.O.P.S ball detection system. C.O.P.S stands for Crystal Operated Paint Sensor and rather than seeing the paint like other eye systems it actually feels the paint on top of it. It is fully adjustable and not affected by light, dirt, paint, or the color of paintball shell you are using. A clear window on the skin grips shows the LCD screen. Basic yet advanced the IR3 has a mind boggling load of features. The basic features that are externally adjustable are "fetch" mode, game timer with programmable length and in game alarms, shot counter, C.O.P.S sensitivity, rate of fire, temperature, intellfeed settings, ID, personal pin, total cycles and more. The Angel IR3 includes oil, metric Allen keys, assorted spare parts, car charger and the manual. One thing that was kind of stupid was that they didn't provide a wall charger for at home. Some of the newer cars don't even have a cigar lighter thus you wouldn't be able to charge your Angel. The manual is one of the best. Yes I know it's just a manual but this isn't your average manual. The manual is well thought out and easy to understand. It really shows that WDP takes pride in everything that they do.
Yes, okay the IR3 isn't perfect. The mini reg is the barest shade lighter than the rest marker and the anodizing on the inside of the breach wears off after a while. (Not that, that matters it's not like you can see it) . It is a very elegent looking marker. It may not be right in this day or age but most paintball players like there markers to look good, purposeful and menacing! You always want to look good walking off the field and in the dead box.
Let's start with the downside to get it out of the way. The trigger isn't as crisp as I would have liked it. Okay the trigger is adjustable to the thickness of a human hair but it just doesn't have that shazam. The actual stock "trigger" isn't that great. It's your basic double finger trigger but it has a loop at the bottom. I didn't find it comfortable but some may. On the field the IR3 was ready to dish it out. Doing everything I knew as an Angel owner, looking over the forums, reading the manual, adjusting the max rate of fire and C.O.P.S max rate of fire, Dwell, C.O.P.S sensitivity and so on I tried everythign I could to screw it up. It blazed hopper loads of paint effortlessly. The shots where tighter and more consistant than the previous Angel models. There is one thing that kind of sucks, supposedly you cant run a Halo on the stock ball detents. I am yet to try it out for myself and see if it works. Running an Evlutuion 2 with a y board or z board should be fine though. If you really do want to use a Halo you can buy Indestruct Detents for around 20 bucks The paint I used was Diablo Blaze, Zap Primer and PMI Premium. They all seemed to work fine and didn't chop. Overall the IR3 was almost flawless, congrats to WDP.
How do improve upon a marker that is almost perfect? Make them cheaper and offer more! Angels are renowned for their quality, craftsmanship and construction. Any serious paintball player would be willing to dish out the money for a good shooting marker. For approximately 1000 dollars you cant really ask for more except for a better eye system I suppose. The older C.O.P.S systems have a 3 second lag before it lets you shoot again. The Ferrari of paintball markers. When you roll down the streets with your Ferrari, it's like walking down the field with you Angel. Need I say more?