Thursday, March 11, 2010

Review: Goblin Solo & First Strike Test

Video Section:




LOOKS & COSMETICS

The Goblin is Small, Sweet, and Simple.
“Solo” Is stamped on the barrel, and “Goblin” on the trigger frame in white. The Goblin currently only comes in Olive Drab and special edition “Phantom” which is Transparent.

FEATURES / SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES

Quite simply put, the goblin has very few features, and likewise a simple operation.
It is unique in that it operates with a single barrel, break action. A safety is located on the trigger frame that you need to hold down when firing. The fact that the barrel can be broken open and visually inspected essentially makes it one of the safest paintball markers in the world.

The goblin has only a half grip to make it more compact, and a hole and slot where the rest of the grip would be. This leaves the possibility of a full grip aftermarket upgrade later.

The Goblin functions with small self contained cartridges that hold both the propellant and projectile, much like a real bullet. This leaves allot of potential for future markers form Goblin.


SHOOTING AND AIR


You can Use your Goblin with Both Compressed air and CO2. Goblin Paintball recommends you use Co2, as when the Co2 Rapidly expands out of the reservoir it will yield better velocities.
With Reballs I only managed to chrono for a max of 133 FPS using 700 psi regulated Co2. With Regular paintballs I managed to Get 282 (not in footage) and I unfortunately did not get a reading for first strike.

However, First Strike did yield the visibly fastest , most accurate, and longest range shots. One first strike round that missed my target was found in the snow 74 feet away. It also penetrated deep enough into the snow to reasonably say it could have broken on a player and eliminated them.
However, as seen in my video, The first strike had a tendency to “Disintegrate” with normal charges. I managed to reduce the problem to 0 disintegrations after I began Wadding the shells with a small piece of paper.

The Goblin features rudimentary iron sights that are a bit difficult to use. The trigger is also unconventional in that when you pull it you are not feeling for a sear, you are manually pushing open a valve. I actually developed a successful way to shoot the Goblin quasi accurately, for this method see my video.

Accuracy for the Goblin Really deteriorated at 50 feet with normal .68 caliber balls, however at this range the first strike could easily hit the target.

DURABILITY AND MAINTENANCE

The Goblin comes with quite an extensive Oring Kit for its air housing valve, which is more or less the ONLY part of the gun you will ever need to service under normal circumstances. A drop of oil into the valve with air once a day of play should do the trick for keeping the orings moist.

Cleaning a broken ball from gun Is as easy as removing the shell housing, and using paper towel on the shell and barrel assembly.

As far as Durability goes, even though the Goblin is made Mostly of plastic it is a visibly high quality weatherproof plastic that will not break easily. I dropped the Goblin several times while filming in cold conditions and it has not so much as a scratch on it. For the construction materials used I will say It is as sturdy as it can be, and I don’t mean that in a bad way.

Conclusion:

Because the goblin solo is a one-of-a-kind marker I cant really compare or rate it. The Closest marker to the Goblin would be the rap4 grenade launchers that use a similar in shell air charge, however these launchers are essentially paintball shotguns in that they shoot either 4x .68 caliber ball or 25x .43 caliber balls.

Because The Goblin is so unique, I will leave it up to you as to if you should buy it or not. Chances are you know if you want a marker like the goblin because it has such a specific set of uses.

Does the Goblin get my approval?
It most certainly does, It impressed me and surpassed my standards. It can fire at least twice as accurately as the 20 feet advertised.

As a scenario gun and a novelty, the Goblin Solo is a hell of a time to shoot. More or less the Derringer of the paintball world. As an airsoft gun, It is great for close quarter combat, room clearing, and a backup.

I foresee many other designed evolving from this style of marker. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for a Mad Max / Evil dead Style Double barrel. Hopefully we will soon see some of this potential being used by the good folks at Goblin paintball


If you have any questions / Comments / Concerns about my review, or if you are a dealer / manufacturer of a paintball related good and like to see it get a fair, unbiased independent review like the one you have seen here, please email me at:
Stan_the_hit_man@hotmail.com


Thanks for reading

- Stan