Spuder or VL 2

Alrighty, here's the reply:

The VL markers are pretty much the bottom of the barrel when it comes to quality these days. K2 sports has pretty much relegated them to Brass Eagle status, mainly due to the fact that they needed a new name to throw into the ring when sales were affected by exploding markers and poor over-all quality. Since then, K2 has decided to merge BE, VL, and JT together under the name JT Sports, so it will be a bit tougher to distinguish quality by name alone. Regardless of the business ethics and everything else, the VL equipment that K2 has been putting out has pretty much been low-end crap. Not something that will handle the abuse that will be brought down on it by inexperienced players. The spider sonix will fare better (but still isn't the best idea for a loaer/beater). My suggestion is to look over on MCB or on E-Bay for a used stock '98 or something like a pro-lite or .68 carbine that will take everything that can be thrown at it. That said, between the two choices above, I choose Spyder. While the Kingman vs Tippmann debate is age-old and this is the tippmann forum, Kingman makes an alright product. It's just that most of your Sheridan derivatives, it doesn't like it when the cup-seal gets cold or dirty, and they often do.

Yeah, but you see, I don't want them to have a good gun, HA HA HA! But really, any 98c I could get would be out of the price range for me and that really isn't what I'm looking for. And by the way Tallen, I understand that VL, K2, and JT merged, I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with these markers. I currently have a JT Protium and it works perfectly, I have ran about 6000 shots through it since christmas and I say that a $400 dollar gun isn't crap. I do however know that the VL is made of plastic because I see it a lot down at Wal-mart, that is why I am asking if it will hold up to basically any abuse at all.

Really, Where, I can't order offline because I don't want to fall victim of false advertising, Down at the local pro shop, they sell their old field 98c's like friggen hot cakes, and I can never find one.