A5 Low Pressure - Is it worth it?

I thought it was worth the buy. Other people don't think so. It's all about what is important for you. There are 3 things that the low pressure kit will provide you:
1) Less barrel breaks (not the same thing as chopping)
2) quieter shots
3) less recoil

If those are important to you, then yes it is worth it. You don't get that much more air efficiency with the low pressure kit, because the valve has to stay open almost twice as long (using more air) to shoot the paintball the same velocity as a high pressure Tippmann.

Usually, when it comes to ball breaks, it's usually caused by the cyclone feed, which can be a huge pain in the rear because it's much harder to clean. Barrel breaks are less common, but can still happen. Particularly with the Flatline because of the nature of its design. The low pressure kit will be much gentler with the paintball, reducing the risk of a barrel break. On top of that, it will allow you to use brittler paint which can be cheaper in the long run. This also means you can use brittler paint with your flatline and not the good, expensive stuff.

And with the low pressure kit, the A-5 operates between 300-400 PSI.

shooky knows what he is talking about.  I got the LPK and it works fine.  Operates at about 325-350 psi.  The reduced recoil is truly amazing.  I was completely against the A-5/LPK....until I used it.

Nice setup, Trigga!  Thanks for the comments and the pic!  I'm guessing that its time for an LPK.   By the way, what is needed in order to install the LPK (besides the tools)?  It looks like you changed the regulator that comes with the Tippmann LPK.  Is that necessary?  Don't know much about how low pressure works with regulators, so any advice is appreciated.  Thanks again!

Thanks Shooky!

I guess there's still a lot of stuff I don't know.  I'll have to reread Trigga's posting MANY TIMES to get the jist of it.  It's harder because I don't have an LPK in front of me to tinker with.  I'll make do.  Thanks again!

You do NOT want to get the low output HPA. It'll starve your gun of air or have shoot down. A general rule of thumb is to have your tank's output pressure about 200 PSI over what your marker's operating pressure is. And since the operating pressure of the low pressure kit is about 300-400, a 400 PSI tank won't perform very well.

With an adjustible tank, you can skip getting a secondary regulator, since it's built into your tank. However, if you, for some reason, ever need to use a back up tank (because something malfunctions with your tank), you're sunk.

In summary, low pressure tank = NO. Adjustible tank = OKAY, but not something I'd recommend.

Hey all,

I just got the low pressure upgrade and it works excellent!  Shot consistency=better accuracy, no doubt about it.  Before the LPS upgrade I would shoot a different velocity over the chrono every time.  The range would be 10-20 FPS difference (sometimes more) and keep in mind I have always had the HPA, NOT CO2.  With the LPS, shots have had on average a 3-5 FPS differential!  I'll shoot 284, 284, 285, 284, 286, 283, 284, 284... you get the idea. 

Air consumption is NOT THAT MUCH less than with HPA.  I don't know why people are claiming otherwise, it doesn't use enough less air to have that be a big selling point. 

Operating pressure is 325 PSI - 350 as stated, I'm sure every gun's a bit different but that's where it's going to be.  GET A GOOD GAUGE!  Some of the cheaper gauges can be up to 100 PSI OFF!!!  Don't get the one from Tippman either, it's 1200 PSI and it sucks. 

The kick is less, as you have heard, making it easier to lay down more accurate shot groupings than with a stock A-5.  You will be able to fire faster with better accuracy.

The noise is NOT THAT MUCH QUIETER!   I play with a bunch of guys and we all have different A-5's and the sound while DIFFERENT isn't really that much LESS!  I did a side-by side comparison today with 2 A-5's with LPS's, and 2 A-5's with HPA and the other 2 guys both thought that our guns were pretty much just as loud as theirs.  It is not a quiet marker, and probably never will be. 

As for the look, AWESOME.  It is a little bit heavier in the front, but it's well worth it because the marker just looks better with the kit in my opinion. 

I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS UPGRADE only if you have an extra $170+ to put into your A-5--and already have the FL and E-Grip or RT!  If not get them first because those are better and less pricey upgrades that give you more bang for your buck.  And don't use CO2.  It's just old and crappy.  HPA is superior, and safer. 

Oh yeah, and ball breakage.... Are you kidding?  Not happening in my gun.  Two words: GOOD PAINT!  DON'T BUY CHEAP, CRAPPY PAINT, and you won't have to worry about this with or without upgrades!! 

T    I    P    P    M    A    N       A   -    5         F   L   A   T   L   I   N   E

On a side note, I was watching a long range shoot-out today and heard the owner of the field who was playing at the time yell "he's out of my range!"  He was pinned down by my friend with an A-5 with the FL and LPS.  The guy had a DM4.  He was shooting up in the air trying to arc them down, and my friend was shooting right at him! 

Enos Shenk wrote: If your running HPA, dont waste your money honestly. If you use your brain, youll see all those "selling points" are exaggerated hype. "less ball breaks"? How often does full pressure air spontaneously detonate a ball inside your barrel? I think maybe once a year, and if it happens, you can safely assume the ball was defective. "less recoil"? Thats because the kit lightens the rear bolt, not because of low pressure. Get a lighter hammer on its own and youll get the same thing. "quieter shots" is pretty much nonsense too. Its been conclusively proven by people that know more about paintball then you or i ever will that in almsot every single gun in the world, the ball gets hit with the exact same amount of pressure from the bolt. Low pressure is nice for co2, but for HPA has no effect at all.

By "less barrel breaks", I think they are refering to cheap, brittle paint and not the moderate to good paint. Being able to use cheap, brittle paint is a pretty good selling point for the player who is too cheap to shell out money for the good stuff. I like to keep my options open.

Yes, there is less recoil because of the rear hammer. But that's part of the kit, isn't it? Hence, the low pressure kit has less recoil than a marker without, no?

So, you're saying that a stock Tippmann is as loud as an Intimidator, Autococker, or any of the other high end, low pressure markers? They all hit the paintball and propell it at the same velocity, but they certainly don't sound as loud as a Tippmann. The sound is from the the rear bolt slamming around inside. Thus, as a result of the lighter rear bolt, the marker is quieter.

If you know of a place that sells a good, lighter rear bolt by itself, please let us know. With a lighter bolt, a marker running at high pressure would cause that bolt to slam around way more than necessary. You need someway to lower the pressure, so you're not wasting gas. You may be able to regulate the pressure down with a secondary regulator, but then you're sacrificing ball velocity because you're hitting the ball with half the pressure. In order to get your velocity up to a high pressure marker, the valve has to be designed to provide more volume of air at half the pressure. Which, a new valve is also included with the low pressure kit.

If you could buy all of those parts seperately, please let us know.

Edited by shooky