WAS Board for E-Grip

Apparently WAS is hoping we'll stop bothering them with interest in their product.  The original Web site www.wickedairsports.com is now dead.  The domain root of their new site www.wickedairsports.net says there's no site there, even though if you have a specific page, like http://www.wickedairsportz.net/proddetail.php?prod=WAS-EQA5, there is a site.  Sigh!

At any rate, I read through the A-5 Equalizer Manual, on their well hidden, new site.  I was planning to purchase the board as soon as possible, but after reading the manual, I'm not sure any more.  The board seems to lack the computer interface connector that is available on all their other Equalizers.  Its ON switch (which I assume is only needed for changing the settings, though the manual never says so) requires a tiny tool, like a small hex wrench to click it.  That's fair enough.  But then, the only other input to the board is the marker's trigger.  An Enigma-level sequence of clicks gets you to a particular function, then repeated clicks enter the desired setting, but only if they are begun within 5 seconds, otherwise it generates an error.  The only feedback from the board to the user is a single LED that can be red, orange or green, and may be solid, blink, flash, rainbow-blink or off.

Gosh.  The two dials on the stock e-grip are certainly tedious to set, and require a delicate touch and a bit of trial and error.  But the Equalizer approach sounds like programming a VCR, only it has a single button and it's not labeled.  Maybe I'm just too old and crotchety to cope with that sort of user-unfriendly interface, but it seems like the electrical engineers at WAS could have allowed a few mere mortals to do some usability testing.

Another disappointment with the manual is that it is a cut and paste job from a different product.  "For example, if the Eye Mode is set to Eye Mode 2...."  So far as I can determine, the A-5 Equalizer has no Eye Mode.  It wouldn't make sense to have one with a cyclone feeder.  But there it is in the manual.

Firing modes are:

   semi-auto

   3 shot ramping

   3 shot full auto

Gone is the response mode as well as the turbo response.

To select a programming feature while in programming mode, "pull the trigger and hold it until the LED goes out, then release the trigger."

To reset all settings to the factory default while in programming mode, "just hold down the trigger for 6 full seconds...."

Hmmmm.

I suspect that I'll wait for a few reviews before I plunk down my $99.

{I tried several times to post this on the a5og forum, but their crippled server threw it away each time.}

It certainly sounds like they didn't try very hard on this product.

Panda Man wrote: hybrid-sniper wrote: It certainly sounds like they didn't try very hard on this product. WAS try hard??  woah... thats a oxymoron for ya.

Well, I have seen better more thought out products come from them.