I went out with just a single PT Extreme on three different occasions.

The first time was in very thick cover and I eliminated several people with single shots and lasted the entire game.  (This pistol was great in the stuff we were playing in; you couldn't see more than 20' in any direction and I got one of the eliminations specifically because my opponents barrel hooked on a vine when he saw me first.)

The second time I lasted the entire game and got one elimination in a face-to-face firefight.  (Popping out and trying to make my ammo last by carefully aiming my shots from 60' away while he painted my cover with the contents of his entire hopper was not fun.  It was challenging, but not fun.)

The third time I was doing okay until a little kid caught me while I was reloading.  He chased me around a large patch of brush while I continued to try to reload and finally shot me on about the sixth lap.  (I imagine it looked pretty amusing to the other players;  I'm an adult and this kid was maybe 10 or 11 tops.) 

I was kind of annoyed about it at the time, but it was the kids first game and I was his first elimination.  Anyway, now I chuckle about it whenever I think about it.

To answer part of the question I forgot to cover in my first post.  Lord Caliber asked about harness's for the pistols.  At one time I had two PTs because I picked one up in trade.  Since I always tinker with stuff I have a very large scrap/excess part pile of paintball equipment.  I had three separate holsters  (One paintball, two for firearms).  I played with several configurations but my favorite was having a tactical holster on my right thigh and a cross-draw holster low on my left side.  Since I'm right-handed I could easily get to either PT with my dominant hand.  Also in a pinch I could turn my wrist and get to the one in the shoulder holster left handed.  Not that I would ever want to shoot lefthanded; if it wasn't for gravity my left-handed shots would miss the ground.  I never used this set up during a game, I traded off one the PTs and one of the holsters for something else paintball related.

The new Ariakon ACP is pretty nice too.  I picked one up and like it quite a bit.  Much lighter than my Zeus G1 and gets about 24 shots to a 12 gram while my Zeus got about 15-18. 

As for going twin pistol it can be done well and not everyone gets lit up.  A gentleman here in So Cal is known for running twin pistol and gets about 5-6 elminations per game.  He moves a lot, can tuck in SUPER tight, and has this little move where he exposes almost NOTHING when he fires.  I mean you see the side of his mask and a hand holding the pistol...that's it.  He's good...but it took time to do that.  If your friend has the patience to learn then go for it but if he doesn't then yes, he is better off going with a more traditional marker.

I believe Menohl is correct about backup pistols not getting much use.  I remember using mine just once when I was carrying it as backup.  I got in a situation (due to personal stupidity) where I had to run between two groups of the opposing team to rejoin my team guarding the flag.  The pistol was in my left hand and my 98 was in my right;  I didn't hit anything, but I kept their heads down and made it through.  I did experience one problem though, the darn tactical holster I was wearing worked its way down below my knee while I was running.  The guy needs to make sure he gets a good holster.  (Mine was a shoulder holster that was originally for a large frame scoped revolver which I had modified somewhat.  Hmmm, did I spell "scoped" right, is it even a real word?)

Also, I've posted the following info in another "pistol" thread somewhere and went into much more detail, but here is the down and dirty on the two pistols I have experience with.

Sidekick Semi:  Blow-forward design with 12g CO2 led to massive velocity fluctuations shot-to-shot.  (250-400+)  I ended up sending it back for a full refund.  I was very happy with their customer service and would have been willing to try the pistol again when they worked the bugs out.  Unfortunately, their website is no longer around (paintballstuff.com) so I don't think they are either.  (Which kind of bites for the folks with the $20 lifetime warranties on their Sidekicks.)

PT Extreme:  I tinkered with this for almost two years and was never happy.  I replaced the ball detent with one of my own design and got excellent results.  I tried a variety of aftermarket main springs and springs I had laying around and finally got decent velocity (280 fps).  I installed a dual twelve gram system for longer time between changing cartridges.  I could not get the stock quick changer to stay adjusted; it cost me a lot of wasted 12 grams.  I had continuous valve problems.  With this in mind I wouldn't recommend any version of the PT to anyone.  (Although some folks claim these problems have been fixed in the PT Jr.)

I recommend visiting http://www.pbreview.com/ - http://www.pbreview.com/  and reading what various folks have to say.  I'm hoping for reviews on the Ariakon ACP because I like the looks of it as my next pistol.

Psycho5785 wrote: I will have a Nasty Typhoon someday...

Same here and Palmers store is jus 70 miles away from me.

mobius_1 wrote: evil_fingers wrote: Same here and Palmers store is jus 70 miles away from me. You are lucky...I'm in MI that is kinda far away for me to go there

Im lucky.... heh, the guys that live in the same city where the store is located are way more lucky.