for 350 get an 05 bko when they come out...ions are nice but they are haveing the same probs the shockers did when they first came out.  if i had to chose between ion or egrip i would say ion tho.

The A-5 doesn't break paint at all (unless you're using crappy paint). It has proven reliability, whereas the Ion is inexperienced. Plus, Tippmanns are one of the few guns where you can actually upgrade the living beejesus out of it. You can setup an A-5 comparable to high-end guns, with an e-grip and JCS Duel trigger. You can fit sights, stocks, regs, just about any custom air setup, you can mill the receivers and paint/ anodize them, you can even perform homemade mods that work. They can be bounced around, thrown down, you can trip and use the A-5 to break your fall. I guarantee if you trip with an Ion, you'd have to break it's fall.

The way I see it, you can't take an expensive gun and knock down the manufacturing by more than half. The only way to do this is to cut corners and knock down quality. Anyone who has experience buying anything knows this. What kind of profit does SP make on the Ion? How much does it really cost to manufacture? Those electronics eyes and board are costed way too cheap, or the electronics make up most of the cost and the internals are complete crap. I think it's a dangerous investment.