At 30 BPS with a Q-loader you have about 3.33 seconds of ammunition.  Q-pods only hold 100 rounds.

I'd say stick to the cyclone, upgrade it, and regulate it.

Robotech wrote: At 30 BPS with a Q-loader you have about 3.33 seconds of ammunition.  Q-pods only hold 100 rounds. I'd say stick to the cyclone, upgrade it, and regulate it.

Might have to disagree on this part if you continue to use CO2. I can't speak for HPA as I don't run it, but I can say that regulating CO2  didn't do so well for me with the nearly exact same set up. Regulating CO2 means bringing down the PSI to the lowest level where the marker still fires. Unfortunately, bringing it down to that low of a level also reduces blowback/excess gas and lowers the function of the cyclone. I purchased a Palmers inline stabilizer and following the instructions to get my FPS down low enough, I was nearing 600psi and the cyclone stopped working. Granted, you can raise the PSI and use the FVA to lower, but than what's the point of the stab?

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

You are right about lowering the pressure that much with a Palmers.  That is the way you should do it with most markers.

Tippmanns with the cyclone are a bit different though.  Going that low would not be a good thing since the Cyclone requires CO2 to operate.  However, regulators can still help.  The point of a regulator is mianly to keep a constant pressure going to the marker so that you don't have velocity spikes because fo the fluxuating nature of CO2.  You may want to try the regulator again and up the pressure to 800 psi.  That's what a HPA High Pressure tank is usually regulated at and if the Cyclone can operate on one of those then it should operate on CO2 at that pressure too.  Unregulated CO2 can be as high as 1200 psi so you should get a bit more efficiency and have more consistancy from shot to shot. 

Yes, the other benefit to regulating pressure is to operate the marker on a lower pressure thus making it more efficient but the way the cyclone works it may not be beneficial to the Tippmanns as much as other markers.

Robotech wrote: You are right about lowering the pressure that much with a Palmers.  That is the way you should do it with most markers. Tippmanns with the cyclone are a bit different though.  Going that low would not be a good thing since the Cyclone requires CO2 to operate.  However, regulators can still help.  The point of a regulator is mianly to keep a constant pressure going to the marker so that you don't have velocity spikes because fo the fluxuating nature of CO2.  You may want to try the regulator again and up the pressure to 800 psi.  That's what a HPA High Pressure tank is usually regulated at and if the Cyclone can operate on one of those then it should operate on CO2 at that pressure too.  Unregulated CO2 can be as high as 1200 psi so you should get a bit more efficiency and have more consistancy from shot to shot.  Yes, the other benefit to regulating pressure is to operate the marker on a lower pressure thus making it more efficient but the way the cyclone works it may not be beneficial to the Tippmanns as much as other markers.

Another forumer had explained to me (as I understand it) that the higher PSI may actually be beneficial in regards to CO2 as it will help offset shootdown. Reducing the PSI again could hamper performance as you are starting from a lower level

Perhaps stabilizers/regs work with CO2, but my personal opinion would be to take the money that you would spend on a stabilizer/regulator and put it towards an HPA tank.

Robotech wrote: I've ran 2 stabilizers on one of my markers with the upstream one set to 800psi and the downstream one to around 450psi.  No shootdown problem. This is on a stacked tube blow back though and, again, may have different problems when dealing with a Tippmann Cyclone equipped marker.

Which is what we are talking about upgrading.

Which is why I mentioned it...