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Hydrotech.....

Orion3

Active Member
Jul 12, 2009
157
7
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Product comes out Jan 2011 :( thats like ages away. They know so much about it, without having made it yet.
Maybe they are stock-piling them to cope with the flood of demand :loco::loco:

Seriously though - if they are releasing in Jan they will have had to have been producing prototypes for some time together with small production runs; and to claim a 2 year life (in a world where any false claims normally end up in court) would suggest that they have probably life tested a batch already.
 

Ainsley

CPPS Chief Chimp
Mar 26, 2008
1,321
503
148
Staffordshire
I wonder where the new development idea came from? Trying to think what other industries/products could cross over to this...........
 

Homewrecker

previously Tomtimus Prime
Aug 9, 2010
184
4
28
Manchester
I suppose if you're trying to make a chemical for another purpose...fail and end up making something with these properties, usually it would get thrown out ... then some bright spark at the company realises that it has other commercial potential.

My housemate is a research scientist, I was speaking to him about the possibilities of this and he looked at me in surprise. He was surprised that this wasn’t already an industry standard, or at least a high level premium option. This isn't revolutionary technology as far as chemistry is involved, it’s just something that no one thought to apply to paintball.

I think their biggest achievement is to keep these properties while not making it toxic or non biodegradable.
 

Robbo

Owner of this website
Jul 5, 2001
13,114
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London
www.p8ntballer.com
I suppose if you're trying to make a chemical for another purpose...fail and end up making something with these properties, usually it would get thrown out ... then some bright spark at the company realises that it has other commercial potential.

My housemate is a research scientist, I was speaking to him about the possibilities of this and he looked at me in surprise. He was surprised that this wasn’t already an industry standard, or at least a high level premium option. This isn't revolutionary technology as far as chemistry is involved, it’s just something that no one thought to apply to paintball.

I think their biggest achievement is to keep these properties while not making it toxic or non biodegradable.

This product has been around for some time; I was staying with a guy called Tom Kaye about 13 years ago over in Chicago; Tom owned Air Gun Designs, the company famous for creating and manufacturing the AutoMag.
Tom was a paintball genius and one of the old school guys, a true gent ... while I was at his factory, a part of his company used to deal with selling markers and paint to the police services.

He used part of his factory as a set up for these police guys to train in.
He had basically built a four or five room domestic type set up used to train those guys in shooting at close range and not making mistakes, it was filmed for training purposes with cameras everywhere to cover all the shots made ... they didn't use conventional paint in their paint guns, they used the paint that seems to be being described now.

It was a perfectly constructed paintball shell seemingly made out of a very thin plastic with what looked like a water-fill inside in some of them and a dry fill in others.
I did ask him at the time why these hadn't leaked out into the main paintball market because it was obvious to me, we were looking at the next evolution of the paintball .... he told me the price was making it prohibitive in that they couldn't manufacture the ball at that time to make it competitive with the existing priced paintball back then ..... it looks as though things have changed maybes???

Paul [Baca], you know Tom I'm sure, did you ever see that ball over in Chi Town back then?
 

Gee Tee

1/2 man - 1/2 pogo stick
Mar 21, 2007
3,172
786
148
Dartford, UK
From what I've heard there should be some of this paint around and getting a real world look see well before Jan 2011.
This is a quote from the Hydrotech website

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE HydroTec™ Paintballs to Debut at Paintball Extravaganza: (September 2, 2010)- HydroTec™, a new paintball brand, will be revealing the latest breakthrough in paintball technology at the Paintball Extravaganza International in Anaheim, California. This much anticipated industry event will be held on September 14th, 15th and 16th 2010. (www.pb-events.com) On Tuesday, September 14th at 5:10pm, Paul Ciesiun, President, and also one of HydroTec’s creators will be hosting a new product presentation to share his innovative product with the industry. Field owners cannot afford to miss this
 

Homewrecker

previously Tomtimus Prime
Aug 9, 2010
184
4
28
Manchester
he told me the price was making it prohibitive in that they couldn't manufacture the ball at that time to make it competitive with the existing priced paintball back then ..... it looks as though things have changed maybes???
Well I guess manufacturing processes have improved greatly, and from how this product is described, the overhead costs have been cut by clever design.. whether that saving initially transfers to the consumer is another story. They're going to have to pay for that design and development somewhere...


On a different note, I like that the fill isn’t oil based. That minging grease that everything gets coated in at a rec site will not be missed.
 

Ainsley

CPPS Chief Chimp
Mar 26, 2008
1,321
503
148
Staffordshire
Spoke to Nicky T earlier who was out at the conference in CA and they had no "product" to show there at that time. Wonder if after a days ballin this water based stuff will also result in the fields being less slippy from the oil build up......you'd think so?

Am I right in saying that these hydro guys also had something to do with some glow in the dark paint a few years back as well? Can't think where I read it??
 

Robbo

Owner of this website
Jul 5, 2001
13,114
2,157
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London
www.p8ntballer.com
On a different note, I like that the fill isn’t oil based. That minging grease that everything gets coated in at a rec site will not be missed.
Hey Tom, If everybody played fair, then there would be no practical requirement for oil based paintballs because it is the very nature of oil [its viscosity properties] to hang around after it's been splatted on something; it's persistence is what makes it useful especially when we factor in guys who would wipe in an instant but ignoring those it also makes it easier for the refs and yourself to see you've been hit if you have an oil based paintball.

I think the chemists are gonna have to do a bit of overtime if they are to emulate the properties of oil based balls with a dry fill or even water based ... I'm sure it's possible but even so, I think it's gonna be quite difficult bearing in mind the gooey and sticky nature of oil based balls.

After this new paintball's non-showing at the extravaganza, it would seem as though it's a work in progress type of product which could mean a variety of things .... in my experience, there's a good chance it won't ever make the shelves purely because of its marking properties or rather lack of.