BigEvil
08-22-2008, 08:46 AM
The morning of Tunaball II with all of the commotion going on, I busted my Halo shell while putting my Xmag together. I was meaning to take a closer look at the Torque on someone's recommendation anyhow and not in the mood to buy and change the halo shell, I forked over the $95 and got me a Torque.
First Impressions:
Overall looks of this loader are damn sexy. The profile is lower than the Halo or Vlocity. Simple one button on/off and a separate momentary pushbutton for 'reverse' were also very nice features. The Torque uses one or two 9v batteries, so it is inherently lighter than the halo with its 6 AA battery pack.
Another nice feature was that the shell is 'tool-less' take down. There are 2 spring loaded nubs inside the loader that you push down and then simply pull the two halves of the shell apart.
Price tag was ok at just under $100, especially remembering that I paid $100 for my Vlocity jr at EMR when my Halo would not see the dark green paint.
Playing with the Torque:
The lid (and the tool less shells) take some breaking in to work easily. The lid was a royal pain in the ass that first time out. I would have to struggle with closing it. After a bunch of times, the plastic parts started to play nicely together. One side effect of the design is that you can just thump the top of the loader with your hand the the lid opens.
Both the mouth and capacity of the loader are small. The opening you can get used to, not having those 20-30 shots is a tough sell. Im usually not much of a paint hog, but you need to let the loader empty out more in order to fit a whole pod in it.
The speed of the Torque with the smaller 150 motor was adequate but nothing spectacular. On semi with my Xmag there were a few times the lvl 10 kicked in, which NEVER happens with either my Halo or VL Jr.
Lasting Impressions.
I dont know what happened, but around the 2nd or 3rd time I was using my Torque, it started making this insane 'clacking' noise. Being an "always on" loader, it relies on the clutch system not to squish paint. This clutch consists of two parts, a top and bottom - both containing powerful rare-earth magnets in different arrangements. The top part is connected to the shaft on the motor and the drive cone (bottom) uses the clutch to 'slip' when no paint is being fed.
This infernal noise started right when we were beginning a woodsball game. Everyone within 10 feet of me heard it. According to what Ive read, this noise is normal. Despite people's best efforts to eliminate the noise, there appears to be no way to stop it and still have the loader working properly.
Another thing with this contraption, is that it doesnt get great battery life so stock up on 9vs.
Conclusion.
The Hard Corps Torque loader is a serious case of "Hard-Corp" bullshit and a major disappointment. Despite its promising features and reasonable price tag, that damn noise and crappy battery life have knocked my Torque to 'Third String" status behind my Halo and VL Jr.
Continuing efforts to contact Hard Corp via email or phone have been unsuccessful. It would also seem that I am not the only one who is unable to get a hold of them, since there appears to be many others gripping about this.
My recommendation is to forget this thing even exists. If you are in the market for a loader, you really cannot go wrong with a tried-and-true Halo.
First Impressions:
Overall looks of this loader are damn sexy. The profile is lower than the Halo or Vlocity. Simple one button on/off and a separate momentary pushbutton for 'reverse' were also very nice features. The Torque uses one or two 9v batteries, so it is inherently lighter than the halo with its 6 AA battery pack.
Another nice feature was that the shell is 'tool-less' take down. There are 2 spring loaded nubs inside the loader that you push down and then simply pull the two halves of the shell apart.
Price tag was ok at just under $100, especially remembering that I paid $100 for my Vlocity jr at EMR when my Halo would not see the dark green paint.
Playing with the Torque:
The lid (and the tool less shells) take some breaking in to work easily. The lid was a royal pain in the ass that first time out. I would have to struggle with closing it. After a bunch of times, the plastic parts started to play nicely together. One side effect of the design is that you can just thump the top of the loader with your hand the the lid opens.
Both the mouth and capacity of the loader are small. The opening you can get used to, not having those 20-30 shots is a tough sell. Im usually not much of a paint hog, but you need to let the loader empty out more in order to fit a whole pod in it.
The speed of the Torque with the smaller 150 motor was adequate but nothing spectacular. On semi with my Xmag there were a few times the lvl 10 kicked in, which NEVER happens with either my Halo or VL Jr.
Lasting Impressions.
I dont know what happened, but around the 2nd or 3rd time I was using my Torque, it started making this insane 'clacking' noise. Being an "always on" loader, it relies on the clutch system not to squish paint. This clutch consists of two parts, a top and bottom - both containing powerful rare-earth magnets in different arrangements. The top part is connected to the shaft on the motor and the drive cone (bottom) uses the clutch to 'slip' when no paint is being fed.
This infernal noise started right when we were beginning a woodsball game. Everyone within 10 feet of me heard it. According to what Ive read, this noise is normal. Despite people's best efforts to eliminate the noise, there appears to be no way to stop it and still have the loader working properly.
Another thing with this contraption, is that it doesnt get great battery life so stock up on 9vs.
Conclusion.
The Hard Corps Torque loader is a serious case of "Hard-Corp" bullshit and a major disappointment. Despite its promising features and reasonable price tag, that damn noise and crappy battery life have knocked my Torque to 'Third String" status behind my Halo and VL Jr.
Continuing efforts to contact Hard Corp via email or phone have been unsuccessful. It would also seem that I am not the only one who is unable to get a hold of them, since there appears to be many others gripping about this.
My recommendation is to forget this thing even exists. If you are in the market for a loader, you really cannot go wrong with a tried-and-true Halo.