The cyclone design isn't the best but it's not the worst either. I've noticed that if a spend time focusing on cleaning and lubing the cyclone's ratchet and piston, properly. I don't chop balls. As a result, I don't have to spend time cleaning chopped paint out of the breach of my A5.

I do have the TechT Vortex Mod. I'm going to try the new JCS Jet Click Mod soon. Anyone try this yet? Let me know...

The ratchet is the only weakness of a great invention on a great gun.

I put the Vortex mod in last week and played on Sunday. The first game when fine with no problems at all. Then on the second game I was chopping ever other or third ball. I took the cyclone feeder part to see if any thing was installed wrong. I found nothing wrong, so the only thing I could think off was the spring in the ratchet need to be cut. I didn't bother cutting, looks like that was my mistake. So far ever thing is working fine now.

You have to lube it well after a case or so, else it will start to bind up. Worse yet, it can wear down your cyclone housing. Lube is good. And check that piston - to - ratchet pin, if the connection is tight, the pin might move with usage, causing rubbing.

If it wasn't for this site I would never of known that my ratchet was busted, that I could order higher quality ratchets, and if I needed help installing it I knew that there would be tons of answers to a post if I needed help. Bloody ratchet! Playing half a day manualy feeding my balls. Bloody ratchet!

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It is just like anything else you buy(car,stereo,truck). They will work OK in stock form but when you add goodies, there is going to be a weak point somewhere. If it were not for the cheaper stuff the aftermarket supliers would not be in business. How many can afford a fully loaded A5 off the shelf? Most people could not drop $500 for a hopped up A5, but they can gradually add the custom stuff piece by piece. The JCS ratchet mod worked for me.

I've never had a single issue.

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I put about 6 cases of paint through my stock A5 wihtout any problems. To avoid any future problems, and to add a higher ROF, I added the Tech-T Vortex mod. INstall was pretty straight forward and I shouldnt be seeing ANY problems with my cyclone EVER.

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'07 Proto Matrix Rail (all composite changed to aluminum)
Dye Ultra-Lite frame
Dye Throttle 70/45 HPA tank
Deadlywind Carbon-Fiber barrel w/ SS Freak insert kit
Halo-B V35 board, Rip-Drive, & Bone boost battery pack

Dude,I gotta say that I think you are wrong..the cyclone is the best thing to happen to paintball & I'm talking from experience..I have a gravity fed,1-ball-at-a-time Spyder and since I got my A5,it's gathering dust(..and rightly so)and now I loan it out to my buddies when I play(usually future A5 owners haha)they freak out when they try the A5 and can't believe the performance from this gun.

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Also why would you get a JCS jet click if you already have the vortex?

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'07 Proto Matrix Rail (all composite changed to aluminum)
Dye Ultra-Lite frame
Dye Throttle 70/45 HPA tank
Deadlywind Carbon-Fiber barrel w/ SS Freak insert kit
Halo-B V35 board, Rip-Drive, & Bone boost battery pack