BT TM7 with a Rip Clip
By: Ghost1 - 7/30/2009

About me: I’ve been playing paintball since 1997, I own an X7, A5, Tag 8 and now the TM7. I was a weekend player until 2005 when I was introduced to Scenario games and I fell in love with the game even more. I have driven 20 straight hours for a game and would do it again in a heartbeat. The fun of this sport is not when the whistle goes off and the adrenaline is pumping, it is the road trip with the family or buddies, the new friends that await you at the games, the new places to visit, and the stories after every game. Enough about me, let’s get going with this.

Equipment in this review

200.00 BT TM7 (used but refurbished)
80.00 BT Rip Clip
45.00 Flasc Paintball Rip clip adapter. http://www.flasc.com/equip/

This review is to help the many paintball players out there that like me,  that want to get feedback on these type of products before making a decision on your next purchase. Please keep in mind that I am a scenario player/Woodsballer and the review will be for those with the same passion. Now let’s get to it and see what we have.

Let’s look at the TM7 first.

Ease of use:

The marker is light and compact; for a scenario player it is very important to have a light marker because at the end of the day we don’t want to feel like we have been lifting weights all day and be dead tired from lugging around a big and heavy marker. I highly recommend the use of a remote line with this marker, it is when you will really notice the weight difference and the size; it almost feels like playing with a larger than usual pistol with a hopper on top.

Maintenance:

My experience with the maintenance is horrible; the marker when I purchased it was working fine,  then the first time I took it apart I was very excited to get to know all the internals and get familiar with it just like with my A5 or X7. I even used a youtube video to do this because I did not want to mess it up; when I put the marker back together to my “surprise” it did not work. It was the first and last time I have taken the marker apart, and hopefully with time I will get to know it good enough so that I can clean it well without breaking it. Tippmanns have spoiled me because they require very little maintenance and usually when they break most of the time it is an easy fix.

Performance:

Gentleman, this is where the TM7 shines, this marker out in the field is lethal. The groupings are very close and of course this increases your accuracy tremendously. The combination of accuracy and a high rate of fire can make you deadly very fast. The TM7 is a good marker for both players that want to spray paint and those that want to make their game more tactical; it is just a matter of deciding which player which one you want to be that day depending on your roll, heavy gunner or sniper…oh, so hard to decide!

Next, I will go over some of the pros and cons I found with this marker, obviously I may have left some out but these are the ones that stood out the most for me.

P R O S

Air efficiency:

The marker is very good with air consumption when compared to my X7 or A5, the fact that it is electronic and that the pressure is regulated makes it very efficient, one thing I like is that I seldom have to adjust the marker for speed because it stays where I left it, this saves time and sometimes headaches at the Chrono station. I find that the Tippmanns use more air because some of it  is needed to operate the cyclone

Accuracy:

Like I said before, the groupings are very close together and this has helped me out there on the field. The accuracy can be affected by the paint of course,  but I don’t find the marker to be very picky on paint. I shot some old paint I had from an old game and I had no breaks at all.

Lightweight:

You can play a long scenario with this marker and not have to worry about the weight; I find this helpful for younger players that want a light and small marker. Imagine a small 12 year old with a X7 with an air-tru stock, yes it would look like the marker is almost as big as him. For those of you that don’t have this problem…well, good for you!

High rate of fire:

The marker is only as fast as the loader; for this I recommend the use of a reliable and fast loader, I can only vouch for the rip clip so far. I personally don’t care about balls per second, as long as they leave the barrel when I need them and fast enough to hit the other players is enough for me. I do have to say than when trying to suppress fire, keep your enemy down, or hold an advance on your position this marker sure helps with  the high rate of fire and the intimidation factor.

C O N S

Gravity fed hopper:

Out of the box the marker comes with a very sad hopper, it needs upgrading right away so keep that in mind when budgeting your purchase. I would suggest to budget 120.00 for a good decent hopper. I played with the stock hopper for the first time and as I was getting ready to take out a player, I pulled the trigger and nothing; needless to say I was very unhappy walking out of the field full of paint.

Delicate marker:

This marker is all electronic; the biggest enemy is water, well, aside from me trying to take it apart of course. The marker is more delicate than my X7 or A5 but when the rain comes you better have a non-electronic marker as back up to keep you in the game.

Big bright LED light blinking all the time:

The light that tells you the marker is on can be your enemy; those of you that play night games can understand that any small light can give you away. I solved the problem with small piece of electrical tape over it, but can’t help but wonder why was this not placed in the grip? That way you can cover it with your hand like with the X7.

In summary, I am very happy with the marker because it rocks, it looks good, and it performs great in the field. I am not looking forward to when it breaks because I’ll be out of commission right away and would have to use my X7 or A5.  I already had to return the marker when I first got it just because I took it apart to clean it and it stopped working, I’m even afraid to clean it because of that so go figure, the local dealer I took it to he just said “Hey, don’t take it apart to clean it, just wipe it down” with this in mind, if you decide to buy a TM7 at least you have one more review to help you make your move.

Bottom line, I recommend this marker only if you have a back up, if you don’t have one expect frustration and to be out of a marker while you fix it, as a side note, the BT customer service was fast to returned the marker to me within a week in perfect working order. I did have to pay for shipping but that was it.

Now let’s look at the BT Rip Clip.

My comments on this clip are limited to the use of 3 games. The clip works perfect but the only complaint that I have is that a couple of times I’ve had to give it a small bang to activate it. Probably because it is not meant to work with the TM7 and apparently lacks a microphone that will help activate it without the need for my small bang, but oh well, it does not bother me and I will keep the set up the way it is.

Last but not least, the adapter for the Rip Clip.

I purchased this adapter from Flasc paintball in Canada. I was hesitant initially because it is the only adapter I found out in the market that was mass produced for the public. I was pleasantly surprised when I got it in the mail and saw that it is made of aluminum and the quality could not be better. The adapter does what it should do, it connects the BT Rip Clip to the TM7 and it makes the set up work well together, so well, that you forget at times there is no Rip Clip for the TM7 from BT. The marker with the adapter and the rip clip truly feels like it came that way out of the box, see my installing this adapter in case you decide this is a mod you want to go with for your set up.

R I P   C L I P   I N S T A L L A T I O N   I N S T R U C T I O N S

Thanks for reading; if you are interested in this mod for your TM7 I hope cover enough information to help you to make a decision. The adapter can be purchased directly from Flasc at http://www.flasc.com/equip/ for aprox 45 bucks.

In the picture below, you can see the contents of the package.

The Aluminum Adapter in black
2 Long Screws
2 Nuts
1 Tip for your screwdriver.

The package is very small and it fits in a small mailbox so no need to worry about picking anything up at the local post office.

In the picture below,you can see the brand new Rip Clip

In the picture below, I started by removing the feed neck that comes stock with the TM7

In the picture below, you can see the adapter just sitting on top of the marker, not assembled yet.

In the picture below, you can see the adapter now sitting on top of the Rip Clip, not assembled yet.

In the picture below, I removed the other end of the Rip Clip that allows it to clamp on top of the marker, the new adapter needs to be placed in between this end that you see here and the Rip Clip.

Notice here the following:
The original screw all in black
The Screw without the thumb nut
The Longer screw that came with the adapter together with the thumb nut.

Later one you will notice that I could not use the Thumb nut, the new screw is too short and does not allow for the use of the nut.

In the picture below, you will see the adapter already assembled with the rip clip.

In the picture below, you will see how the assembled Rip Clip now sits on top of the TM7

In the picture below, you have a view from the front.

In the picture below, the Rip Clip with the hopper it comes with.

In the picture below, the Rip Clip with the X7 hopper

In the picture below, the Rip Clip with a Tactical Cap

In Summary, the installation took about 10 minutes. I recommend that you use the nuts that came with the adapter, I tried to use the black ones that come with the Rip Clip and did not want to use the aluminum ones that came with the adapter but that did not work; for some reason they look the same but they are not. I know we are all curious and want to try that, I just want to save you some time.

See my review on the whole set up to see how it performs out on the field.

Add a comment

'Assassin' says:
August 25, 2009

Excellent review on the TM7 and Rip Clip.  I have the TM7 and I couldn't agree more with the review.  My TM7 had problems out of the box. The solenoid keeps blowing out causing the air to leak by. Its happened twice in about 9 months of play. But the marker is a beast of a machine when working. I specifically like the review on the Rip Clip.  I have been holding off getting one because of the issue with sound activation.  Im hoping BT is coming up with a solution to the problem. Great review!

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