NXe JRNY Preview

NXe is a company known for making waves. They originally broke into the market by snagging major pro teams and strapping them up with their superiorly designed soft goods. Since their entrance into the paintball world, NXe has evolved into the “must have” company players go to buy new packs, pads, and transportation equipment.

Most companies nowadays have a snazzy mission statement in regard to their products, but sadly enough some don’t live up to what they advertise. However, when NXe says:

At NXe, we have made it our business to insure that any product you purchase with our name on it will exceed your expectations in form, function, style, quality and value. This is not a promise, it is a commitment that all of us at NXe take very seriously.

you can be damn well sure that they mean it, and the product you are buying from them is top shelf.

With that being said, NXe has decided to take things to the next level and aim their cross-hairs at the currently stale loader market. The bullets they are firing? The JRNY.

About The JRNY

Drive system: The drive system in the JRNY is an “auger” based design. The auger rotates in such a manner that its flights force paint down the neck of the loader at a rapid rate. This produces a few distinct advantages:

• Weight - the auger based drive system is extremely light weight.
• Ease of cleaning - the auger tray is extremely easy to remove. Once the auger tray has been removed, you can simply pull a pin and lift up the auger to clean it.
• Catch bin- the area below the auger in the auger drive tray serves a unique purpose. In normal operation, paint cannot fall down into the area below the auger. However broken paint falls directly into this catch bin. Also any debris such as dirt, or gravel will fall into this catch as well. These means that if you break a ball in your pod and accidentally pour it into your hopper, you will regain normal firing much more quickly than you would with another hopper.
• Gentle on paint - the auger design puts a minimum amount of force on the paint.
• “Pop corning” - the “pop corning” effect is actually used to assist in feeding by re-locating paint from points where it does not feed well, to points where it does feed well. When the hopper is low on paint, the auger slows down to assist in feeding the last few balls, and prevent paint from breaking on the floor of breach of the gun.

Electronics: The JRNY has the most advanced electronics controls of any hopper made to date. Two pairs of IR sensors measure the speed at which balls are passing through the neck, and adjust the auger to maximize feed rate. A third set of sensors sits at the rear of the auger and monitors its movement and position. This gives the JRNY several advantages:

• Automatic detection and clearing of jams - The JRNY is able to tell the difference between a feed stack condition and jam condition, and automatically adjusts to clear any jam.
• Adjustment to optimum speed - The JRNY will adjust the speed that the auger spins based on how fast you are shooting. This means that for leagues where there is a ROF cap (PSP) the JRNY puts a lower force on the balls that are fed, making it much easier on paint.
• Superior Battery Life - Because the JRNY better manages the use of the motor, and shuts off the motor completely when the user is not firing, the battery life is much better than other hoppers on the market (around 20,000 shots from 4AA).
• Power Management - The JRNY will also run on 2 Kodak KLIC 8000 digital camera batteries.

Other Unique Features:

• Re-enforced push button lid - easy re-loading without speed feed.
• Thumb battery screw - change your batteries without tools
• Forward neck design - Virtually eliminates hopper exposure while playing. The difference with the JRNY is that the batteries are towards the front of the hopper and the auger drive system is light weight, so the hopper is balanced more like a standard hopper. The back of the JRNY slopes up so that the hopper does not sit too close to your face while playing.
• Solid one piece neck- The outer shell of the feed neck is one solid piece so that it is extremely durable. In addition, it is a single part, so if the feed neck breaks the user can slide on a new one rather than needing to purchase new shells.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. With so many hoppers out on the market now, why should I choose the JRNY?

The simple answer is that if you want the most reliable, best balanced profile, fast feeding, easy to clean, hopper on the market choose the JRNY.

When we decided to enter the hopper market, the key feature we looked to improve upon was reliability. The simplicity of the JRNY’s feed system will make it much more reliable than any other hopper on the market. The feed rate is as fast or faster than any hopper produced.

The next feature that we looked to improve upon was playing profile. The JRNY has the best combination of profile, balance and weight of any hopper on the market.

The JRNY’s use and operation is as simple as ‘On’ and ‘Off’. There is no fiddling with speed settings; the JRNY does it automatically. There are no tensions to adjust, no magnets to flip; the JRNY’s low-force, rubber auger design gently presses paint into your gun. In addition, cleaning the JRNY is exceedingly simple, and can be done in less than a minute.

Q. Why the forward neck design? Doesn’t this make the hopper back heavy and the neck prone to breaking?

The forward neck design allows for an almost non-existant profile while playing a bunker. To help balance the hopper out, the batteries are placed directly above the feed neck, and the drive system is ligher weight than a standard drive cone system.

The hopper neck is extremely durable. It is sturdily attached to the hopper, and is one solid pice of plastic with a clear sleeve, for the eyes to look through, located inside. A rubber seal on the battery door protects against breaking by acting as an “airbag” for the hopper. This reduces the damage taken in a sharp impact. If by chance, these features don’t prevent the neck from breaking, you only need to change neck pieces (one or two parts depending on the severity of the break), rather than having to change the entire shell.

Q. What is the JRNY’s feed rate?

The feed rate is largely dependent on the gun and the shooter. Due to the design of the JRNY’s electronics, it feeds faster when being used on a gun, as compared to a drop test. The fastest sustained speed that we recorded is around 28 balls in a second. We have seen peak speeds (times between 2-3 shots) in the 30+ balls per second range. Basically, the JRNY will feed as fast as you can shoot.

Q. On the top of my hopper I saw a sticker telling me to turn up my loader delay when using PSP mode. Why is this?

The JRNY adjusts the speed that it feeds balls based on how fast you are shooting. When you are using a mode like PSP, the hopper is not trying to feed 30 bps. This makes the hopper easier on paint and batteries. This also means that the force on the ball stack reduces, which makes the ball take more time to fully settle in the breach. When playing in a capped mode, increasing this setting will not have an effect on your rate of fire (Relax you’ll still shoot 13.3 bps.) but the combination of the JRNY and your gun will be much easier on paint.

Q. I left my hopper sitting for a few months, and when I turned it on the batteries were low. Should I remove the batteries for storage?

There is a 10 mA current draw when the hopper is off. For best battery life, simply remove the tray from your hopper during long term storage.

Q. Does the JRNY work with RE-BALL or other reusable paint?

We are not currently satisfied with the hopper’s performance with RE-BALL and do not recommend its use with the JRNY.

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