Viewloader Revolution Hopper
The Viewloader Revolution was released at the 1997 World Cup. It was Viewloader’s forth agitating hopper design since the original VL2000 was released in the early 1990’s. The Viewloader Revolution feeds paintballs at 11 balls per second and featured new gears in the motor assembly and a 12 volt circuit board.
Earlier Viewloaders used off the shelf servos that weren’t really designed for the hard life of a paintball hopper. The consequences of this were stripped gears if they jammed, particularly on the 18 volt Shredder model. So the change to an in house designed gear train was a definite upgrade.
The all new 12 volt circuit board extended battery life by between 30 – 40% by regulating the 18 volts of the two 9 volt batteries to 12 volts. This allowed the hopper to run for longer with minimal performance drop off as the batteries were depleted. The easily broken wired battery clip was also dispensed with in favour of a proper pronged battery compartment. Finally a low battery light rounded out the list of improvements.
In 2001 the Revolution was upgraded with a new circuit board and a polycarbonate body shell. The new circuit board featured a pulsed IR signal in the ball detection circuit which was not effected by sunlight (this problem effected the transparent Revolutions). And the new polycarbonate body shell was tougher and less effected by UV so these were both welcome improvements over the original. The Revolution remained a popular choice for tournament players for a number of years until it was overtaken by the next leap forward, the force feed hopper.
In my experience the only issue I’ve had with these hoppers is with the lids. The early clear ones were prone to breaking at the hinge point. Apart from that they run flawlessly and the batteries seem to last forever. Even today this is my go to hopper for mechanical semi auto paintball markers.