Madbull Ultimate Hop up + LED Tracer Review

[DarkAngel]

Alright, So Ive picked up one of these units from Duy the other day and seeing how theres no review yet on these, I thought Id throw one up for you guys.

One of the Main Reasons I picked up this unit was to solve a hop up inconsistancy issue I had with my previous King Arms One Piece Metal Hop up.

My issue was that the vibrations from each shot would slightly turn the wheel of my Hop up causing some rounds to drop and some to jet up into the sky while on full auto. The new perpendicular wheel seemed to be the answer as Ive always loved the V3/V6/V7 Hop up designs.

After assembling the Hop up unit (As per the well written Instructions) that came with the unit. I realized I had a serious problem. I had no space to fit the wires in my Guarder C8 Body. Mind you, Im using an Archaic Systema Pro Gear V2 Gearbox, which to this day is still one of the most durable reinforced boxes out there, however the width of the gearbox is a slight bit thicker than other reinforced boxes, which already makes for a tight fit inside the body.

Now, I could be a champ and rewire my box to be front wired into my CASV unit, but quite frankly, I Just did complete wiring overhauls on 3 other guns for clients and the idea of having to do yet another one at the time was just not appealing (3:15am here). Now I do have plans to wire it up front in the future, but I guess ill put it off till I get a new PRS Stock for my C8 and Im forced to front wire instead of using my Crane Stock batt.

Now i found that squeezing the wires between the gearbox, upper receiver and lower receiver was a bit of a challenge. I had to semi wedge the wires between the upper receiver and the guide rail for the selector plate in a manner that was not entertaining. I had to also semi pry against the rear tab on my receiver so that it does not "shear" or "slice" into the very thinly coated Tracer wires until the unit was in position with my gearbox and release the tab. After wiring up the LED Unit in Paralell (as per the instructions) with my gearbox, I realized that the LED unit was always on. While I suppose that can be a good thing, Considering that I usually leave my battery connected in my crane stock (even in storage) due to the pain in the ass nature of crane stocks (Which is why im planning on rewiring to the front with lipos). this would not do me well. My solution for this problem is one of two things. Either :
1)you wire ground to the battery and the red to the red motor pin so that the LED only turns on when the motor is turning (which ultimately would leave the first few tracer rounds unlit while in Full auto, and probobly shitty performance in semi.
2) My preferred option. When i rewire my box to front wire, I will install a small Toggle Microswitch on the side of my CASV which will (untill used) sever the connection to the Hop up unit so that I can use the Gun without having the tracer on.

One other issue I was facing earlier, was that my Shorty Pmags were not feeding properly in my Guarder body due to a spacing between the bottom of my old hop up and the lip of the mag. As a result I had to hold the mag up against the body so that the bottom of the hop up unit would press against the lip to release the rounds from the mag. (theres a fix on the boards for this issue involving shaving the inside of the mag lip but im not a fan of making 1 way modifications). I found that after losing my KA Hop up for the Madbull one, the play between the mag and the hop up chamber was very little. While it was still not able to 100% feed reliably, I found that it was VERY close. perhaps shaving only a smidge of the lip will fix it now)

The Last issue I had was an Airseal Issue. My box is a Progear V2, with a full Guarder Cylinder Set, Systema M120 Spring, Guarder bearing guide, Prom Piston etc etc. Basically Upgraded to the tits, and "should" be shooting Just under 400 (approx 380-395 with ~5 fps standard deviation). But due to an airseal leak (which ive yet to determine where) My C8 with an Prometheus M16A2+ (550mm) Barrel, Guarder Rubber, and a KA Hop up unit chronied at 160 consistantly (which indicates a consistant leak). After replacing it with the same Inner barrel, rubber and the Madbull Hop up, I was getting approximately 270. While the Madbull Hop up improved my airseal issue up 110 fps to acheive a total of 270 fps (Stock Marui Speed). It did not completely solve the issue. This will mean I will have to rip her apart again in the near future and figure out where its comming from (probobly the damn nozzel).

I also found I had to file the guide "wings" or "rails" on the side of the hop up so that it would slide snugly but loose enough inside the Outer Barrel/Upper Receiver so that the tension spring could function properly.

Overall, Im happy with my purchase, As my hop up no longer rotates on its own, the LED tracer always on this can be fixable, and It did increase my airseal a bit.

Overview
Pros
Dial Hop up allows for much more accurate hop up adjustments
LED Tracer unit is quite bright inside the Magwell, Seems to function well
Improved Airseal
Holds therounds in the unit instead of letting them fall out and waste rounds
Easy to assemble and Install
Better fitment with loose mags.

Cons
Hop up unit "chromed" finish looks really tacky and plasticy. While it may be pot metal, it looks like cheap chinese chrom plated plastic.
No space in Metal bodies that are rear wired, It can fit but its very tough.
Tracer unit is ALWAYS on while batt is plugged in which kills the batteries.
needs some fillng to fit snugly inside your outter barrel + upper receiver.

Overall, It was worth my money So far, I am happy wit it, while i will have to modify it to my "specifications". Im sure once completed it will work very nicely.

Pics will be up tommorow. Its now almost 4 and ive already passed out like 15 times since i started writing this review so ull have to excuse my sentences if they suddenly dont make sense or something looks out of place lol.

Cheers and Goodnight!
DarkAngel