PaintballX3 Magazine December 2013 Issue | Page 80

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A while back, Pinokio teased their F1 prototype, even going so far as to send examples
out into the field for testing in-game. While
angular in contrast to the round, curvy lines
of the original Pinokio hopper, other changes weren’t very apparent and the concept
disappeared from the public. Evan Estrate,
owner of Pinokio, explained that the concept
was simply not enough of an improvement
over his original product in terms of looks
or performance, to warrant full production
so the drawing board was wiped clean. “I
wanted a hopper that looked better and fed
faster,” said Estrate, “and the F1 worked
well, but it wasn’t a huge improvement. So I
wanted it to be better and we started over.”
Finally, in 2013 Pinokio prototypes started
appearing again and this time the look was
drastically different. Finally identified by
company representatives as the “Speed,”
the new Pinokio will finally be available for
retail sales in limited quanities by Christmas
2013 and in full production in January,

dECEMBER 2013

2014. Lighter, faster and smaller than its
predecessor and thereby extremely competitive with the best loaders in paintball, the
new Pinokio looks poised to help Pinokio get
back to business.
“Anyone who’s shot a Pinokio will probably
agree that it’s light, it’s simple and it doesn’t
jam,” said Pinokio owner Evan Estrate when
introducing the Pinokio Speed to X3 recently,
“but they always get us on size and how it
looks. We know it’s kind-of big and I won’t
even argue that it’s a little bit ugly. So when
we decided to make a new hopper, even
though the F1 was good, I wanted it to be
a big improvement. Everyone told me they
wanted small, light and fast. So that’s what
we gave them.” That, according to Estrate, is
where the “Speed” name and concept was
born and once the now-production-ready Pinokio is examined, it appears to be mission
accomplished.