PaintballX3 Magazine December 2013 Issue | Page 80

80 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.