topbar for interface
FA Forums::Airsoft Guns & Gear::Review: Tracer Units
CPT FA-Lance       Posted: 15:48:00 on 04-01-2009
One of the best parts about playing night games are tracer units; watching the green laser-like BB's ricocheting around you is like something out of a scifi movie. But which one should you buy? Caffeine has done all the work for you by reviewing several models. Find which tracer unit is the best.

 

MSG SEM GhostBrother       Posted: 19:15:00 on 04-01-2009
Congrats on the fourth review Caffeine! After reading this, I want one. Maybe I'll get one soon, but the review really helped clear things up. Thanks!

 

CPL AntiHero (WAR PIGS)       Posted: 21:45:00 on 04-01-2009
wish they made tracer box mags for people shooting saw's or rpk's!... im sure it probly wouldnt be to hard to synk a strobe with the sound activated winder.

 

2LT DeadEye (Hells Seven)       Posted: 07:58:00 on 04-02-2009
This message edited by DeadEye (Hells Seven). 2009-04-02 08:17:00
Caffeine, nice review brother. I think its' the first I've seen that compares every available style. Looking forward to your next.

*WOW* I can't believe how small the new TM unit is.
(Thanks onlineconversionchart.com) :)

 

Prv MADoug (The S.B.)       Posted: 12:43:00 on 05-17-2009
im kinda curious about how they work. do they have to use glow in the dark bb's? what is the process of illuminating the bb? i saw a video of them in use and it looks awesome at night.


thanks

 

SGT Borisimo (UBCS)       Posted: 15:00:00 on 05-17-2009
MADoug,

The tracer unit shines a light on the glow in the dark bb as it leaves the barrel, making it glow.

 

2LT jdizzle921       Posted: 15:55:00 on 05-17-2009
When the glow BB's pass through a sensor in the tracer unit, it emits a bright light that charges up the BB. (That's how the TM units work anyways)

If you don't want to shell out the money for a Tracer unit, I've seen guys that modify their hop-up's with a bright LED hooked up to a 9vlt or small battery and use that method. From what I've heard, it actually works really well.

 

CPT FA-Caffeine       Posted: 20:18:00 on 05-17-2009
It does work really well. For best results you want UV-LED's. Since those can be pricey and hard to find, use the bluest LED's available. You'll get better results than with plain white LED's. Of course, you'll still want the brightest LED's available.

And it's not just the TM units that work on the sensor triggered flash concept: all end-of-barrel tracer units (AMP and SRC) work this way. The homemade versions jdizzle921 and I discuss above and the G&P tracer magazines in my review work using a constant-on light source and no trigger.

 

PV GSAT_Ghost (AWG)       Posted: 20:25:00 on 05-17-2009
i was told that the new TM did'nt need glow in the dark rounds.. so it actualy does right..??

 

Cpl kuwha       Posted: 22:00:00 on 05-17-2009
your right...
it doesnt need glow in the dark rounds...
TM is so ingenious at what they do that their tracer unit covers each bb with radioactive material before leaving the barrel

im joking...
sorry for the sarcasm...

 

CPT FA-Caffeine       Posted: 22:52:00 on 05-17-2009
ALL tracer units rely on tracer BB's. You can shoot regular BB's through a tracer unit but you'll get the same effect as shooting tracer BB's without a tracer unit: they won't glow.

 

Prv MADoug (The S.B.)       Posted: 17:13:00 on 05-18-2009
thanks for the explination of how they work. someone told me you didnt have to use glow in the dark bb's. I now know hey were wrong.

thanks

 

PV GSAT_Ghost (AWG)       Posted: 21:23:00 on 05-18-2009
i was told the same thing.. thats why i asked..

 

PV ImageDynamix       Posted: 03:00:00 on 05-19-2009
I suppose you could just attach a light onto the weapon you want to use at night. That will illuminate the BB's as they leave the barrel, but will also give a bright light for the OPFOR to shoot at.

 

CPT FA-Caffeine       Posted: 08:47:00 on 05-19-2009
Surprisingly no. Mounting a tac-light next to the barrel doesn't charge the tracer BB's enough for them to glow. Every tracer unit I looked at either used blue light or very bright flashes of white light. Also, the light source with within 1-2mm of the BB. With a tac-light this distance will increase to 1-2cm and be shining parallel to the flight path instead of perpendicular to it.

 

SGT Borisimo (UBCS)       Posted: 08:52:00 on 05-19-2009
Not to mention the tac-light will probably light up the whole area in front of you, so even if the BBs were glowing, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

 

Prv justincrb       Posted: 03:22:00 on 02-03-2010
"Every tracer unit I looked at either used blue light or very bright flashes of white light." --1LT Caffeine

The higher the wavelength the light used to charge a phosphorescent material, the more energy imparted, the more it glows.

I used to do photographic work back in collage that used UV Light Boxes for the exposure (cyanotype prints, van dyke prints). The timers were old analogue GRALABs with the text all printed with phosphorescent paint. Usually they would glow very faintly after you switched over from the white overheads to the darkroom reds, but is you left the door open when exposing with the UV light box, the timer text would *shine*.

I bet these tracer units use broad spectrum UV LEDs to charge the BBs. That's the only thing I imagine that could charge them that fast. It makes me wonder how much luminosity you could get with narrowband UVC, the type of light used to sterilize surgical instruments. A device like that might be dangerous... though I have seen UVC wands available for de-microbing the computer keyboards of hypochondriacs.

 

CPT FA-Caffeine       Posted: 10:41:00 on 02-03-2010
"It makes me wonder how much luminosity you could get with narrowband UVC, the type of light used to sterilize surgical instruments."

Justincrb, you are spot on with this. As I hinted at above, while conducting this review I tinkered around with building my own tracer unit and found I got best results from medical UV LED's. While the outcome was impressive I never turned the project into something playable. First off, medical UV LED's are pricey. There are also some serious health risks when working with UVC. I wanted a $30 tracer unit that I could screw on the end of a barrel and shoot glowing BB's at the other team. I would have ended up with a $200 box that I could duct-tape to my AEG and use to cause cell death in the retinas of the other team.

 

Prv justincrb       Posted: 15:55:00 on 02-03-2010
"I would have ended up with a $200 box that I could duct-tape to my AEG and use to cause cell death in the retinas of the other team."

Ah... it probably wouldn't be THAT dangerous. Light disperses exponentially from its source, and UV light doesn't pass easily though glass or most forms of acrylic (and after all they should be wearing eye protection).

Anyway I'm just joking around, PLEASE no one build one of these!

The real danger to people's retinas are those cheap, chinese green laser sights that most places carry now. There is no telling what sort of damage those could be causing because there is very little quality control in that area of the world and its not like US customs is testing each one to make sure its actually under the 5mW limit for gun sights. Eye damage from laser exposure is usually pretty subtle, developing slowly over time, potentially into something serious.

 

LCpl Priest       Posted: 17:24:00 on 11-05-2010
I have the Madbull 4 in 1 hop up with built in led. It works really well, and there is no problem with having to buy mags or a special sliencer unit. For arround 40 butck, it was the best investment I have made. It has o rings to keep a tight airseal to the air nossle(i cant spell), and one at the bb feed that keeps bb's from falling out during mag change.

 

 

[Back to Top]
© Copyright 2004 by Lance Eppley & Joey Araniego