MacDev DRD Review!
The Droid is back. Here are my thoughts.
Recently, MacDev has revived the Droid namesake with the all new DRD.
Coming in at just $875, this marker provides everything you need with none of the frills or gimmicks that some high end markers include. There is no luxury here. Just the bare bones of what you need to be competitive.
To provide context:
When I was younger, it wasn’t common to encounter MacDev markers at my local field. One Saturday morning regular owned a really sweet Cyborg and was always one-balling people with it. (He actually got back into paintball a few years ago and has been a regular once again.) The marker sounded so puffy and unique, never mistaken for an Ego or other stacked-tube poppet marker. Other than that Cyborg, I hadn’t encountered many MacDevs of note. In around 2013 I visited MNPro Paintball, a shop in Minnesota where Aaron Fraher (the head MacDev tech in the USA at the time) had several of the new Clones in stock. After holding one for the first time, I knew that I liked the ergonomics from MacDev. They always felt like a perfect paintball gun in my hands. In 2015, I picked up a Drone 2, installed the gold bolt, and played 8 local events with it that year.
I have always felt that the MacDev markers sounded so unique. In late 2022, a good friend of mine mentioned that my XDR sounded like the “needler” from the Halo video games. He was dead on the money, it sounded like a space-age weapon. My MacDev Prime also sounded futuristic. The Droid is no exception. This thing turns heads. It gives a kind of ping and retort that perks your ears up from the sidelines, and encourages you to pull the trigger again and again while playing. The feedback is robust and makes this thing just plain fun to shoot.
Getting down to the nuts and bolts of this marker – it’s very simple.
The core is simple - not a ton going on.
The barrel system is what we’ve come to expect from MacDev. A proprietary barrel system with it’s own inserts.
As their website describes:
Features:
Single Color OLED Screen
Shift 3+ Barrel w/ 0.689 Insert
100 PSI X Drive System
Laser Eye System
Mech Frame Compatible
Lever Action ASA & Feedneck
Multi-point Adjustable Deuce Trigger
Soft Shot on Paint
Most marker reviews include pros and cons, so I will include that here for those of you who just want a barebones point-by-point of my opinions.
Cons:
Air efficiency. As most of the people who have used one have noted, this thing isn’t incredibly efficient. While I don’t have access to full 4500 fills regularly at my local field, it’s quite noticeable that the Droid is not as efficient as some of the other mid-high end markers out there. I found myself getting around 1000 shots on a 77 cubic inch tank filled to roughly 4k. In the modern era of paintball, these kinds of numbers are disappointing.
The stock barrel system. The Shift 3+ barrel that uses it’s own proprietary inserts isn’t the worst kit on the market, but I wouldn’t include it in my top ten. It’s not particularly quiet and having to purchase inserts to that are different than every other kit you’ve had just to get a decent fit on the ball you want to shoot is frustrating. Most companies have moved to a PWR style insert and I wish that MacDev had as well.
The rear grips detach at the top too easily. I find myself having to reinsert the taps quite frequently. While not the end of the world, I taped the rear grips on my personal marker so that I wouldn’t have to do it anymore while playing. (I was told that the newer DRDs ship with better grips so hopefully this changes).
The soft tip bolt ripped on the test marker I had. Luckily, it didn’t effect performance or anything, but a bit annoying to see considering the marker didn’t have a ton of shots on it.
Pros:
The marker feels incredible in the hands. I love larger markers and the MacDev DRD checks all of the boxes for me ergonomically. It’s easy to handle, doesn’t have obnoxious cuts that get into your view, points exactly how you think it will, and provides tons of room for however you want to hold it.
It handles brittle paint extremely well. My local field went through a change of paint supplier during the time I had the test marker and it shot every single random ball of paint I put through it. I even had some notoriously bad paint from a big-box store and it handled it like a champ.
It’s damn fun to shoot. As I mentioned previously, I absolutely can’t get enough of shooting this thing. It sounds futuristic, provides a fun feedback, and is an absolute blast to shoot pod after pod.
It’s stupid simple. Allen keys, lube, orings. That’s all you will find yourself using for basic maintenance.
Charging is quick and easy. Just plug in a USB-C cable into the rear grip and it charges. Those who know me understand how much I previously disliked rechargeable batteries in paintball. Both the DRD and my CRBN DRV loader use the same charging cable and it’s just become part of my routine before hitting the field.
I really enjoy holding and shooting this thing!
Paintball Dirt and myself need to give a huge shoutout to Federico Marzano and MacDev for sending me this marker to test and review for the newsletter.
My conclusion for my DRD experience:
Once again, this marker is super fun to shoot. I have it set up right next to my desk at home and always in my hands when I’m working on Paintball Dirt. I’ve enjoyed it so far and I hope to see more people give this modern version of MacDev’s Droid a chance. The DRD has a real place at the top of the mid-end market. I find myself baffled at the retail price tag. It could very well be the flagship marker for the company to build around if they chose to. Also…
I actually went out and bought my own Droid. It’s very rare that I shoot a marker and think to myself “I need to get one of these”. As someone who has shot pretty much every major marker platform in the last two decades, I believed enough in this marker to buy one for myself. My brother actually picked one up and so did my buddy Travis who shot the photos for this review.
I’d like to give a shoutout to the guys at CPX Bros for doing some dope color swaps for us on these Droids.
—
If you own a paintball company or produce a product you’d like reviewed in Paintball Dirt, send me a message and let’s make it happen. I enjoy the gear side of the game and can always give real feedback on new products.