Are you thinking about buying an Invert Mini? If so, congratulations on a good choice!! While there might be "better" paintball guns on the market, there probably isn't a better value.

At the time of this article (Feb 2010) the Invert Mini is priced at around $324. That is relatively cheap compared to other paintball markers most consider in the same general category as the Mini. The Proto Rail PMR sells for around $450 and Planet Eclipse Etek3 is selling for $475-$599 depending on if you go with the all metal model or the composite.

The Mini stacks up very well to markers such as those and with a price so much lower, almost half in the case of the Etek3 AM, it's a great bargin. I bought my first Mini this year and was very surprised with the performance. I expected it to be a better paintball gun than the Spyder Pilot I was replacing but I didn't expect it to perform as well as it has so far.

To date I have had no maintenace issue with my Invert Mini and it shoots like a champ. I have had the opportunity to shoot some much more expensive paintball guns owned by friends of mine and I would say that the Mini shoots just as quiet and as accurate as the Egos and Dye Matrix markers I have shot in the past. In fact, the accuaracy of my Invert Mini was the most surprising thing.

When I bought my Mini I set aside some extra money to buy the Cocker barrel back for my Freak Barrel Kit so I could use it with my Mini. So far I have not felt compelled to spend that money. The stock barrel shoots the paint I buy at my local field (Allstar and Nightmare) in a nice tight grouping very consistently. I have also put a few thousand rounds of cheap walmart paint through it shooting in my brothers back yard and again it was very accurate and consistant.

If you are thinking of buying a Mini I would say go for it. You won't be disappointed. Below is my review of the gun and the hard parts it ships with. I will try to be as unbiased as possible so you can make an informed decision if you are thinking of buying a Mini.

The Gun
I bought the Invert Mini Limited Edition Blue with Flame. As far as looks go, I would rate it very high. If you like the Mini's form factor you'll love this gun.

The Barrel
As I said above, I was fully expecting to upgrade the stock barrel right away. I haven't done so yet because I don't really feel like anything I could buy aftermarket would be an improvement. The stock barrel is shooting very accurately with the paint I commonly use. I might buy the Freak barrel back if/when I get to field where I have to use some other paint that doesn't shoot as well.

Also, I haven't found an aftermarket barrel I think looks good on this mini. I thought about possibly buying a blue Dye Ultralite barrel to match my mini as best I could, but honestly, it would look as good as the stock barrel. If the stock barrel wasn't shooting so well I would replace it in heartbeat because I'm far more worried about performance over looks...but if it's shooting great, hey, why not worry about how it looks when you're eliminating people?? :-)

Trigger
I saw a lot of reviews from people saying that the stock trigger on the Invert Mini has some slop to it and they were right. It's not really that bad and don't believe it should slow down your shooting much, if any. If your playing in one of the ramping modes you're probably not going to notice it anyway.

Board
The stock board has most or all of the modes and setting your will find on many stock boards. The one draw back is that it's not as easy to program as some with led displays. To change modes and setting on the Invert Mini you have to unscrew the plate and foregrip which is where the board and battery are housed and press a button that is directly on the board. Matching the color and number pulses of the light attached to the board you can see what mode you are currently in also set it. It's not too hard to get the hang of it but I don't care for having to remove a screw to changes modes. It's only a minor annoyance though and it's certainly not deal breaker. however, I will probably be looking to upgrade the board at some point in the future.

Feed Neck
The feed neck isn't top notch. It's not bad and it's better than some feed necks I've owned, but the sizing is a bit funny with Dye Rotor and the clamp arm is bit sloppy if not screwed down. I got it caught several times on my bag and jersery and I'm afraid one of these times I'm going to bend or break it.

Grips
The grips feel great and have a nice looking design on them. There are also a lot of aftermarket grips available if you want to pimp your gun.