I sat on my bedroom floor one day, looking at my preset Angel Air, and thought: “wow… this is a boring tank”. Let’s spend a bunch of dollas on a new tank! So, it happened.
Macdev, as many may know is an Australian company, with minimal US dealers. At the time I bought it (July 2005) there was ONE store that even knew what a Conquest was, that being SakWorld. Called em up, they were asses, AND they didn’t have my tank in stock. “That’s OK”, I thought. I already have two 68/4500’s so I’ll just get a new reg and replace my AA reg (black reg + black tank = secks) SakWorld didn’t have that either… so I called Macdev and got a reg direct from them. Before shipping, it was 315 bucks. Three. One. Five. Ouch.
But they were nice people. A week or so later I got the reg and I had my pro shop uninstall my AA reg and put the Conquest on my AA tank. The finished was on the counter for 15 seconds and people already started to oggle. It is very hot.
I took it home and read the instructions, which are well written. The front cap spins to adjust output pressure, the more you turn it clockwise the higher the pressure gets. This can only be turned when the lever in the center of the front cap is extended, which means the air is off. This lever takes a lot of force to push down if the output is above 400, and when you turn the tank off, GET YOUR FINGERS OUT OF IT’S WAY. It snaps back with enough force to break your finger, especially at high outputs. I set mine to 300 and I loaded up some reballs. No real improvement was perceived while I was shooting over my presets, but if there had been any improvement those would have to be BAD regs. A few months later I got a chronograph, and with the right settings I can be shooting in the 278-280 range pretty comfortably, with a few outliers of course. This is not due fully to the Conquest, but alongside my STD LPR and my CP HPR it produces a very consistent machine.
It flows like no other. I can set my gun to max ramp with no paint, and there is no drop off even in the low 30s (cps). This is no small feat, at least with my gun. I have never had any problems AT ALL with my Conquest, even though it’s a year and a half old. Maintenance is simply unscrewing the adjustment cap and pulling out the thingy-ma-bob under there and greasing the two o-rings. This can be done while it’s aired up. The fill nipple has a filter in it, so dirty air or dusty playing conditions will never worry you. There’s only one burst disc, and it’s LP. This can raise eye brows at some shops, but unless they are really anal they’ll fill it.
The big draw for adjustable is the versatility; being able to use one tank on many guns. Who even cares anymore? Every marker worth its salt has an HPR so it doesn’t matter what the input from the tank is. Macdev discontinued the Conquest for the 06 season, mostly because there’s a poor market for adjustable now. Which is a pity, because I firmly believe this is the best tank reg on the planet.
Pros
– Flow
– Consistency
– Looks
– Versatility
– Reliability
Cons
– Price, but they can be had for cheaper nowadays
– Availability
– Relevance
