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View Full Version : Empire Prophecy review.


DriverJ
04-29-2009, 09:20 PM
I remember my first experience with a powered loader. The ViewLoader Quantum, a small loader with an "agitating" system. I would've rather shot a gravity fed loader, and I did after using the Quantum for that matter. From there I moved on and tried my luck with a ViewLoader egg2. The only comparison I can think of is a the Quantum was like a Geo Metro and moving up to the egg2 was like driving a Chevy Malibu... a bit more stylish, a bit faster, but still not the best weapon. I was introduced to the V35 Halo by a friend and detested the eye system it was nothing but a pain... then came the sport model of the halo the Empire Reloader B and B2, much better reliability. Up until just last year when I discovered the awkwardly shaped magna I used the B2, only switching to a magna last fall at World Cup. The magna with its RF transmitter chip was insanely fast, and reliable.
Unfortunately for the Magna the Dye Rotor was consistent around 20 BPS and had tool less tear down, but Empire wasn't about to sit around and let Dye win the war...Empire answered Dye's attack with a brutal onslaught from the Prophecy. The Prophecy is nothing short of astounding. Empire has put together a list of features that every hard core player demands.
While slightly larger in body size than its Halo and Magna brethren, the Prophecy makes up for this with a greatly increased capacity (about 1.5 pods). This is excellent for both players playing big games and tournaments as those extra balls can really make the difference on the battle field.
This however is where the fooling around ends and Empire declares all out war on the Dye Rotor. The Prophecy is a tool less tear down and can be taken down and reassembled quickly in the event the loader internals get dirty. The Prophecy is powered by 4 AA batteries and controlled by either sound activation or RF transmission much like the Magna. The magnetic clutch system is more advanced and refined than the Magna tuned nicely from the factory. In both RF and Sound activation modes the Prophecy screams! In a quick test with factory settings on my SL8R I was able to achieve a stead flow of 29 BPS (overkill, and mind you the SL8R was not tuned for maximum speed, but max efficiency and to be gentle on paint).
The Prophecy's lid is very wide and easy to fill. The lower profile feedneck is perfect for those shooting an Etek or Ego and makes a nice tight profile on top of the marker.
Reliability is definitely there on the Prophecy (unlike many of the Rotors I have seen on the field jamming, throwing paint out of their speed feeds or just out right failing in "less than ideal" conditions. The weekend I chose for my test would have killed most other loaders. I was signed up to play in the Vicious Race-2 Three series and the opening event was on one of the rainiest days I've seen in a long time. We were slated for the first match Sunday morning, and just before we hit the field down came the rain, as if the gods had said we are going to make the Prophecy surrender! But surrender it did not. After dives through deep muddy puddles, hard down pours and the pressures of tournament play the Prophecy kept my hungry Ego9 fed never lapsing or jamming, not even taking a second for a breath. It continued to dole out balls until the day was done. I can hands down say the Prophecy will be my loader of choice for years to come. Anyone who is looking for the maximum performance, and reliability from their loader should get a Prophecy.

Ghillie_55
05-03-2009, 08:23 PM
Very nice post! I learned a few things there!

DriverJ
05-04-2009, 11:06 PM
Very nice post! I learned a few things there!

Thanks.

If anyone has any questions about the Prophecy feel free to ask.

mny_bgz14
05-21-2009, 08:46 PM
i have one and i think its the best loader ive owned the sound activation is adjustable and the rf is nice to have the only downfall i dont like is how the shell was put together it takes so long to line the back of the shell up and the board and all that stuff is hard to put in as well but i do like how it looks like the halo just alot lower on your gun the speedfeed system it has is great as well i got one before i even got the loader and i get maybe two or three balls that come out and the rip drive comes stock and isnt a POS like the halo rip drive wheels its smaller and alot more resilient so hard turns and everything. this will be my loader of choice for a while i am still going to get a rotor just for a good back up hopper and so i can see for myself how it is. my only downfall on the rotor is not having the rip drive. thats my review

Havoc
05-21-2009, 09:09 PM
Not to sidetrack but the Rotor has anti-jam. Almost the same cause I hope you don't play on dead batteries ;) Nice review though! I would have gotten a prophecy if I didn't already have a Rotor.

DriverJ
05-22-2009, 10:52 AM
Not to sidetrack but the Rotor has anti-jam. Almost the same cause I hope you don't play on dead batteries ;) Nice review though! I would have gotten a prophecy if I didn't already have a Rotor.

It does indeed have the "anti-jam" trigger/switch, but that has not stopped it from jamming, and I have seen plenty of times rotors jam that can not be cleared using the trigger.
Lets keep this on the topic of the prophecy and not make it a vs. thread.

mny_bgz14
05-22-2009, 12:52 PM
i am quite fond of the adjustability the prophecy has as well as the ability to change noses by pushing two little buttons on the top and bottom of the shell. the feedneck is nice too it takes a beating

Jaron
08-05-2009, 01:04 PM
Just picked up a Prophecy the other day to replace my Eggy ( I HATE that thing. ) My teammates love their Magnas, but I they were a little back heavy to me. So I decided on the bigger brother. Couple questions, since I'm still pretty new to force-fed loaders:

1 ) What are the pros/cons to running the Prophecy on two 9V batteries versus four AA's?

2 ) Is there any noticeable advantage to running an RF sync chip instead of just the sound activation?

3 ) Has anyone tried to mess with the magnetic clutch or tried different magnet distribution patterns? Does it make a difference?

I usually use mid-grade paint, Weapons Grade, Elixir, Blaze, etc, that runs .687 - .693 in size. The RoF on my E-Mag is set to 14 bps and I fire in hyper/rebound mode ( pull and release. )

Thank you for the review!

DriverJ
08-05-2009, 04:29 PM
1 ) What are the pros/cons to running the Prophecy on two 9V batteries versus four AA's?

I haven't heard of any at all, but have not tried it out myself. Since it runs on 4 AA's I believe thats the same weight as 2 9v's. You can try a single 9v connected I've heard that works, but again have never personally tested the theory.


2 ) Is there any noticeable advantage to running an RF sync chip instead of just the sound activation?

Sound activation is just a touch slower, and may not work as well on some quieter markers. The RF activation is a bit quicker to respond, but nothing insanely noticeable. The RF should be turned off if you aren't using an RF chip in your marker though. I've noticed that when not turned off and on a marker that does not have an RF transmitter installed I pickup the RF signal from team mates who are within range, and makes it no longer go on sound activation.

3 ) Has anyone tried to mess with the magnetic clutch or tried different magnet distribution patterns? Does it make a difference?

I usually use mid-grade paint, Weapons Grade, Elixir, Blaze, etc, that runs .687 - .693 in size. The RoF on my E-Mag is set to 14 bps and I fire in hyper/rebound mode ( pull and release. )

The stock mag clutch should be fine with that type of paint. I've shot everything from low-grade bt to extremely high grade (brittle) evil and had no issues with the loader damaging the paint.

Thank you for the review!

my answers are above in blue. Not a problem on the review. I think its important to share that kind of information with our fellow players.

Jaron
08-05-2009, 04:37 PM
Thank you! I guess the advantage of 9V over AA is so you can use the same batteries in your loader as your marker. And I don't think sound activation will be a problem with an E-Mag.

Jaron
08-06-2009, 10:34 AM
Found some info regarding the batteries. According to WARPIG, using four AA's may only give you 6V, but it's also giving almost twice the watt-hours, meaning it's more energy dense.

C Bomb
08-07-2009, 03:01 PM
Definitely good info to have when deciding which to use.

Jaron
08-07-2009, 03:14 PM
Just got mine in today. I wish I was playing this weekend to put it through its paces.

DUFF MUFFIN
08-09-2009, 07:23 PM
just used mine for it's 12th or so case, still no problems!

tblack
08-09-2009, 08:13 PM
I have a Dye that is running a constant 26-28 bps. Those that dont just need to make an easy tweak and they will as well. But when you get up in that area all you are going to do is bonus ball someone anyway. Do you get that out of a prophecy? You said 29 but that is a rare one in that case. Most, about the same as a Dye. Also have you played in the rain with it. I have with my Dye, in fact, completely submerged it in water to insure that video I saw was correct. Indeed it was. Battery life is outstanding as well. Got about the same as the Prophecy. On 3 AA batteries, not 4. As far as sound, I don't even hear my Dye until its out of paint. What about the prophecy? The materials that my Dye is made of are clearly better. Where is the bases that the Prophecy is better? Because it has a huge attachment making it hold more? And tool less assembly. Clearly the Dye owns this.

When I compare them straight up. I don't draw the same conclusion. But the Prophecy is an outstanding hopper.

Nice write up. But in the end. Its preference.

Nix
08-09-2009, 10:15 PM
The both are good hoppers, but the main difference is the option to tweak the Prophecy to your liking. Some may say it is not as simple as the Rotor (just one button on/off). The Prophecy has all kinds of settings you can change AND an RF option which syncs nicely to an EGO.

Reading through many forums including PBnation many people report not being able to get rotors of 20bps. If I am spending 150 on a hopper I want it to feed faster than 20 BPS (Just my opinion)
In any event it is all preference. If you like simple go with the Rotor if you like to tweak go with the Proph.

tblack
08-09-2009, 10:50 PM
Didn't you tweak your Rotor Nix.

Yeah, its all preference. I in no means am bashing the Prophecy.

Nix
08-09-2009, 10:55 PM
I did, but I want a Hopper that doesn't require me to tear it apart and bend tension arms for it to shoot over 20BPS.

war dawg
01-15-2011, 10:11 PM
Hey I thought the huge selling point of the dye rotor was its loading rate of 50 bps out of the box. From my understanding that is only if you bend some tension bars.

Zeus314
01-15-2011, 11:06 PM
Excellent hopper, i have one throned up on the ego and it owns my rotor. the rotor is great and very fast but jams alot more than my prophecy. i love the magna clutch so gentle on the brittle tourney stuff but is able to manhandle the walmart stuff and reballs. Empire kicked butt with the prophecy.

macleod
01-16-2011, 01:11 AM
I like my prophecy with 2 exceptions. #1- as said it's a pain in the butt to reassemble and #2 - I have now broken the feed neck twice:(

DriverJ
03-02-2011, 05:57 PM
I like my prophecy with 2 exceptions. #1- as said it's a pain in the butt to reassemble and #2 - I have now broken the feed neck twice:(

I think it was a pain until I learned it better, it got easier the more I've opened it up.
I've only broken the feedneck on 1 of my prophs, and I've used it much more than the Halo's I've had and I went through several shells on my Halos.

war dawg
03-31-2011, 12:54 PM
So far I love my prophecy. I even was able to find the all alusive red color kits that kee stoped making. Aparently they are making a new hopper that was seen on several of the guns of the Empire sponsored teams. The thing looks like a giant ducks bill.