Planet Eclipse SL74 Aurora - Black with Aurora Parts

The lightest All-Aluminum gun on the Planet?

Last year the SL Series pushed the boundaries of the Ego6 platform to the very limits. This year the SL74 moves the already impressive and heavily featured Ego7 platform to an all-new level.

More than just a milling job like most other "custom" markers out there, the SL74 incorporates new technology, advancements and optioning that cannot be found on other Ego7s. That is not to say there is no milling on this latest SL. Quite the opposite, in fact, with extensive weight reduction in nearly all major and minor components helping to produce the lightest, most compact Ego yet. Weighing in, fully loaded with 14"barrel, OOPS, Battery, ready to go, at a staggeringly low 859g or 1.89lb, we believe that the SL74 holds the crown for the lightest ever all-aluminum paintball gun. And what people said couldn't be done, we have done, making the SL74 100g/3.5oz lighter than the already featherweight Ego7.

Internally the SL74 sees the inclusion of a second high-capacity, swivel QEV in the forward position. This not only allows the SL74 to cycle even faster than the already super-fast Ego7, but also helps lower the operating pressure and the solenoid Dwell time to levels far lower than those of the Ego7. In order to be able to shoe-horn in the extra QEV a new high-flow, filtered minifold is attached to the direct-acting solenoid valve.
More interestingly, the duel QEVs now supply a completely new rammer system. Still using the unique body-integrated sleeve design of the Ego7, the SL utilizes an all-new rammer shaft and rammer cap, and is called the Zick, or "Zero-Kick" Kit. The design of the Zick Kit offer two very important improvements over the previous design of Rammer and has been in development and testing for the past few months. The key areas of improvement are, reduced kick, and a more gentle acceleration of paintball in the breech. The way the Zick Kit works is by providing a reduced driving force to the rammer and bolt over the first few millimeters of travel on the extension stroke, and then using the same mechanism as a pneumatic damping system on the return stroke. By doing this the bolts initial acceleration is lower, and hence the force on the paintball is lower, during the start of the travel, and then increases once the bolt has started to move. This means the bolt can be far more gentle on the paint as it pushes it through the breech into the barrel. On the return stroke the rear of the rammer uses the same parts to create an "air cushion" to retard the speed of the rammer in a controlled manner rather than just stopping it by smacking it into a bumper.

Overall result? The Zick Kit allows you to shoot even more fragile paint with even fewer problems, and in the process produces less kick to keep those ropes of paint even more on target.

Internally, or rather, in your SL74 box, you will also find an extra Valve Guide. No, it's not just a spare. Take a look and you'll see that the one inside the gun and the one inside the box are slightly different to each other. Players often request one of 2 things. They either want to shoot really low pressure to shoot really fragile paint, or they want to be able to shoot the maximum possible number of shots from a tank. Until now you were often forced into making the choice between two different guns in order to be able to achieve this. Now, the SL offers you the choice in one gun with a simple swap-out, drop-in part, and it's included as standard with the marker. Pop in the HP valve guide to run slightly higher in-line pressure, but gain extra shot per tank, or fit the LP valve guide to shoot super-fragile paint. But don't be scared, even with the LP guide fitted, which offers an operating pressure of an incredibly low 180psi at tournament velocities, you can expect 1500+ shots from a 68/45 system. Hardly the end of the world. The HP guide takes this already decent shot-count even higher.

Next we took a look at the regulators. In order to further improve accuracy and cyclic performance the SL74 has completely re-worked regulators. The LPR has a more robust body seal to prevent any cross-contamination of the HP and LP air, as well as introducing an aluminum LPR piston constructed of super-strong 7000 Series Aluminum and industrial hard anodizing. This lightweight piston helps improve shot-to-shot consistency and response time of the LPR. Both crucial in maintaining high rates of fire and velocity consistency.

The HPR In-Line reg has seen an even greater re-design. Gone are the Bellville spring stack, and in comes a precision ground coil spring. The combination of new aluminum hard anodized piston, coil spring and regulator seal make this the best performing reg ever produced by Eclipse. More accurate output, finer velocity adjustment, more consistent output, faster recharge rate and higher flow. Everything about regulator performance that can be improved has been improved. And of course, because this is the SL, we have done it in a smaller and lighter package to boot.

As we have lightened up almost every component of the SL74 over the Ego7, it became apparent that to maintain the near-perfect balance that players have come to expect from the Ego range we needed to lighten up the front of the SL. In order to get back that balance we have produced a custom Shaft SL Series barrel kit that comes complete with every SL. Three back sizes and two tip lengths produce the perfect set for matching to everything from training to premium grade paints and even Reballs. The light-weight design makes it one of the lightest all-aluminum kits ever produced, and the full set is color-coded to match every gun.

On the electronics front the SL74 also debuts a couple of new features. There is the use of Viz-Eyes, for example, something that has been often requested in the past. The visible red light illuminating the breech not only looks cool, but offers an immediate way of telling if the transmitter of the eyes are up and runnin'. In addition to these there is now an integrated expansion port fitted to every SL74 board. This Expansion port allows the addition of such devices as beepers and RF transmitters, or any future external applications that may be required. The unique color and graphics of the SL board make it easy to identify its origins.

No new Ego would not be complete without a new trigger, and the SL74 is no different. The swoosh design found on the Ego7 has been exaggerated to provide a more natural feel and help achieve and maintain faster strings. And in order to add more protection to the trigger mechanism and stop ingress of paint and debris to the trigger pivot system, the pivot pin and roller bearings are now completely encapsulated inside the frame. This really helps prevent sticky trigger action after receiving direct gun shots that are not meticulously cleaned off. Of course we haven't taken away the duel trigger sensors, and you will still find the unique micro-switch AND opto-switch mounted to the board.
So, with an even fuller list of features, lighter weight, less kick, lower pressure (or higher shot count), faster operation, increased consistency and even gentler on paint the SL74 is ready to take its place at the pinnacle of this sport.

 Unique SL74 Features