Reviews
The Critical Paintball On/Off ASA
By Dale Ford
Jul 10, 2007, 21:53

Rat's Dark Shocker with the Critical ASA

Critical Paintball's Jon-Paul Fortunati is a busy man, updating his product line to reflect the new equipment coming online from the major marker manufacturers, and responding to the changing wants and needs of players. 

The On/Off ASA incorporates some of the features from their "Diet" ASA, such as the front port for the air fitting, which narrows the profile of the part and keeps the air fitting from hitting the player's wrist while he plays.  New to the table with the On/Off ASA is the option to use the ASA as either a direct mount or a rail mount, in case the end user wants to mount the ASA to something other than directly to the grip frame of his marker.  

The on/off feature of an ASA can be achieved several different ways.  For their on/off, Critical Paintball chose to use a half-turn knob to turn the air supply on and off to your marker.   The knob is a stylish 'Iron Cross' type of design, and it's made so that the knob itself can be replaced so a player can mix and match colors and styles, such as a star or spade shape, to compliment how a player wants to express himself on-field.

Critical Paintball sent along an ASA in dust black, which we mounted to Review Crew Member Rat's Dark Shocker.  Joel, "Rat", is primarily a front player, often finding himself contorted into odd positions while trying to take advantage of a snake or dorito on the field.  As such, he's a bit rougher on his gear than most, and our initial impression of the Critical On/Off was that it was a robust piece.  Anodizing was flawless, and we used a variety of air systems from Nitro Duck, CenterFlag Products, and Guerilla Air to power his marker during testing.  In every case the threading for the air systems worked smoothly and without any damage to the o-ring on the regulator.

photo courtesy of Critical Paintball

Over the course of several tournament team practices and competing in the Southern Paintball Championship Series (SPCS) tournaments, the ASA never missed a beat, with no leaks from the on/off portion of the part, which is normally where problems with an ASA would occur, and it seemed to soak up the abuse Rat inflicted upon it without any issues cropping up. 

Priced at an MSRP of $55, the Critical On/Off ASA is priced comparatively with other manufacturer's products, but with the option to either direct mount or rail mount, along with its' reliable leak-free on/off, the Critical part goes that extra step to giving players what they want.   For more information, check out www.criticalpaintball.com