Advice Needed (Paintball Related)

[MMATM]

I don't know if anyone on here is into paintball, and if they are into paintball I don't know if they are into speedball, and if they are into speedball I don't know if they're into competitive speedball, and so forth...

Basically I'm in the National Collegiate Paintball Association and we compete in NCPA events. This means that I'm in some pretty heavy competition, but mostly on a budget (unless you're UConn with a $20K yearly budget from your school). Our team receives about $100-200 per year from our school, and so we pay almost everything out of pocket. As such, I bought one of my teammates' old markers last spring (a Dye DM4 with Redz barrel kit and new ASA and solenoid) and a cheap ViewLoader eVLution loader this summer, and was all good to go. Somehow (read: I fucked up) the solenoid shat the bed this year and conveniently Dye is moving on to its DM7 and DM8 markers, leaving service for the four-year-old DM4 practically unavailable. That's enough backstory. My question is this:

Do I buy a new marker, or do I repair the DM4 and hope it doesn't have any more issues until I have the money to buy a new high-end marker? Right now I'm looking at 4 markers. Two are in the "possible Christmas gift from the whole extended family" price range, and two are in the "possible gift from God" price range. They are:

- Proto Matrix Rail - PMR, $349.95 or $549.90 with UL frame
- Etek Ego, $675.00
- Planet Eclipse 2008 Ego, $1,250.00
- Dye DM8 $1,399.95

So do I cough up the 80 bucks or so for parts, then pray I can get someone to install it for free/cheap and that the marker doesn't go down again before I've saved enough to get something better, or do I just buy or ask for one of the markers above? Right now I'm leaning towards repairing the DM4 and asking for some new equipment for Christmas, since nothing is as expensive as a marker and it'd be a shame to lose the one I just bought in the spring.

Anyone who has any experience shooting any of the markers I've listed, especially those who can compare them to the DM4, I would be most grateful if you'd share your opinions.

And for those of you who don't paintball: Yes, it is a disastrously expensive sport. Even the pros don't play for the money, since winnings are usually not enough to cover costs without bigtime sponsorships.

[dispatch]

I've never played anywhere near your level, but I would start by asking around locally to see if anyone knows a good airsmith who would be up to the job of repairing the DM4. I live in Omaha and there's a shop here owned by an airsmith whose eyes light up anytime someone mentions having a broken marker because he and his employees spend the slow days refurbishing old markers and making custom drop forwards, etc

[MMATM]

I should mention the custom drop forwards to one of my teammates. He's big on the Limited Edition: 1 of 1 stuff. Even his mask is custom dyed.

I know one guy who's been in paintball equipment repair for years. He now runs our home field here in MA. I'll have to get in touch with him sometime after I get the new parts. He's a good guy, and since he's kind of sponsoring our team he'll likely do the work for cheap, or even free, which would be awesome.

And don't start thinking I'm very good at paintball, since the requirements to get into the NCPA are basically only that you must be able to play legally, and must belong to a collegiate club/team. Some of the guys we played against weren't even students at their respective schools, but alumni or dropouts. Since my DM was busted, I got the thankless role of cameraman for our last tournament. That basically meant I got shot but couldn't shoot back for about ten games.