Hello everyone, today we are here we've got the best high-end paintball loaders of 2026. There are a total of six different loaders that we are comparing today: HK Army TFX 3, JT Triad, Carbon DRV, Bunkerkings CTRL 2, and Virtue Spire 5.
When it comes to price, we decided to include anything that was $175 and up. The JT Triad is at that price point and is the cheapest in this comparison. The DRV loader is the most expensive coming in at $299.95.
Dye R2 Loader:
So, with that said, we're going to start with the Dye R2 loader. The Dye R2 loader has been out on the market for a long time and it's got some cool features to it. First and foremost, you can get quick feeds for the Dye R-2 and it's a nice quick feed which is very simple to pop the speed feed on and off, but it is not included in the price point. So, you are spending somewhere between $190 to $215 for the loader before the speedfeed. The Dye R2 does have some stylish designs such as the Ironman, Russian Legion, and DyeCam colorways. But, you are going to be spending extra money with the quick feed.
Another nice feature that Dye did with the R2 is the fact that you can extend your capacity with the R2 loader. So there is a tab on the back side of it that goes left and right and for different reasons. But if you go left with it, you can lift and actually expand the capacity of the Dye R2 loader all the way to 260 paintballs as compared to the 200 balls when the shell is collapsed. And then disassembly on this is definitely a little bit more challenging compared to disassembly of some of the other loaders on the market.
For complete disassembly, you are going to move the tab at the back of the loader to the right. That will remove the top of the R2 which exposes the two red tabs which have to be moved in order to access the funnel, batteries, and motor. There's about four or five different moving parts on the inside of the Dye R2 whereas some of the other high end loaders are strictly a tray containing all elements of function (tray, batteries, motor, sensors, board, etc). So disassembly on this is definitely, in my opinion, a con to the R2. Some other pros include the overall feed rate. So, the feed rate on the R2 loader is high! We have seen people who can feed 20-30 BPS with it. For that reason, it's used a lot upon the mechanical paintball side of things. It does feed based upon tension, so it builds tension in the drive stack giving it the high rates of fire.
HK Army TFX 3 - $179.95:
Okay, so next up, we've got the HK Army TFX3 loader which is going to come in at a price point of right around $180 for the TFX3. It is offered in a bunch of different colors as well and once again, has some pretty cool features. It does come with a speed feed already installed, which is a nice value add for the TFX3. It is a 180 round capacity, but can actually size up to 230 rounds using the included expander. You also do do get a rain lid with it, which is a nice touch and opening the spring-loaded speed feed is a pretty easy thing to do. The HK TFX 3 is going to be an eye sensing mechanism for feeding and the overall profile of the loader is pretty small and sleek. It has a similar profile of the Spire loaders.
Disassembly of the TFX 3 is not too difficult. You're just going to lift the tab by the lid and press a tab on the back of the loader to release the top half of the shell. On the inside, you do have the kind of like a spring ramp design similar to the virtue loader. The tray contains all of the portions of the loader which makes cleaning easy. It is a rechargeable battery that is USB-C to plug that in. Overall charge is pretty good on the TFX3 as far as how long it lasts. And it is an eye mechanism similar to the Spire IR2 or the Bunker King's control loader. This type of sensor is a pretty tried and true mechanism when it comes to that.
There's a lot of nice features when considering the TFX 3. Overall, we have had some customers that have had really good experiences and we've had customers that have had issues with reliability with the TFX3 and I think that but I will say this I think everything that you're getting it is definitely a possible nice value option when it comes to the high-end loaders for the TFX3.
JT Triad - $175:
The JT Triad had a lot of drama associated with it when it was first released. There was the version 1 which had quite a few issues including overall battery charge, feeding issues, etc. That was quite some time ago. Since then, JT has pulled it from the market and corrected the issues since the first version. So we now have the version 2 which has fixed all those issues and it comes in at a really good price point at $175. First impressions of the Triad is that it's a larger loader. It is longer, thinner and decently heavy. It has a larger paintball carrying capacity of 215 paintballs. Overall, we like the way that the Triad looks and how it fits on markers. The JT Triad also comes with a built-in speedfeed along with a rain lid that you can simply push off and click back in to place when it's rainy or muddy. It's really simple to get the rain lid on and off for the Triad. Opening it up is pretty simple for disassembly. So, there's a yellow tab on the inside. You're just going to push that down and then press a button on the inside of the shell to remove the Triad top tray. It comes with a spring ramp as well which is a high-end option. The feeding tray is magnetic, so it is easily removable when you need to change batteries or clean the inside.
The Triad's offers 2 sensing mechanisms for feeding paintballs. First, it has an eye system and also has a vibration sensing mechanism. So, you are going to get that dual sense technology, which out of all these loaders, I think the only other one that does that is the Virtue Spire 5. So, that is a premium feature with the Triad.
Another nice distinguishing factor of the Triad is the high feeding rates for mechanical play. We have seen rates of fire of up to 20-25 BPS with the JT loader.
Overall, JT has fixed the majority of the issues with this loader. The biggest con in our opinion is the size and weight of the Triad. Other than that, you get a built-in speedfeed, spring ramp, and dual sensing technologies for a better price than most of these other electronic loaders.
Carbon DRV - $299.95:
Next up, we have the Carbon DRV loader. This is the newest loader out of all these loaders and this is also going to be the most expensive loader. So what do you get for the extra expense? Well, first and foremost, you actually get a molded case, which is a nice touch. It is going to retail at a price point of $299.95 with around 8-10 different color options. The DRV has a lot of new interesting features to it. So, first and foremost, aesthetically, it's a little bit different than the rest of the loaders. It is missing this bottom portion here which Carbon explained to me is that there is no functionality for the front bottomportion. So, they took it away for weight reduction purposes. It does come with the speed feed similar to pretty much all these other loaders except for I think pretty much the Dye R2.
The DRV is going to open very similar with 2 tabs behind the loader. You're going to open it up and then it does have a hinge mechanism similar to the Spire 5 that opens. You've got your tray on the inside which has the spring ramp. Overall capacity of the DRV is right around 200 paintballs. The DRV is the only loader in this collection that offers an OLED screen. So, when you turn it on, you do get live information on what's going on with the loader. That is a nice premium feature with the Carbon DRV and you can actually adjust your overall feed rate with it or feed sensitivity. So, if you want the highest rate of feed sensitivity, you are going to be able to do that. It does have a game timer, which is a nice feature if you are using a mechanical marker that doesn't have a game timer, you can do it from the loader which is a nice premium feature.
The DRV offers a rechargeable battery. Carbon is saying a total of right around 30,000 shots before you need to recharge it. It uses a USB-C port which makes it easy to find charging cables. Overall, the tray mechanism is nice. It's consolidated. Everything is there. The shell is plastic. So once again, it is going to be very simple to maintenance that, clean it. Um the shell is made out of a nylon material that is going to be very durable and it has a metal feed neck. So any chance of having a shell that cracks kind of dissipates out of the consideration for the drive loader. So the drive is definitely going to offer some nice features. The pros there are going to be the OLED screen, molded case, and high rates of fire. Cons to the DRV loader is the high price point and no expandable capacity. So you are going to get ust that 200 round capacity. At this point, we are unsure if Carbon is planning on doing a top shell that's larger.
BunkerKings CTRL 2:
This is definitely one of the most popular high-end loaders on the market for good reason. It has the Bunker King/Virtue reliability that a lot of people tend to lean towards with the Virtue and Bunker Kings brand of loaders. It does come with a speedfeed and rain lid as well as a spring ramp with the CTRL 2 instead of having to spend money on upgrading these like you did with the original BK CTRL. The price point on this is going to be a little bit more on the affordable side of right around $200 to $235 depending upon what color you take.
Disassembly on the CTRL 2 is very simple. Tab on the back here just pop open. As far as the taking the tray off, just pull the tab right here and boom, everything is right there. All your tray and electronics is right there.
And then the bottom half, the bottom half of the uh bottom shell is right there. Another nice thing I'd like to mention before I forget about it is the fact that you it does come with a
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plus 20 top shell. So I believe overall capacity when you buy it is going to be 200 but you can buy separate top shelves plus 40 plus 60 plus 80 capacity with the top shelves which makes it a little bit more affordable. And then a few
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things that they did include with the control 2 compared to the control one is you do get the dual spring ramps here. So back portion here, front portion here to push everything into the drive cone. drive cone has been minimized there. So,
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there's no uh portion standing up here anymore. And they turn the motor uh vertic or I guess that'd be horizontal to fit into the drive cone. And they tout that it's supposed to help with overall uh feed consistency and feed
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rate. And um that's something that we'll talk about here in a second. And the cons. And then it is a eye mechanism system only. Um, which is similar to the Spire IR2 when it comes to the Virtue level of technology. Okay guys, so yeah,
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for $225, the Control 2 is definitely a good option. Uh, lots of people like the profile of it. It does stand relatively short on the loader or on the uh on your marker and it's a little bit wider to pick up that extra capacity. Uh,
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reliability on the Control 2 is going to be good. I think that's the majority of the reason why it's one of the most popular marker or loaders on the market is because it really never fails, which is a nice thing. Cons for the Control 2
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is that I think the overall build quality of the shell is a little bit less than say the Spy 5 or some of these other shells tend to be a little bit more durable. I have seen Control 2 shells crack around the feed neck before
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uh which is kind of a um discouragement. Um, I do like the fact that they move the battery to the back as compared to the bottom with the control one. I like the fact that you can get different capacities if you want different
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capacities and it's very simple to uh change out the top shell if you want to do that. Um, overall feed rate on the Control 2 is not going to be the best. You're only going to get somewhere between 12 to 15 balls per second max uh
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with the Control 2 when you actually put it on a loader. And um in our testing that's all we were able to get. Whereas you are going to get higher feed rates with the JT triad uh the the DR2 and the carbon DRV TFX. We haven't really done a
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lot of testing on how high feed rates are. Um now with that said, most people are only using these loaders in the uh speedball side of things. Um well, I mean they're using on scenario side of things, but on the speedball side of
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things when they're using it, they're only shooting 10 balls a second. and 10 balls a second, it will do consistently with no problems. Um, so that's something to keep in mind. Okay, last but not least, guys, we have the Virtue
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Spy 5. The Spy 5 is been released for probably about a year or two as well and is a little bit technically older than the Control 2, but has some nice features to it. Um, so let's get straight into it. So price point on the
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on the Spy 5, depending upon what color you choose, is going to be anywhere from like 200 205 all the way up to $265. They have a bunch of different varieties when it comes to the colors, which is a nice touch. I've got the camo here.
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You've got a black right there. We've got an entire uh display case that's got a bunch of different colors. 220 balls overall capacity on the Spy 5 profile on the Spy 5 is going to be really good. It's going to be kind of short here, um,
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but it's going to be a little bit longer to pick up that extra capacity. um side and you know it's definitely a wider than say the Triad or some of these other loaders um or even the um carbon DRV loader. It does have a hinge
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mechanism. Well, actually, let me touch on the speed feed real quick. It does come with the new crown SF3 speed feed as well as the rain lid and an extra finger for this. The speed feed is open uh opens easily.
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This pops open and clicks back into place. That's also a nice feature. And you can actually replace the fingers on the Spy 5 very simply in case you do have one that breaks. Opening the Spy 5 has a lock mechanism so that it's not
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once you're clicked in, if you try and press it, you actually have to pull it down to open up the hinge mechanism. It doesn't open as far as the new DRV loader, which I do like. That is a nice feature on the DRV loader. Um, and
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taking the tray out, in my opinion, is probably the favorite out of all these because it does have like an actual finger tab back here, which is nice. And then, uh, the tray does can hold all the electronics. The once again, you know,
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the this is all plastic, so everything electronic is right here. Um, nice part about this Py 5 is that it is dual sense technology. So, it has what's called an accelerometer to it, which is basically a vibration sensing mechanism. And then
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it also has the eye system similar to the control 2. So, you do get both those features on the Spy 5. Uh, popping the tray back in is very simple. And another thing I'd like to mention is that their Virtue and Charge can fit in the Spy 5,
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it can fit in the Control 2, and it can also fit in the DI R2, which is a nice feature. All right, guys. So, pros with the Spy 5 is probably the reliability behind the Spy 5. I've had a Spy 5 for probably about 2 years now. I can't
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think of one instance where I've ever had an issue with the Spy 5. The shell is a very uh solid shell. It seems a little bit more solid than say the Control 2. Um, but all the other shells seem to be kind of on the same plane
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level. Um, the Control 2 seems to be a little bit more flimsy. I like the profile of the Spy 5. I like the weight of the Spy 5. Um, but the main reason why a lot of people choose the Spy 5 is because of the overall reliability. Now,
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cons on the Spy 5. First and foremost, if you want a black Spy 5, you are going to be spending closer to that $300 price point of the DRV loader. Um, so that's number one. And the number two is just overall feed rate. So, going back to the
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feed rate thing, you won't see a lot of mechanical players or people that are trying to shoot very high rates of fire using the Spy 5, but you will see a lot of tournament players using the Spy 5 because one thing that does and does
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extremely well is feed that 10 balls a second. All right, guys. So, that was a complete mouthful, and I appreciate if you guys have stuck with me this entire way, that obviously means that you guys are probably in the market for one of
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these bad boys. You want to spend some some decent money on these loaders. There's really no bad option when it comes to these, but we are here to talk about which one we feel is the best for 2025. Um, so I think that a lot of these
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are featurerich. There's different features I like about every different loader here. I like the I actually like the mechanical uh shark fin of the DR2 and the fact that you can expand the capacity very easily with the Di R2.
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That is a nice feature. I also like the designs on the DR2 probably the best. the TFX3. I like the rechargeable battery. I like how small of a profile it is. Uh it has one of the better speed feeds if you ask me. Um and I like the
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fact that you can expand the capacity if you want to. Price point on the TFX3 is going to be one of the better price points on the market. So that is nice. Um TFX3 as well as the Triad is going to be um you know two of the cheaper
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options when it comes to these. And then the Triad. Triad. I like the fact that it does offer dual sense technology. And um cons for the Triad is just the size. And for me personally, it doesn't bother me too much, but I have had people make
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the comment to me that is larger. I'm a bigger guy, so it doesn't really tend to bother me as much. Um but I do like the dual sense technology and you can get extremely higher rates of fire with the Triad and it does have the rain lid. I'd
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say out of or the rainlet and the speed feed, but I would say out of all the different speed feeds, um this is probably the flimsiest uh of the speed feeds, the carbon DRV loader is still kind of like, you know, it's the
question mark on this comparison um just because we haven't had a lot of time to test it. It does have that nice speed feed. It does come with the rain lid as well as the charging. It has the molded case. It has the OLED screen. It does
high rates of fire very well. Um, and it does come in at also the highest price point. So, the con there would be the price point and probably the overall lack of uh colors. I I know that they are going to be releasing different
colors, but um so I will be curious to see what the reliability is there. And then the other con for me is the price point as well as um aesthetically I don't think it's the best looking loader, but to some people that might
matter, to other people it might not. Virtue Spy 5 tried and true definitely good reliability but con to the Spy 5 is going to be the price point as well as the overall feed rate on the Spy 5 is not going to be great. You're going to
average somewhere between probably 12 to 13 balls a second on top of a loader. So if you're trying to play mechanical, it's probably not the best option in this uh group of loaders. And then Control 2 is going to be cheaper than
the Spy 5 in some ways, but it only has one sensing technology with the eye system. Um, and so for me, for that, I don't believe that it's as good as the Spy 5. Um, but a lot of people like the profile of the Control 2. One thing I do
like about the Control 2, though, is how simple it is to take off that top shell and change the overall capacity. If you purchase the plus 40 or the plus 60 shell or the plus 80 shell, you can get a difference in capacity. And it's
easier to swap that than I would say even the die R2 between the 200 round capacity and 260 round capacity of the R2. So for that reason, for right now, I think your best value option out of this loader out of these loaders, I would say
is actually the JT triad. Uh coming in at 175, you do get the speed feed, you get the dual sense technology, you get the spring ramp. It is a larger loader. Um, but I think that they've fixed a lot of issues with the um feeding and all
that stuff and the battery capacity with this with the JT triad. For 175 bucks, you are getting a lot of the premium features that you do with the say the DRV or the Spy 5 or Control 2. Um, but you're not spending as much money there.
And then overall, just if if I had to pick one, I'm going to pick the Spy 5 when it comes to playing speedball. If I had to pick one um to go out and play recreationally, I'm going to try the DRV loader. Um and the reason I say that is
because you are going to get higher rates of fire and pretty much everything Carbon makes usually tends to last and uh quality control is there. And I like the extra, you know, the OLED screen for the game timer if I'm playing a big
game. And I like the high rates of firing and I like the case. Cody, >> yes, >> I've rambled a lot. What's your opinion on this if you had to pick one or two or >> if I had to pick one to actually spend
my money on a colored version of the Spy 5 at whatever it was like >> right now they're on sale for some of the colors are on sale $199.95 to 205. >> So there you go. You can almost It's almost the cheapest option but you get
the Spy 5 reliability. Now the coolest one is probably the DRV. Yeah. I mean, you get a screen, you get the case, you get I mean, the the high rates is the speed is ridiculous. >> The speed is ridiculous.
>> Yeah. For the money, I' i'd go with the Triad. I mean, it's 175 and it's I mean, you get the high-end, you get the the dual sensing. I'm pretty sure it's double A. Also, >> it is double A. It's three.
>> So, there you go. It's the same as your gun, >> and you get the speed feed and the RAID. >> Yeah, for sure. So yeah, I I agree with that, Cody. Um once again, I don't think you can go wrong with any of these
options. They all kind of have their things that make them unique, which is kudos to all these brands for in finding a way to make all these loaders unique because at the end of the day, you're feeding paintballs. So, how do you makethese things stand out from each other? Um so yeah, guys, there you guys have it. I really hope that you guys enjoy this video. Best paintball loaders of best high-end paintball loaders of 2025. Stay tuned. We're going to be doingother comparison videos, punishers pick videos on all these.
