Today, we are comparing the battle of the 2 titans of the high end paintball markers on the market.  The Luxe family of markers has always been a favorite and the Geo R5 is one of the smoothest shooting markers available right now.  Check out our full breakdown of each of these and which one we prefer! 

Check out our YouTube Video Comparison!!

Alright guys, here we are with the Luxe Idol and the Geo R5.  The Luxe Idol has been a phenomenal marker and we have definitely loved our Luxes throughout the history of Punishers PB.  In fact, Joel the owner still has his own personal anno Luxe TM40.  It's treated me well throughout the years.

So this is probably two of the most popular markers out there besides maybe the Planet Eclipse CS3.  So let's get right into it!  First thing, we are in the $1600 price point of markers.  So what do we get for that pricing? 

Packaging:

Overall, both of these markers offer great packaging.  With the Luxe Idol case, you get a larger hefty case.  It's not lightweight but does offer quite a bit of compartments for stuff.  There is a total space for 6 freak XL inserts (or other inserts of your choice if you have a different barrel than stock).  It's a little cumbersome of a case but we appreciate where DLX went with the design.  You have a separate gun case inside of your gun case to actually keep the marker protected.  Theoretically you could just take that gun case if you're want to downsize for the day and only shoot one barrel size or something like that.  On the other side, there is another case which contains the separate slots for your barrel sock, lube, allen keys, and more.  You could even store a second marker in there if you wanted. Lots of different options when it comes to the Luxe Idol case.  It is very modular if you will.

If you've ever watched any of our videos, you know we love the new Planet Eclipse case offered with the Geo R5.  The elastic carry handle is nice and the case does not dent.  Opening up the case, there is space for a total of five PWR inserts if you want to build a barrel kit with the Geo R5.  The center flap offers storage for your manual, barrel cover, and to keep items from falling out when the flap is secured with it's elastic strap.  The packaging of the Planet Eclipse case also offers a full size color manual (no longer contains the full layout of parts; have to go to the interactive online module which can be a pain at the paintball field) and a labeled parts kit which kind of separates it from the Luxe Idol.  

So with that said, we like that DLX has improved the Idol case from the older TM40 case but overall we have to pick the Geo R5 when it comes to packaging.  The Planet Eclipse case is more intuitive for use while the Idol case is more modular if you are picky about keeping things organized. This is one of the closest comparisons to a casing that we've had honestly but the smaller size of the Planet Eclipse Geo R5 case along with the fact that the R5 case has a carry handle is a game changer.  Funny to mention, the Shocker Era case comes with a built-in carry handle..

Barrel: 

Next up we've got we're going to talk about the barrel between the two markers.  The Geo R5 offers the 14.5 inch three-piece barrel system of the S63 barrel. You get a 7-8 inch control bore and FL rubber sleeve which adds a little portion of customizability.  

With the Luxe barrel, you get a luxe threaded 14 inch Freak XL barrel that comes with 2 inserts (large bore is 0.688 and small bore is either 0.680 or 0.684).  The Luxe Idol Freak XL Barrel no longer offers an opening to see what color insert you had without having to take the barrel out. Now you do actually have to unscrew it and take a look at it in order to see what you're working with.  It does keep the color scheme more on point but is more difficult to quickly identify what bore size insert is in the marker.  

Overall, we feel that the Luxe Idol's freak barrel is more attractive and points better. It's also a true 14 inch barrel whereas the S63 barrel is 14.5 inches long. However, we chose the S63 barrel of the Geo R5 due to having a longer control bore along with having an anchored insert that can be used without a barrel tip instead of the Freak XL insert which would fly out.  We actually saw this in last year's NXL World Cup finals when Paintball Fit's snake player core sampled his barrel and had to take his tip off in order to shoot. 

Feedneck:

Okay next up we're talking about feedneck. So the feed neck on the Planet Eclipse marker does have this really nice thumb wheel and nice lever and it comes off the marker extremely easy which that's definitely a big plus compared to the Luxe. I mean functionality wise with the Luxe Idol's feedneck, you still got a nice lever,  a nice thumb wheel.  It does not come out of the body as easily because you have to take the whole thing apart and unscrew it right from the threads of the body of the Idol.

Overall, the Q- lock on the Luxe is nice because it's a little bit lower profile and it just seems to have a better profile. 

Eye System:

The Geo R5 offers the reflective system of the Deftek breech system.  Basically you just pull down on the grip, remove that, and then you're going to pop off the reflective portion of the R5 eyes.  It's very easy to clean this reflector by simply wiping it off and replacing it back in to place.  With the Luxe Idol, you do get the magnetic eye covers that can be removed without tools.  The Idol still uses a ribbon style eye system that is more fragile of a system then the Geo R5.  The ribbon eyes of the Idol are more prone to ripping which requires the user to replace them. For this reason, we definitely like the eye system of the Geo R5 compared to the Luxe Idol ribbon eyes.  One last thing we would like to mention regarding the eyes is that both the R5 and Idol has no cables between the trigger frame and body of marker to make disassembly much quicker and easier.  

Battery changing:

The Luxe Idol uses a rechargeable battery which has made some major improvements in location of charging port and connection compared to the Luxe Tm40.  There is now a metal plate on the back of the trigger frame which comes off and utilizes a USB-C style charging cord.  The battery stays charged for quite some time if left in "low power mode" and is a pretty good system for a rechargeable battery. 

The Geo R5 uses 2 AA batteries which are located in the foregrip of the marker which can be accessed by simply pulling down on the foregip.

Between the rechargeable battery of the Idol and 2 AA batteries of the Geo R5, we prefer the Geo R5 because it's much easier to replace then to recharge, especially when at the paintball field.  

Trigger:

I'm not crazy about either one of these triggers to be 100% honest with you. I actually really like the way the Luxe did the trigger for the Luxe Idol, but I'm going to probably pick the Geo R5.  It's a 5 way adjustable trigger as compared to the 4 way adjustable of the Luxe Idol.  So adjusted the angle of the trigger shoe face is possible with the Geo R5 where it is not with the Luxe Idol.  

Board/Programming:

Luxe really hit it out of the park with the new larger OLED screen that they made for the Idol.  It's reminiscent of the Dye M3+ which had a big fat screen on the side.  The way it functions is simple and uses the trigger and power button to cycle through settings.  The board talks to you to tell you what the current settings are and you can see the settings on the screen. 

The Geo R5 MME OLED board uses 3 buttons on the back to cycle through your settings and does not use the trigger at all.  

One thing that is nice about the R5 board is that it's more simple because you can scroll either way.  If you make a mistake as you're scrolling through for my options for the Luxe I got to go all the way back through.  Whereas with the R5 if I scroll down one too far oh okay I hit the top button and scroll up. So for that, even though the screen is nicer on the Idol, I completely will subscribe to that I like the functionality better on the Geo R5.  Another thing we've noticed with the Luxe Idol is as you're programming and you pull the trigger there's a slight delay to change to the next setting which is how you end up missing one cuz you're like "Oh did it not register?" and then you click it again then twice.  

The last thing to mention about the boards of these 2 markers is that the Luxe Idol does offer more firing modes for recreational players compared to the Planet Eclipse Geo.  However, the Geo R5 has many different settings that is nice when it comes to timing and different hardware options.

ASA: 

The Luxe Idol ASA offers some new design compared to the Luxe Tm40.  It now has a stainless steel lever that extends a full 180 degrees.  The flip lever design has become a staple of Luxe markers.  On the Geo R5, the POPS ASA is a tried and true system which is easy to disengage and engage your air source.  Overall, from the functionality service perspective, the Luxe screws and parts are smaller and more intricate compared to the POPS ASA.  

Ergonomics: 

The ergonomics of these 2 markers are significantly different.  The Geo R5 is a larger gun and weighs more than the Luxe Idol.  The Luxe Idol is fully aluminum so it can be harder to hold than the rubber grips of the Geo.  Weight wise, the Luxe Idol comes in at around 1 pound 14 ounces while the Geo R5 is 1 pound 15.9 ounces.  So overall, if you like a larger, longer gun the Geo R5 would be the pick while the Luxe is a more compact lighter marker.  

Maintenance: 

When it comes to maintenance, one nice feature of Planet Eclipse Geo R5 is that almost all the o-rings are 70 durometer which makes maintenance simple.  The Geo R5 and Luxe Idol also both come with quick release bolt systems and easy-to-maintain regulators.  A nice feature of the Luxe Idol is the pro lock frame which allows for toolless removal of the trigger frame which the Geo R5 does not have.  This makes stripping the Luxe Idol and cleaning much more streamlined.  With the Geo R5, it has easier to clean eyes and does not have a multitude of different types of o-rings like the Luxe Idol.  

When it comes to the day-to-day maintenance of the marker, we think the Luxe Idol is actually a little easier to maintenance.  If you're only lubing your marker, the Luxe Idol bolt system is very simple to lube and the Max flo regulator (which has a very large reg seat) is very simplistic to maintenance.  Taking the Luxe apart is just quicker compared to the Geo R5, so that's where we think the advantage is for Luxe on maintenance.  

Build Quality/Reliability: 

Planet Eclipse has always been known for having some of the best build quality and reliability of any paintball gun manufacturer.  The Geo R5 is no exception to that, but is definitely a more finicky marker than the CS3.  With that said, DLX does have a history of not having the best quality control.  The Luxe Idol has now been out for around a year now and after working out some initial kinks, we feel the Luxe Idol has been proven to be pretty reliable.  So, we have to split this in half.  

From a reliability perspective, we are picking the Luxe Idol due to it's better reliability in colder weather.  The Geo R5 has shown to be a little touchy in cold weather (having to adjust the SFR's) compared to the Idol thriving in cold temperatures.  The Luxe Idol is pretty notorious for being one of the best cold weather markers there is. We have personally been told by our customers that  "I'm grabbing my Luxe today because it's cold out."  We do not see a lot of issues with the Idol or Geo R5 when it comes to leaking or issues with electronics.  Overall, the electronics/board on the R5 definitely seems to be more robust than the Idol but we have not come across many customers who have had failed boards from DLX.

When it comes to build quality, we are going to pick the Geo R5.  The R5 has been shown to have great quality electronics, solenoid, etc.  Out of the box, there have been a couple of issues with the Luxe Idol including weird situations where the board on the Luxe would not charge.  So we reset the board and that fixed the issue.  

Tech Support:

Next up, we're going to talk about tech support that DLX and Planet Eclipse provide. One thing that we love that Planet Eclipse does is they have a network of master techs that get sent to regional events.  Whether it's X-ball events or scenario events in the Midwest, most events there is a Planet Eclipse booth.  That cannot be said for DLX.  DLX has definitely stepped up their game this year as far as making sure that they are at some of the more regional events. However, we are at a lot of events every year and see more Planet Eclipse support booths than DLX.

Another thing to note is that we have heard from customers that Planet Eclipse overall is easier to reach when not at events than DLX.  Some customers have had great experience with both companies, but seems like Planet Eclipse support for recreational players is a little stronger than with DLX.  On our side, we have great relationships with both companies and they do a great job of repairing markers when we cannot.  

Upgradability: 

Last but not least before we talk about the shooting of both these markers, we're going to talk about upgradability. The Geo R5 is autococker thread so that is an advantage if you want to change your barrel system.  The Luxe Idol is Luxe thread which is quicker to unscrew but harder to find barrels to fit it.   There's a couple different triggers that you can get from Infamous for the Geo R5 as well as with the Luxe Idol.  Bolt system wise, you can get the twister Reflex bolt system for the Geo R5 and you can get the method bolt for the Luxe Idol.  There is no mech frame option for the Geo R5 while you can get a Luxe Idol mech frame.  So upgradability ultimately is going to the Luxe Idol due to the mech capability compared to the Geo R5.  To go even further, we feel the Luxe Idol may be the best mech on the market because of the pro-lock frame of the Idol which allows players to toollessly switch to mechanical play whereas every other electro marker has to use screws to switch to a mech frame (Planet Eclipse CS3, Gtek 180R, Dye DSR+ and even the Shocker Era)!

Shot Quality: 

Alrighty guys, we decided to shoot some DXS Bronze paint for the shooting portion of the video comparison we did.  Overall, the Geo R5 was less consistent over the chrono but we found the Geo R5 to have a quieter and smoother shot compared to the Luxe Idol.  Doug felt the actual feedback of the Idol wasn't that different from the Geo R5 but the R5 definitely had more of a softer spool style shot while the Idol was snappier.  Doug chose the Luxe Idol because it felt better in his hands while shooting while Joel chose the Geo R5 because it was quieter and "poofier" of a shot.  

Efficiency: 

The Luxe Idol wins in this compartment.  In our testing, we found the Idol to get around 1800 shots from a Ninja SL2 77/4500 fill while the Geo R5 got around 1700 shots with the brass SFR.  Also to note, the R5 was consistently more efficient with the brass SFR versus the stainless steel SFR.  

Paint Handling: 

When considering paint handling between the two, if we have to choose we are picking the Geo.  The Planet markers just seem to be slightly better when it comes to paint handling. They seem to shoot brittle paint extremely well but that is a very subjective observation.  Be sure to check out our brittle paint tests on both the Geo R5 and the Luxe Idol: 

Value / Our Choice:

The price point of the Luxe Idol is at $1599.95 while the Geo R5 is at $1649.95.  So the Geo R5 is slightly more expensive than the Luxe Idol.  So for the difference of $50 what do you get?  You get a nicer case, more efficient marker, shot is a little bit up to your preference with the Geo. The Luxe Idol offers a smaller, lightweight marker with the pro-lock frame for easier mechanical conversion.  The Luxe also has a large OLED screen and is more efficient than the Geo R5.  At face value, the Luxe Idol is the better gun for the better features and performance capabilities. The Geo R5 does have a much quieter and smoother shot.  It is a larger marker which might be preferable to some people.  Overall, we like the way the Geo R5 shoots and feels in the hands better than the Luxe Idol.  

Both of these markers are great in their own way, so determining which is better for you depends on the characteristics of both the Idol and R5.