Big Dragon Tracer Silencer

[Asteriz1977]

LINK: http://www.acmgear.com/dragon-tracer-unit-p-1438.html

WATCH THE VIDEO!!!
Tracer Unit ACMGEAR.COM - YouTube

In the real world, Tracer ammunition (tracers) are bullets that are built with a small pyrotechnic charge in their base. Ignited by the burning powder, the pyrotechnic composition burns very brightly, making the projectile visible to the naked eye. This enables the shooter to follow the bullet trajectory in order to make aiming corrections.
When used, tracers are usually loaded as every fifth round in machine gun belts, referred to as four-to-one tracer. Platoon and squad leaders will sometimes load their magazines entirely with tracers to mark targets for their soldiers to fire on. Tracers are also sometimes placed two or three rounds from the bottom of magazines to alert the shooter that their weapon is almost empty.
Tracer rounds may also ignite flammable substances on contact from a nominal distance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracer_rounds



Obviously, some of the above does not apply to airsoft, but tracers are still useful (and fun). They can be used in night games, inside houses, low light time of day, etc. They actually are very visible, you don’t need full night to see them, surprisingly. While they look cooler the darker it is, they are useful much before needing flashlights in a game.

How does an airsoft tracer work? The tracer BBs are special BBs made of fluorescent material, much like some toys or your watch: they absorb light and then emit it for some time. You can test this with a flashlight, or even daylight.

The Big Dragon Tracer Unit is a mock silencer (-14 mm thread), made of metal, that you screw onto your barrel (it works with any type of gun: electric, gas o spring cocking).

Unscrew the tube from the attachment system to reveal the interior: in the front you will find a 4 AAA batteries (included) that power the unit. You also get 50 fluorescent BBs to try it out.

Hidden and protected by a clear plastic tube are the tracer unit’s working parts: at the entrance is a light barrier (like on chronos) that detects a BB coming through and sends a signal to the flash housed in the front, so that it emits a short but strong beam of light, as the BBs pass through. The special BBs (I use Madbull, but any will do) absorb the light and glow as they fly out to your target. To prevent accidentally wasting battery, there’s a switch at the bottom.

If you are shooting in a very dark enviroment, the light coming from the tracer’s flash will come outside and kinda look like the muzzle flash from a real firearm.
You can of course shoot in semi or auto.

It weighs less than 200 grams (7 ounces) and is 143 milimeters long, making it usable on both rifles and pistols.
Built quality is top notch: nothing even dares to move around, creak or else. There are bad reports about the Jing Gong’s version (QC and all that). But mine is holding up like a champ and performing beatifuly.

Price is OK: 36 $ + 6 $ for shipping, which is a steal.

[Jimski]

my review: stopped working after roughly the third or fourth time I took it out.
My guess is that some component blew.

[coach]

Originally Posted by Jimski

my review: stopped working after roughly the third or fourth time I took it out.
My guess is that some component blew.

Ditto. It sucks. Mine failed as well. Intermittently fires the strobe and have attempted to trace the bad connection but have a feeling it's one of the components. I did a review of this and compared to a TM 2nd gen and the BBB tracer unit. Should be on ASC somewhere.

[horto]

why not just buy a bb bastard tracer unit?

[Jimski]

crap I had no idea they sold units.
It looks eaxctly the same, I wonder if the components are better.
Anyway I bought the outrageously expensive TM one just to see if it lasts longer than the clones.

[coach]

In my tear down of all 3, the TM was far superior but the BBB unit was better than the JG/Big Dragon. I'll try to dig up some pics later.

[Rainer]

I've owned both the TM and Big Dragon tracer unit. The TM is by far superior I've owned the second gen TM tracer unit for 4 years no issues at all. You want quality you pay for quality.

[Metalsynth]

I was looking into getting a tracer unit next year.

Guess my insticts were correct in wanting to go toward the Madbull or TM.

Like they say : Buy cheap, buy twice!

[coach]

Stick to the 2nd gen TM or BBB. Both are good. Get which ever is the better deal as BBB sometimes bundles with tracer rounds.

I have 2 x 1st gen and 1 x 2nd gen TM, the BBB and the JG/CrapDragon. All work except the crap dragon.

I am going to try and shove a 1st gen into the crappy one for fun

[mack_silent]

What a pile of sh-t the big dragon tracer unit is.
I bought one, put less than 50 rounds through it and it doesn't work anymore.
DO NOT BUY THIS BRAND OF TRACER!

[Jimski]

last week at the game a friend of mine showed up with his BD and it promptly stopped working, after showing troubles lighting the BBs for a while.
CRAP.
Later I'll post pics of the inside of the BD and the TM, so you'll see the difference.

[coach]

Originally Posted by Jimski

Later I'll post pics of the inside of the BD and the TM, so you'll see the difference.

I thought I had a thread on these already. I compared the BD/JG to the TM Gen 2 and BBB tracer units.

NOTE: I am assuming that the BD and JG are similar even though there are slight differences. Another reason is that they are at the same price point. Take from this as much or as little as you wish

Caveat: This was only an initial/preliminary review.

On the exterior, these 3 units are essentially identical with slight differences in the textured area. I didn't get a clear shot of the switches but they are all slightly different too. Overall length and design is the same.



Can you tell which one is which?

The 3 units are JG, TM and BBB. I gave in and decided to finally cut open the TM unit to get a good look at the internals. (Ya, ya. Just voided the warranty hahaha) The TM unit comes with a sticker around the inner section which I didn't think to take a picture of.



Can you tell the difference here?

Okay, looks like there's a difference in one's their internal components but again, they are almost built the same. Just one uses 2 smaller capacitors instead of 1 slightly larger.

Left:TM Middle:BBB Right:JG

The white tape that covers the tube on the TM appears whiter than the other two. Both the TM and BBB were about 1cm short of the end of the tube while the JG went to the end. There is a small blemish on the BBB near where the battery separator sits and on a large one on the JG just above the bottom of the battery compartment.



The solder joints on the JG are pretty sloppy but the TM and BBB seem to be on par. The JG's wiring is pretty shoddy too. You might notice one red wire where the insulation is partially removed and makes poor use of the attached heat shrink.



TM



BBB



JG



All 3 units have their flash tube attached by a small clip, but the TM and BBB units have a glob of hot glue to keep it in place. The JG is a bit loose.

Overall, the components on the TM and BBB unit are pretty good and solid. The TM does do away with excess amounts of wire and seem to cut their component wires to appropriate lengths. The TM unit also has an added round of tape to secure everything to eliminate any internal movement.





notice the pinched wire on the JG?


I cannot draw any conclusions other than the JG unit is a $40 piece of crap.

[mack_silent]

Good job on the review. It shows the no-name tracers are a complete waste of money and will break easily.

[sushicake]

I have one of these jg tracers bought it 4 years ago and litterally beat to shit and it still works fired over 20000+ rounds through it.

[coach]

Originally Posted by sushicake

I have one of these jg tracers bought it 4 years ago and litterally beat to shit and it still works fired over 20000+ rounds through it.

You are an exception.

Of the ones I have seen, there are very very few that last more than 1000 rounds.