XSV Vlocity Review
By Chris DeForge
The Viewloader Vlocity loader is a force fed, motor driven loader that quickly came to rival the HALO in terms of feed rate and use by professional tournament teams. Currently, the Vlocity has a wide selection of accessories, including colored and wide mouth shell kits, speedfeeds, and aftermarket chips by big name companies that boast faster feed rates and better battery usage. Viewloader responded in turn by releasing the XSV Vlocity, endorsed by the professional and then Viewloader sponsored Sacramento XSV.
The XSV Vlocity does come with noticeable improvements over the Vlocity. At the core, the loader still operates like a normal Vlocity where the loader uses eyes to feed and uses motor tension to put force on the ball stack. The amount of force the motor exerts is adjustable by the user for both different field conditions, ball shell quality, and battery consumption.
The XSV ups the ante by using a different propeller, the “clockspring” propeller, to push the balls into the raceway. This piece has three flexible prongs to push the paint, unlike the hard plastic of the normal Vlocity. The XSV has five different feeding modes and comes stock with a the wide-mouth shells. It also features an angled lid, similar to the Vlocity Junior, as opposed to the nearly horizontal lid on normal Vlocities. Unlike the Junior though, the XSV has a “full” paint carrying capacity with an advertised 180 ball capacity.
With an advertised marker feeding rate of 27 balls per second, there are bound to be complications with lower quality paint. The flexible paddles are gentler on the paint and less likely to cause a messy catastrophe in the raceway. In addition, the XSV has an automatic anti-jam feature. When the clockspring propeller encounters an excessive amount of force, it automatically spins in the opposite direction, relieving strain on the ball stack and kicking the bad ball away.
Perhaps the best feature of the XSV Vlocity are the rechargeable Lithium batteries it comes with. Vlocities run on 9 volt batteries, and tournament level players know that the loader requires name brand and expensive batteries in order to get peak performance and reliability. The XSV has two rechargeable batteries that not only have an advertised longer life in the loader, but can obviously be recharged over and over again. The XSV package includes a base charger for use in an outlet along with a car charger in case the batteries need to be changed on the road. The lithium batteries can be recharged 1,000 times and Viewloader reports that their batteries are .4 ounces lighter than standard Alkaline batteries. There’s no longer any excuse for not having fresh batteries in your loader.
Packaged in a slick looking box, the XSV Vlocity is an awesome tournament level loader. With a sticker sheet, rechargeable batteries, two rechargers, the widemouth kit, and longer battery life, the XSV leaves the essential operation of the loader alone while improving on the important aspects of a tournament loader. Over the 2008 season the XSV may be harder to find, as XSV is no longer sponsored by Viewloade. As a result, Viewloader has incorporated some of these successful upgrades into their latest Viewloader release, the Dynasty Vlocity. Still, the XSV remains a great deal for the money and might be found for cheaper than before as a result of the sponsorship changes. As of the time this artickle was written, the XSV Vlocity still appears in the 2008 JT Sports catalog (available at http://www.jtusa.com/images/downloads/08_jt_sports.pdf). It can currently be purchased for around 110 dollars on many online retail outlets.
