Budget Knock Offs!!!

[CARBr6]

I know that everyone talks about airsoft having a massive affect on the size of your bank balance, so in an attempt to counter that affect, does anyone know of any company that makes a Warrior DCS knock-off for under £100 (as if it's more than £100 then I may as well just buy a Warrior DCS)

I'm asking this as Airsoft is one hobby amongst many, the money has to spread evenly (and I can tell you, Guitars, Pedals, and Amps are not cheap!), and also I am only likely to being playing once every couple of months or so, (if I was guaranteed to be weekly then I would understand the investment)

I just really really like the look of the Warrior DCS.

(p.s. I'm also looking at the Safariland knock-off holsters that Funbar Bundy sells if anyone has advice on those, but I have asked that on another post)

 

[Prisce]

Look for one second hand, there are a few sites that sell them second hand and usually cheaper than £100.

 

[proffrink]

Agreed - look for second hand. Decent gear will last for a long time.

 

[Dentonboy]

Thirded. Second hand is where you want to go. Some very good plate carriers on eBay for your budget fella.

 

[TheFull9]

Yep, sales and classifieds.  Most common new player mistake by far is ending up buying utterly turd gear made of chinese used bubble gum direct from a retailer when they could've had some quality stuff for £2.50 more (or often, actually less) by digging around.

This place and zero-in have classifieds chocked with stuff, there's ebay as mentioned and check all the airsoft/militaria/kit sales groups on facbook.

 

[Ninjacabbage]

I've been using this plate carrier for the past couple of months,is pretty similar to a DCS:

https://www.weapon762.com/plate-carrier/137-tmc-modular-defender-plate-carrier.html#/62-color-foilage_green

If if you can't find a second hand pc or one in camo/colour you want I would definitely recommend the tmc brand.  

Have been abusing mine and its held up great, quality material and the molle is strong and I'm not worried about it popping like other repro molle. Sure I'll get sum flack for suggesting non-milspec gear but I think its definitely fit for purpose and by far the best quality "knock off"

hope this helps 

 

[Georgeturner2001]

I wanted something that looked like a DCS but was on a budget so I went for a 8fields first responder plate carrier and it's been pretty decent so far and hasnt let me down, thinking about getting a DCS though.

View attachment 25635

 

[CARBr6]

@Ninjacabbage thanks that's great. Looks ideal. 

Although ideally I want Velcro on the back too. But I'll certainly keep that in mind. 

Ive seen the Condor Gunner PC but no one has it in stock. 

 

[TheFull9]

I've been using this plate carrier for the past couple of months,is pretty similar to a DCS:

https://www.weapon762.com/plate-carrier/137-tmc-modular-defender-plate-carrier.html#/62-color-foilage_green

In so far as it's a plate carrier with PALS on the outside (traits almost all PCs share), otherwise those are not actually anything alike.

Speaking generally here; let me lay down a simple fact based on many years of experience.  Almost universally everybody buys a generic chinese brand off ebay or 8fields, Viper, Condor, TMC, you name it.  Then they upgrade within a fairly short space of time; for any one multitude of reasons.  Either comfort, inferior stitching failing or just wanting that higher level of gear.  Again almost universally that initial £40-60 purchase gets binned and the investment is lost entirely because it holds no re-sale value and the people who buy this 'beginner' gear aren't generally looking in the classifieds anyway.  They're going straight to retailers because they aren't ware there's another option.

Some of the really cheap gear holds up, there's no arguing that, sometimes you do get lucky.  But then again, a fair amount doesn't and the stitching pops 1st or 2nd or 3rd game.  If you base your opinion of something from these cheaper brands on 1 or 2 people online saying it's good, you entirely fail to take in to account the very low (if any) rate of QA checking employed in the manufacture of said products.  It's a gamble, has been since this sort of thing started to proliferate and always will be.  Now if you are on a tight budget which is entirely understandable and want to choose to gamble on the real cheap stuff, that's entirely your decision, but my opinion formed on a lot of evidence is that if you're on a budget gambling on cheaper kit makes, if anything, far less sense.  If I only had a pound to my name I'm buying tesco value noodles, not a scratch card (to take it to an  extreme).  I've said this same thing in many many guises over the years, very rarely listened to but almost always proven correct.  It is what it is.

 

[Lozart]

^^^^^^ He's right you know.

 

[CARBr6]

Dammit.

I know you're right, I was just trying to stop myself from spending £150 on a Plate Carrier.

Looks like I'll be hitting the credit card pretty soon on a Warrior DCS, unless a black one appears in any of the second hand places in the next month or so.

 

[Lozart]

Dammit.

I know you're right, I was just trying to stop myself from spending £150 on a Plate Carrier.

Looks like I'll be hitting the credit card pretty soon on a Warrior DCS, unless a black one appears in any of the second hand places in the next month or so.

I bought my WAS 901 rig secondhand and much as I would love to be able to justify buying something else three years of airsofting has barely even made it dirty. 

Buy cheap, buy twice (at least).

 

[Lozart]

Dammit.

I know you're right, I was just trying to stop myself from spending £150 on a Plate Carrier.

Looks like I'll be hitting the credit card pretty soon on a Warrior DCS, unless a black one appears in any of the second hand places in the next month or so.

How about one of these: http://www.military1st.co.uk/mopc-002-condor-operator-plate-carrier-black.html

Not complete junk but cheaper than WAS.

 

[CARBr6]

Speaking generally here; let me lay down a simple fact based on many years of experience.  Almost universally everybody buys a generic chinese brand off ebay or 8fields, Viper, Condor, TMC, you name it.  Then they upgrade within a fairly short space of time; for any one multitude of reasons.

I was looking at Condor, but ^^^^

 

[Lozart]

I was looking at Condor, but ^^^^

I have a Condor Battle Belt and while it's not in the same league as WAS etc it's miles better than a lot of the really cheap stuff. It's a more of a middle ground kind of company, they're really not bad. Horses for courses though - if you play once a week and give your kit a hard time then you will find that Condor stuff might let you down but let's be honest, it's not like you need this kit to save your life is it? The REALLY cheap stuff like Emerson, TMC, 8Fields IS garbage but if that's what your budget extends to then fine. If you CAN afford a genuine Crye CPC then happy days but we're not actually deploying to the sand box in this gear so there comes a point where you usually have to compromise. Buy the best kit you can justify but you don't have to go mad!

 

[TheFull9]

From what I've seen of Condor (I've owned a couple of bits in the past and I pick up lots of their stuff any time I'm in a shop or at an expo) their material selection, stitch alignment, stitches per inch, rate of bar-tacking, overlapping and overall reinforcement and design was barely any better than the really, really cheap stuff.  So I never personally recommend it to people, especially when you can get mil surp webbing and the like that's absolutely bomb proof for far less money; or again just take the time scouring all the classifieds/ebay/FB.

It's hardly like UK Tac are the only option either, you can get even better stuff than WAS for less money:

http://www.tactical-kit.co.uk/grey-ghost-gear-minimalist-plate-carrier-18258-p.asp

http://www.tactical-kit.co.uk/tactical-tailor-plate-carrier-modular-22001-7050-p.asp

If we're talking about not deploying in gear, you don't need hard plates to save your life from BBs so look at chest rigs and belts instead; all the same carrying capability in the real world but far less complocated to produce and hence generally cheaper.

https://www.flecktarn.co.uk/odtmb2nx.html

https://www.flecktarn.co.uk/sdtav1nx.html

https://www.flecktarn.co.uk/sdtmb1nx.html

Just went through the entire Vests section on Mil1st, wouldn't recommend 95% of it, either very poorly made or over-priced for what it is.  Couple of 5.11 bits that would be ok, Flyye is built better than Condor usually and a couple of the items aren't insanely priced, but when you can get Warrior, BULLE or Tac Tailor for the same (or far less) money, none of it really makes any sense.  I've no doubt there's a metric sh*t ton of gear from there that's floating around the airsoft world, but you can get higher quality for less money if you just look around more.

 

[Prisce]

eBay currently has a lot of issue osprey job lots that might take your fancy, have a good perusal before spending the hard stuff.

 

[CARBr6]

eBay currently has a lot of issue osprey job lots that might take your fancy, have a good perusal before spending the hard stuff.

Thanks. I've looked and so far all I can see is lots of Multicam stuff and some Tan gear.

Ideally I am looking for Black.

 

[djben9]

if your desperate for WAS, hang on and see if any bank hol deals come out, usually have 20% off, sometimes more, some times less......but it helps the pain!

i got my 901 chest rig and back panel 2yrs ago in the bank hol sales.....never let em down

 

[TMC]

On the subject of knockoffs, the only company I'd use that makes replicas is Flyye.

Why?

They do alot of copies of eagle gear, and I've compared it against the real deal and it's at the same par, if not higher quality. Well worth it.