Gunboat Diplomat

Hmm... interesting. Be interested to see what they respond with. I've been hovering over these for a while, but if there is a revised version in the offing then I will wait longer.

Everyone in this thread (self included) is working diligently to set their retirement further and further back. Unless airsoft toys become an appreciating asset.

Just seen this update, good idea, I’ll drop you a PM. The irony of starting a thread to track Airsoft spending leading directly into more airsoft spending does not escape me.

Software QA / automation. Was in demand a couple of years ago, but I think the affect of higher interest rates drying up the liquidity in the tech world means there is less to go round, so most houses would rather spend on development than QA. Doesn't help when out of work developers are taking test automation roles - I can't compete with their skills yet! Expect you have made the right choice. I did something similar some time ago, took a very hefty pay cut to go from being a hardware engineer to software. Certainly paid off financially but far less satisfying. If I'm going to royally screw something up, I prefer to use tools to do it rather than a keyboard. AI tooling is going to make it much harder to stand out soon I think, various LLMs are producing solid (if not production ready) code already. Ah splendid, much obliged. At least if I stock up now I'll have enough to play with if I end up on the job hunt next year! You've probably saved me £££s!

Ouch. I've been looking for a good few months now (thankfully still gainfully employed but have some doubts over longevity next year) but the market has seemingly tanked compared to a couple of years ago for my line of work. Where did you get these? That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. That is a very healthy haul of goodies. I've had a look at Action's boneyard a few times and it's either empty or anything decent has already gone. I think I know who the culprit is now.

Yep a few places seem to be doing it with 3 extra mags for £575. Puts it squarely in MWS territory, but you're getting an equivalent of 240 rounds of total field-able capacity vs 140 on the MWS with the same number of mags. I realise they are very different propositions, but it's still airsoft toys at the end of the day.

That’s a good point, I certainly want to maintain that bias. I’m guilty of having a few hobbies where the time and money spent sourcing kit has far exceeded that spent on actually using it. I’ve got some truly egregious examples from cycling that, thankfully since this an airsoft forum, I don’t need to document.

So as 2023’s airsofting is over I thought I’d embark on the masochistic ritual of tallying up the year’s expenditure. We only started in May this year, but it’s quickly ascended to being a primary hobby with an outlay to match. I’ll preface this by pointing out this is for two as I’m covering me and my son, so you could reasonably expect to halve this for a single player. Overall, perhaps unsurprisingly, I’ve spent more than I thought over the year, but I’m still happy with the deal I get for time out with the boy doing something we both enjoy. There’s also chunk of discretionary spend in here. Things like the Hi-Capa, optics and some other addons were birthday presents for the boy. In effect that money was going to be spent regardless, if not on airsoft then some other interest or hobby. Wearables could have been far higher I suspect. He already has a full compliment of MTP gear from cadets and I just wear a mix of sports wear and black combats. Most of this spend has been on face-pro and carriers. If I was going to go down the full cosplay loadout route I expect this would be much higher. As it is I’m happy with my current I-Use-This-For-DIY-&-Decorating Terrain Pattern loadout. The weapon upgrades were entirely unnecessary. Certainly nice to have but not made a huge practical difference game to game. Both AEGs got motor upgrades, plus a new hop unit, bucking and nub for my M4 and a MOSFET for his G36. No regrets, I like to tinker but I doubt I could claim its changed the course of any battles. Biggest waste of money were two pairs of surplus Revision Bullet Ant goggles. They were bulky, uncomfortable and constantly fogged up. Replaced with Bolle Trackers for £8 a pair and they’ve been perfect. Best buy has been my Bulle chest rig from Flecktarn. Super cheap, super comfy, exceptionally well made and makes a vast difference to a game day. I think my number one recommendation to new players after weapons and face protection is some kind of carrier. Two AEGs and a pistol for a shade over £400 seems like a sensible spend for the year. Too soon to speak for the Hi-Capa as it’s new, but my Double Eagle and his Cyma have chewed through around 10,000 rounds each without complaint. Being sensible, 2024 could be much cheaper. We don’t need any more gear and if I bulk buy some BBs the ammo expenditure should be reasonable. However we’ve both got GBBRs on our list of interest so in reality it’s probably going to be another expensive year. I regret nothing.

Perun AB++? I have one in my son's G36 wired to the microswitch. As far as I'm aware it's the only Perun with a debouncing feature so is suitable for microswitches.

Wildly off topic, but I spend a lot of time wondering what I’d like to do instead of my current job and I think I’ve just found a contender. Mmmm pies….

They look like a nail-gun with a stock, but that only makes me want one more.

Good that you got to try a few out, the handling and general feel is probably as big a distinction between one AEG and another as much as raw spec differences. Nothing like father-and-son toys for Xmas day! Have a good one.

Got an initial review for us @JimFromHorsham? I see you nabbed one in the 'What have you bought?' thread. My wallet is fast reaching the event-horizon of a GBBR purchase. MWS is my obvious choice, but these are an interesting left-field option and the 60rd mags are a big plus.

Your wife throws a grenade through the door of the shoe shop before rushing in and shooting all the mannequins?

If you’re looking at the higher level Specnas, note that its only the Edge 2.0 models that come with a proper Gate Aster mosfet (this gives you all the nice features like active braking, pre-cocking, programmability etc). These start around the £250ish mark. The standard Edge models have an X-ASR, which is essentially nothing more than an electronic trigger contact. It has no extra features or configurable options. They come in some nice bodies but arguably aren’t going to perform any better than the £90 Flex that Fire-Support are selling. My choice when I had this dilemma earlier this year was the Double Eagle M906C. It has their Falcon mosfet in it. Not as advanced as the Specna’s Gate Aster, but it is programmable and has all the features I need. Its been rock solid over many games and thousands of rounds fired. I bought it thinking I’d upgrade to something better, but its dawned on me that in AEG terms at least there aren’t many more gains to be made. This and the rest of Double Eagle’s Falcon equipped models all hover around the £180-£200 mark. Would definitely shortlist them next to the Specnas. PPE wise, you’ll prob have to experiment a bit. The revelation for me were Revision Anti Fog wipes. I now use relatively cheap and comfortable Bolle eyepro, these would normally steam up very easily but the Revision wipes keep 90% of it at bay.