Thank you so much! So how much in total am i looking to pay? For the rifle and rail?
no i dont mind getting it from anywhere else, just seems that Wolf is only a train away, and id rather pick it up than have to wait and potentially get damaged in the post! Could i pick up the real rail off ebay if i went with ARES? But by the looks of things ill go with ICS, As long as its Strong not wobbly and holds together and will last me a very long time, im fine with it. Please continue to post on this thread, i enjoy reading it. Gives me an insight into what im spending a lot of money on!
So on the ICS wheres the battery located incomparison to the ARES? How comes the Rail manages to fit it?
And what makes the ICS less authentic? Only the handGaurd? Or is it size? The metal used?
It's quite hard to explain all of it in any way other than how I have already.
First off, don't worry about things getting damaged in the post, I've bought and sold about 9 guns over the last year or so and never had anything arrive broken.
Both the rifles are solid with no wobbles, hold together well and will last a long time, though I'd say the ICS will probably last longer, my skirmish site use ICS brand rifles as hire guns and all will have had more than 1 million rounds through them over the last 5 - 10 years and they're still solid as a rock with only minor maintenance.
The ICS in my opinion, from experience is the better gun, it is more accurate, has better range and is easier to take apart if you want to upgrade internal parts. Wolf Armouries also have an enormous array of replacement parts in case anything breaks, which it won't for a seriously long time, but when it eventually does, years down the line, parts are easy as pie to come by and they're quite reasonably priced as well.
Although the ICS is less realistic in terms of replicating the real thing, you won't be able to tell 9 times out of 10 unless you've either extensively used the real L85, or owned the Ares one.
The Ares is only more realistic in three ways, one is the way the hand guard is attached, it's fastened on by the sling mount screw, whereas the ICS uses a quick detach button and slide system. In this case the Ares' realism is a bad thing, because it makes changing batteries a massive pain in the arse because you need to undo a screw and the hand guard doesn't slide off, it just comes off, meaning realigning it to put it back on can be a pain in the arse as well.
The ICS battery change consists of pressing a button, sliding the hand guard off, putting a battery in it and sliding it back on. Easy as hell.
However, since you're thinking of mounting the RIS the ICS still wins because you can buy the airsoft RIS and an adaptor to attach it, which is obviously less realistic than buying the real RIS, but the airsoft RIS is sold at all the major airsoft shops, where as the Ares, needing the REAL RIS as a result of the hand guard mounting system, means you have to hunt down and buy a real rail system, which I imagine will be a pain in the arse and probably end up being more expensive. You'll also still struggle to fit batteries in the Ares because the RIS won't slide on and off, it'll take a few screws, it takes one screw with the ICS and then just slips right off.
With the RIS attached the Ares is no more realistic with regard to this first point, since the ICS being mounted with the RIS means the button on the original hand guard is no longer there and that was the only unrealistic aesthetic feature of the ICS at the front end.
The second way the Ares is more realistic is the shade of green used for the plastic furniture, but the difference isn't a massive one because I can't even remember whether the shade used on the ICS is lighter or darker than the real thing, so it's hardly even worth counting.
The third thing is that the ICS fire selector isn't marked for semi and auto, it's just a switch. The Ares is marked with an R for repetition and an A for automatic.
The size dimensions and weight are the same for both the ICS and the Ares, meaning with regard to the feel, size and weight they're both equally realistic.
That covers the realism differences.
Estimated costs then:
The ICS costs £320 for the rifle, £130 for the airsoft RIS and £16 for the adaptor to fit it to the gun. Then there's batteries to think about, you'll need a small 7.4v lipo if you're putting the RIS on and they're about £15 plus another £15 for a lipo charger. Since the ICS is wired for a large battery, you'll need to change the connectors to use lipos, so depending on whether you change the connectors yourself, or get a shop to do it will depend on the cost.
So that's £496 + the cost of changing the connectors and then any accessories you might want, like optics and grips etc.
The Ares costs £300 for the rifle plus the cost of the real RIS, which could be anything between £70 and £200, you'll need to get the same battery and charger again so it can fit in the RIS, so that's another £30. You'll also need more magazines which are around £10 each as the Ares only comes with an 85 shot magazine. The ICS comes with two 450 shot magazines, so lets say you spend £20 on mags. You might also need to have the Ares downgraded, which depending on whether you do it yourself or the shop offer it for free, it can cost anything between nothing and about £35.
So best case senario for the Ares is £420, worst case senario is £585 + accessories.
It's a bit of a gamble, but since the ICS is actually a better gun, it makes sense to not risk having to spend the higher side of the Ares costs and just get the ICS for around £500, it's £80 more than the lower end of the Ares spectrum, but the performance will more than make up for it.
Can't think of anything else to mention really.
Anything else you want to know, or I didn't mention?
