Website window shopping

[sonofsammo]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who spends hours surfing the net, looking at all the shiny rifs I could get.

However, a lot of airsoft sites whilst having a decent range aren't that great on the pics/info front.
So it got me wondering - which is the single best site that you use for rif window shopping?
By best, I mean with the best information and pictures, no necessarily the cheapest prices.
Given those parameters, which is your number one, go-to site for perusing airsoft weapons?

 

[Tiercel]

This is a bugbear of mine, looking at buying a new gun and all you get is a picture and a price. Zero One are awful for doing that.

I think probably one of the more useful sites that put effort into their description is PatrolBase. Airsoft world are also very good at it, though sometimes their descriptions are more opinion based than fact.

 

[Wo1f]

Agreed. Zeroone and wolf armouries are awful. No description and sometimes not even a picture. Fire-support aren’t too bad. 

I tend to decide on on what I want and then watch YouTube videos and read forum posts about it. No point reading a sales pitch with no negatives

 

[TheFull9]

Personally - generally never trust shop descriptions or the 'opinions' of people who put out reviews on things as their primary job.  It's a very basic conflict of interest.  The more hyperbolic a description or review is, the less likely it is to turn out to be honest.

Pretty much all my airsoft stuff comes from WGC Shop who've always been pretty good with pictures and stats, eHobby are my 2nd go to.  Obviously there's occasionally an error but it's fairly rare and the pictures are usually pretty good and cover all the angles. I think the comparatively small nature of airsoft in the UK is the root of a lot of the issues with our web stores.  I think the only ones I've used in the past 5 years or so are LWA, PAS and F-S.  There's a fairly short list of them I'd be willing to actually recommend to people when they're going to spend money at any rate.

 

[Rogerborg]

I think probably one of the more useful sites that put effort into their description is PatrolBase

They have brilliant descriptions of guns that they never have in stock.

Personally I only trust YouTube unboxing videos done by 12 year olds.

 

[L3wisD]

Patrolbase have the best descriptions. Actually written by someone and not cut'n'pasted (for the most part).

Camo raids are laughably bad, bless them. Copy and pasting from a Japanglish source:

 

[Iceni]

For window shopping Evike.

Not for the reviews, but for the fact they have the best catalogue of older gear still on display and the site is good to search on.

If I want to know how well something shoots I normally go trawl the forums and look for problem threads with that gun or series of guns. It's generally a better source of information than a review. The forums have players that use and fettle the guns, and generally show problems that will appear in the future rather than just new.

I'm also a sucker for externals. I couldn't care less what's going on inside a gun from new, I can make the internals do what I want. It's poor externals that kill a gun, Cracking receivers, Stripping screws ect. There are models of gun that are significantly better externally, and designs of receiver that are better.

Take the M4 platform.

The best receiver set for me is one that doesn't use a pin mount on the upper rear receiver. There is a design that slides over the gearbox and has a flange that hooks into the lower. These flanged designs never have the rear tabs break, The worst that happens is the flange gets knocked about a bit and starts to wobble, and you fix that with some rubber packing. Yes there more of a pain to strip and don't strip like the real M4, But you don't have to worry about breaking it so much.

 

[Rogerborg]

Camo raids are laughably bad, bless them. Copy and pasting from a Japanglish source:

Someone set up us the Beretta.

 

[sonofsammo]

By information, I wasn't talking opinions - I was meaning a list of accurate specs, including weight - simple stuff that is generally omitted by the VAST majority of retailers.
A lot of them name the gun, have a crappy picture and that's it.
I like Evike, as they tend to have a few pics.
For info on what a gun is actually like, then yes, I go for youtube and actual owners...

 

[Druid799]

Taiwan gun all the way , they have loads of pic’s from loads of angles a brief description if it’s based on a particular model and a full spec list for the gun . Basically everything I want but with out loads of ‘filler’ .?

 

[Lozart]

Someone set up us the Beretta.

View attachment 38934

 

[Huxley]

None, and that's because I've been around the block with them so many times waiting for my ukara to come.

But Firesupport, and Patrolbase have gotten a good few orders from me.

I more spend my time surfing YouTube looking at reviews and seeing what's up and coming.