L85A2 AEG ARES? HELP!

[MrWhitby]

I thinking of buying this

http://www.wolfarmouries.co.uk/airsoft/bb/...ct&id=AEG05

 

Was wondering will that be compatible with this rail?

http://www.wolfarmouries.co.uk/airsoft/bb/...amp;id=MBDDSA80

 

Will it be compatible with this and will it hide the battery?

 

 

Also where abouts is the battery on the L85A2 AEG ARES?

- Is it any good?

- Is it reliable?

- Will it last me a long time?

[M_P]

No, the rail cant fit i'm afraid.

Its the only 1:1 scale airsoft l85, however from what various other members have said, get the ICS one instead- the rail can fit that too

[RR01]

No. It says it in the add. Only for G&G and ARMY L85's. You need a different sort for Ares & ICS so far as I know. Good luck finding one as they've been out of stock of those for anything other than G&G / ARMY in the UK for quite a while.

[Hubert]

Panoptes is the man to ask, I know he swear's by ARES SA80s (they are the most realistic looking SA80s on the market).

 

I thought they were compatible with ARES, pretty sure I've seen some ARES l85s with them mounted.

[MrWhitby]

DAMN! I need to look for a ICS on Wolf Armouries. Or Something that will fit! How come the rail dosent fit anyway?

 

http://www.wolfarmouries.co.uk/airsoft/bb/...ct&id=ICS85

[Hubert]

I honestly thought it did fit ARES, obviously misread forum posts.

 

They all have a different system for fitting the handguard/gas block.

ARES went for 1:1 replica, so the handguard/DD rail fit the same way as the real L85 does. This means real kit will fit without modification to ARES stuff.

 

ICS & WE went for simplicity (incredibly easy) rather than realism, so went for a push-button system (absolutely unrealistic, but means a massive battery can be fit into the origional handguard). This means you need to buy an 'adaptor' (new gas block) which will allow for the DD Rails to fit.

 

G&G (And Army, a clone) went for something half-way between, and the handguard is held in place by a different way. Madbull designed their rails on the G&G design.

[MrWhitby]

I honestly thought it did fit ARES, obviously misread forum posts.

 

They all have a different system for fitting the handguard/gas block.

ARES went for 1:1 replica, so the handguard/DD rail fit the same way as the real L85 does. This means real kit will fit without modification to ARES stuff.

 

ICS & WE went for simplicity (incredibly easy) rather than realism, so went for a push-button system (absolutely unrealistic, but means a massive battery can be fit into the origional handguard). This means you need to buy an 'adaptor' (new gas block) which will allow for the DD Rails to fit.

 

G&G (And Army, a clone) went for something half-way between, and the handguard is held in place by a different way. Madbull designed their rails on the G&G design.

 

So if i went for a ARES? I would need to find a issued rail? but wouldnt the battery be an issue?

 

How far off is ICS 1:1?

 

So far it between the ICS or the ARES due to money. But they need to fit the rail so whatever is realistic, Strong, Full metal, and fits the rail....

So the ARES Might fit the rail?

 

I think im ganna head up to WolfArmouries to talk to them and get eyes on...

[M_P]

No. It says it in the add. Only for G&G and ARMY L85's. You need a different sort for Ares & ICS so far as I know. Good luck finding one as they've been out of stock of those for anything other than G&G / ARMY in the UK for quite a while.

 

The madbull ris fits the g&G or aa one stock.

It can fit the we or ICS with adapters which are sold seperatley.

The ares can only take real steel or rs clones. I think hornbill made one.

The ares handguard mounting system is different- it the same as the real one.

 

As regards as what the Ares is like, everywhere I've read it gets a lot of praise, however Ed and someone else on here had one who said it doesn't compare to the ICS, that said- they could've been lemons.

[Airsoft-Ed]

Wall of text alert.

 

This isn't stuff I've picked up off forums, it's personal experience from owning both the Ares and the ICS. I might have been unlucky with the Ares and lucky with the ICS, but that's for you to decide.

 

I bought the Ares first because I'm a realism kinda guy, but the performance was horrible, the accuracy was all over the place, it was firing too hot out of the box for use at my local site (it was 380 fps), the hop up on it is truly awful, it shifts the adjustment you set it at all the time under firing, meaning you might as well forget you have hop up at all it's so useless. My site's hire guns were outperforming it significantly in terms of both accuracy and range and that's when I was still shooting at 380 fps, which is at least 30 more than the hire guns.

 

The marshals let me off the fps as the spring hadn't had time to settle. I was limited to semi only and a 20m minimum engagement range though. Not bad for most people, but that wasn't much less than my effective range.

 

On top of that, because of the realism, it's not as user friendly when it comes to making things work for airsofting (mainly this manifests itself with regard to the battery compartment, the Ares can only take small batteries and they're a GIANT bitch to get into the hand guard, where as the ICS can fit massive batteries inside it and it's a doddle to fit them in) and then there's the biggest killer for me regarding the Ares, which is that the Daniel Defence rails won't go onto it, meaning you're only left with the option of the RS rail kits which I think are over £400, probably more and near impossible to get hold of.

 

Internally the ICS is far superior, the internals are stronger, higher quality, FAR easier to work on and take the gun apart, the spring tension is adjustable meaning you can go from 345 fps to around 410fps and as well as being adjusted, springs can also be completely changed in well under a minute once you get used to stripping the gun down. It was designed with take down in mind.

 

If you've never looked intently at the real L85 for an incredibly long time it's unlikely you'll be able to tell the difference between the ICS and the real one, I can't think of anything that made the Ares (true replia remember) and ICS noticeably different apart from the small black button on the front of the hand guard used to remove it, but if you're planning on replacing the hand guard with the RIS then you'll be removing that realism defect of the ICS anyway. The ICS isn't an inaccurate copy in terms of size or weight, it's more about the colour of the plastic furniture than anything else.

 

The cost difference is about £10 in favour of the Ares, but for the sake of all the benefits you get from the ICS it's a no brainer, the ICS is near flawless, almost everyone agrees it's the best L85 available and if you're going to use these forums, there's me and Finius to help you fix any problems with it you might have with it.

 

Hope I've helped sway you a bit.

 

If you're struggling to find an ICS model, then Patrol Base might be able to order one in for you if you drop them an email, I've seen them offer the same service to people before on my site's Facebook page.

 

Edit:

 

Just remembered.

 

The Ares comes with one 85 shot mid capacity magazine and the ICS comes with two 450 shot high capacity magazines. Grab a battery and the ICS is skirmish ready. Which more than rebalances the £10 cost difference.

[Panoptes]

The real steel DD Rail is your only easy option. They've come down a lot in price - you should be able to pick one up now for between £75 and £150.

 

Here's the benchmark. ;)

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

The real rails are as cheap as that? They've come down a hell of a lot since I had the Ares...

 

Your L85 looks seriously nice Panoptes, kinda makes mine look a bit inferior.

[Finius]

Rails are over-rated.

 

The most sexual AFUK members don't bother with them...

 

Just sayin'

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

So if i went for a ARES? I would need to find a issued rail? but wouldnt the battery be an issue?

 

How far off is ICS 1:1?

 

So far it between the ICS or the ARES due to money. But they need to fit the rail so whatever is realistic, Strong, Full metal, and fits the rail....

So the ARES Might fit the rail?

 

I think im ganna head up to WolfArmouries to talk to them and get eyes on...

 

To answer the questions I missed the battery is a bit of an issue once you fit the RIS, it'll be equally awkward and annoying to fit a battery to either model then though, so the ICS loses it's advantage there. The ICS also comes with a large type battery connector and the Ares comes with a small. I had to change my connectors to small with the ICS so I could use lipos, I also had to cut a good 4 inches off the length of the wire as there was too much to fit in the RIS. I'm not sure how the Ares copes with that as I never had the RIS before I sold mine.

I use small lipo batteries in my RIS, I can make it last all day and performance is no different from using a regular battery, so long as you don't get a lipo higher than 7.4 volts.

 

The ICS, with the RIS attached is more or less as accurate as the Ares (in terms of replicating the real steel), the shade of green used on the grip, stock and cheek rest, as well as a few really minor things like how the stock's butt plate fits the lower frame are the only things letting it down and they're honestly not noticeable.

 

You will be able to skirmish the ICS for less money. It comes with two high capacity magazines, so that's about 1000 rounds before needing to reload.

The Ares comes with one mag that holds 85 rounds... 85 vs 1000. Points to the ICS.

The ICS can also take the rail you linked if you buy the ICS L85 rail adaptor, meaning getting the rails will more than likely be cheaper almost definitely easier and if the real rails are cheaper for the Ares, you'll still need to buy more magazines before skirmishing it.

The ICS will definitely have better performance out of the box and the Ares might even need a spring downgrade, which will either cause you faff, or money.

 

I'm sure the Ares has potential as well, and it does come with a tool in the grip, which I thought was very cool, I just never had the patience to unlock its potential. I was actually put off L85s by the Ares, it was a year before I came back around and I went for the ICS the second time around and then kicked myself for not getting the ICS in the first place, I think it just generally feels better.

 

Edit:

 

Is there a reason you have to get it from Wolf Armouries? They probably have it in stock in a fair few other places.

Quick Google search has shown that Fire Support have 19 in stock at the moment: http://www.fire-support.co.uk/product/ics-...airsoft-gun-aeg

[MrWhitby]

To answer the questions I missed the battery is a bit of an issue once you fit the RIS, it'll be equally awkward and annoying to fit a battery to either model then though, so the ICS loses it's advantage there. The ICS also comes with a large type battery connector and the Ares comes with a small. I had to change my connectors to small with the ICS so I could use lipos, I also had to cut a good 4 inches off the length of the wire as there was too much to fit in the RIS. I'm not sure how the Ares copes with that as I never had the RIS before I sold mine.

I use small lipo batteries in my RIS, I can make it last all day and performance is no different from using a regular battery, so long as you don't get a lipo higher than 7.4 volts.

 

The ICS, with the RIS attached is more or less as accurate as the Ares (in terms of replicating the real steel), the shade of green used on the grip, stock and cheek rest, as well as a few really minor things like how the stock's butt plate fits the lower frame are the only things letting it down and they're honestly not noticeable.

 

You will be able to skirmish the ICS for less money. It comes with two high capacity magazines, so that's about 1000 rounds before needing to reload.

The Ares comes with one mag that holds 85 rounds... 85 vs 1000. Points to the ICS.

The ICS can also take the rail you linked if you buy the ICS L85 rail adaptor, meaning getting the rails will more than likely be cheaper almost definitely easier and if the real rails are cheaper for the Ares, you'll still need to buy more magazines before skirmishing it.

The ICS will definitely have better performance out of the box and the Ares might even need a spring downgrade, which will either cause you faff, or money.

 

I'm sure the Ares has potential as well, and it does come with a tool in the grip, which I thought was very cool, I just never had the patience to unlock its potential. I was actually put off L85s by the Ares, it was a year before I came back around and I went for the ICS the second time around and then kicked myself for not getting the ICS in the first place, I think it just generally feels better.

 

Edit:

 

Is there a reason you have to get it from Wolf Armouries? They probably have it in stock in a fair few other places.

Quick Google search has shown that Fire Support have 19 in stock at the moment: http://www.fire-support.co.uk/product/ics-...airsoft-gun-aeg

 

 

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?

[Airsoft-Ed]

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?

[MrWhitby]

The real steel DD Rail is your only easy option. They've come down a lot in price - you should be able to pick one up now for between £75 and £150.

 

Here's the benchmark. ;)

 

 

 

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?

 

 

Just have to say! THEY LOOK AMAZING! Thats how i want my gun to look... See im not very good with this wiring stuff... Since im quite new and help over a forum would confuse me more on that sort of thing, But if Panoptes could get in touch, tell me the exact things he bought, and how he fitted it, Thats where the help could really come in! Ill look for a real RIS rail. Where abouts can i get one?

 

Also the magazines.. They look amazing!

 

I presume its hard to find a real RIS rail! could someone help towards finding one? Would it be a eBay job? Or a retailer? How will i hide the battery? I presume its in the front inside the handgaurd?

[Airsoft-Ed]

Battery is in the front, in the RIS yeah. It's pretty hard hiding it, you can see the wires of my battery through the RIS on mine in places, you'll probably have to trim the length of them down even on the Ares if you want them to be totally hidden from view.

 

I'll put some photos up of my L85 if they ever upload, my camera work and camera is crap as hell compared to Panoptes' but then you can see for yourself how the ICS looks no different from the Ares.

 

Here's mine.

[MrWhitby]

Did Panoptes add a gloss to his gun? Seems much shinier? Is it the Camera?

[Hubert]

It's one of the differences between ARES and ICS -

ARES has a pretty glossy and shiny finish, ICS L85s are usually a dull, almost matt black.

 

However, Panoptes has weathered his L85, makes it look like it's been used and abused in combat (and it looks pretty damn awesome too). I can't remember how he does it, I've seen different methods - some are just painted to look battered, other people actually rub the paint away.

[Panoptes]

Just a quick note: the older Star versions were glossy, the current ARES versions are correct 'satin' finish. The ICS ones are matt and incorrect.

[Panoptes]

Did Panoptes add a gloss to his gun? Seems much shinier? Is it the Camera?

The shine is gun oil residue!