Ares Ameboa 'Honey Badger'

[THE FNG]

I don't do COD...it annoys me. Well, the outbursts from younger fans who think they know everything about guns and the military are what annoys me; they story modes are pretty good to be fair.

So when the Honey Badger made its way onto the airsoft scene, all I could think was 'oh great, a new gun for codsofters. AM TEH BESTEST GNU EVAR FOR DA PRO OPER8OR.' And it is made by ares....not exactly known for great quality guns.

 

Gave it no thought and assumed it would be pants.

 

 

Went with my best mate to JD Airsoft in Cannock, Staffordshire for a supply run in Late November and to get a few parts and we did the obligatory look around the shop at all of the guns. I picked up the honey badger to take the mick out of cod fans thinking I was being all clever and anti-codsofter and I have to say it made a lasting impression on me. Made one or two other visits in between then and yesterday. Everytime, I picked it up and thought 'I hate myself for this, but I love it'.

 

 

TD;DR - Honey badger is nice and I'm a presumptious dickhead

 

 

So, the Ares Honey badger. I caved in and got one as my scar is down due to piston stripping issues and I am short of fixing time due to my current work schedule.

 

This review is a preliminary review and will not feature a performance review until I have skirmished it in 2or 3 weeks time. It will be split up into the following sections:

 

Aesthetics/Quality

Ergonomics/Manouverability

Customisation (Internal/external)

Overall (Pre-skirmish rating)

 

 

So, aestehtics.

Have to say, it looks great. Sleek, rounded, smooth and well finished; it certainly looks the past of being a modern-tech weapon. The upper and lower receivers are made from high density polymer/plastic, however it is heavy and very sturdy; among the sturdiest of all the guns I've seen/handled. It is well finished and smooth. The handguard is cnc'd aliminium (I beleive) and is also well finished. The combination of the two make the gun sturdy and nice to look at.

The actual gun is great; only issue with it is the supplied iron sights. Having owned several rifles, all of which came with adjustable sights, I have gotten used to good iron sights to rely on when optics fail. The honey badger's were taken straight off. They are awful. They will probably do the job but they are not adjustable, are cheap plastic and just look sub-par compared to the rest of the gun. First I did was add my Eotech and a pair of canted iron sights as the stock ones aren't worth having on there. Not a big issue, but for a £250 gun before battery and upgrades etc, I expected a little better.

 

Ergonomics/Manouverability

This section will see the honey badger compared to a UMP/SCAR CQC/MP9/P90, as these are guns that I have used, which are used in CQB which is the honey badgers primary role as it attempts to bridge the gap between assault rifle and smg.

It's controls are only for right handed users. No fire selectors on the right hand side for lefties and only 1 mag release which is on the right hand side.

It does, however, feel brilliant when shouldered. Some bigger players may struggle as the stock only comes so far out. I'm 5'8ish so it fits me perfectly. It is lightweight but has enough weight to it to not feel like a toy. In fact, it is very heavy for what it is made from. Its weight is great; can be held for long periods of time when setup right (setup will have a factor in customisation section).

It moves very well. Compact size will make corners a breeze.

 

Customisation

Version 2 gearbox installed inside, so there are the usual internal gearbox parts available. Comes with an in built suppressor and a tightbore; no need to upgrade there but there are options if you want to change them. One of the best features of the gun is the quick spring change system. When changing a spring in the average aeg, you have to take the gearbox apart; which requires disassembley of the gun and gearbox, plus reassembley. With this gun, you take the stock off, and the then unscrew the spring guide from the rear of the gearbox. Done. 1 Minute max. Really makes it spring changes easy.

There is plenty of rail space. The ameoba style handguard allows placement of its rails to be changed. It comes with a spare small and spare medium rail. Customisation is endless due to this. It really makes it easy to make a system that you can comfortably use. It looks great with no attatchments other than an optic, however first thing I did was add Eotech, torch, laser and an EGLM grenade launcher. I don't intend to use it but it fits perfectly and damn it looks badass!

 

Overall (Pre-Skirmish rating)

Having spent a lot of time looking over the gun, I have to say I love it. Great look and feel, smaller size, great manouverability and a very snapper trigger. Have to say, I cannot wait to skirmish this gun.

Original fps was 280. After adding a madbull m100, it how hits 328 consistently with a max of 330 and minimum of 324 after around 25 shots through an xcortech chrono.

One issue for some is battery space. I bought an 11.1v peq battery from JD airsoft which fits perfectly. The issue is the length of the battery space rather than width. Longer lipos wont fit and most if not all nimhs wont fit.

 

I'd give it a prelimary rating of 8/10, losing marks for battery space, poor stock iron sights and plastic rails.

To summarise, if you want something that looks incredible and unique, has a great r.o.f, very quick spring change system and is both light and sturdy, then this is a contender.

 

 

 

[DEDSEC]

Think you should read this.

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAC_Honey_Badger_PDW

 

Although a good review the AAC Honey Badger is not a COD gun. It's just featured in COD. Otherwise every gun will be for the kids saying "UH MUH GURD I GOT A GN LOK OUT".

[THE FNG]

Sorry, I didn't mean that it is fictional and in COD only. My point was that any gun that features on COD tends to be the 'BEST GUN EVAR' to codsofters.

 

Perhaps I should have added a 'real-steel' hsitory section to the review to add some background?

 

I am aware that it is a real thing