EHobbyAsia (In-store purchase)

[Aunty Pasty]

I've recently come back from Hong Kong. Whilst I was there I took the opportunity to visit eHobby Asia and buy some gas mags that I wanted. I thought I'd write this in case it helps anyone who may be thinking of visiting the eHobby shop in future whilst in Hong Kong.

 

eHobby can be reached either from Lai Chee Kok or Cheung Sha Wan MTR stations. It's about 5-6 minutes walk from either station inside one of Hong Kong's many shopping malls. It's actually located in the basement level along with several other airsoft shops and boutiques, none which I have heard of before. eHobby is in the largest of the stores and is fairly big (for Hong Kong).

 

Inside there are many locked cabinets holding guns, accessories and components. The cabinets are arranged by brand/manufacturer. TM, ICS, G&P, Dytec, Inokatsu, GHK and many others are all under display here. As well as cabinets there is also a lot of clothing/combat gear on display on racks and just hanging up. They seem to have a lot of 5.11 and Truspec gear. Also on display are various items such as real knives, a mini-gun, Halo MAC5 assault rifles and some sort of replica chainsaw rifle. Even though the website is priced in US$, the store prices are HK$.

 

Due to the large number of different items available from eHobby, they operate with a sort of ticketing system similar to Argos. You take a little form and write down the item number and quantity of what you want to buy and then hand it in at the counter. There are a number of computer terminals around the store allowing you to browse the eHobby website and get the item number from there. You hand your form in and you get a ticket number which is what they call when your order is ready. When you're called over you get the chance to inspect your items. I bought gas mags so they put some gas into each one to allow me to check for leaks. This is important as at the bottom of the receipt, it states NO REFUND OR EXCHANGE FOR ALL ITEMS.

 

When it came to paying, I was offered 20% discount for cash which was an extra bonus so I left extra happy!

 

Other points. My cantonese is passable but to be sure I asked the cashier to explain the payment figures in english. They all seem to speak a decent standard of english so you shouldn't feel worried about a language barrier causing problems. The guy said that they get a lot of visitors from the UK as airsoft stuff was twice as expensive over there.

 

I purchased 3 gas mags for my AK74, 2 black and 1 with a hydro-dipped samurai design:

website price: 55 + 55 + 64 = US$174

Instore price: 395 + 395 + 460 = HK$1,250

Price paid: HK$1,000 cash

 

The exchange rate is quite poor at the moment so thats about £96 for something that will probably cost £160+ in the UK.

 

I do realise that most readers won't be going to Hong Kong anytime soon but there may be some in the future considering it for a holiday or business travel.

My recommendation is to have a good idea of what you are after before you visit. take a few hours out to pay a visit, check the website for current stock levels, take cash (ask for a cash discount if they do not offer), don't worry about any potential language issues.

 

As a side note, I was also after a AK side mount but eHobby was out of stock so I popped into another store across the hall called Cop9. They had a chinese unknown brand (BattleAxe brand) mount for HK$160 for which I paid $140 without even asking for a discount. It seems that they like to group similar shop types together to make it "the place to go" for whatever you're thinking of buying.

[Dentonboy]

Nice one, thanks for this...would love to tour HK taking in the Airsoft Porn.