First RIF: Specna Arms Sa-e14 Edge or Cyma Platinum Cm.097b Upgraded Version?

[Harvem]

Hi all,

 

After a long, long wait, I'll finally be playing my first ever airsoft game coming Saturday 😄

I'll be playing with rental kit, but provided I like it and don't go home crying in pain from all the hits (I'm sure it'll be fine, right 👀), what RIF should I get? Budget is about 215.

I've done some research and I've come up with these 2:

 

- Cyma Platinum CM.097B upgraded version. Seems highly recommended especially for beginners and QA seems fine. Really like the look of this one, currently leaning towards this.

- Specna Arms SA-E14 Edge. Also recommended for beginners by many people. Has a rotary hopup, which the Cyma does not have, and comes with 2 mid caps while the Cyma comes with 1. But QA seems a bit worse from what I've read and I prefer the look of the Cyma. Also this one is quite long, might not be good for CQB.

 

So, out of these 2, which one should I pickup? Or do you guys have any other recommendations?

Thanks for your advice!

Edited May 20, 2021 by Harvem

[Shamal]

11 minutes ago, Harvem said:

Hi all,

 

After a long, long wait, I'll finally be playing my first ever airsoft game coming Saturday 😄

I'll be playing with rental kit, but provided I like it and don't go home crying in pain from all the hits (I'm sure it'll be fine, right 👀), what RIF should I get? Budget is about 215.

I've done some research and I've come up with these 2:

 

- Cyma Platinum CM.097B upgraded version. Seems highly recommended especially for beginners and QA seems fine. Really like the look of this one, currently leaning towards this.

- Specna Arms SA-E14 Edge. Also recommended for beginners by many people. Has a rotary hopup, which the Cyma does not have, and comes with 2 mid caps while the Cyma comes with 1. But QA seems a bit worse from what I've read and I prefer the look of the Cyma. Also this one is quite long, might not be good for CQB.

 

So, out of these 2, which one should I pickup? Or do you guys have any other recommendations?

Thanks for your advice!

You have to make your own decision on which gnu to get. You could have 100 people firing different names and specs at you, great if it's the same name but it won't be and then your head will be in such a spin that you will think you're a hoovermatic spin dryer! 

First off find a gat in your price range that you like the looks of which is no different to choosing a girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband. We gotta look at them so they just as well be worth looking at.

If after a few goes you decide its perfect then happy days. Good choice.

If however it doesnt do what you want then swap it in for something else. I'm on my third wife now,I mean gun😉

But whatever you do keep your finger out of the internals! It will end in tears.🤭

A bit of lubrication now and then however will keep things sweet. Lol.

But joking apart the decision is yours.Take your time,research and don't impulse buy👍

Regards 

 

[Monkman]

We told our mate to buy a Specna as we heard they were supposed to be good...

 

First game it ran like dogshit... I took it home to take it apart and see what I could do...found this inside.  Replaced the hop unit with one of my spares and gained 50fps alone due to having a seal now.    

 

Guess this was just a miscasting during production... Yes a "lemon" gun.  

 

Not saying all Specna's are bad...but mate & us were put off by this..he sold it and bought a Krytac instead.

 

 

[EDcase]

Welcome Harvem,

 

Anything mass produced in the East can have QC issues.  My SpecnaArms SA-E03 is amazing so I got lucky I guess.

 

Sounds like you have a preference for the CYMA looks so go for that one.

CYMA are one of the best budget makers so you should be fine.

If it does have a problem then contact the shop for a replacement.

 

First thing to do when you get a new gat is to clean the barrel.

Often overlooked but there is almost always a load of crap in there from the factory.

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by EDcase

[Shamal]

1 minute ago, EDcase said:

Welcome Harvem,

 

Sounds like you have a preference for the CYMA looks so go for that one.

 

Anything mass produced in the East can have QC issues.  My SpecnaArms SA-E03 is amazing so I got lucky I guess.

Likewise for my Specna sa e-05. Great performer.

 

[alxndrhll]

15 minutes ago, Monkman said:

We told our mate to buy a Specna as we heard they were supposed to be good...

 

First game it ran like dogshit... I took it home to take it apart and see what I could do...found this inside.  Replaced the hop unit with one of my spares and gained 50fps alone due to having a seal now.    

 

Guess this was just a miscasting during production... Yes a "lemon" gun.  

 

Not saying all Specna's are bad...but mate & us were put off by this..he sold it and bought a Krytac instead.

 

 

 

Don't have a horse in this race (nor a suggestion for what is and isn't a good first RIF). Just wanted to clarify that assuming it's the angle of the inner barrel/the gap around it that is the guilty party here I wouldn't have said that's a miscast or anything like that. Simply a case that the usual centering plug and o-ring isn't present, so when the inner barrel isn't being supported by an outer barrel you'll get one hell of a lean going on... as seen in your photo. If it's not this we're supposed to be looking at and I'm missing some really obvious miscasting, I apologise in advance.

 

Is that a booboo on Specna's part? Yes. Is this post largely just splitting hairs? Also yes.

 

Figured I'd 'show my working' below as this is a thread started by a newer player, I've circled the missing things in the image below:

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by alxndrhll

[Speedbird_666]

Yeh, well, my Specna Edge was so shit that it now sports a complete E&C Gearbox. Gave up chasing the issues with the crap quality of the internals. CYMAs internals are better.

Edited May 20, 2021 by Speedbird_666

[Skara]

Ultimately pick the gun you like.

Both makes use fairly standard parts so any mechanical niggle can be easily sorted for not much.

 

Do NOT watch YouTube reviews, 9 times out of 10 you're just wasting time, they tell you where the fire selector is on an M4 and don't provide any useful information.

[Lozart]

Yes, there were issues with the Specna Arms Orion gearbox. However, unlike a lot of other manufacturers they listened to customer feedback and fixed it. Unfortunately shit sticks and airsofters are a curmudgeonly bunch and it doesn't take much for them to tar every single product a company makes with the same brush.

 

Anyway, they're both good guns, pick whichever fits your budget and you like the look of best.

[Adolf Hamster]

49 minutes ago, Lozart said:

Yes, there were issues with the Specna Arms Orion gearbox. However, unlike a lot of other manufacturers they listened to customer feedback and fixed it. Unfortunately shit sticks and airsofters are a curmudgeonly bunch and it doesn't take much for them to tar every single product a company makes with the same brush.

 

indeed, although in fairness an RIF is a not insignificant chunk of one's hard earned and especially when starting out, so it makes sense to reccommend the safest option in terms of reputation.

 

after all, if someone asks for help and gets a bad steer it looks bad on us and potentially puts someone off the hobby.

[Lozart]

1 hour ago, Adolf Hamster said:

 

indeed, although in fairness an RIF is a not insignificant chunk of one's hard earned and especially when starting out, so it makes sense to reccommend the safest option in terms of reputation.

 

after all, if someone asks for help and gets a bad steer it looks bad on us and potentially puts someone off the hobby.

 

Oh absolutely, but if someone gets put off a perfectly good purchase because of out of date information then that's just as bad in my book.

 

At the beginner end of the pricing spectrum pretty much anything is likely to have some level of inconsistency, but to be fair so does the high end (I'm looking at you VFC) so it always opens up the possibility that whatever you recommend there will be some people that think the POS you dismissed is the second coming and that the gun you recommend because you have several and they're all fine shouldn't be contemplated even if your life depends on it. None of the sample sizes in airsoft are sufficiently large or unbiased as to be able to make absolute yes/no choices and no given manufacturer is a reliable option right across the range (yes, even Tokyo Marui have some crap guns).

 

Both of the options that the OP asked about are decent enough choices both as they come and as a platform for improvement.

[Adolf Hamster]

7 minutes ago, Lozart said:

 

Oh absolutely, but if someone gets put off a perfectly good purchase because of out of date information then that's just as bad in my book.

 

yeah, although nowhere near as egregious in my book if they still get steered towards something decent.

[Lozart]

2 minutes ago, Adolf Hamster said:

 

yeah, although nowhere near as egregious in my book if they still get steered towards something decent.

 

Noob "I really want A but I also like B"

Forum based expert "I heard that A is a piece of crap don't buy that"

Noob *begrudgingly spends money on B because despite being perfectly good it wasn't really what he wanted but someone on the internet said that was shit

Person with up to date info "so why didn't you buy the one you really wanted? They've been sorted out now and work absolutely fine"

Noob *sad face, carries on using gun he bought all the while quietly battling the internal monologue that everyone on the internet talks shit and why didn't he just get the one he really wanted until the day he finally snaps and beats a badger to death with the gun he never really wanted in the first place.

 

See? Do you hate badgers @Adolf Hamster? WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE BADGERS!!!!!

[Adolf Hamster]

1 hour ago, Lozart said:

See? Do you hate badgers @Adolf Hamster? WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE BADGERS!!!!!

 

you're talking to a hamster, of course i hate badgers.

 

lording it over us with their natural camo and extravagant burrows, you know how much a badger burrow costs? more than i make in a decade!

 

1 hour ago, Lozart said:

 

Noob "I really want A but I also like B"

Forum based expert "I heard that A is a piece of crap don't buy that"

Noob *begrudgingly spends money on B because despite being perfectly good it wasn't really what he wanted but someone on the internet said that was shit

Person with up to date info "so why didn't you buy the one you really wanted? They've been sorted out now and work absolutely fine"

Noob *sad face, carries on using gun he bought all the while quietly battling the internal monologue that everyone on the internet talks shit and why didn't he just get the one he really wanted until the day he finally snaps and beats a badger to death with the gun he never really wanted in the first place.

 

i can kinda see the logic, although in this case the op's natural leaning seems to be towards the cyma anyway.

 

i mean to me a generic ar variant is a generic ar variant, but then i don't tend to worry too much about the state of internals....

 

 

[Harvem]

Thanks for all the replies! It's good to know I can't really go wrong with either of these two options 🙂

Game is tomorrow, can't wait! Hope it turns out to be as fun as it looks 😄

[Jaylordofwaargh]

Welcome! Unless you have a pretty good level if fitness you are likely to ache a touch on monday morning. I am told it is a good ache...

As to the choice in bb slinger, try and get your hands on them, ideally both in at the same time it can make a difference.

[Harvem]

On 22/05/2021 at 13:51, Jaylordofwaargh said:

Welcome! Unless you have a pretty good level if fitness you are likely to ache a touch on monday morning. I am told it is a good ache...

As to the choice in bb slinger, try and get your hands on them, ideally both in at the same time it can make a difference.

 

Ache a touch? My whole dam body hurts! 😂

Totally worth it though, had a lot of fun 😄

[Shamal]

3 hours ago, Harvem said:

 

Ache a touch? My whole dam body hurts! 😂

Totally worth it though, had a lot of fun 😄

Haha and so it should. You Will sleep well though.👍

[Robspec]

On 20/05/2021 at 20:53, Harvem said:

Hi all,

 

After a long, long wait, I'll finally be playing my first ever airsoft game coming Saturday 😄

I'll be playing with rental kit, but provided I like it and don't go home crying in pain from all the hits (I'm sure it'll be fine, right 👀), what RIF should I get? Budget is about 215.

I've done some research and I've come up with these 2:

 

- Cyma Platinum CM.097B upgraded version. Seems highly recommended especially for beginners and QA seems fine. Really like the look of this one, currently leaning towards this.

- Specna Arms SA-E14 Edge. Also recommended for beginners by many people. Has a rotary hopup, which the Cyma does not have, and comes with 2 mid caps while the Cyma comes with 1. But QA seems a bit worse from what I've read and I prefer the look of the Cyma. Also this one is quite long, might not be good for CQB.

 

So, out of these 2, which one should I pickup? Or do you guys have any other recommendations?

Thanks for your advice!

A year later mid April 2022, I have Specna e-14, Specna h-11 and CYMA 097f and all of these guns great, I don't know if luck is following me, or guys in CYMA and Specna are doing pretty good job

[Speedbird_666]

[Rogerborg]

It's nice to get answers rather than questions though.

Sure, if you get a decent Specna, they're fine.  Mine's been... OK, although the trigger takes a sulk sometimes.  I really couldn't recommend them now.