brands to avoid

[hunter511]

Is it worth pinning a reccomend not to buy list in here following the recent trend of I've bought a (for example) Raven model XXX and its new out of the box and doesnt work?

 

In my case stuff I wouldn't touch under any circumstances without trying the exact item Im going to buy in the shop first. (Source I've been playing airsoft since 1995 I have a reasonable of experience in buying kit)

 

Raven (any)

Nuprol (rebranded WE with slightly more QC than Raven)

Vorsk

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by hunter511

[Cannonfodder]

The only brand I'd add to that list is Socom Gear, but I haven't seen anything from them for years

[heroshark]

No body would take notice of it in my experience. I know people who have come directly to me to ask what I thought of things and I've said don't buy it. They still go buy it and then it breaks after 2min like I told them it would. 

[C-Diddy]

I think @heroshark raises a good point; people will generally make their mind up to buy something, come on here and say "Is a XXXX a good bit of kit" be told they should save their money, but then they buy it anyway. 

 

I've been fairly lucky on the RIF front, but, from personal experience, wouldn't touch anything by Armorer Works. 

 

Gear-wise, I've had Nuprol, Viper and 8 Fields back in the day. 8 Fields was fine as a starter brand for the money but the other two can shit off.

[Colin Allen]

SRC.

[Tactical Pith Helmet]

SRC are crap.  I wouldn't wrote Nuprol off completely.  A local site uses Defenders as hire guns. 

 

A problem here is partly that QC is so loose in airsoft that one person's nightmare is another's quality buy.  That said SRC are seriously crap.  

 

I'd be interested in who actually honours a warranty, rather than tries to wriggle out of one.

[Madhouse]

14 hours ago, Tactical Pith Helmet said:

QC is so loose in airsoft that one person's nightmare is another's quality buy

 

This.

 

Also one man's niggle is another's deal breaker, there's just a ton of variables at play here. Apart from QC being loose ... consistently inconsistent is pretty much the mission statement of airsoft QC.

 

Personally I've been lucky enough to not have any first hand "don't buy xxx" experiences, probably due to taking heed of good advice - long may both continue!

 

 

[BigStew]

Anything labelled sports line. But have to say people are right about woefully inconsistent QC. Have seen garbage brand gun shoot like a laser for years and seen a TM shit its self 1st day of use. It impossible to say avoid one particular brand especially with the amount of OEM rebranding that goes on (even the company that make guns do it, looking at you GHK!)

[Tackle]

8 minutes ago, BigStew said:

Anything labelled sports line. But have to say people are right about woefully inconsistent QC. Have seen garbage brand gun shoot like a laser for years and seen a TM shit its self 1st day of use. It impossible to say avoid one particular brand especially with the amount of OEM rebranding that goes on (even the company that make guns do it, looking at you GHK!)

Amen, picked up a D-Boys spr, got it for £130 new (at the time), completely stock & running at 370 fps, my son was about 12, was hitting a clothes peg first or second shot from at least 130 feet, & a light switch at 200 feet, thing was a frigging laser. 

Until I tinkered with it 🤣/😭

[Impulse]

All of this SRC hate and the only SRC item I own is a phenomenal bit of kit (it's a bipod for my m700). I'm sure their other stuff is wank, but the bipod I have is nice at least.

 

In terms of brands I avoid... Nuprol, Raven, Lancer Tactical, Vorsk is what comes to mind immediately. I tend to avoid G&G as well mostly because they do weird proprietary things with their guns and I don't like it. Viper kit isn't that bad these days (but my god was it utter shit back when I first started).

 

Generally equipment in airsoft, be it guns, attachments or tactical kit, is pretty good these days.

[Rogerborg]

Are Lancer Tactical that bad for the price?  Do we know of any specific issues with them?

[Tackle]

52 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:

Are Lancer Tactical that bad for the price?  Do we know of any specific issues with them?

While I can't comment on all their models, stuff like their spring m82 Barrett is utter shite. 

[JinxDuh]

1 hour ago, Rogerborg said:

Are Lancer Tactical that bad for the price?  Do we know of any specific issues with them?

Based on the constant reddit posts;

 

Poor quality control - "They’re a scummy company, selling these poor quality guns to new players by getting reviewers and stores to sing their praises, often with large sums of cash through “sponsorships”"

 

"They sold unsafe eye protection that they lied and claimed was impact rated, for his their CEO was publicly arrested. They’ve since taken off the fake rating, but are still selling the unsafe eye protection"

 

But it's reddit, so... take it with as much salt as you want. 😂

[Rogerborg]

2 hours ago, JinxDuh said:

their CEO was publicly arrested

 

Jeepers, so he was.  Fuck 'em then, running, and sideways: counterfeit eyepro is unforgivable.

 

https://team-black-sheep.com/2017/02/04/lancer-tactical-boss-arrested-at-shotshow/

[MrTea]

23 hours ago, C-Diddy said:

I've had Nuprol, Viper and 8 Fields back in the day. 8 Fields was fine as a starter brand for the money but the other two can shit off.

 

8Fields and Viper have done me well so far. I'm just sad that i've burned a couple holes in my Viper glove fingers (I keep accidentally going near the lit pyro fuze to throw it further) that i've had to replace them. They were fantastic over the last year. I've never had an issue with any Viper gear or clothing I bought in terms of quality or wearing too early. I've got an 8Fields rifle bag and SMG mag pouch and they seem pretty solidly built. Other than a few stray threads which were quickly melted down with a lighter, can't fault them.

Edited March 6, 2023 by MrTea

[alxndrhll]

Main one I’d be avoiding from new at the moment is GHK AKs (2018 and older is the generally accepted ‘probably ok’ date if memory serves), ohh boy what a shit show. Talk about a fall from grace.

Edited March 6, 2023 by alxndrhll

[C-Diddy]

8 minutes ago, MrTea said:

Other than a few stray threads which were quickly melted down with a lighter, can't fault them.

Fair play then. My experience, especially with Viper, is that you can get something of higher quality for not that much more. They're a beginner brand sold at mid-level prices. But then again, there's WAS too 👀

[Colin Allen]

22 hours ago, Tactical Pith Helmet said:

SRC are crap.  I wouldn't wrote Nuprol off completely.  A local site uses Defenders as hire guns. 

 

A problem here is partly that QC is so loose in airsoft that one person's nightmare is another's quality buy.  That said SRC are seriously crap.  

 

I'd be interested in who actually honours a warranty, rather than tries to wriggle out of one.

I actually have an SRC MP5.  Well, the externals are SRC; everything else has been changed.

[Colin Allen]

5 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

Are Lancer Tactical that bad for the price?  Do we know of any specific issues with them?

I have a Lancer Tactical LT12 that I bought to find out for myself just how bad they are.

The answer is that it is not too bad at all, once you get over everything being just a little bit off spec.  After much fiddling around, I ended up putting the original gearbox and hop back in as nothing else seemed to fit or work in it.  Fortunately, the QC gearbox and rotary hop are pretty decent; not great but decent.

The biggest issue that I have found is that it is VERY picky about magazines; it only seems to like Magpul PTS PMAGs and some other mags that I have modified to fit.  The hop seems to have a very short feed tube.

 

It is currently the test bed for a CHiLUN mosfet.

3 hours ago, JinxDuh said:

Based on the constant reddit posts;

 

Poor quality control - "They’re a scummy company, selling these poor quality guns to new players by getting reviewers and stores to sing their praises, often with large sums of cash through “sponsorships”"

 

"They sold unsafe eye protection that they lied and claimed was impact rated, for his their CEO was publicly arrested. They’ve since taken off the fake rating, but are still selling the unsafe eye protection"

 

But it's reddit, so... take it with as much salt as you want. 😂

It happened; what they were doing, and are still doing, is unforgivable.

[Tactical Pith Helmet]

1 hour ago, Colin Allen said:

I actually have an SRC MP5.  Well, the externals are SRC; everything else has been changed.

I've had two of the things, my first (bloody awful) rif, and a pistol that didn't work out of the box.  

[Jaylordofwaargh]

Never even considered a SRC anything as it is a poster brand for BBGUNZ4less...

 

It might be a source for externals, but that is what the boneyard is for...

[Asomodai]

I feel that SRC gets a bad rep for it's cheaper lines. However like many other brands it does have it's good and (admittedly mostly) bad products. 

 

The V3 Gen 3 SRC Gearbox is genuinely very solid, the stock SRC Magnatar motor is a very very good motor and I still snap them up these days. 

 

SRC were the first brand to make a genuine stamped steel MP5 AEG which is very good quality (Not to be confused with the cheaper models). 

 

The one thing I would accuse SRC of is complacency, they have fallen behind most of the competition when it comes to modern features on their entire range. 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Asomodai

[PopRocket123]

I've had an SRC M4 AND RPK. Both are utter shit. They're heavy, poor build quality and below average internals. My M4 melted it's trigger contacts before I even managed to take it to a game. 

 

We and all of its rebranded variants are... inconsistent. Vfc are nice externals but average at best internals. I only buy them second hand or boneyard. 

[Tackle]

22 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

 

Jeepers, so he was.  Fuck 'em then, running, and sideways: counterfeit eyepro is unforgivable.

 

https://team-black-sheep.com/2017/02/04/lancer-tactical-boss-arrested-at-shotshow/

That's fucked up, in a sport where our biggest risk is our eyesight, they're playing god with ours for the sake of a few quid (x?), no mention of conviction, but it's got to merit some jail time surely ? 

[Skara]

VFC, Ares, G&G.

 

First has great externals but the internals don't reflect the price tag;

Second is just a steaming pile of shit with proprietary everything, but their polymer bodies are sturdy;

G&G guns were good 15 years ago, the technology used is also 15 years old but prices have gone up dramatically.

 

Regarding gear, eeh, anything with "Airsoft" in the name/brand. Also some design choices make no sense to me (Viper products mostly), like making the spiritus knock-off chest rig too narrow so that it can't fit 3x stanag mags.