Do you hate ARES?

[Zshot]

Hey guys, while watching one of Airsoft GI's new video reviews (it is of our competitor’s product - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm1VwYE0ur4) we noticed that *very strong language* was directed at the ARES brand in general. Some of the comments are rather nasty. (Yes, that includes the “F” word!”)

Obviously some of our team members here were rather offended, but after some thought we decided that it was time for some first-hand feedback from the community.

Do you like ARES? Are you indifferent? Or do you hate them with a burning passion? We want to know what YOU think of ARES products.

Your comments will help us improve our products and any feedback is much appreciated – good, bad or ugly – we will still love you!

[Seahawk]

To be honest, your guns usually have good externals but you charge way too damn much for a sub-average gun internally.

That and there are way to many proprietary parts in your guns with no extra parts support.

[league 4]

I do not like Ares. In my opinion, much of their AEGs use too many proprietary parts and the overall quality gave me no reason to want to buy one compared to say, a G&P. But if you guys made an M4 with colt trademarks, a proper M4 hopup and V2 gearbox with no microswitch trigger and had a Daniel Defense 12.5" RIS I know I'd buy it and so would several other people I know... Your quick change spring system is actually the one thing I'd keep, although I don't know how reliable it is.

[Cyph34r]

Good externals and sub-par internals, at a price that's a little too high for what it is.

[blacksheep]

i agree i think Ares externals are vey nice and you guys are the only ones who make an M110 which i want really bad but why would i pay 500 dollars for a rifle with sub-par internals when i can get a classic army AR-10 for 350 and have great internals

[Beran]

i personally own four ARES/STAR guns. i have an L1A1, a Mk43, a DSR-1 and a AW338. i used to own one of your L85s. one of my old roommates had one of the older STAR FNC's. i think its safe to say i have pretty extensive first hand experience with your products, and with what i am assuming is your predecessors products (STAR).

when i bought my first STAR/ARES (henceforth referred to as simply ARES, although i understand there is a difference) it was the STAR Mk43, and i bought it because i have always had a hardon for M60 derivatives and the previous owner was selling it for a song because the magazine was garbage (the feed drive motor wasn't nearly powerful enough to keep the gun fed). i bought it for a fraction of the retail price, and i was fully expecting that the polycarb gearbox (which i understand is one of the larger complaints for people with your replicas) would blow up. i purchased one of the newer ARES box magazines for it, and replaced the hopup bucking (it kept folding over with BBs and jamming). since then, the trigger switch has burned out but that is to be expected. it is to be expected because i have put in excess of 50,000 rounds through that gun without a single gun-related problem aside from the switch. to put it mildly, i was blown away. the Mk43 is still my favorite gun, in fact i'm holding it in the image in my signature.

my other experiences with ARES have been mixed. the generality of it is i love the external build quality, but there is almost always something lacking on the internals and its always something that seems like it could have been fixed at the design/testing stage, and should not have been overlooked considering the price of the guns. here are the impressions of the guns i have owned/handled extensively:

Mk43: like i said, loved it. BUT the bucking was garbage (should have been caught at the design/testing stage, the material was much too thin and pliable) and the drive motor in the box magazine was a joke. i understand the box mag issue is fixed now, as i purchased one of the newer ARES magazines and haven't had a problem since.

L1A1: i love this rifle as well. a lot of people will complain that it is semiauto only, but so is the real L1 so who cares what the uninformed think. my main complaint with that rifle is the lack of availability on magazines (ive tried and tried to find them, and everywhere that lists them is out of stock ). another somewhat less serious complaint is the hopup design, while simple and robust, lacks rigidity and therefore suffers on long range accuracy which seems like a major concern in a weapon of that length.

DSR-1/AW338: im lumping these together because they were both bought as more or less show pieces. i do have a plan to convert the AW338 into a single shot 8mm gun, but that's in the future. the build quality is great, as usual. they both look and feel great, and they perform acceptably but i would never use them in a game as they are FAR too heavy. i can get better performance out of my tuned up KJW M700 for a fraction of the cost and weight.

L85: this gun was a nightmare. it never worked right, and was a horror to do anything to the gearbox/hopup aside from changing the spring. whoever decided an airsoft gun should have the barrel/hopup semi-permanently attached to the gearbox should probably get more into the sport as a hobby so they can see how unfeasible that is in the real world where electromechanical components break and need to be replaced at least somewhat easily. as with the others though, the gun looked and felt great. if you gutted it and put a more standardized gearbox and hopup into it, it would make a great rifle for the british players, which i think is a somewhat untapped market.

FNC: the burst was neat, but it never worked right when you needed it to. the polycarb gearbox developed visible spiderweb hairline cracking within a few months and a few thousand rounds. it was when they were first released though, so my guess is it has gone through revisions since then.


my overall impressions of ARES are favorable but there seems to be a lot you could work on, especially at your price point. when someone pays more than $400 for a gun, they want something that looks and feels great and also works great. i am not as against the polycarb boxes as i was now that i have my Mk43, so long as they are well made. as others have pointed out, my suggestion would be along the lines of working to increase reliability and parts commonality with the rest of the market, and lowering that price point. i worked at the largest airsoft retailer in oregon for a couple of years and i remember when those $150 G&G plastic guns game out. they were solid guns, performed well, were upgradable and compatible with most parts and we couldn't keep them on the shelves. when i moved on we were running out of them about every two weeks.

and that is my feedback with ARES/STAR products. while we have you here, i am curious to know when and why the split between STAR and ARES happened, and what the key differences are. i have heard different things from different places but i would love to hear it first hand. if you would like to discuss any more of this with me, feel free to send me a PM here on AirsoftPacific and i would be happy to talk with you guys.

[Zshot]

Beran,

Thanks for that awesome feedback.

Your experience with ARES is pretty impressive, and I'm glad to hear that Mk43 is chugging strong still. Use that beast proudly!

Keep 'em coming guys!

Cheers,
Phil

[Snowman]

This isn't my personal experience, but I know of someone on another forum I'm on who had both a STAR AW338 and an Ares AW338. From what I understand, he loved the STAR AW338, but it was unfortunately stolen. Because it was stolen, he contacted Ares (this was just after STAR went under), and Ares offered him a discount on one of their AW338s, due to the fact his STAR was stolen.

In short, he hated the Ares. It was inconsistent, the FPS was far lower than the STAR, the barrel was weird, etc. He no longer plays, as far as I know, so I can't check with him for more info.

[Minerva]

Going to be honest: Bought an ARES M4. Came defective and had to send it back. Got it back and swapped the spring out to an M100. 2000rds later the piston head broke. 3000rds later the microswitch failed, running on a 9.6v. A couple thousands rounds later again, the motor brushes pooped out so I swapped it for a JG Red. Then the proprietary hop up which had the nub permanently installed, somehow became crooked and made my BB's hop to the sides. Bad. Then after some minor repairing, the thing worked fine, until the front of the gearbox broke. Not just cracked, but broke into 2 pieces. Never buying ARES again. EVER.

[Runestone]

I had one of the old STAR G36s. Worked well until it broke after about a year of use. Personally ARES is a bit out of my price range and I would only buy an ARES gun if it was one of the unique ones (I.E. the PPSH-41).

[G36 FTW]

I've been the tech on my friend's Tar-21, and after a year it is still working- but not without problems...

-The hop-up and bucking sucked. They were covered in oil and the bucking eventually ripped and jammed the AEG. The thing is still bloody inaccurate.

-The gears broke (the secotr gear lost a tooth).

-The micro-switch is proprietary, and should at least be replaceable. They should at least be sold aftermarket as replacements.

-The gearbox was drowned in grease- at least it wasn't cheap Chinese grease.

-The design is a pain to disassemble.

Otherwise it is a very nice replica, it would be nearly unbeatable if the internals were as nice as the externals. Also love the spring swap feature.

[Switchback]

Used an ARES SCAR. I liked it, externals were nice. Didn't have it very long, but it was a nice replica.

[Catch22]

I hate Ares with a passion.


Just kidding, never owned one. I have zero opinion on them.

[icebullet]

I've handled your guns before (G36), and I've been impressed with the quality of the externals. I've never fired one, yet I've heard horror stories about them. The Ares G36 with the trades was nice, but the scopes were terrible. Zero eye relief.

[Zshot]

Okay Guys,

Thanks again one last time for all your awesome feedback. We're taking it all to heart and taking it all to Hong Kong. Our goal was to try to get some thoughts from the public both for our own sake and for ARES themselves, and you all certainly pulled through for us. We've gotten tons of awesome feedback from this board and others, a lot which confirmed some of our existing suspicions, and a become aware of a few issues we were never aware of.

Most importantly, We've learned a few things that you've all addressed that need to be done by us and a few things that need to be done at the factory to make a more satisfied customer.

We're exploring the possibilities of an online web-store where you can purchase all the individual proprietary parts for the ARES guns that you can't get in normal stores, helping to try to eliminate the fear of non-existent parts support, and we're going to encourage ARES to hire a few more individuals on their support staff to help cover those of you who never receieved a response email from them just to name a few.

If at any time, you guys have any questions for us, or any comments concerns etc. Don't be afraid to drop us a line via Email, or to get in touch with us Via Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/zshot.inc)

Thanks again everyone!

Cheers,
Phil