Trying to make sense of the G&G product lines
 

My son and I have been playing paintball for a few years now, and he has finally convinced me to make the switch to airsoft. We were at Panther yesterday and had a blast for a fraction of the cost of paintball!

He has already bought himself an Ares L85, but I was using what I think was a CM16 Raider rental gun. I was quite impressed with how well the gun felt and performed. (granted, I don't have a lot to compare to, but it shot straight, with good range and was comfortable to use.)

I have been trying to decide what gun to start with, and it appears that the G&G Combat Machine lineup offers very good value as entry level/intermediate guns. Now here is the problem: I was leaning towards the CM16 SRL as it seems to offer a lot at a low price point, but when I researched it I came across a lot of complaints about the quality of the mosfit, issues with different batteries, and criticism about the quality of internals, and the trigger microswitch. That has me looking at some of G&G's other offerings, but I am having a hard time making sense of all of them.

So the first question is, does the SR series have enough issues that I should avoid that model, or were they early production problems that have since been resolved?

Next question: I see all the different products they offer: CM16, CM18, GR4, GC4, TR16 etc! The prices of these models all seem to fall in a similar range, so what are the differences? Which models have higher quality internals? Which models should be avoided?

I was planning on spending around $350cdn, but if there is a big leap in quality and reliability at a higher price point I might consider pushing the budget a bit.

Any help in clarifying my options would be greatly appreciated!

Unless your willing to spend HUGH money.... all airsoft manufacturers employ hit and miss quality control. So you get people who swear by a particular brand and others who swear at it. So pay the money and roll the dice, personally i have had good luck with top tech G&Gs

If you're budget is 350, I'd say (and many many many forum members would recommend) going up to 400 and getting a VFC. Quality is just THAT much better (inside and outside).

toptechs are a bit of a pain in the ass when it comes to doing work inside the gearbox. I don't like them because of the blowback system adds a fair amount of complexity to taking the gun apart.

the CMs are entry level, and the only thing that really separates the toptechs vs everything else is the unique blowback gearbox. All other g&gs use the same gearbox and are compatible with all aftermarket parts, whereas the toptech has parts in the blowback system and gearbox shell itself that are proprietary to g&g and there are no aftermarket replacements for those. CMs have plastic receivers while the other lines use cast metal receivers.

Some of the newer g&g guns of the non toptech lines have mosfets built in. They're ok for stock and close to stock use but hey're not great for going nuts with upgrades.

From an aesthetic point of view, pick what you want, from a budget view, the CM is a very reliable starter gun that is mechanically identical to the other non toptech guns and leaves budget for other things. If you want metal bodies the TR line is the higher end without getting into the complicated blowback system.

As a gun tech, I would pick the simplest option mechanically and install my own mosfet that is speced to take higher end upgrades and replace things as they are needed when they break.

I'm not sure if all g&gs are being built with their crappy mosfets or not, but your best bet if you want a CM is to look for the older ones without mosfets. Not having one just means the trigger contacts may burn up or carbonize from the arcing but they should last a year or two. There is a field local to me that uses CMs as rental guns and they've lasted a whole year of gaming every weekend.

in the 400~+ price range VFC would be a better choice in terms of overall quality. The gearbox shells in vfcs are much nicer.


One more thing I will add is that most factory installed mosfets are specced pretty low and can barely handle the amperage spiking in airsoft guns which is why they burn out. Their constant draw might be just barely good enough to meet the requirement, but the initial spike when you pull the trigger can be 4-5x the amp draw of what it ends up settling down to as a constant draw.

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CM16 SRL is still a Combat machine, the rest of the price goes into Keymod Rail and better stock. The only added option that I saw was a mosfet. I would either buy a 160-180 basic CM or spend more on M4 VFC (300 $ if you dont want rail).

You could also go with a AK, those are beast, I have a cyma full metal ak, That I had bough for 200 $ and it still perform perfectly. I don't get why people want extra long rail.With real guns, I get it but not with airsoft.

G&G Combat Machines are good value in an entry gun, IF, you get the cheaper ones ($180-$250), i.e. a plain carbine or a Raider. When you start looking at the more expensive models in the CM lineup, you quickly start to realize you're paying a lot of money for them to put fancy rails, grips and stocks on a gun with a polymer body. At that higher price point, the small percentage of money saved on the polymer body isn't really worth it anymore. Keep in mind they aren't good base guns to upgrade, it's not really worth putting money in them. Just keep it stock, and when you outgrow it buy into a higher end platform. Then use the G&G as a backup or a loaner.

VFC is widely regarded as one of the top manufacturers of AEG's. For $350 (before taxes) you can get a VFC VR16 Fighter CQB, or for $400 the VFC VR16 Saber CQB. Both are similar in aesthetic to the CM16 SLR, and I would recommend either of them over anything G&G has to offer in an M4. You'd be getting a lot more gun, plus much nicer externals with a metal receiver, for the same cost.

Well you know if you've extensively played paintball and are now switching to airsoft you should consider starting with a bit higher level platform.

Otherwise come July you're buying another gun etc.

Look at what you can find for VFC out down there.

Buy once, cry once.

I suggest waiting for their new line of guns to come out. apparently all the newer models released later this year will include electronic programable trigger with a mosfet.

Thanks for the quick replies everyone!

It is true that I learned playing paintball that you outgrow entry level models very quickly. The other lesson I learned was that simplicity usually = reliability. My son always went for "tacticool" over simplicity. He had a Milsig M17, I have an Empire Axe. Needless to say we spent far more time trying to get his Milsig working right. My axe just worked. Always. I am afraid he may have done the same thing with his L85 airsoft gun, but we shall see!
The reason I zeroed in on G&G is because many people I talked to swore by them. I can't believe how many manufacturers produce airsoft guns!
I will certainly look into VFC as an option. What other companies produce superior mid range guns?

VFC, Krytac, Tokyo Marui to name a few.. I would walk into any of our local airsoft stores and check them out..suggest you don't impulse buy and do your research, save up and spend around the $4-550 range.

Next time you decide to play walk up to some of the groups and ask a few questions, most airsofters are friendly and have no prob showing there gear if you need help with purchasing stuff.

Yeah, I've been looking in local stores. Some of them push G&G hard, a couple don't seem to know much more than I do about the products they are selling! That's why I am trying to educate myself more so when I go into the stores I have an idea what to focus on. The stores I know about so far are Badlands, Camoflage, Gorilla surplus, Milsig Canada, and Trigger. Where else would you suggest?

We're not technically allowed to tell you without you being age verified, but I'll let you know, other than Trigger, avoid the ones you have listed. They are overpriced and aren't very good retailers...

What you can always end up doing is visiting stores to get an idea on the brands available, and how they feel to you. Always a great idea to check ergonomics on guns to help you narrow down a design you'd like (for me, I don't like the ergonomics on the M4, and have a higher preference to G36s and P90s in the rifle sizes).

I'd suggest seeing if you can get AVed in the time being as well; as long as you don't mind a used gun there's quite a few deals to be had in the Classifieds section here.

IIRC Badlands is a bit expensive, even for paintball gear. Was shopping for the CCI Phantom years ago and the prices/options were not that great. I severely doubt that's changed much.

I have found that Badlands has some competitive pricing, for example, the cm16 SRL for $330 including battery and charger beats everyone else I have seen. They seem pretty knowledgeable. Milsig are friendly and helpful. Gorilla/camouflage, (owned by the same people I believe) are staffed with people who know nothing about the products and aren't very helpful at all! I have never actually been into Trigger because they keep odd store hours!

I would like to get access to the classifieds here...will have to get verified I guess...