n00b in need of a loadout

[AgentSush]

Hey I'm new to the website here and I was thinking about getting into airsoft. So I researched what gear I needed and it appeared to me that there are so many different brands and quality's of all kinds of guns and equipment. I have no clue on what products are reliable. This brings me to what I'm trying to get to. I need everything that's needed to go to an airsoft event and play. My budget is around $800-1000 and I could go up a bit more than that if needed. It would be preferable if this budget included a few extra magazines to go with the guns. If any of you are bored enough to help me put together this loadout it would be greatly appreciated.

[PracticalTacticalBC]

I went with a condor modular chest rig and a g&g combat machine...works well

[Ricochet]

Firstly, never buy cheap crap at any level. Your starting budget is really good, but get what you need as time goes on. Don't cheap out to buy everything at once.

You can get a G&G gun for $200 - $300. That's about the cheapest quality gun you can get. Luckily, they have several variants to choose from. If you want to go higher quality, get a VFC, they'll be around $500 and up. Get yourself some high grade BBs to shoot, such as BB Bastards, a good balance charger and lipos, such as the Turnigy Nanotech batteries and IMAX B6 charger, which run about $8.99 for a battery and $36.00 for the charger respectively. They can be purchased from Hobbyking at the cheapest anywhere by a margin. Make sure to order from the U.S. Warehouse option or you may be waiting awhile for your stuff. A box of magazines is usually about $50 - $60. Read I depth reviews as many mag brands suffer from incompatibility, wearing out too fast and/or not feeding properly. Get some minor upgrade for your gun as well, starting with the hop-up, barrel and nozzle, to get better performance and consistency before shear power. Brands like Lonex and PDI make quality parts.

Other than that, get a great set of ballistic goggles with either thermal lenses or built on fans to help fight fogging. Many fields require full seal eyewear to play. Valcan makes a set of thermal low-pro goggles for about $40. Military supply companies such as Revision, EOS, Oakley and Smith make loads of ballistic eyewear as well.

Gear is what you want it to be, but I recommend lightweight, low profile and real steel gear. Get what works, not just what you think looks cool.

[NoGear]

My advice is to hit up some local surplus stores, or find some airsoft stores in your area. Gun wise try and see if someone is selling a quality gun at a fraction of the cost. start small and play a game or two and you'll figure out what else you need. From playing one game I realised I needed 2 more pouches another magazine, and to stretch before a game. Never cheap out on eye protection and boots, the rest is up to you.

[Kozzie]

The only thing you need to play is a gun, battery, bb's and eye/face protection. Most new players (understandably) want to show up in full gear looking the part, but that's not necessarily the best idea. I would strongly recommend you play a few games before you buy any BDU's or tac gear. Depending on where you play you may be able to rent a gun for your first game. Everyone uses different gear and setups which are tailored to their individual preferences and play style. Go see what other people have and get an idea of what will work for you before you buy anything. Fondle different gun models (AK, M4, SIG, P90 etc) to see what you like and what is comfortable for you to operate and shoulder. Ask questions, most guys love to show off their kit. The first piece of gear I bought was a big plate carrier which I wore two or three times before I decided a smaller lighter chest rig was much better suited to what I wanted, $130+tax to waste. The other reason to hold off for a little is because if you end up on a team, they may wear a specific camo pattern and gear colour, which Murphy's Law states will most certainly be different from what you have already chosen.

Get yourself a good gun, battery, charger and eye/face protection. A shitty wall charger will fry your batteries and cost you much more in the long run, the Imax B6 is a decent charger for the price, a little more expensive the ONYX 235 is a very good charger. For eye/face pro I like a mesh mask paired with full seal ballistic goggles (revision desert locust are a good example). As far as gun goes, it really depends on what model you want. Decide what model of gun you want then look into which manufacturers make that model.

Best brands in two most popular models:
M4: Krytac or VFC. You can't go wrong with either of these, I would place Krytac a little above VFC right now. Both are terrific stock guns.

AK: LCT or E&L. Both are good guns with very nice externals, I would put LCT ahead of E&L. Realsword also makes very nice AK's but maybe a little too expensive and hard to find for a noob.

[redzaku]

never skimp on good boots, even 6inch hiking boots would save you from injuries
would help if you have a style to build upon, like a PMC for example, you would just need khaki cargo pants, black tac vest, a tan combat shirt and an operator hat
what pretty much the other has said

[AgentSush]

Thanks! All of these answers where extremely helpful.