I have three ARES guns two M4's and an SR25. I've put about 6000 rounds through my main M4 and haven't had a problem with it yet. I was told the Canadian version does have upgraded internals. However I have been putting off opening it up in because I'm worried I will screw something up putting it back together. As the saying goes if it isn't broken... I can say they are making changes to their internals. My second M4 has a different style of hop up. Not sure if this is an improvement or not I just haven't gamed it enough yet. Also I have a STAR mag that began to have feed problems after one game. I haven't had any problems with the ARES mags I'm hoping this is a step up in quality as well. The fact I can't get mags for my SR25 is driving me up the wall. I've had mine for about 4 months and have been unable to get any mags.

Not all veteran players likes to upgrade their airsoft guns
 

I played airsoft since 1990's, I am busy at work and family. So I focus more on airsoft which is reliable and performs well right out of the box, as I believe it is the way things should be.

And from my experience, if you stick to good brands, it is best to keep them in their stock form, rather than opening them up too often.

The only thing I've seen last "Repeatably" beyond 3 years with stock internals is tokyo marui.
You can have the odd G&P or CA, or even an ARES last 4 years bone stock. But is EVERY G&P, CA and ARES going to last that long? Definitely not. But on average, marui is hands down the single most reliable AEG on the market.

For everyone else, there's upgrade parts lol
Keep in mind, the upgrade/replacement parts are only as good as the gundoc installing them. A shitty gundoc can ruin ANY gun.

+1 I have a King Arms Galil which is mechanically stock with the exception of a mad bull tightbore and so far 3 years and it's still running strong as for Marui well a stock HK51 from 91 can still compete with the most current AEG and still win aside from a PTW

Zshot,

What is the purpose of this thread and others you started in other forums?

Ares have made guns that are proprietary and sold tons.

Your thread have allowed a central area for people to vent which is not good if Ares decides not to supply parts if they choose . If they have parts to make the guns, then why they can't supply these same parts to dealers or customers?

They are totally aware of their situation.

You are just a distributor or are you Ares???

Zshot is the US distributor for Ares.

Ares is well known for not supplying parts.

The boss at Ares in HK sits in his office asking his staff questions. Does everyone love us, are we doing good, and so on. The staff feedback is akin to what the king heard in the story the emperor's new clothes.

The point of the thread is to snap Ares out of their fantasy world and get them to take care of the people who make their pay cheques a reality.

I don't view these threads as a wakeup call. The situation is B2B and should be taken care in a business meeting not on a public forum. Zshot is actually putting their distribution at risk.

Why should Ares change the way they do business? Dealers are still selling their products. Customers are still buying knowing about the lack of parts issue.

Ares should change the way they do business if they want to STAY in business. Their current business model of not providing replacement part will only allow their business to be sustainable for so long before enough people get pissed off at them and say fuck it ares you suck.

So far it seems ares has made a name for themselves with a product differentiation strategy. That is offering guns no one else has been really offering. But without replacement parts it's only a matter of time before the competition catches up and surpasses them on they strategy of offering unique guns. And those companies will probably offer replacements.

With regards to the comment about staying out of public forums. Well I for one feel its a smart more on Z shots part. Its always a benefit to find out what your customers honestly think about your product. Don't assume, go out and ask.

This takes me back to a business lecture way back when. "Be proactive and not reactive." Find and address problems before they happen rather than address them when it's too late.

Uninformed noobs will buy anything cheap.
Chinese clones used to be all the rage, EVERYONE had one. Now only noobs that don't have access to ASC or don't ask questions have them for a season, they break, and they never buy one again.
When they first boomed, I'd say 75% of new guns being bought locally were clones, now it's less than 25% And nobody who bought one wants to own one ever again.

Here is an example, I bought an Ares G36c in June of this year. I had upgraded/replaced a part however it took 2 months of waiting and searching and the shipping was from Asia. It was a pain. Last weekend I bought two AEGs. Ares was on my comparison list. I ended up with king arms because I wanted a gearbox that can be upgraded/fixes without the hassle that I had to go through for my g36. Fool me once...

I have a G36c and it is not a ARES...

Did you even read Zshots first post? It explains it all right there on what he is trying to do. It seemed pretty straight forward to me.

You need to step back, far back and look at the Ares situation.

Distributor relationship is with the Ares and their dealers. The dealer relationship is with you, the customer. Customers that do have problems with their Ares guns go to the dealer for support. Even though all airsoft guns are sold with virtually no warranty. The ones that are TM compatible can get their gun up and running with either original parts or aftermarket parts.

In the case of Ares, if one of the proprietary parts do break, the dealer is helpless to take care of their customer. I am sure ASGI sold many Ares and have their bunch of customer satisfaction issues and use their videos to vent.

People that owned Ares that never have a problem, that's great. But if your gun breaks, and it happens to be a proprietary part, then come back and post your happy feelings.

In Canada you pay a lot more for an airsoft gun, and a broken Ares that can't be fixed is .....

I've only owned one gun from ARES. My TAR-21.
I love the external quality of the gun, it's beautiful and durable.

The internals are OK. The stock gun had a fairly significant air leak in the nozzle. Otherwise, the gun was fine out of the box. The biggest issue is when you try to replace broken parts. I had a broken tappet plate, spring guide and gearbox shell. I did manage to source the parts from ZshotUSA, but it was very difficult and expensive. I wish the gearbox was made of some steel or other material, because the zinc alloy is weak.

Proprietary parts is the big turn off.

Would I recommend ARES? Yes, if you don't plan on upgrading. But if you're like me and you like to upgrade and tinker, I would suggest otherwise.

Breakage?
 

Oh yeah...and for God's sake...do NOT let anything break, so bubble wrap the gun for play. I know it sometimes harms the stealth of your play, what with popping cells and all, but at least your gun is protected. And by no means should you do anything on uneven ground or with trees around or in any adversarial fashion which might cause you to inadvertently bump into anything as that might cause unexpected and irreparable harm to the gun. In short, treat your gun like a Stradivarius Violins because be forewarned that it could, in the blink of an eye, become one seriously expensive paperweight, unless, of course, you need a Tar-sized and weighted paperweight, in which case...well, give 'er!

;) All in fun, but I'm sure you see my point!