[MadMax]

The sad thing is that the real damage is the perceived drop in value of the original build. The presence of a very similar low cost alternative depresses the perceived value of the original build. I'm not saying that the SystemA build will suddenly be replaced by the copy builder.

Subtleties like involute tooth design and tolerance analysis take an experienced designer's hand, but the feature list printed on the box is easy to provide. Unfortunately all bets are off on this one. All it takes is an experienced engineer to sheppard the process with low cost manufacturing to hit all the necessary points to make a good AEG. The PTW isn't exactly rocket science. Surface mount electronics are mainstream and the firmware behind the PTW's electronics isn't that difficult to copy in function. China makes a lot of good gearboxes for other industries. If an experienced gearbox designer works on this clone instead of a hackneyed hobbyist all of the PTW design intent can be easily reverse engineered. On the other hand if some douche with some dough dropped a hunk of dough at a manufacturing shop and asked them to duplicate a PTW, then it would likely suck and sound like a coffee grinder in a blender on "does it blend" while blasting 0.1g hemispherical pellets chopped from spherical 0.2g pellets.