Tokyo Marui Losing Popularity

[TokyoSeven]

Originally Posted by Daiviet

TM's new SOPMOD actually comes with a metal body, plus all the other cool features it has.

Really? I wonder how that works with how the airsoft laws work over in Japan. The sopdmods FPS confirms to the laws, but I always thought airsoft guns were required to be produced from materials that would prevent the item from ever being modified into a real fire arm, hense no metal. Maybe the laws have relaxed a bit, if so thats cool.

Originally Posted by yuhaoyang

T7 how can a company be secretive about airsoft developments? Unless TM starts JBwelding all their gearboxes shut =p.

Not even gona try to explain.
Everyone else got it. You'll figure it out.

[Danke]

I like them all, TM, VFC, Maurtzen, KSC, A&K, and more.

There are clearly intangible benefits to the TM guns as they're copied by many of the clone companies. VFC get copied by DBoys, CA gets copied by A&K also.

It's a chicken and the egg argument and you really can't say the copies are so good now the source can dry up and blow away.

[delta37]

here in my country TM is getting less popular and the reason I think is that there are basically two types of people. One would be cheap a** and so they would prefer JG. In fairness they're really really good budget guns. The other one would be those rich a** and they would shell out anything just for anything, and nowadays we have high-end brands that are really worth every penny e.g. G&G VFC ICS etc...

TM is a bit in the middle and so they're somewhat stuck. Usually people here just either get cheap China replicas or the Taiwan high-end guns

[yuhaoyang]

TM has a serious over-pricing issue... honestly, if you take 5 minutes and think about every individual part, why would anyone buy a TM lets say S-System over a JG S-System?

[thePiRaTE!!]

Originally Posted by yuhaoyang

TM has a serious over-pricing issue... honestly, if you take 5 minutes and think about every individual part, why would anyone buy a TM lets say S-System over a JG S-System?

One pays for R&D, QC and a little extra for proper packaging with TM. Furthermore, with the Yen doing well against Western currencies of late and the cost of Japanese labour vs Chinese labour, you're looking at a bigger outlay just to have something equivalent made, but the quality is quite high with TM.

If copyright laws were more enforcible in China, many clones wouldn't even be able to exist. But they do, so people buy them and save some cash up front. Now that there are clones of clones out there into comparitively reliable build generations with price, selection and availability at good levels, the hard reasons to buy the original are faded - which is perhaps what we're seeing reflected.


K.

[TokyoSeven]

Originally Posted by yuhaoyang

TM has a serious over-pricing issue... honestly, if you take 5 minutes and think about every individual part, why would anyone buy a TM lets say S-System over a JG S-System?

You are forgetting who created the initial AEGs that are cloned today, TM put their money into R&D creating the first electric airsoft guns and created all the different versions of gears boxes that we know today. Tokyo Marui uses quality parts to assemble their products and for the most part observe a very high quality control when it comes to their product.

Cloners like JG save costs by not having to put any money into research and development. They purchase mid to low quality materials in bulk from the lowest bidder and assemble their product in a hasty manner with mid to low quality control in an effort to get more products produced on mass for quick sale.

I would honestly purchase a TM over a JG any day just because I know I would be supporting a company that took the time to care about what they do. Its not over pricing at all, you are paying for quality. Its like comparing a real deal Louis Vuitton suitcase to a clone, they look the same, they both do the same thing. However one company took the time to design and create their product with quality materials while another simply took the design and remade it with lower end materials for cheaper for mass sale because there are cheap people out there who want the look without the price tag.

[Kampfer]

I prefer TM's stability anytime. They are a lot more enjoyable to work with. Sure they may lack a metal body, but then again they are no paper weight either, unlike those JG, G&G low-mid-grade. ...

[kalnaren]

Another thing people forget is the consistancy with which TM guns shoot. They're always bang on +/- maybe 2 FPS... some clones have a varience of 10 or more between shots. And all that's not to mention the hop-up. TM hop-up units are amoung the best out there. Tolerences are significantly tighter.. materials are much better quality... overall they're better quality guns.

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by Kampfer

Sure they may lack a metal body, but then again they are no paper weight either, unlike those JG, G&G low-mid-grade. ...

What are you talking about? JG's have proven to be good quality guns.

[Ronald Chang]

Originally Posted by delta37

here in my country TM is getting less popular and the reason I think is that there are basically two types of people. One would be cheap a** and so they would prefer JG. In fairness they're really really good budget guns. The other one would be those rich a** and they would shell out anything just for anything, and nowadays we have high-end brands that are really worth every penny e.g. G&G VFC ICS etc...

TM is a bit in the middle and so they're somewhat stuck. Usually people here just either get cheap China replicas or the Taiwan high-end guns

I disagree that G&G and ICS are high end brands, the metal body alone, without a consistent performance right out of the box, can hardly make them satisfy that "high end" label.

[kalnaren]

Originally Posted by Ronald Chang

I disagree that G&G and ICS are high end brands, the metal body alone, without a consistent performance right out of the box, can hardly make them satisfy that "high end" label.

I think normal ICS aren't bad. Their CanSoft ones are pretty poor though. I'd put G&G on the bottom of the "higher end" brands -right above JG.

[Crunchmeister]

Originally Posted by DONSTER 125

truth be told, IMHO, if you were to buy TM, one should buy:

M14
P90 (im not a P90 fan, but im told this is a great little gun)
Type 89
M4 SOPMOD

Basically all of their full metal guns. Their non-full metal guns are great, but for some, they like the full metal feel.

I'll agree for the M14 and M4 SOPMOD. I know nothing about the Type 89, so can't comment.

I've tried a couple of TM M14s, and several clones. And I can say without a doublt that the clones come nowhere near TM in terms of feel and just overall performance and reliability. I'm not a fan of the M14, but if I were to get one, it would be TM all the way. None of the clones that I've seen come close. I haven't seen a CA M14. I can imagine it's probably a lot better than the other clones, but of the ones I've seen, they were crap as far as I'm concerned.

As for the M4 SOPMOD, it's a totally new product and quite innovative. The all-metal construction and well thought out battery system make it quite an attractive piece. But as Sepulcrum said, if a Chinese company (like JG) were to start cloning that design and managed to make it as reliable as their other guns, then I'd go that route. Although I'm sure once the model gets cloned, it will take a couple of years for the Chinese companies to work out all the kinks.

As for the P90, I've tried both the TM and Echo 1. IMO, the Echo 1 wins hands down, especially considering it's less than 1/2 the price. With its reinforced 7mm gearbox, metal bushings, reinforced gears, aluminum piston head, 350 fps spring, and other internals that seem to be of great quality, IMO that beats TM's pot metal internals and low performance. And it's also got a nice, solid metal receiver which in my opinion if every bit as good as any after-market P90 receiver I've seen (short of the trademarks). That makes it an easy winner in my books over the TM.

[TokyoSeven]

Originally Posted by Styrak

What are you talking about? JG's have proven to be good quality guns.

They are better now, they never used to be.

[Crunchmeister]

As I said in my first post in this thread - JG have made leaps and bounds in quality recently. And I've only been into airsoft for a couple of years now. Back when I started, they were still pretty junky, but starting to get a lot better. Nowadays, they're quality guns. Chinese stuff usually takes a while to get good. The first few versions are usually pretty shitty, but they learn quickly.

[kalnaren]

Originally Posted by Crunchmeister

As I said in my first post in this thread - JG have made leaps and bounds in quality recently. And I've only been into airsoft for a couple of years now. Back when I started, they were still pretty junky, but starting to get a lot better. Nowadays, they're quality guns. Chinese stuff usually takes a while to get good. The first few versions are usually pretty shitty, but they learn quickly.

Indeed. I know a lot of people on here were around when Classic Army first started and have quite a few horror stories about them. CA has gotten to the point where I honestly can't think of any instance I'd get a TM over a CA.

When I first started playing the best clone out there was the CYMA .027 (think Aftermath Lycon, same gun AFAIK). Generally clones were considered shit until JG came along with their JG36 (it's still considered one of their best guns), and even then, it's still no where near the CA G36 line for quality. Though now that I have JG's P90, I have to admit its a nice little gun, especially compared to the more than twice as expensive TM version.

People still praise the Kraken to no end. I still say boo-urns to that. For a project gun where you're replacing everything anyway, yea go ahead. But at that point its no longer a kraken. I still recommend newbies start out with a gun they KNOW will work out of the box. I've heard too many stories of Krakens failing out of the box or within a thousand rounds or so to recommend them as "the perfect starter gun" as so many people seem to think they are. A perfect starter gun is one you KNOW you can put 20,000 rounds through without needing to do anything to it... Ie, not a clone. I still recommend TMs (and yea crunch, I know you've had a couple of DoA TMs... you're an anomoly lol) and CAs for just that reason.