M249 A&K versus Echo1
 

Hi,

I m considering a M249 Para, but I m wandering if I should go for Echo1 or A&K?

Anyone had a chance to benchmark them?

Thanks

Bong

Well, if you give me approximately a week, i'll have an A&K, and i'll let you know. :D

A&K ain't bad BUT the hop up is kinda shitty. Crunchmeister told me how he fixed his when i was at his place drooling over it but i can't remember exactly what he said.... I would also like to ad... I never knew echo 1 made a 249... it's probably just a rebranded A&K

Here's a great look at the A&K with notes on how to fix the rough spots.

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/revie.../cat/16/page/1

Echo1's 249 is the A&K one with some degree of quality control. They're essentially the same, just get whatever is cheaper.

What about the CA one, is it worth the price increase (versus Echo 1 & A&K)?

Bong,

The A&K 249 Para that I had was great, especially for the price....needed a tweak here or there, but it was a lot of fun.

Side M4 mag use and quick change spring feature was great.

Overall...it had a nice heft of a "big gun"...but I found the metal was a bit "soft". The locking lugs for the bipod wore almost instantly.

The box mag worked...but was really awkwardly big. A smaller "nut-sack" mag would be mich nicer.

Mini batteries suck for a SAW...unless you go LiPo's it's a real let down.

I was an idiot to sell mine.

Tys

Thanks for the feedback, I m thinking A&K big time now :)

Yea, if you don't want to have to baby it. The CA one is a solid piece, whereas the A&K one is a little frail.

As mentioned, I would suspect that the E1 is the same as the A&K, as E1 guns are generally rebranded JG and A&K guns that get a little more QA work.

The CA is way more solid, but you'd have to expect that from a quality manufacturer. That being said, the A&K is also a hell of a lot cheaper, so it's a "you get what you pay for" situation. After all, you're paying well over $1000 for the CA whereas the A&K is in the $750-ish area.

That being said, the A&K is a beast. It's all metal, pretty solid, and shoots great. Out of the box it shoots 400 fps at a respectable rof. The down side is that it takes mini batteries, which is a bit of a letdown. Plan on getting extra batteries or a lipo.

As for the hopup, the stock hopup setup is shitty and has little to no effect on the BB no matter how agressively you set it. This gives you a very short range. I installed a Guarder clear hopup sleeve, and made an improvised bucking from a piece of 14 guage speaker wire. The hopup works great now. It was used by a friend at Border Wars 2 last year and he said the range was sick. He was set up at the end of a path behind some cover, and was picking off people like mad. He said that he could see peoples' BBs hitting the ground 20 feet in front of him, but he could still tag them at that range.

So for the money, I would say that it's a worthy buy. Be careful to not throw it around or drop it and you should be ok.

All E1 is is a Chinese gun tested to see if it'll fire, some Echo1 trades stamped on, then re-sold in a different box at a higher price.

A Friend of mine (BORDENSNIPER) had a Star Mk46 with a modified A&K feed tray we installed, and at the same time had/has a CA M249 and by far the CA wins in every term. The quality of detail and construction is beyond a doubt amazing. The only downside was the internal upgrades needed to boast up the power a nudge. The A&K feed-tray on the other hand, even lacked some minor detail in comparison to the Star feed-tray, which says a lot about what you're getting.

Mechbox wise, is it as easy to swap spring the in CA then in the A&K?

I believe the A&K is a clone of the CA right down to the mechbox. I know for a fact on the A&K you can swap the spring in under 2 mins if you're quick, and about 3 mins if you're not... I think the same is true of the CA, although I'm not 100% sure.

There is no way you can fit a 9.6v sized battery in it and just buy a mini to large RC connector?

Looking at the pictures from ArniesAirsoft, the battery housing kinda looks like it may be able to fit a good sized 9.6v, I may be wrong.