
With all the rumors floating around the
airsoft fields about the Echo 1
airsoft AEG's, this review is long overdue. Rumors say that the echo1
airsoft products are simply
reboxed and
re branded JG
AEG's, others claim they are not. I recently got my hands on one of the newest release Echo
AK's and opened up the
mechbox to expose and examine the internals. I must say I was impressed and pleasantly pleased with what I found inside the
mechbox plus a few additions to the externals that caught my attention as well. Inside this
mechbox Echo1 has added steel bushings and a counter balanced sector gear. Not sure why they chose to add a plastic spring guide vs a metal one to this hard shooting AK, but that is an easy upgrade to install once replacement is needed. The rest of the internals are cloned right from standard version 3 gearboxes so not much difference here. The internals used match
airsoft standards so other
airsoft manufacturer and after market parts will be fully compatible with the echo 1 clones. On the external side of this AK we find some small improvements have been added here as well. The magazine catch has b
een slightly redesigned and seems to function well. The biggest wow here would be the addition of a full metal hop up selector slide shown in the photo. All in all I would have to say that this
AEG is solid built, features great performance and shoots at a chronograph verified 365-380 FPS out of the box. Most retailers are selling these for 200 dollars or less and I would have to say
airsoft consumers are getting more than their moneys worth. If echo1 continues to put this kind of attention to detail and performance into all their products, I would say we will be
feeling allot of echo 1
AEG's on the field in 2008. As for the JG rumors exposed, Its an Echo 1 silly.