Here’s my picks (I’m from UK)
HL-015 AAC Honey Badger - but heard it’s nylon gearbox goes
CYMA MP5 Gel Blaster
Cyma M4 CQB Gel Blaster - I will upgrade gears
JinMing Toys JM J16 Gen16 HK416D Gel Blaste
Bohan SLR AR15 Gel Ball Blaster
Cyma M4 CQB Gel Blaster
The best blaster I’ve ever had, I have 3 of them, but DON"T run an 11v battery in them, I’ve blown 2 gearboxes doing that. I think many here will agree OOTB they are the best for value/money @$165
GBX-LR 4013T $220 is a really cheap all metal blaster and comes with good reviews, but mine just blew a trigger, so I might have got a dud one.
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I would say the CYMA m4 is a good value starter with plenty of upgrade potential, Easy enough to work on and learn, but decent enough performing and reliability out of the box to have some fun.
Not sure if the Bohan SLR is the same as the Jingji SLR, considering it has electric blowback I would guess not. If you can get a Jingji SLR, they are awesome beginner blasters, with good upgrade potential as well, and again, decent performing and reliability.
In my experience the Jingji nylon gears will handle an m90 spring and 11v for quite a while. I love selling them, as the only time I see them come back is when a heavy fingered user breaks the nylon trigger, or to be upgraded. Making them definitely worth the extra spend.
The J16 we have yet to see in Australia, but it looks like a gen9 gearbox. Again, decent performing and reliable, and will handle m90 spring and 11v for a long time. Not a true v2 gearbox though some upgrading to metal gears and the like is more involved, though possible, I don’t recommend it as typically once rps and fps is above what you get from an m90 spring (300fps) and 11v on the nylon gears the become less reliable due to gearbox flex.
The honey badger, is a cool blaster, I have only seen them come with decent metal gears. My experience with them is that out of the box they perform a bit poorly, I wouldn’t run 11v until disabling the blowback, and most seem to have trigger switch issues. A modders delight of a blaster, but a bit of a headache as a beginners blaster as you will be left a bit sour on the performance and reliability factors. Though they can take many great aftermarket gearboxes with some fettling/ fit and fiddle.
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I’ll probably get the honey badger when I understand how to upgrade parts on a more simple blaster
I’ll back up the statement about CYMA M4s… solid entry level blasters, easy to mod and upgrade and decent enough in stock form.
The metal gearbox CYMAs are pretty good, most don’t need much if anything in the way of upgrades. Both full metal CYMA M16A1 blasters I’ve had chrono around 300FPS in stock format, one of those boxes now resides in a nylon M4 build and is a great performer.
CYMA offer their pretty decent M4 CQB with nylon gears and gearbox very cheaply, but if you’re budget stretches to the full metal version you won’t be disappointed.
Not as cheap as the GBX CQB or LR at around $400-$500 depending on the variant, but great blasters nonetheless. 
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Definitely the Cyma👍
I’ve only ever run mine on 11v🤣
Rather than making a new thread figured I’d ask here.
I’m looking tossing up between the CYMA m4 or p90 v4 for a first blaster. The p90 appears to be better on paper but the m4 will be easier to get mags and upgrade later on.
As pretty much everyone here has/will say, go the M4 for a first blaster, they are considerably easier to work on for a beginner for upgrades and general tinkering, and accessories are much more abundant.
The double bell blasters are also a good option thou are in the next price bracket, only real downside to them is they can easily put out over 300fps ootb and some fields still have a cap of 300 especially when kids are involved. It’s not too hard to deal the skirting for a lower powered one to drop the fps thou.
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I usually suggest heading into a large blaster retailer and checking out the wall… 
Blasters are like cars, everyone likes something different and if you buy the one that appeals to you the most, as long as it’s solid and reliable you’ll be happy. Just comes down to your budget and taste.
Best thing to do is pick one out, then check out the online reviews and this forum to find out about it before you drop cash. There are still some shockers kicking around the marketplace that’ll bite you if you buy them… for example…
Bing Feng SCAR H… Looks the business, affordable but needs so much work to make it perform decently it’s almost not worth the price of entry. If you read the reviews you’d avoid it like the plague. The nylon CYMA SCAR L would be a much better option and cheaper.
Like DChapo says, it’s hard to beat a well built M4 like a DB or a CYMA for a first blaster.
But I hear the P90 V4 is pretty good if gettin’ your tactical on is more your thing. There are an awful lot of M4s out there, for good reason, but they’re everywhere if you get my drift.
I believe it’s cool to be different.
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