My son and have owned SRC SR4 Blasters for about a year now which have been great performers and extremely reliable. I’ve started considering putting those blasters aside for backups blasters or loan units to save family and friends some money on blaster hire if they come out with us.
So, what next? I don’t have a great deal of spare time for tinkering so a scratch build is out. Buying a 2k custom job from any of the local custom shops is also out. HPA sounds fun but again, don’t feel like messing about with air tank refills, and from what I’ve seen they are also out of our budget.
Is there a 1 - 1.5k blaster out there that’s going to be a considerable step up from the SRC SR4 that anyone can recommend?
Higher RPM and faster trigger response would be great.
At the moment I have my eye on the ICS Lightway Peleador (awful name) . Bradley Phillips did a review last year, what piqued my interest is that it appears to be relatively easy to work on due to the split gearbox (ie less time). And something that looks like I could upgrade over time? Currently 600 clams however I’d look to wait for a sale.
Am I on the right track here? Would appreciate your feedback
Any stock blaster is going to be much the same imo. Just because it is more expensive doesn’t mean that it will perform better, and more likely means there are better components and build quality but performance isn’t going to be much different.
I haven’t seen one on my bench so can’t make an actual assesment.
ICS are well regarded in Airsoft, and their split boxes are also.
I personally dont think a split gearbox is better, just different. It makes it easier to service the compression components but it doesn’t make the actual build of a gearbox better or easier. And in my opinion of you are servicing compression you should be servicing or at least looking at the rest.
Purely opinion though.
Tbh I don’t recommend any blaster as they can all be less than perfect no matter the spend.
What I do recommend is getting something you like the look and feel of, then making it your own and having the performance tweaked to your taste, planned fields of use rules, and budget.
Sorry for being zero help in deciding, I am happy to offer anything I know to everyone. But in this case I’ve not had either ICS or SRC on my bench to make an assessment on way or the other.
I’ve never seen the benefit of a split gearbox other than for competitive players or places that hire out gear… regular maintenance is easier. And I guess it is easier to work on your airseal without disturbing everything else.
It’s up to you, but pulling half a dozen screws has never been a heartache for me with a normal V2 / V3 clamshell box.
I have to concur. Sometimes I have more fun with a $100 blaster than my much time spent M16, add a zero, mash up. But I did that because I wanted to make it work, learn how all it works and I enjoy such things as a self challenge with this forum members help some years ago.
Handled the ICS Lightway Peleador today. Was ok. Doesn’t come in tan though.
Also had a look at it’s metal brother
It’s a pretty compact unit and would weigh more than my SRC SR4 but the weight is balanced well, more weight in the receiver rather than the fore end. The SRC has a long and heavy outer barrel which makes it feel quite heavy.
This one comes in tan but they’re out of tan stock, and wouldn’t let me try one out so that’s a maybe for now.
I got to Azreals last weekend to fondle the Noveske and the H&K416. Both in Tan, I’m a sucker for tan.
The H&K felt heavier and had quad rails over the forend which would need changing.
So I dropped the hammer on the Noveske, forend was comfortable and the aluminium externals made it feel no heaver than my SRC SR4 hybrid so I’m happy. None in stock so I had to take the display model. Couldn’t find another anywhere else.
As it was a display they’re giving it a tidy and tune up so I should receive it in a week or two. Just in time to give it to my wife, who can wrap it and give it back to me…
