Ares v Star

[Jay8]

Hey there,

I have always had it in my mind, that Star became Ares in abit of a rebranding exercise, and basically lifed their whole catalogue with minor changes and better quality control put in place.

Therefore, in general, their guns are going to be near as dammit identical, and if they aren't, Ares would be the better ones.

I was looking at L85s however, and an Armoury with 'Wolf' in the name sells both Ares and Star L85's, yet sells the Star ones in general for about £75 more, and I can't see any inclusion of anything to 'justify' that difference.

Am I entirely wrong on how the two companies interlink, and does anyone know of any difference between the L85's that would account for this?

I ask primarily out of curiousity, but also I might get an L85 or L85 AFV in the future, and so the price difference is intriguing.

[masteravatar]

Re: Ares v Star

Well jay (correct me if im wrong everyone else) but basically Ares made the guns for Star and then after a small falling out Ares decided to go into the business on there own. The price difference is down to Ares selling them direct for a cheaper cost than Star. Basically star are middle men trying to get a cut. Where ares forget about star and deal direct. Its something on those lines. Both brands are the same high quality.

[Abbadon101]

Re: Ares v Star

Now I am not sure its so simple. I have heard some bad feedback about ARES guns (just after the "switch" so to speak). GB failures and motor probelms that wern't there on the STAR guns just before the switch. I think to start with, ARES cut costs on some things like quality control. Meaning to start with the overall quality went down. Since than I have heard much better things but there is still that nagging part in my head that makes me think before buying ARES that wasn't there for STAR.

[curlyboy]

Re: Ares v Star

The guns are the same i had a STAR M249 and it was a good gun if it worked (which was rarely) but whoever had the stupid idea of putting a plastic gearbox in a support weapon needs taking out the back and hosing, however a guy i know recently bought a ARES M249 (against my advice) and is having the same issues i had 3 years ago with the STAR.

Unfortunately STAR got a very bad name with both players and dealers alike with poor customer service and even poorer engrish if you did contact them (and they answered) and they thought rebranding the guns and repricing them to sensible levels was worth the investment.

Some guns they made however were good so dont think they were all dogs but the dogs they did make they had no interest in changing or correcting the issues.

curlyboy

[Panoptes]

Re: Ares v Star

Polycarbonate (plastic) gearboxes are widely held to be much more robust than metal ones.

[ZX12R A1]

Re: Ares v Star

I have an Ares Scar and had an small issue upon taking receipt which was immediately fixed by Zero One and it has since performed flawlessly.

I know several people who have other AEG's both both Star and Ares branding and there seems to be no complaints.

I think its like all things they have QC failures and its down to how they deal with them via your dealer who sold it to you which in my case was superb.

If you look at the forums you will see a lot of people praising certain makes and guns only to have others pan them. I personally dont think there is that one perfect manufacturer who gets it right all of the time they all have some weak models out there.