Eotech replicas drying up?

[lurkingknight]

I'm almost certain this is one of the biggest factors in magpul pulling the plug on pts.

brand confusion is a real thing. PEople who are stupid... and there's a lot of them out there, will not do their due diligence. If the price seems to good to be true... it probably is.

magpul/pts/acm is a perfect example. Maybe someone expecting the real deal magpul thing got an acm fake to put on their REAL gun. Let's say it was LE or a soldier who's life depends on the function of that piece of kit to work?

What if it fails them when they depend on it? Would you want your name associated with it? The person who bought it and his peers think it was real. Now who's going to be liable for that piece of kit failing, when you make those guarantees that your shit is awesome?... especially in the land of the free to sue for whatever reason you think as long as you can prove it has cause you harm.

If a shitty ACM stock somehow was made to fit on a real steel gun.. albeit a poor fit, and that guy thought it was real... and his buddies thought it was real... and the pos shakes itself to pieces. Now what are that guy and his buddies going to think? They're going to think your product is garbage.


EOTech is taking a good stance on it.. "we're not licensing ANYTHING for use for ANYTHING that isn't real firearms..." ...That way you can be sure if it's not real that it's garbage and not our product.

That's a very understandable viewpoint. If you want it, buy the real deal so there is no confusion.

Originally Posted by FirestormX

I got a response back, regarding EOTechs for airsoft (to fill the low priced gap that replicas are taking):



Seems they're more concerned about incorrect use and scammers. I guess that if you produce something that can just be mounted on a milspec rail - as opposed to something like PTS stuff that fits on off-spec AEGs (and thus, can only be used for AEGs), it's harder to ensure your "for airsoft" products are only used for airsoft.

It makes sense. But I would imagine you can do something like change the EOTech logo a little bit on the optic (put a BB flying through it or something, so con men can't just paint over the logo to make it look like real steel), and put a warning "for airsoft use only" on the optic and in the paperwork or something.

Ah well. At least we can pretty safely call out any other companies claiming they're making "EOTech licensed" airsoft optics. EOTech knock offs aren't going to go away, but at least we can call out people blatantly lying about it.

[Derpystronk]

Originally Posted by Cobrajr122

I wonder what is stopping them from making an airsoft line that is very clearly and permanently marked as 'Airsoft Edition' or something of the like.

The email mentioning the KIA soldier kind of sells that idea; someone removes the "AIRSOFT ONLY" portion, or paints over it, it creates unacceptable risk to their brand. You also have the aspect of them manufacturing an inferior product, which they would have to change their manufacturing line to do (if they even would) - then all you need is some dude in Texas who makes a review about how he put 2000 rounds through it and it still holds zero. Now people suddenly think it's as good as the real thing and EOTech is over charging on their normal product line.

There are a lot considerations to take into account, and they all seem to create more problems than they solve - all for a market that isn't really that big. They will also still have to chase down the Chinese clones whether or not they sell their own Airsoft version.

[Derpystronk]

Originally Posted by FirestormX

Originally Posted by my email
[...]
Today I came across a post in a thread on EOTechs on an airsoft forum I visit, where a “user” had created an account today, and posted this:
“Why don't you go to get the official licensed Eotech for airsoft series at www.Eotech-L3.com? It's much better than those fake one.”

O_O

[Danke]

Originally Posted by Deltastone

O_O

I declare sausage party!

[zzzzsleepy8]

I guess EOtech can produce a functional, real steel ready, cheap red dot scope instead of a legit holosight and charge a lower price. Not sure if there is anything on the patent side stopping them but everyone makes red dots so...

Its mainly for the looks. Most airsofters choose an eotech because of its looks.

But anyway, at the end of the day, Level 3 is a 10 billion dollar company. I don't think they are sweating over missing out on sale of cheap scopes to airsofters.

[Derpystronk]

Originally Posted by zzzzsleepy8

I guess EOtech can produce a functional, real steel ready, cheap red dot scope instead of a legit holosight and charge a lower price.

They wouldn't though. They still get away with charging a shy under 500 dollars for their MRDS line. L3 charges whatever they want because they know people (read: the gubmint contracts) will pay whatever their asking price is.

[SuperHog]

Originally Posted by DEATH2000

Which brand are they? Any $600 optic should come with a pretty good warranty.

You missed what I said. They are ACM. You can not expect quality optics from a $60 ACM that is a clone of a $600+ brand name optic. Hit and miss. Some work better than others.

The bushnell I got from BassPro can be used on my RS as sell because it is for RS.

[zzzzsleepy8]

Originally Posted by Deltastone

They wouldn't though. They still get away with charging a shy under 500 dollars for their MRDS line. L3 charges whatever they want because they know people (read: the gubmint contracts) will pay whatever their asking price is.

Yeah they wouldn't. Its not their thing. But if they were to ever care about volume of sales in the future and higher revenue numbers, they could go cheap red dot route and charge maybe $150. That might capture a lot of the airsoft market. But, $500 isnt that bad for a real steel holosight. If I had a real steel, $500 eotech seems ok to me. But since I have an airsoft, my budget is less than $100 for a scope.

Haha true.

[Kokanee]

I don't see any proof of the supply of replica Eotechs "drying up", rather when stores get stock in they are usually gone the same day or close to it; demand is simply outstripping the amount that retailers are bringing in.

If you want Eotechs to be stocked by your local retailer, talk to them, let them know if you have been trying to get an Eotech for months but cannot due to "out of stock".

There is a misconception that airsoft retailers are mind readers, and some players get really irate when items are out of stock... This goes for any product; provide retailers good feedback, ask to speak to the owner/manager if a product is out of stock and let them know what you want, usually they will special order it in for you or allocate one out of their next shipment for you.

As with anything, you only get what you want if you speak up.

On the subject of quality, the G&G Eotechs are quite nice, as well there are some new ACM Eotechs hitting the market that are exceptionally good values for the money. A good rule of thumb though, always test an optic before buying to ensure there is no ghosting, and that the windage/elevation adjustment cams work.