Tokyo Marui M4 Sopmod Questions

[gouldian]

I'm thinking of getting one of these and have some questions which I hope you folks can answer for me. How reliable / durable is this AEG. I've read as much as I can about it but most reviews seem to be from 2008 when it must have first become available and I've not come across any reports on how it holds up over time. Also as it shoots at a fairly low velocity compared to alot of other guns out there firing at about 350 fps how does it compare to these for range and accuracy, and is it possible to increase its power. Finally are aftermarket parts readily available for repair if required. Thanks. Jim

[scottyfox]

Only a handful of folks that I've encountered have this gun (I have the CQB-R and the original SOPMOD). I'm neither a gun doc nor a gun nut but it is very reliable with one exception, the contacts between the battery and the stock should be replaced with the Laylax gold kit, the original stock design is flawed and results in not enough juice getting to the gun in some cases.
In my opinion, the true expert on the gun is Richard at Eagle6.co.uk. He has a stellar disassembly/ spring change video series on youtube and sells a variety of aftermarket parts.
I purchased a specially designed spring (340+ fps) from him and then sent my gearbox and stock over when the aforementioned stock problem was happening. My SOPMOD lower (I use the second lower for parts and swap the CQB-R and full length uppers) now has the upgraded spring, 24K Gold Electrical Terminal Bar kit, and he also builds LIPO batteries and upgraded NiMH batteries, so I got two 9.6s and the gun has an incredible rate of fire. Note that even without the FPS boost, range is still decent-ish due to something something Tokyo Marui hopup being good or something.

Richard's store, lots of stuff is out of stock but I'm sure he can order:
http://eagle6.co.uk/shop/

Upgrade guide
http://eagle6.co.uk/beta/2010/09/15/...upgrade-guide/

And Echigoya has lots of the aftermarket parts by Laylax etc and original replacement parts but the site seems to be down.

New recoild upgrade unit discussed here: http://www.echigoyaworks.com/showthr...d=6257#pid6257

Note on upgrading the SOPMOD, as with the gun itself, it gets pricey.

[ILLusion]

I've upgraded a few of these now.

In general, it's harder to get the power up as high as other AEG's. With that said, the new hop up design is an upgraded one piece design, so it's much improved from the traditional two piece Marui design. The new hop up design now uses a dial adjustment mechanism that rotates along the axis of the bore - not unlike a G36 or P90, and in my opinion, is ten times better than all Armalite AEG's currently on the market, which have all replicated Marui's old system. If an Armalite AEG is a must, I would not hesitate to recommend the Marui SOPMOD series over any other.

Full metal body, plus metal body, and famed Marui quality - it's hard to find reviews of these breaking down over time, because they're built to high Marui standards. Unfortunately, these also did come out at the start of the GBBR movement, so the adoption of this platform has been slow. Regardless, there is decent aftermarket support for most of the components.

Laylax is the biggest supporter of aftermarket components, with Magic Box and a few smaller companies trailing behind. Overall, the system is decent, but a bit complicated to disassemble. It's definitely harder than the standard AEG Armalite design.

My biggest reservation about the system, is that most of the parts are proprietary to the gun. Almost ALL of the parts are new, and any traditional version 2 gearbox parts will not fit. Thankfully, there IS aftermarket support, but because of the low adoption rate of the system, do not expect to be able to find replacement parts from the store just down the street if you're in a rush to find something. Almost any part for this system would need to be ordered in.

[gouldian]

Thank you gentlemen for the info and for taking the time to reply.