Seriously, since I've had a V6 gearbox, I don't even want to touch my M4 anymore.

No more popping 20 screws to split the gearbox opened with the ARL and trigger jumping everytime you open it up.

I have an A&K Masada and I love it, the build quality on a Magpul will be better. As well as the option of quick spring change is very appealing to me as well. Most Ares guns offer quick spring change. Every person I know who has a Masada loves it. You only risk being labeled a COD fan boy, but really who cares what others think of your gear, it their to suit your needs not the other way around.

Cheers

How quickly can you remove the gearbox?

The MAGPUL PTS ACR is indeed easy to work on. Push out one pin, swing open the receiver, and take out four screws (two in grip, two in magwell) to remove the gearbox. As was said before the spring can be changed in less than a minute.

Agreed, Masada is all about push pins. Let me see if I can find the review about its break down. Had a good vid.

Edit: YouTube - masada take down.avi

Once the above steps are done all you have to do is remove a few screws.

I'll vouch for that! Taking the WE PDW apart forever ruined my love for AEGs... If you're already used to pistol internals it's even more ridiculous.

If you're going aeg, I'd say get a good brand gun and do NOT open the mechbox unless goes wrong.

Speed is all about practice. I got pretty fast at getting out the mechbox on my mp5k (ten minutes tops) but I had to do it like 10-15 times because my gun was having issues. These issues came when I started upgrading internals and fiddly with the mechbox.

In short, dont open the gearbox ever, if you know you wont be able to devote time to carefully working on it.

I've never had an ICS myself, but in what I've seen on the field, these are never down for more than 5 minutes... (For jams and such)

Although I've read and seen really bad experiences with the Cansoft/Sportline version, the full metal seems to be really appreciated on every airsoft board except here.

IMO, Granted some parts needs to be swapped, for its ease of maintenance, it should be considered.

The problem is that they DO go down lol
Sure they're fast to fix, but they break!
I've built several full upgrade G&P's, the only one so far that's broken is Steve's angry sewing machine because it's a 1500rpm gun. Stripped piston, easy fix, lasted a year and a half. The others have been going for 3yrs, no maintenance (unfortunately), but no breakdowns.
My own G&P 249 (common v2 mechbox) ran 900rpm for the first 2yrs, and 1500rpm this past year, the piston was good until I stripped it due to programming error on the triggermaster.

Anyway, for a less expensive gun, I'd say G&G, but there's more to upgrade. G&P if you want a tank of a gun for exteriors, and like I said you only have to upgrade piston, piston head and gears. CA is a good staple, but internals are generally only adequate.
And ICS doesn't use any good parts, they've got out-dated crap; unvented piston heads, air nozzles with no o-ring, plastic cylinder head. Gotta upgrade alot to make it really reliable.

No matter what you choose, I'd be happy to give you a list of minimum upgrade parts to make it super reliable, but you shouldn't upgrade anything except the hopup rubber until something breaks!

Yeah I totally agree with you. I don't consider it an high-end AEG at all. But compared to JG, I'd probably choose the ICS.

Maybe the price tag is abit too high.

But I would take a G&P over an ICS anyday.

Okay, so I'd still take an ICS over something Chinese anyday. Atleast ICS has some sort of regular quality control....
If anyone here is a machinist, I'd say ICS is your HAAS machine, and JG is like Viper or Fryer lol