Real Deal vs Replica Attachments

[myleshb]

Hello!
I have a question regarding attachments, especially in regards to scopes. I recently purchased a replica Aimpoint sight, for around $60, and it works quite well, however in low light even the dimmest dot creates too much glare for the scope to be useful. I decided to see how much the real deal is, and it's around $400, so my question is, is it worth it? Especially when considering other attachments such as a sling, or a holster. What kind of quality difference is really apparent? What would you guys recommend/what do you guys run? New to airsoft and looking for some advice! Thanks.

[lurkingknight]

short answer:

It's airsoft. Spend as much as you are willing to pay for an item that does the job you want it to. There are a few exceptions that I personally have to this rule.

long answer:

Some things the difference is immediate. A quality sight will be noticeably better, however, there are better ways of spending money in airsoft. You can live with a 70% effective sight that has a bit of glare in certain light conditions... all airsoft sights ghost a bit. A shitty sight might take you longer to make a shot. Some airsoft sights get pretty dim, therefore reducing the amount of ghost/glare. You'll never know until you try. I have like 4 reflex sights all of the same type, all of them have different levels of brightness outputs on the lowest setting.

I make sure other bits of gear are reliable, such as things that hold expensive shit. like slings, sling mounts, holsters, pouches... I had a 1$ QD sling attachment give and drop a 700$ gun on the ground. A real sling mount would've held.

I used a 30$ soft nylon holster for my 300$ pistol. Twice it dropped a 45$ mag on the ground. I was lucky enough to find it both times. The 80$ serpa holster I replaced it with fixed the issue of dropping mags.

Finally. lasers. FUCK lasers. If people insist on using one, they should get legit peq boxes that have lasers that are properly built to spec with properly speced parts and are tested by manufacturers and then testing agencies to emit the stated, safe output.
Airsoft lasers are made by some wang ho hung in a greasy, poorly lit, chinese factory made from scrounged parts they probably pulled off the defective parts assembly line, filed or sharpied over the serial numbers and ID stampings that may or may not be good enough for the job, may or may not be .1 or 10 where .5 is needed in x spec. Then the testing documentation is photocopied or typed out with spelling mistakes or errors, because they don't read english and they sure as hell don't know what that piece of paper is for or what is meant by it being there. Then they stamp the units with the same numbers/info/id tags as the real product, because they have fucking clue what they're there for either. If a player can't afford a legitly manufactured and vetted laser product, they should not use one. PERIOD. The crap they stuff into these airsoft products is the same as what you'd find in laser pointers and both products have been reported to cause permanent eye damage of pointed into someone's eye. None of these things are properly tested. Even the G&P ones I would have severe doubts about. You cannot guarantee a chinese knockoff product to be of the same consistency and quality from one batch to another.

[ThunderCactus]

Depends entirely on how much the replica bothers you.
If the annoyance of the glare is worth less than $400, then no, its not worth it.
Same goes for everything else in the sport.
If you're okay spending $80 on a replica plate carrier because you only play for 4 hours every 3rd weekend, then thats fine. But if you need the extra comfort and quality of a $300 plate carrier because you play every weekend and do 24 hour games, then ya its worth it.

Worth is entirely subjective.