[Ricochet]

When you're talking about how good a gun is, then you're talking about two things; for starters, the initial quality. Is the gun to spec, is it assembled properly with quality and/or adequate materials? Does the company have a good reputation and customer support, or do they use a lot of proprietary parts and leave you hanging? How compatible is the gun with aftermarket parts and is there a lot of aftermarket support available? The second thing, and technically the most important, is the potential of the gun. A gun doesn't have to be a good performer and bullet-proof out of the box, in fact most aren't. Most experienced players will give a gun a review seventy-five percent based on how good it can be, instead of how it is out of the box. For performance, some guns are adequate out of the box, but throw in the right part(s) or mod(s) and away they go. Would you have to replace everything, or everything right away? Once the gun is fully and properly upgraded, is it going to be a performer, or still a lame duck? This is where a lot of people find out the hard way that cheap clones and lackluster brands fall very short, even after a heavy investment.

Valken was built by people who don't really understand Airsoft and/or Airsoft guns and just wanted to get into the market. G&G if you want to save some cash and get a decent starter, VFC if you want to invest more initially and jump in with two feet. There are of course other good brands, but they are the flagship brands at either end of the spectrum. Both will be adequate or better out of the box and will respond well to proper upgrades.