ARES High Performance Czech Arms Licensed SA VZ-58 Airsoft AEG Rifle (Model: Compact)

"Overall good experience using this AEG. Favorite airsoft gun I've personally owned. Accuracy and FPS were excellent, even though I never used the right battery, because I never bought the Lipo recommended for it. The only problem was that it had an internal problem out of the box, and I have no idea what the reason was. It had a broken tappet plate. One that was fixed it always performed well, and I had a lot of fun in competition and target practice.

"Stock accuracy is so-so but the trigger unit is absolute gold. instead of the normal quarter second of windup time this thing fires pretty much the moment you pull the trigger, this is further sped up by the fact that the length of pull is in the millimeters. You unironically have to use trigger discipline with this gun or else you will be shooting your feet quite often.
I suggest getting the AR mag adapter mostly because the highcap steel mags are both expensive, high-cap only and quite heavy. they weigh almost as much as a full irl mag.
The only real downside of this gun is the battery compartment, which is really only capable of holding a firefox stick battery. Also I've found the tamiya connector to be a little finnicky, though this was only when it was plugged into a battery taped to the side of the gun.

"This gun is absolutely AMAZING... shoots very snappy and hop up adjustment is great.
PROS:
-Hop Up
-Accuracy
-Power
-Weight
-VERY STURDY
-Super fun to shoot
-Compact

CONS:
-You don't have this gun yet... :C

SIDE NOTES:
-USE 7.4 V FIREFOX LIPO BATTERY

"I have had this gun for quite some time now and let me just say it is amazing. It has an amazing rps with an 7.4 lipo battery which is what I recommend you buy if this gun. However the fps is off on the description, it says it shoots 350-400 but mine shoots about 415 which isn't a problem due to the quick change spring system. I do recommend you buy the M4 mag adapter for this gun because the mag that comes with this gun isn't the best but it still gets the job done.

Pros:
RPS
FPS (can be a pro or con)
It's unique
It has a folding stock

Cons:
You are spending time reading this review when you can be buying this amazing gun instead

"This is an incredible gun with so many great options, upgrades and looks. The body is so stout and solid. Its one tough gun. The gear box is top notch and very, very unique! It is like no other. Unfortunately there are really only so many parts in it that you can upgrade, but there is no need really, its great as is. Its ready to go right out of the box! Where you can spend your money and time in upgrades are the barrel and hop system. Adding a flat hop and a TBB does some amazing things to this rifle. Then add a good quality torque motor and set it up with the Ares Airsoft Electronic Gearbox Programmer and finish it off by using 11.1V LiPos and now you have a wicked gun!

Retro Arms makes a few nits for this rifle, including a new billet gear box shell. Super cool stuff!

I really like mine. I have it set up with the M4 magwell converter, the buffer tube replacement, the Ares AK style Claw scope mount and rail, a Retro Arms Trigger lever and Fire Selector lever (in red), a SHS Neodynium magnet motor, a 275mm x 6.03 TBB, a Fuerst Fire Industries Flathop and it uses 11.1V buffer tube size Lipo batteries. The range, accuracy and trigger response is off the charts! Its a fun gun to shoot.

And the looks you get when people notice it! They just have no clue as to what it is with the STANAG mags and the AK style claw mount. So unique!

"I've owned two of these rifles, and I must say they are high quality. They are similar to an AK, but not an AK. You can buy real steel furniture for this gun, and it will work. The military bayonet-lug bipod required the most grinding to work. Some small sanding on the hand guards will allow them to fit, and the fixed stock goes on without any problems. just have a long-necked Flathead screwdriver.
You can mod this to be whatever you want, a run-and-gun platform, dmr, anything. I do recommend getting a flash hider or suppressor and putting in an extended barrel, it gives this gun phenomenal range.
Get an 11.1 tri cell with his carbine.
Pros:
Great Modularity for someting not AK or M4
Compatability with Real Steel parts
Great ROF with 11.1 tri cell.


Cons:
Proprietary mags
Battery Space

"When I first got the gun I was impressed by it, for one it light weight, two with how compact it is, and three high rate of fire right out of the box. this gun is also perfect for CQB and field use as well. when I went one my local field it was a eye looker as. everybody wanted to see it and hold it. I did have problem with the mags, only because I only had one since evike didn't sell one at the time. the selector switch takes time to get use to, when I choroned this with .25 elite force bbs, it came out to 305-310 fps with great range. the hop up is amazing I love where it is and how is it to use. the down sides to this it has special gear box so upgrading wont be easy. as well for the how the battery compartment is, it sucks and its a major pain in my but. you'll need to find the smallest 7.4 stick battery you can get.
Pros:
light weight (con for some)
decent range
hop-up perfect (con for some)
great ROF
Perfect for cqb
eye candy on the field

cons:
battery compartment
selector (but it to spec just personal opinion)
cant use bigger batter unless it sticking makes look stupid

so all in all I give this a 4.5 witch rounds off to 5 since I cant rate it 4.5.

"The VZ58 is one of Ares’ better guns. Well made externally, and the gears aren’t actually made of cheese. However, they for some odd reason chose a tappet plate material that breaks easily. Your tappet plate will brake and they may or may not be hard to find stateside depending on when you look.
Also annoying is that they don’t use any others on the market that I have found. The RPD is close and it doesn’t use the same type of spring or location as the V6 ones. It’d be lovely for Guarder, Lonex, or SHS to release one for it.
Other than that, I do enjoy it. The accuracy was decent on both of mine, the ECFS hasn’t run into any issues. The only other thing is crap battery space. The longer ones can use the handguard space and I have found a few 11.1v that fit, but the short version is stuck using the top. That means you’re stuck using 7.4v, and small ones at that.

"Amazing rifle that will definitely stick out among the sea of m4's. Good accuracy, trigger response, rof, and range. Overall out of the box monster for the price. Only three cons:
-proprietary magazines are a pain on the wallet.
-battery install is less than efficient
-your new most common conversation:
"Wow cool AK" "it's not an AK"
The last one won't matter if you don't care about cold war history as much as I do.

"All around a very nice AEG. I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone who isn't a czech weapons lover or a dedicated hipster.

Pros:
-Very good quality for the price.
-Unique.
-Small and handy.
-It's a vz.58 (Mall Ninja edition)!
-The accessories that are/will be available follow the real firearm's accessories.
-"Quick"-change spring guide (hard to access, but still prevents having to completely disassemble the gear box) I wish this was a standard feature on all AEGs.
-If you can nab one, the M4 magwell adapter works great, and is true to the real steel.

Cons:
-Lack of easily available accessories, including spare magazines (you'll need to order from Redwolf or eHobbyAsia).
-So very proprietary.
-Have to keep telling everyone it's not an AK variant (a pro for snobby hipsters)
- VERY tight battery space. I could only find one that fits so far, and that's the thin firefox 7.4 sold here on evike. Even then, it's tight.

Notable items (could be a pro or con):
-Heavy
-The trades say it's chambered for 5.56x45 (I use the M4 magwell adapter and the real gun is available in 5.56, so it works for me)
-Low FPS
-Wired in small Tamiya. Given the space, and that it requires a Lipo battery, Deans would have been nice. Most batteries are wired in Small-T, though.
- The metal case of the included mag sags a bit. I tried tightening the bolts on the top but it slid down a bit anyway. I don't use it, but for those that do...
- The front end removes easily. Here's to hoping they come out with barrel kits for different sizes.
- The dimensions of the receiver are slightly off from the real gun. But by no more than a half an inch in both L and W. Everything else is really good, with only splitting hair differences that would have probably cranked up the price.
- Haven't confirmed yet, but I believe the gun can take real vz.58 furniture, aside from the motor grip, obviously. The hardware looks very close.

Other notes:
- There is a small cutout in each side of the faux bolt carrier to allow the wire to fit through for some form of external battery storage, if you can rig something up.
- Lots of the set screws were loose when I got it, make sure to tighten those before you run it. Things will get loose. Loctite might be a good idea.

"Excellent AEG for the price. The AEG is actually perfect for left handed users, as I can manipulate the fire selector with my thumb, and I can index the magazine release with my trigger finger. All the while keeping the gun steady for firing/mag changes. I've had this airsoft AEG for a little over a month, and used it in game for the first time yesterday. Mine shoots 320 FPS with .25g bb's, so it's perfect for field and cqb use. My local field is a mix of open areas with man made cover, woodland, and brush. Accuracy is outstanding for an AEG with such a short barrel. I didn't have any problems taking out players at usual engagement distances. The ROF for the 7.4v lipo is pretty good. I had a couple of comments about how the AEG sounded "scary" when I was firing it.

The only cons are:

The battery wire is too long (I wired mine to deans and cut back the wires on both the gun and battery, now everything fits very nicely).

Magazines and accessories are currently available only overseas.

Battery space is tight (it will only fit a small type "c" stick type-the Firefox 7.4v 1200 mAH battery).

The AEG would've gotten 5 stars, but the lack of magazines and accessories in the U.S. Dropped it to 4 stars. Still an excellent AEG for the price.

"The rifle is solid. There's only some wobble in the stock.in the handgaurd I've found that battery fittmemt is very tight so if you are looking to purchase this rifle than I would recommend a 7.4 1000 mah duel cell battery. The rifle weighs quite a bit being made out of an aluminum. Most of the weight is held right above the pistol grip. I have a few cons with the weapon my mag has a screw issue to where when ever I tighten the screws that hold the top of the mag they become a little loose and the mag will drop I'm the mag well a bit, don't worried about this issue because it's an espy fix. And the fps out off box is around 415 for my model and that's a bit hot for outdoor. The rifle has a "quick" change spring system, but to acess it you need to take of the stock and actullaly take out that mag.

So over all I believe that this a solid rifle and I would wish that Evike would carry spare mags and the accessories that ares has produced for the rifle and would love to see them carry them.

So in conclusion if the typical m4 and ak47-74 this a good choice giving you something similar to an ak but a bit different.

"The ARES VZ-58 looks and feels nice. The parts seem to be made of high quality metal. It is comfortable to hold and the mag release is very well placed making for quick magazine changes. My issue with the gun that accounts for the bad review is that it will not feed correctly which causes double and misfires. Now I may have gotten a lemon, because I doubt ARES is a bad company, so please don't see this review as a finger point at ARES at all. This gun has just given me too many issues to want to deal with it.

Good:
- High Durability
- Quality Parts
- Comfortable to hold
- Unique Rifle

Bad:
- Misfires
- Double Feeds
- LiPo Battery can be tricky to install

"When I was looking for a starter gun I didn't want the typical G&G Combat machine that my friends got, so I bought this beast of a gun. It feels great in your hands and it shoots dead center. That is exactly what I want from an airsoft gun and my VZ delivers. It is a great platform to build off of but the my issue with it is just that, building off of it. All of the parts are extremely expensive and this is an issue for me as a broke high schooler. The folding stock that came with my VZ broke during the first skirmish and now I'm stuck paying $90 just for a tube I can attach an m4 style stock to, and I'll still have to pay for the actual m4 stock piece. Then I realized I could buy a G&G Combat machine for the price of replacing my stock, and another one if I wanted to mount a scope. If you have a lot of money then you should buy this gun because it is great even out of the box, but if you're short on funds go with the G&G combat machine or a cheap AK if that is your style. You will be able to mod it and repair it cheaper and not end up righting off your gun for a new stock.