STarting money

[cbcsteve]

Starting Amount Back in 2008

In the beginning of 2008
(There are a lot of CQB games in GTA so did not need AEG until Summer outdoor games)
Paintball Goggles - $40
Gloves + Used CADPAT = $60
TM Hicapa - $250
Hicapa Mags - $100
Total = $450

Summer-time
P90 - $360
P90 Mags - $100
Total $460

Total all together - $910

[Amos]

More realistic, general break-down

Camo - $50-$200
Vest - $50-$350 (Don't buy a static vest, get a molle platform so you can get change your set-up to whatever works for you)
Eye-protection - $50-$150
GOOD BOOTS - $100-$250
Gun - $350-$750
Magazines - $50-$150 (8 low-cap mags seem to be about the average load-out0
Battery - $40
Good Charger - $50-$150
Sling (Trust me on this one) - $15-$50

Total: $755 - $2090

This is the range for decent gear that will actually last you instead of cheap impulse buys that you'll use once then decide you don't like it.

Forget Red dot sights, forget scopes, rail systems and all those other fancy accessories... You want to have your base-line gear down before you start spending money on the rest of that stuff. You don't need a pistol. More often than not pistols are just holster decoration.

[Shootresponsibly]

I see a lot of good advice and some stuff I think will be pretty helpful. Why I asked was because I don't want to buy an airsoft gun, and then something else, and then something else, and so on...I wanted to buy when I'm ready to go ahead and buy everything. A lot of people advise making sure you will be comfortable with airsoft and don't be impulsive. But I am a man of many hobbies, and I don't really care. lol

So what I need is

gun (duh)
face/eye protection
boots
a decent vest atleast to carry mags and accessories, even if I don't have them YET
and perhaps some magazines (probably)
From there we will look at camo and so forth, but chances are I will just use some things I already have.
I don't have anything amazing, like cordura and high-grade materials, but I have two camo jackets, and some OD clothing around...

by the way, would that be sufficient for outdoors?

[kalnaren]

Originally Posted by Shootresponsibly

I see a lot of good advice and some stuff I think will be pretty helpful. Why I asked was because I don't want to buy an airsoft gun, and then something else, and then something else, and so on...I wanted to buy when I'm ready to go ahead and buy everything. A lot of people advise making sure you will be comfortable with airsoft and don't be impulsive. But I am a man of many hobbies, and I don't really care. lol

So what I need is

gun (duh)
face/eye protection
boots
a decent vest atleast to carry mags and accessories, even if I don't have them YET
and perhaps some magazines (probably)
From there we will look at camo and so forth, but chances are I will just use some things I already have.
I don't have anything amazing, like cordura and high-grade materials, but I have two camo jackets, and some OD clothing around...

by the way, would that be sufficient for outdoors?

For outdoor play I highly recommend you buy a good modular vest. It will cost you in the beginning (probably ~$150 for the vest, plus an additional chunk for the modular pouches, etc.) but well worth it in the end. With a good vest you can run around through the woods and not have to worry about ripping it or anything.

Also, a water carrier is a must. Many people use camelbacks. I'm a little more old fashioned and actually have a canteen on the back of my vest. I also have a couple of other pouches -I have grenade pouches I carry snacks in (trail-mix bars are win for outdoor play), plus a butt pouch I carry spare ammo, batteries, and sometimes more snacks and water depending on where I am. With a good vest it's an easy load to carry and doesn't restrict movement.

[demco11]

$1500 for a very good set up if you really want to jump in and get everything you need but $1000 will do too.

You can go cheap on SOME things but others you should spend the proper amount on.

Dont go cheap on a gun. Buying a used gun might give you problems unless you know what to look for in a used gun or are ready to give it to a gun tech to take apart and check it over and replace some parts with stronger and longer lasting ones.

Buy a decent set of goggles, those $30 goggles from canadian tire and walmart are pretty low quality that fog easy. I bought JT spectras with a dual lense for like $75 from badlandspaintball.com

Dont cheap out on your battery or battery charger, a lot of problems with both of these if you buy no-name brand ones or just plain shitty ones. A good battery and charger will last you a long time. I use a Sanyo 8.4v 2400mAh battery and TLP 4000 charger (used them since 2004-2009 and still both work just fine)

You can pick up mags on here for cheap but if your starting out I believe a highcap is suitable but you can also order them online from like RSOV.com

For camo, hit up a local army store or buy online... you dont exactly need the super 1337 issued canadian stuff nor do you have to get multicam for your first day out. Might as well just get a set of woodlands camo for like $25 each the pants and shirt.

You can buy used canadian boots for cheap at any surplus store or even online. If you have steel toed boots, I dont reccomend wearing them to the field as they are not as comfy as actual military boots made for running.

Get a vest if you like, you can buy them online for cheap if you dont care if its a copy of a popular vest ( ebaybanned.com ) or you can buy a nice MOLLE vest and get a couple pouches for your mag('s) bb's and whatever else you need.

Personally I started with roughly $900 of a budget, but I already had camo and a SAAV vest. The $900 was spent on a TM ak-47, 1 highcap mag, 8.4v Sanyo battery, TLP charger, bag of bb's... I also bought used army boots for $40 and a paid of goggles (JT spectras) but now guns are more expensive than when I started and TM aeg's went for like $400-$450...

[jameskersten]

I would say $1000-1200 is about enough to get your kit. Atleast that is what I spent to start out. My recommendations to anyone interested in airsoft is to go out to a game and try as much of other peoples gear as possible and feel/see what works for you.
Too many times I have seen guys buy all their gear with very little knowledge of what they are buying or what works well for them to only have to buy another piece cause it wasn't right so try out as much gear a you can and make an informed choice based on what you like, not what everyone on here tells you buy or what your read was good.

[Eeyore]

Being a noob myself here is what I bought at first.

Gun $410 -you can get away with the Hi-cap for your first year
Paintball mask (already owned) $40
Battery $40
Charger $40
Boots (already owned) $80
BDU's $100

Total $700

This is the bare essentials. Make sure you do not cheap out on eye protection or boots. They will keep you safe and injury free.

Now sinse then I have bought two other aegs, a gbb pistol, a box of 8 mags, a grenade, and a whole bunch of accessories and upgrades for the aegs.

[stealthy1]

Roughly about a grand. I'm in the same boat you are, and I've been doing some calculations

$700 for gun and accessories (package)
$60 for batteries and charger
$200 gear (I'm probably just doing basic BDU's, goggles, and a vest with lots of pouches)
$15 for a sling probably
Some stuff I haven't thought about yet: water, footwear..

So $1000 is average.

[Scarecrow]

Originally Posted by Amos

This is the range for decent gear that will actually last you instead of cheap impulse buys that you'll use once then decide you don't like it.

!!! BINGO !!!

Dude, I have $10K worth of "shit" in my basement that consists of impulse buys. Decide on your look, decide on your weapon and systematically work towards a goal and stay within that goal. Its easy to become a "shiny monkey" and buy all kinds of crap you don't need that you later regret and it ends up in the classifieds here.

[Kuro_Neko]

Gun first. It's the most important part after eye protection. Those two things are really the only true essentials.

Manufacturer is generally more important then the style. Generally all airsoft aeg's work the same so how it looks like outside is up to you. Though the advice in the Airsoft Newbie Buying Guide about styles is good. Generally ak47, m16/m4 or mp5 are good starter gun styles due to the availability of accessories and upgrades.

For $200, the best you could manage is Aftermath stuff. Both the Broxa (full stock MP5) and the Kraken (AK47) are decent bargain basement guns, about $160 or so each. Stay away from Aftermath's Kirenex or Knight (both M4 variants) and the Lycaon (collapsible stock MP5) though, not a good rep.

If you're willing to go up to $300 you could get a JG. Yeah JG's are China clones but they're getting quite respectable nowadays. You could get a G&G for about $350. G&G is the cheapest of the midgrade guns. $400-$450 would get you an ICS which is a higher end midgrade gun. $450-$550 would get you a G&P, there's some debate on whether this is the highest of the midgrade guns or the lowest of the higrade guns. Either way they make nice guns.

As several people have already stated if you can afford it highgrade guns such as Tokyo Marui or Classic Army are the way to go. They're going to run you $600-$700.

I'm a Classic Army man generally but for an AK47 TM is probably the way to go, get a metal body and wood kit (I recommend the G&P for both, good quality) and you'll have a rock solid gun inside and out. Normally I wouldn't recommend doing even external upgrades to a newbie but working with an AK is dead easy. Though CA does make a nice AK from what I've heard. It'd come with a metal body and I think a wood kit but don't quote me on the wood kit. You could get a CA AK for about $600. A TM goes for about $475 or so, but the wood kit and metal body would run you another $250 or so. Several people have recommended the Real Sword Type 56. While I've never had the chance to handle one I have heard they are very nice guns, rock solid. You can get one of those for $700-$800.

One of the perks of going with an AK is that mags are dead easy to come by and dirt cheap. You can get Star brand mags for like $5 a mag or less, plastic yeah but sturdy none the less (Star is also the only brand that makes realcaps too). Metal mags will run you a fair bit more, $15 to $30 a mag. There's no real reason to go with metal over plastic for mags except looks/realism. Though of course if you're going to go hicap then you might as well get metal ones. As to Brands, TM and CA make good mags. I've heard pretty decent stuff about MAG brand mags as well. King Arms not so much. Star is always a good affordable fallback too.

Some people say you need to shell out for batteries, mags, camo, chargers and ammo in the begining. Most of that isn't necessary right off the hop. The stock battery will do you for awhile. Most of the guns come with a hicap (high capacity (300-600 rounds)) mag that will also do for awhile. I do agree that a good charger would be a sound initial investment, but not a total requirement, especially if you plan to get a good battery down the road and don't care if the cheap wall charger fries your stock battery. Camo isn't really required in the beginning either, just some dark clothes. Ammo, yeah obviously a requirement but even good ammo (BB Bastard) only costs $10 for two thousand rounds.

So truely, all you really need to start is the gun and a bag or two of ammo (and eye protection of course - about $50). That said, if you can afford it then it all helps: Camo would cost about $100, a chest rig or vest would cost another $100-$150. A good loadout of mags, even the cheap Star mags, are going to cost at least $50. A good charger is at least another $50, with another $50 for a good battery. Water carrier of some sort, $30-$50. $30 for some kneepads, which are a very sound investment. Say another $50-$70 or so in misc web gear like a belt and a couple of droplegs, etc. Maybe another $30 for a dump pouch. A sidearm is another thing that people like to have but isn't really necessary. A decent sidearm would cost you between $250 and $350. A lot of emphasis is being put on boots, I don't really agree. Yeah, you definitely need boots, not running shoes or anything like that, but a basic pair of $50 hikers would do just fine. It's not like you're doing long marches or patrols or anything.

So in summary, a good total for a basic complete loadout would be about ~$1400, ~$1700 if you want to add a sidearm to that.

Kuro_Neko

[kalnaren]

Originally Posted by Kuro_Neko

Gun first. It's the most important part after eye protection. Those two things are really the only true essentials.

Clothes might be pretty essential. I'd hate to have my bare sack hit

[Turnbull]

Rofl, Prince Alberts for everyone!!!!

[Courtesy]

My experience has been a bit different. I have a friend who pretty heavy into airsoft, so he's been lending me guns and vests to use when I've played. Good guy that Nacchi is

So my expenditures were:

JT Paintball mask: $25 - (got it at Walmart, it was out of box and no price tag, I talked them down to a deal)
Gloves: $5 - USMC gloves from LeBaron
BDU & Boonie: $180ish - Propper Multicam from bdu.com (MC is a more expensive BDU to buy than most, as people have mentioned)
Boots: $40 - Used tan boots from Army Issue Surplus

Total: $250

I've since bought Oakley knock-off's and a hydration pack from ebaybanned, but you can get by without both of those.

If you do know someone in your area that is willing to lend or rent you a gun I would suggest it, especially for your first game or two. First of all it may give you a chance to check out a couple different types of guns. Second, you may not enjoy airsoft as much as you think you will (though I doubt that!). In terms of mags, I've never used a hicap, but I like having to reload under fire, much more exciting A lot of people say you should get 10 mags, but personally I haven't shot all that much, maybe 3 or 4 realcaps at most without dying (as a newbie you'll probably be doing a lot of that, like me!) and you can usually reload your mags at your respawn anyway, so you can save a few bucks by not getting quite as many mags for now in my opinion.

[NoGear]

i bought a nice set of paintball gloves that has knuckle guards for 10$ its made or a type of material thats sturdy and can use to wipe the sweat off ur brow like a sponge

[Loathing]

I'm going to be looking for a good set of goggles and a good set of gloves very soon, anyone have any suggestions?

For eye wear, would need it to fit well with a helmet - Gloves something that would offer rather decent hand/finger protection. My right pinky was dislocated late last year and not set properly, so it's still kinda fucked. Would really suck to get hit again in that damn spot.