A message from Echo to you.

I found this over at Echo 1 USA. Just a little message from them to us to clear some stuff up.

Quote :

Fellow airsoft players,

We would like to start out by thanking everyone for their interest and support so far in Echo 1 products. It seems that many of you liked the promotional video, which is great; we are very happy to hear the positive feedback! We worked very hard and put quite a bit of resources into creating out an interesting product trailer for the airsoft community.

As some of you have guessed, we are trying to keep close tabs on community discussion as it is certainly the players that make our industry. Considering the mountain of questions we have seen throughout the internet, it is clear that there are quite a few misconceptions floating around about our brand and we would like to take a moment to see if we can clear up some questions.

First of all, our philosophy at Echo 1 is to bring forth a quality product with uncompromising value to the market for fellow airsoft fans; we are not businessmen out to casually make a fast dollar. Keeping true to our beliefs, we believe it is imperative that we release an outstanding product. Anyone who has ever owned an airsoft gun knows that they are constantly prone to breaking. The mechanical nature and complexity of an AEG guarantees that like an automobile, parts will eventually wear down and fail. Skilled quality control reduces these sorts of failures, but unfortunately, our hobby has been flooded by poor-quality products over recent years. While these products are low-cost enough to allow casual airsofters to get into the game, it also means that these same consumers end up being turned off to the sport due to a bad overall experience. This problem is one of the things we are ambitiously hoping to curb; we want to do our best to ensure airsoft remains fun and free of frustrations.

Secondly, it seems that quite a few people are offended by the fact that we are promoting ourselves as an American company. The truth is however, we are established in the U.S. and we do operate within American laws. Certain members are already speculating that we will falsely claim our products are made in the U.S. but that is simply not the case; we have never claimed our products to be American-made. In fact, we will be the first to point out that our products are manufactured in China. As many of you already understand, the economics of the airsoft market at the moment simply do not allow us to do otherwise. What sets us apart, however, is the fact that we work very closely with our factories when designing our products and we take extra steps to ensure that a quality product is what our customers receive. All final quality control is checked domestically so each AEG that comes through Echo 1 will be extensively tested before shipping out to our customers. More importantly, the shorter geographical and cultural distance between us and the end user allows us to offer a faster support network and better communication. For our North American customers, this means a much better overall experience when purchasing our products.

Many people might not realize this at the moment, but one critical problem with airsoft in the U.S. is the fact that retail companies have difficulty offering after-sales support for customers. Often times, it is the responsibility of the retailer to replace/repair guns at their own expense, with no help from the manufacturer. Obviously, these transactions are extraordinarily costly for retailers and frustrating at best for consumers. Under these conditions, our hobby cannot continue to thrive or even survive. Our intention is to simply bring a new level of professionalism to the field and we hope to do so by paying close attention to feedback from our fellow players and retail partners.

Might I add, this was in response to the controversy over whether Echo 1 rebrands JG guns. The answer was yes, and I for one would prefer to leave the rebrand discussions behind. Thanks!