Reviews

The Evolution Airsoft TangoDown ECR AEG

Master Chief

Evolution Airsoft have released their latest AEG and boy it looks great! The TangoDown ECR (Enhanced Combat Rifle) comes in two colours, Black and Tan furnitures (stock, pistol grip, rail covers and vertical grip) and two barrel lengths: the standard long barrel ECR-4 and the CQB short barrel ECR-5.

TANGODOWN

TangoDown Inc. is an American company that have been manufacturing firearms for law enforcement agencies for the past ten years. Evolution Airsoft, a company based in Italy, have now secured a worldwide exclusive licensing agreement with TangoDown Inc. to make airsoft replicas of the TangoDown ECR.

The new TangoDown series by Evolution Airsoft comes with a new gearbox design featuring a quick-swap spring and integrated MOSFET. This is a big bonus with this gun as many standard out-of-the-box AEGs do not come with an integrated MOSFET and aftermarket units can range between £50 to £150 depending on the brand and quality.

The AEG is quite impressive at first glance. It bears all the trademarks of TangoDown Inc. from the outer barrel all the way down to the receiver. The package contains the AEG, a midcap magazine, 2 x rail covers and a vertical quick detach foregrip. This particular unit is the tan coloured version in which the stock, pistol grip, rail covers, magazine and foregrip are in tan. The quality of the plastic used for these accessories is good quality.

The TangoDown ECR features a one piece metal outer barrel. The rail system is very nice and somehow has a different feel to it. On the front of the rail is a folding front sight which again is designed differently. The front sight is almost invisible when it is folded down showing you a flat top rail from the top receiver extending to the top front rail. This is good for mounting sights especially non-magnified ones as there is no front sight to block your view.

The receiver is full metal and a standard M4 type. As I mentioned before, fans of trademarks will have a field day with this AEG as it bears all TangoDown trademarks and a unique serial number. The fire selector switch cycles through the three fire modes nicely, it clicks well into place and stays there. When the charging handle is pulled, the dust cover pops open. If pulled hard enough, it will lock the fake bolt back and will allow you to adjust and fine tune the hop-up without having to constantly pull back the charging handle. To release the fake bolt, simply press the bolt release catch.

The package comes with a midcap TangoDown style magazine. Magazine compatibility is not an issue as I tried several plastic and STANAG-style Marui-compatible magazines and all worked with the AEG.

The stock is adjustable to 6 positions and adjusts to all 6 positions well if the end cap on the buffer tube is in place.

The buffer tube acts as the battery compartment and it is not a big space. The problem here is that the end of the buttstock has the end of the buffer tube exposed. The end cap of the buffer tube will have to be fixed in place with a small screw, which I am 100% sure will get lost at some point, to create a tidy look when the stock is on its shortest position. If the end cap is not in place, the wiring will all be exposed. When I used this, I installed a 7.4v nunchuck lipo battery and was able to get the batteries inside the stock or buffer tube but there was no space to for the wires to go in. I did wonder why this was the case as I have used AEGs in the past with the same battery compartment design and I was able to get everything inside. Then, I remembered the integrated MOSFET. The MOSFET is attached to one of the wires going into the battery and this obviously is occupying some of the space inside the buffer tube. So the only solution to this is to find a small enough lipo battery that will allow you to fit everything inside or if you’re not fussy about the wires sticking out then you can just leave the end cap off.

Externally, this AEG feels very solid. All parts go together very well with no noticeable unnecessary gaps between the parts and everything is very detailed. The external parts are fitted very tight to each other. We have disassembled this rifle twice and we still needed to hammer the body pins out. The upper and lower receivers do not have a movement between them at all!

Also, the finish is also quite robust, I used the rifle on a weekender and I've placed it on top of rough surfaces and leaned it against trees and walls and it has not made any major marks or scratches on the paint work.

INTERNALS

Evolution Airsoft have claimed that the TangoDown comes with pre-upgraded internals and from what we see, the gears are of very good quality. There are no marking or brands on the gears so it is difficult to say exactly how good they are. The rifle comes with an integrated MOSFET which is protected with a heat sink. The piston is light weight with a vacuum head. The cylinder is brass and is ported and the sector gear has a sector chip attached to it to aid with better BB feeding.

The motor does not have any marking or branding on it so it is difficulty who supplies the mortor to determine the reputation. But according to Evolution Airsoft, it is a high torque motor. The gearbox has 8mm bearings for smoother gear movement.

The rifle also features a quick change spring. You will need to detach the buffer tube to access this.

The inner barrel is a precision 6.03mm brass barrel. The barrel is very clean inside and didn't need any cleaning.

PERFORMANCE

The TangoDown M4 performed really well in the field. I used it for 2 days on a weekender and it performed flawlessly. I was using the semi-auto mode for most of the games and it was very responsive. The only time the shots started going off was when my battery ran out. On full-auto mode, the rifle is able to empty a full wind from a hi-cap magazine with no hiccups at all.

Accuracy is also very good. The hop-up was a bit loose on the start and kept disengaging but a little turn of the screw on the hop adjuster and that was sorted. It took a while for the hop to bed in as it was a brand new unit but when I get the right hop, the BBs fly very straight up to just under 60 metres.

Magazine compatibility is good. I used 4 different brands and kinds of M4 magazines and all fed well.

The only problem I had with it is the battery compartment will only take in a small lipo battery due to the MOSFET occupying some of the space.

BAD BITS

  • Small battery space
  • Buffer tube end cap for battery compartment is held in place with a very small screw

GOOD BITS

  • Solid build
  • Licensed trademarks and markings with unique serial number
  • Comes with rail covers and vertical foregrip out of the box
  • Pre-upgraded internals
  • Quick change spring
  • Integrated MOSFET
  • Compatible with other magazine brands
  • 6.03mm barrel as stock inner barrel
  • Lipo battery ready

CONCLUSION

I love the old school look of the TangoDown M4 and it is solidly built and comes with high quality internals. It is priced sort of up there with the mid to high-end airosft brands but with all the bonus you get such as the tight bore barrel, integrated MOSFET, metal hop up-chamber, licensed trademarks and so on... I believe it is worth buying provided you got the budget for it.

TangoDown AEGs are now available at ROE Airsoft.

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