Hey everyone!
So here is the review
you’ve been waiting for, a review of the most highly anticipated airsoft AEG
over the last couple of years – the Krytac KRISS Vector AEG! When Pro Airsoft Supplies contacted me about reviewing a highly anticipated AEG I jumped at the
chance (having a feeling that it was indeed the Vector) the next thing I know,
the Vector was delivered to my door in time for Paintfest 2017/Diamond Wars. I
cannot tell you how excited I was to finally get my hands on the final version
of this RIF, I’d seen/shot the pre-production model whilst I was in the States
but nothing quite prepared me for the excitement of getting to use one – you
can check out my reaction in the unboxing video here.
So let’s get down to
the review and first talk through the externals. So this is the production
model and is identical to the real KRISS Vector, it has a polymer body (that
has all the KRISS/Krytac/Vector markings that you would expect to see on its
real steel counterpart) with metal pins that are easy to remove, a full length
metal top rail suitable for any sights/scopes – on mine I ran the Shield CQS
sight.
The Vector comes with
the Defiance style 14mm CCW flash hider that is found on the Krytac Trident
series and the Defiance flip up sights, which have a dual aperture on the rear
sight which makes them perfect for long range and CQB shooting. Moving along to
the stock we have a reinforced polymer stock with a metal sling point
underneath that does fit a whole range of slings, it is worth noting that the
buttpad on the stock is adjustable – but only by an inch or so. One really cool
aspect of the stock is that it folds and locks into place so you can use the
vector in its compact form – making it a perfect CQB weapon.
It has a metal rail
on front which can be swapped to either side via the pins. The bolt release is
entirely cosmetic but the functioning bolt opens the hop up chamber – I found
that there’s actually no need to use the bolt for this as you can just open the
door yourself and it stays open – a feature that I really like, it makes
changing the numbered, rotary style hop up super quick and easy. It has semi,
two round burst and full auto firing modes on an ambidextrous selector and an ambidextrous
safety switch – the safety switch prevents the trigger being pulled and also
disconnects the battery and releases the spring to take the stress off the
internals when on safe.
Moving onto the
internals, what are we looking at? We’ll start with the pistol grip where the
battery is housed – it has a mini tamiya connection and takes a small stock tube
lipo (11.1 1100 mAh 20C Nuprol stock tube lipo is what I ran) The metal plate
on the bottom near the pistol grip reveals the spring guide for a quick change
spring (no tools are needed). It has a really unique internal build and most of
the components are V2 compatible for those who want to upgrade theirs, it is
worth noting however that the only two parts internally that are not compatible
are the tappet plate and cylinder head. It has a polymer piston of which the
first 5 teeth are metal. It also features a polymer cylinder head, an Aluminium
mech box, 8mm steel bushings, a similar motor to the motor found in the trident
series and an electronic control system that is powered by microswitches - two
of which handle the fire selection, one for the trigger and one for the cut off
leverage system. Overall a very solid internal build out of the box.
How did it fair on
the chrono? It was pretty consistent at 330 FPS on 0.2g BBs with a ROF of
around 21. 330 FPS is perfect for using this gun in CQB. Now all the features
and specs are out of the way, let’s get into what you REALLY want to know: how
does it perform and what are my thoughts on it? The Vector is without a doubt one of the
best out of the box AEGs I have used in my entire 3 years of airsoft. The terrain for Diamond Wars 2017 was
a dense woodland site called Fireball Squadron, and as most of you know I am
mainly a CQB player due to preferring close range but the range on the Vector
is phenomenal, once the hopup was set I was outranging players using LMGs. The
trigger response is snappy, the hopup is easy to adjust and the two round burst is awesome. In regards to
aesthetics, I am absolutely in love with how the Vector looks. At the moment,
only 95 rd midcaps are available for the Vector, of which I had 3 and this was
enough for each mission I took on during Diamond Wars, although I did need to
carry a speedloader on the field in case anything got too hairy or I got a
little trigger happy (which is easy to do when you're having that much fun)
Is there anything I
think could be improved? Yes. Krytac have spent a long time getting the Vector
just right and as close to the real steel counterpart as possible but there are
still a couple of things that would make this an even better AEG in my opinion.
My first gripe is with the mag release, although it is matched to the position
on the real version I feel it is too high up for me personally – as I have tiny
hands it’s difficult for me to hold the mag and press the release at the same
time, I countered this by pressing the release then catching the mag as it was
ejected. My only other gripe is the sling point, although it fit my sling attachment
in with no issues I would prefer it to be in a different location, perhaps on
the body? Or on the top side of the stock. Apart from those tiny things, I
found it very hard to find anything that I didn’t like about it.
Huge thank you to Pro
Airsoft Supplies for letting me run/review this awesome piece of kit. Krytac
have done a great job on the Vector, it’s a thumbs up from me!
Photography thanks to Henry Nicholson.
