THE CFB MP5-A4 Review w/ picts.

[GríMMjÓw]

I HAVE FINALLY DECIDED TO UPDATE THIS!!!!!
First off, I want you to say 89.99, and repeat.  Then think about a Marui and say that 89.99 will never be a Marui. 

Next if you are looking for something specific then you can search this review using Ctrl+f.  This is kinda long and i know some people (like me) are lazy.

Good, now I can begin and keep that thought in mind.  Yesterday, I purchased the CFB MP5-A4, from I & I sports in Carson, California.  They were pretty helpful, and I would recommend them.  This review will be divided into 7 sections that include:
1.   Ordering + What Comes with the gun
2.   External Appearance
3.   Performance (fps, rof)
4.   Performance (accuracy, range)
5.   Internal Parts
6.   Durability
7.   Overall
Without further ado, lets see how the CFB Mp5 did with their Marui clone.

1. Ordering + Goodies
   One again, I purchased this gun from I & I sports, but this gun can also be purchased on Jungletoy… grrr.  Anyways I went to the store to originally purchase a CYMA Mp5-J, but Jungletoy claimed they didn’t have it, which I later found out to my dismay that they did (grrr).  So I drove my butt to I&I Sports and they did not have it, but they had this.  I knew that nobody had it and that there aren’t any reviews out yet, so I said, “what the heck.”  Also the gun is now avaliable on Evike for 99.99.  The gun includes the following:
·   CFB Mp5-A4
·   BB’s (crap through away or use them for grenades)
·   8.4 Lime Green Battery (same one as UTG)
·   BB loading rod
·   Cleaning Rod
·   50 rd. Full Metal Magazine (just 1)
·   Full Metal Rail (NOT a claw mount like the UTG this one screws on to the top).
·   Charger (crap, more on this later)
·   mock silencer that slides on the barrel then you tighten by a half a screw counterclockwise.  (Barrel is NOT threaded, and glued on like crazy!).
·   Instruction Manual 
·   A sling (haven’t touched it yet more info soon).
I was a happy for the full metal mag, but sad that it only holds 50 rounds.  I tested the mag immediately and all but 2 bbs will load (the last 2), and like the Panther Arms to fire the last shots turn your gun upside down and out they go.  The rail is pretty cool, and I attached my Red dot to it and it works pretty well.  It goes on the top and screws in with 2 screws, sadly it is not a claw mount, but is full metal.  Look below at the picture and it looks like they took out the MP5-K style mag and a retractable stock, because it seems that there is room for them. 
EDIT:  I realize that after looking at my package that it was a Magazine clamp NOT the mp5-k mag. 


Here is a picture of the gun and everything in the box.


There is the outside of the box, i have never seen the R-5 by well, it Might be the same.
2.  External Appearance
   The gun is solid without any creaks or bending capabilities.  The color is nice, but the paint on the cocking handle sucks, paint will fix this soon J!  The cocking handle seems to be able to handle the infamous “HK ***** Slap,” but to be on the safe side I only did it 30 times, lol.  The stock can hold a 9.6 if you rewire to the back, but for now it is empty without any battery connector.  The foregrip is solid and the battery is a pain to fit in (I’m just bad at it).  The thing I do not like is that the pin for the foregrip is plastic.  The gun feels very nice, but is no ICS.  It is fairly heavy, but lacks metal. 
   Metal Parts Include:
·   Flash hinder
·   Selector Switch
·   Magazine
·   Trigger
·   Sling attachments

Here is the gun with the mock silencer and not the rail.

The Front End of the Gun.

The Rail.

Close up on the reciever.  Ewww the fugly sling mount. 


The Magazine.

The Mag again.

3.  Performance
   As you know I have just received this gun, and so today was the first time I fired the gun with hop up adjusted and fully charged gun.  THE HOP UP SUCKS!!!! VERY THIN!!  Will need replacing eventually. WOW!  I was VERY impressed.  Being 89.99 or 97.23 with tax, I was not expecting much.  The rof is slighty higher than a stock SRC M4.  The fps is around 270 with the coke can test and comparing the gun to my friends stock SRC, and my CA M15-A4, with KSC BB’s.  I am going to an airsoft game on Sunday so I will give you all the true fps. 
UPDATE!! The FPS is indeed 278.  Pretty good for it stock.

4.  Performance (range ext.)- The range of this gun is about 160 feet depending if you have set your hop up.  It is pretty accurate being able to hit 90-110 consistently (human size).  At 70 feet with a bi-pod the spread is about 1” to 2-1/2”, pretty good.  The barrel is brass and it is not a tightbore, so upgrading to a tightbore will increase accuracy.  For now I do not have my friends help on ROF but hopefully I will be able to tell you the true numbers. 

5.  Internal Parts
   UPDATE!!!  Some Gearbox pictures.  So I have heard that the CYMA Mp5-J uses an aluminum barrel, please correct me if I’m wrong.  Well, it’s a good thing that CFB uses a brass barrel!  The wiring seems to be okay, but I think that it could be a lot better.  It has an adjustable hop-up which is very weak and thin and WILL break!!! 

The brass barrel, with the adjustable hop-up.


The plastic pin.

Gearbox version 2.5. 

Other side of gearbox

Picture of the Motor.

Selector Switch

The Lower Reciever

THIS IS WHY THE HOP UP SUCKS!!!!

6.  Durability
   Aside from the feel; sturdy with no flex, it seem pretty durable.  Like said before, until I can get into the gearbox and invent a time machine that will put 10,000 shots in this thing, I will not be able to decipher the durability.  The gun seems good and fels like it will last pretty long.  The pins will need replacing, because they are plastic.  The selector switch is very solid and clicks nicely.  The mock silencer WILL break (if attached to the gun) if dropped.  This is the only piece that feels like junk.  The gun is basically the CFB mp5 with a metal gearbox, and some say that it feels "plasticy" but i think it feels nice.
   The quality control cannot be determined, because I doubt that over 100 have been tested thoroughly.  My first gun had a magazine problem and it couldn’t feed, so being on the safe side I drove back to I&I and picked up a new one.  So until this thing gets popular (if ever) the quality control will remain unknown.  UPDATE!!!  This gun's durability isnt very good.  Plastic is crappy, the hop up is just awful, and the selector switch can be a butt to work with.  AVOID THIS GUN!!! Unless you want to invest 50 more dollars to make it really good, but you can buy something else!!!
7.  Overall
   It isnt as good as the CYMA Mp5 or the UTG Mp5 and even the WELL MP5, although it has power, it lacks durability.
If you are considering this think about the CYMA Mp5J CM027 and the UTG.  THey are more reliable and more durable.  This gun is just as strong as the CYMA out of the box and with a Guarder 50% hop up bucking, it can compete with a Marui.  This gun is good if you are tired of the UTG or want something cheap to work on.  But it isnt very durable.....


Size comparison.

What is this mess?  Ohh its the gun.......

[OFPR]

Very nice review. This gun seems pretty cool, even if there is a massive attack of MP5 copies. I'm pretty dissapointed about the flash hider and mock silencer, I assumed they were threaded. Also dissapointed with the rail and plastic pins, but like you said, 89.99.

[GríMMjÓw]

Yah, thanks.  The gun works pretty well, so im not complaining.

[EmptyChambers]

Watch out for the selector switch though. Another fellow bought one, possibly an earlier model, and said it went all to hell within 2 days of owning it. Like the UTG except much worse.

[GríMMjÓw]

Sure, I am being careful.  It seems very tight, but not so tight that you cannot switch.  It does not move around when i am shooting, and clicks nicely when put into semi or auto.  Only time will tell......

[STALIN]

Good review. Ive been wanting to see pics of this.

[Lazarus]

Nice review, thanks for the info.  +1

Decent pics too.  Some internal shots of the gearbox/parts would be nice, if you are comfortable opening it.

[BamBoozleD]

I hope I'm wrong, but after inspecting the one from JT its not worth it compared to CYMA or even WELL R-5 IMO.  Imagine the minielectric mp5s v2 (one with adjustable HOP) and installing metal gearbox.  I looked in the magwell and the hop-up unit looks very similar to the minielectric one.  The body is exactly like the mini electric, plasticky & chalky.  One other thing is that the motor plate didnt have a motor height adjustment, and it may have the DPMS style mini motor mounted to the v2 gb.  I could be wrong just saying.  On the bright side, it fires okay with a good punch.  My big gripe is they could of price dropped it to like 60 bucks @ the most.
Its basically this w/ a metal gearbox,
http://www.airsoft128.com/xcart/catalog/VER304A_CFB_P5A5_Tactical_AEG-p-34164.html
This is my first impression.

Good review though zabuza and no offense to you .  I wasnt very happy with this one @ all.  Hey zabuza can you confirm what kind of motor its using?  I don't want to mess with store model.

[GríMMjÓw]

I hope I'm wrong, but after inspecting the one from JT its not worth it compared to CYMA or even WELL R-5 IMO.  Imagine the minielectric mp5s v2 (one with adjustable HOP) and installing metal gearbox.  I looked in the magwell and the hop-up unit looks very similar to the minielectric one.  The body is exactly like the mini electric, plasticky & chalky.  One other thing is that the motor plate didnt have a motor height adjustment, and it may have the DPMS style mini motor mounted to the v2 gb.  I could be wrong just saying.  On the bright side, it fires okay with a good punch.  My big gripe is they could of price dropped it to like 60 bucks @ the most.
Its basically this w/ a metal gearbox,
http://www.airsoft128.com/xcart/catalog/VER304A_CFB_P5A5_Tactical_AEG-p-34164.html
This is my first impression.

Good review though zabuza and no offense to you .  I wasnt very happy with this one @ all.  Hey zabuza can you confirm what kind of motor its using?  I don't want to mess with store model.

My gun was not chalky and obviously it is plastic, but not the kind that wants to snap in half with force.  I have to bust open this gun to put some more power into this gun, new o-ring, rewire, piston head, piston ext.  Normally what you would have to do to a UTG.  I will get some picts up soon, hopefully...  I think it is a pretty good alternative to the UTG.

 I think you may be right about the hop up, because i have to set it pretty close to the back in order to have some consistant shots.

[leoboy254]

so would you say this is as good as the utg or cyma because i am in the market for a cheap mp5 aeg such as the utg or cyma.


p.s.  kinda off-topic, but naruto rules!!!

[GríMMjÓw]

Well, not necesarily as good.  These three guns are neck and neck having thier own ups and downs.  Quality control is unknown, but for the UTG verison 3 it is purty goood.  Same goes with the CYMA.  If you have friends with the UTG check it out, if you have a jt near you check out those guns.  I like this gun and is a good loaner gun, but as far as comparing this gun to the others, that i cannot. 

[page99]

great review zabuza, i was wondering, didn't you find it odd that this MP5 only came with a full stock but still had a front-grip mounted mini battery instead of a large battery (as is with the TM MP5A4?

[GríMMjÓw]

Yah i did.  But like discussed in the review, it had room for a retractable stock and the mp5-k magazines.  I was kinda disapointed, but i gues that i will have to rewire to the back.  I am going to rewire anyways so it isnt much of a hassle. 

[leoboy254]

i hope the internals are as good as the utg or cyma

[GríMMjÓw]

For now all i can conferm for sure is that the gearbox IS metal.  I was a little concerned, but now i feel a little better...

[BamBoozleD]

Didnt you say you had feeding problems with your first one?  I was @ jt before our weekly night scrim and one came back tripple feeding.  I was going to bust it open but it was still under warranty.

[Fritze]

JT in Tacoma just got a shipment in, I had mine and Alexs CYMA there and we compared them.

The CFB looks nice , but its looks alot more "plastic" than the CYMAs do, not just because it has less metal but the finish looks more plastic.

It has no creakiness or unwanted bendiness.

We didnt get a chance to shoot one to compare performance, but will do that tonight.

Right now I am modding Alex's Guarder flashlight forend to accept a 9.6 volt 1100 mah Powerizer battery, the 9.6 makes a huge difference on ROF on these guns, once you hear and see the difference you cannot go back.

Whats that got to do with the CFB, well with its full stock a 9.6 might fit in it, after a rewire to move battery location.

He ordered more CYMA's but we havent seen them yet, hopefully the CFB's are not replacing the CYMA's, it would be great to have choices.

The more sub $100.00 AEG's out there the better, If we can get people playing whom otherwise wouldn't because of initial overhead that would be good.

I like this CFB, I might just pick one up, great value.

Fritze Out.

BTW-We looked for any markings as to whom made and couldn't see any, previous CFB airsoft guns at the shop had Well markings, these have none that we could see.

[GríMMjÓw]

Do you know if Jt will be getting more CYMA's?  I would like to get one of those also.  Yah i know, why would i need another one?  Well for me there are tons of reasons but to make it short i need to clarify the difference and then give it to my friend for his B-day.

EDIT:  Yah once I get this bad boy opened up i will rewire to the back and stick a better battery in there.  Probrally a 9.6.   

[EmptyChambers]

I'd like to clear some things up. This appears to be a GoldenBow Mp5 clone. If I'm correct, it has a proprietary designed gearbox(2.5?) that seems to take the same upgrades, but is weird. So it is a bit different. Also, the selector may ba breaking. I'd keep an eye on it. If it keeps working, I may have to look at it. I love that top rail personally.

[Professor K]

Watch out for the selector switch though. Another fellow bought one, possibly an earlier model, and said it went all to hell within 2 days of owning it. Like the UTG except much worse.

I'm that other fellow he's talking about. Yeah, the selector switch went to hell and the hop-up unit broke. It was actually my friend's gun, it may have been slight user error, but my friend generally treats his guns pretty well, so I'm not sure. By the way, the gearbox design is different. It's a V2, for all except the motor and motorcage. Yes, it has a motorcage, which is pretty cool, I guess.

I read on ACM games the internals on this are pretty strong, and I'm guessing they're right, but I can't prove it. I was going to look inside, then my friends selector switch got ****ed up. I told him to wait and get it to my house, but he got impatient, and took apart the WHOLE GEARBOX. He sent it to his neighbor, and he seems to have the gearbox and selector working, but it still needs a hop-up assembly.

Yeah, it basically is a Goldenbow LPEG with a metal gearbox. I'm guessing the hop-up wasn't strong enough to handle the power, so... Also, like the LPEG, it will NOT take Marui mags. He tried 2 Marui mags and one CA hicap. Neither would lock in, both would feed, the CA stayed in the magwell, though. I believe if you do the same mod you would do on the lpeg, it would work with this gun, too.

Externally, the gun was OK. Somewhat "chalky" and stuff, but felt solid. Im person it looks much nicer than the pics. The cocking handle seems to be ALL metal, but the reciever is plastic. So, big heavy metal cocking handle against thin plastic reciever=cracked reciever.

Anyway, I think some of the problems may have been ironed out. My friend got his when it just came out, it was labelled as the "matrix" mp5 on evike, but it was a goldenbow m5, box said so, and it had the motorcage. And did anyone else's guns ordered from places other than evike get 2 batteries? My friend's came with different stuff, too. TWO batteries, TWO locaps, and a sliding and solid stock. He paid 110 for it on evike when it first came out in like, very early january.

Did your's come with an sliding and solid stock, or not? I think the 2 batteries and sliding stock might explain why at evike it cost 110 bucks when my friend got it and at JT this cost 90...

So, all in all, the gun has issues, but it seems the gearbox is all right. I kind of want the SD one if it comes with both stocks. So, I'd get it, if you're looking for something slightly different, but keep in mind UTG, WELL and CYMA has had a better success rate with their MP5s... I kind of got a feeling from what I've read on ACM Games this will stand up to upgrades better, and I like the motorcage on it, too.

Oh yeah, sorry for the OTness, but does anyone got an MP5 hop-up unit for sale?

[Fritze]

We shot one of the CFB's tonight to check performance.

We used a 8.4 Volt, 1100 Mah Ni-MH battery from a CYMA and a JT 9.6 Volt, 1100 Mah Ni-NH Powerizer battery.

We didn't use the battery that came with it as the chargers sent with this batch were for 7.2 Volt batteries, so one was not yet charged.

It looks like atypical limey green powerizer type.

Gun shoots nice, magazines fed without issue, magazine empties out in a hurry,lol.

9.v volt battery has a nice increase in ROF.

It still looks like an LPEG, but shoots like an AEG.

The plastic forend pin is very sad, and something I would replace right off the bat.

Low cap mags work very well, but they are low cap.

Faux suppresor fits on nicely and looks the part.

Overall I would give it an 8 out of 10, its low cap mags and LPEG appearance handicap it.

I would buy a UTG or a CYMA before this one in a heartbeat, esp the CYMA since they are priced the same.

But its a great bargain, and I personally like the look of it, ie full stock, long magazine and faux mock suppressor.

Fritze Out.

[GríMMjÓw]

I'd like to clear some things up. This appears to be a GoldenBow Mp5 clone. If I'm correct, it has a proprietary designed gearbox(2.5?) that seems to take the same upgrades, but is weird. So it is a bit different. Also, the selector may ba breaking. I'd keep an eye on it. If it keeps working, I may have to look at it. I love that top rail personally.

I have confermed that it is indeed the MATRIX MP5...  Or the goldenbow.  It is ok, but like explained above go with the more successful brands...

[chief chicken]

bravo, thanks very much, uhm sorry if these questions were posted already,  about the mock silencer and the magazines, does the mock silencer have an internal barrel, like the UHC MP5?  Or is it one of those ones with the hollowed out barrel?  And you can stick Star mags in there right?  Thanks.

[gulogulo]

I have the A5 version (sliding stock) here in europe it was just the basic package. I haven't taken it apart but Im convinced that it is the original GB lpeg (which imho was quite well built for an lpeg) with the 2.5 metal gearbox, brass barrel and fusebox added. Power is great (for a 100 USD gun anyway) magazine feeds flawlessly, STAR lo-caps fit with slight mods
Actually I also have the lpeg version with the 50 rd metal magazine which is totally different from either this mag or the STAR lo-caps.
The selector is weak-ish, thats true. Someone on ACM did write that it is better built than the UTG (gearboxwise), and yes, motor heigth can be adjusted via a knob at the bottom of the motor cage.

[Captain_Kev]

So we now have 4 decent TM MP-5 clones w/ metal gearboxes:
-UTG MP-5A4/5
-CYMA MP-5j
-CFB/Matrix MP-5A4
-Well MP-5A5

When is the madness going to end?! For gods sake, if you're going to clone something, either make your clone better than the existing clones or make one that hasn't been cloned before!

How is the body compared to the UTG?