As many of you may know, there are two companies slated to produce the Tavor-21, developed by IMI, in the near future. ARES, the OEM for STAR, is almost at that stage where mass production in almost complete, but many sites have almost ran out on pre-orders. TSI is a little known producer of extremely high-quality AEG's (Galil variants only as I know) and the developers are ex-IDF.

However, the point of this topic is to argue the differences of the two companies' products. I'm currently perusing the concept that both may be available by my birthday late next month, but I do not know which to choose.


The most interesting aspects of each product is as follows:

I know that...
ARES-
-includes a MARS sight with targeting laser
-quick spring change feature as with many of their guns
-nylon-fiber composite body
-apparently can only fit a small-type battery, but that can be solved with a LiPo.
-costs approx. $500 USD

TSI-
-will be sold sans MARS sight
-there will be 2 or 3 variants offered (can't remember, I know there is a Sharpshooter/Sniper variant [with bipod and standard 20mm rail)
-uses a Ver. 3 gearbox and an AK hop-up chamber
-a GBB version will be released later on, whereas the AEG is nearly 100% compatible with the GBB. TSI said they are going to offer the GBB internals as a stand-alone package to convert the AEG into a GBB at any time. This is by far the most interesting aspect, in my opinion.
- a replica MARS sight will be produced at a MSRP currently at a baseline of $100.
-external hop-up (not quite sure what they mean, but if this means it's like a TM MP5, I'm going to hate adjusting this thing.)
-will cost aprrox. in the ~$600 range, TSI is speculating a price lower than that.


I also want to ask, will the ARES version feature a 20mm rail underneath the MARS sight? I realize that the real steel Tavor has this sight integrated into the body, but I don't want to be stuck with a non-magnifying optic at all times. I wonder what the ARES will be like, as they have a history of having proprietary gearbox and components; from hearing the AREs in action, it sounds like a solid gun.

Which one should I get? If you were in my position where I could possibly getting one or the other in about a month, which would you choose? I'm currently leaning on the TSI side, seeing as how their products have absolutely blown all other AEG's out of the water.