What makes the impact so unreliable, yet so desirable?

Because the paid spokespersons on YouTube said everybody needed one. It's the world we live in. 

Or if Harley Davidson built an airplane, would you fly in it?

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It would be hard to keep speedy-dry under it.

Marketing.

Im one of those who are not fond of FX in anyway but as of recently I have been looking at picking up an Impact. I figure (hope) that they have fixed most of the issues that so many seem to be having. Im still being hesitant on purchasing one though. The few I have handled I simply was not in anyway impressed with in terms of quality for the asking price compared to other brands. I would like the adjust-ability that the impact has, But fear of buying a lemon has kept me away. An yes I know that this can happen with other brands as well, but it would seem that FX just happens to have a whole orchard of lemon trees, not just one tree.

Extra features and adjustability mean more parts, more failure points. 

Desirable: everyone else seems to have one, and guys feel they are missing out on the new best. Same with computers, cars, appliances, TVs whatever. 

FX does a lot more marketing than any other maker. Hence the exposure. You think a guy that works for FX and gets free stuff is going to tell you about any possible reliability issues or weak points? Nah man. Just the way it is.

No desire from me, I don't care who they give one to and have them shoot it. 



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Lets do a comparison. Have a Marauder and a Impact. Also have a chevy and a fuel car. What do you want. Just ok or WOW.

I can work with unreliable. There's almost always a fix. However, the impact just isn't for me. Plain and simple. I had one, shot it for a while, and while the performance was there, it really lacked a lot of great qualities I find in other guns. 

Comes down to the old cliche. One man's junk is another mans treasure. As an avid shooter I will say the imapct has its appeal for sure. I love compact bullpup style airguns and njst recently grabbed the rti prophet in 25. Have a kral 1st gen puncher in 22 and modified it and have had zero issue's from day one. Still my go to. Had the priest 2 in 25 and sold for cash for the prophet and zero issue's with jt as well. Very reliable and not so many o-rings to mess with. Both rti's were the performance edition. Have a couple of friends who own different fx guns and have had nothing but ish non stop with them. It seems they are in the shop more often then in the field. One has had 3 broken trigger pins, and a nagging leak that can't seem to be fixed permanently. It's less than a year was bought new. The other friend sold 2 of his and kept his impact which is suffering from the same issue of more shop time then field time. When we go out I always have a spare airgun just in case. Are fx airguns a marvel of engineering absolutely but seems so many odd issues that deter me from buying. You here of edgun being almost bulletproof etc but a little too heavy for me in the field. So ultimately i feel it will come down how good you are at thinking outside the box and tinkering with your gun.

Bought an FX Impact Compact in .22 in May of 2020. No problems with it, but it was gone in July 2020. Over hyped, a problem waiting to happen, a tinkerers dream (a tinkerer I am not, when things work, I leave them alone). I think a lot of the perceived need for an Impact comes from this silly talk of EBR (gun games using guns by big name salesmen that are usually highly modified), and shooting something at 200 yards (bird size only since there's only enough power for it at that distance), without consideration for one of the main reasons for an airgun-safety.

Bought an FX Impact Compact in .22 in May of 2020. No problems with it, but it was gone in July 2020. Over hyped, a problem waiting to happen, a tinkerers dream (a tinkerer I am not, when things work, I leave them alone). I think a lot of the perceived need for an Impact comes from this silly talk of EBR (gun games using guns by big name salesmen that are usually highly modified), and shooting something at 200 yards (bird size only since there's only enough power for it at that distance), without consideration for one of the main reasons for an airgun-safety.

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You can kill more than birds at 200y when a 30 cal slug still has 63fpe at 200m. But hey don't let the facts get in the way.

I wouldn’t go with unreliable either in my personal experiences. I was very hesitant to buy one because of thread titles like this, but I should not have been.

I have owned 2 with zero issues. I owned one of the early versions before they started making all the great accessories they have now, and didn’t like the fit, so I sold it. I bought another and kept it for a good while until I decided to try something different and go to a lower caliber). I never had a single issue with it and it is still the most accurate air rifle I have ever shot. I would buy another for sure, especially if I could shoot cheaper 22 like I could the 30.

I think the biggest issue (and I know some people get lemons) is that many people always talk about the adjustments they can make before they ever receive it. I think many people mess up the tune and don’t know how to get it back. Sure, they have more adjustments than most other rifles, which can be great, but it can suck too. Some rifles don’t give you any adjustment at all and still cost more. 

Just my .02, and I currently own no FX rifles. I’m open to them all.

 I can only smile when I see the title of the thread. It’s quite clear, at least to me, that the Impact could not possibly be as desirable or as successful as it is if it were so unreliable. It’s an old truism, that virtually everyone who has a problem will complain loudly, while those for whom it works well will simply carry on using the rifle. At the end of the day, the market doesn’t lie.. People are buying these things hand over fist. They are back ordered everywhere. That just doesn’t happen if they were all so unreliable. 



I am not saying that people haven’t had problems, or that there might not have been teething problems out of the box, especially on gen. 1 guns. However this is probably a reality with any airgun, especially those which push the envelope. But it is simply highly unlikely that they are all so bad, yet people keep buying them.



I bought my first one a month ago. I had been absolutely loving my .22 Crown Continuum and decided to make the jump to an Impact Mk II (PP) in .25 cal. The Impact just didn’t feel as good in my arms especially for offhand shooting, as my Crown. It was also a pain to shoot from the bench. Yet, yet.... somehow i was still getting amazing accuracy. Then I started playing around with the adjustability. Wow. I picked up a .30 barrel/probe and mag used on the AGN Classifieds and I was off to the races! Added a better scope, a Sabre Tactical Bag Rider and shot the best 25 and 50 yard groups I have ever shot in my life! It’s been flawless.



I know that there will come a time when there will be some problem, but that happens with everything mechanical. I currently have a .22 Marauder out at Baker Airguns for a complete reseal, so it happens even with those (and yes, i could fix it myself, but I have other things to do in life as well).

Bottom line, I have never had a more accurate gun than the .30 cal Impact. It’s been a blast and a journey I am happy to be on.



Chris

There's enough information and reviews coming from objective owners to paint a pretty clear picture for anyone considering an impact to know what they are getting into. Whether or not the Impact is a fantastic and customization gun or an expensive serial repair project is based entirely on the shooter and not the rifle.

As far as blanket statements that all FX's are no good- you can't dispute there's bias behind those statements which, while passionate, have to be taken with a grain of salt. People are paying a lot of money, waiting A LOT OF TIME and have a lot of expectations. So the emotions tend to flow.

The Impact's wins at EBR is what sparked its popularity. They do shoot well, no question. but give a man a fish and he can eat for a day. Give him a screwdriver, and he can mess up every rifle he owns.

Or if Harley Davidson built an airplane, would you fly in it?

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LOL!!!

Well put.

On the one hand there are things about the Impact that are really neat, for me it is the high capacity mags and the forward cocking in a bullpup package, Most everything else I can take or leave. The problems can be fixed BUT.... On the other hand it doesn't work for me as the total package I need.

I'm not going to take away from a shooters skills because that is TOP aspect in EBR, RMAC, and PMC, but shooting a ton of sighters, then compensating quickly for a wind condition once it's found, does help a lot, and that's where the Impact shines with it's high cap mags, as well as the twin bottles. 

I'm going to try other brands and models to find what I'm looking for. Top priorities are extreme precision, none to little tuning required, and dead nuts POI stability like my USFT has. Other things too but preferences will be nailed down over time as I use the different rifles. 

I guess you'd just have to own a Impact for a while to make your own decision.

I would ditch the Impact in a second if Daystate's rifles had a high capacity, cheap magazine.

They’re great airguns, but I’d never buy one. Main reason, price.. I know myself, and if I spent 2 grand and bought all the bells and whistles for that thing (which I know I would) I’d be in it for 4, 5, 6 grand. Only for FX to release a new version likely that same year. Making my gun seem like yesterday’s news. After all the investment. I personally like tuning up there other less expensive models making them perform above and beyond out-of-the-box specs it’s fun, and the overall price is lower. Then I have something to be proud of. But, once again, I think they’re great just not for me. Just think of the dough/money FX makes off these Impacts? It’s amazing! At $2,000 a pop for a Impact, if they sell 500 of them that’s $1,000,000. Not hating, it’s a genius business model. FX Airguns are the Apple Computers of airguns! Good on them!!!



$$$$$



My opinion, not fuel for a argument...