I’ve been Airsofting some 4-5 years now and without question the most tedious part of preparation for me is the day before charging batteries. If like me you have several batteries for different AEG’s you have to have enough time to sit by your charger waiting, waiting for that beep to let you know another battery is charged. I’ve always run NIMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries in my AEGs and have never had any problems. I’ve always had AEG’s with full stocks because that’s what I like so I could fit a big chunky battery in there and basically play an entire day without having to change because of a flat one. Recently however a couple of situations have had me asking questions about the batteries I use and if I’m using the right kind.

Batteries of all shapes and sizes are used for Airsoft and are easily available from either Airsoft suppliers or Component shops. I’ve always used NIMH because that is what I was introduced to and believed this was how the world worked. I’ll be honest; I haven’t a clue when it comes to electronics and is obvious I must have read from the same page as Jeremy Clarkson when I think everything can be solved with a hammer!

When I bought my first gun package from Wolf Armouries included was a trickle charger, it was basically a lump of plastic with a light on it and lead running to a large tamyia connecter. For me it worked fine, plug in the battery, flick the switch, go to bed and turn it off in the morning. That was me, that’s how it worked and that 8.4v 2200mah battery powered my MP5A2 for over 2 years. When I started playing more often, playing milsim and weekend themed games I needed a second battery, Airsoft was becoming a serious part of my life and a second battery to me meant more Airsoft but a second battery, this time a 9.6v 2200mah also meant no more overnight charging sessions. After some looking around, some discussions and a little research my solution was a ProPeak with “fast charge capability”. Now I truly believe the saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” was meant for me. I hate change, I hate having to learn to do the same thing in a different way. I just want an easy life; the pro peak in my opinion was a close to bone idleness as job seekers allowance is to Chavs. Plug in the battery, set the charge rate (3A for fast charge) press the button and wait for the alarm. 40minutes to an hour later you’ve got your battery, all warm and ready to unleash 6mm plastic retribution. In comparison to my trickle charger it was brilliant, perfect for what I needed, to me it was Page 3’s Sam Cooke!

Now this time last year I was running a NamSoft loadout and after some issues with my custom M16A1 sold it for a CA XM177E2. This was a good size weapon for me and I could also run it with my US 90’s SEAL look which I’m very fond of. For the first time ever I was having battery issues, the XM needed smaller batteries as it had a sliding stock and was front wired. Now being a stickler for POWER I squeezed a 9.6v 2000mah “horseshoe” style battery in the front end which just (after some modding) fitted. Due to the tight squeeze I was forever getting power issues with the alignment of the wiring and the connectors failing because of the strain. It was during this time the Lithium Polymer (LiPo) Battery was beginning to emerge onto the UK Airsoft scene. The LiPo had been a favourite of Remote Control (RC) enthusiasts for some years and because of this there was an abundance of batteries and chargers on the market. Now I didn’t have a clue what the difference was between my NIMH and these new LiPo’s, all I had heard was scaremongering stories from players on forums telling me the resulting explosion from charging a LiPo in my house would create a Quantum Singularity (black hole) that would end all life in the universe . With any new product which you don’t know much about you are always going to get people spreading their opinions of it without any valid fact. It’s always:

“I heard from my mate Dave that a bloke he knows had a mate who had a LiPo and when he charged it, it blew his shed door off and sent a garden rake over next door and killed the neighbours dog”

I heard these stories and to be honest was fearful of owning a LiPo, especially with the current chargers on the market needing a separate 12V power source (car battery) and a balancer to ensure “safe” charging. The LiPo wasn’t for me and decided I would solider on (by selling my XM177) and sticking with AEG’s with full stocks to fit my large NIMH batteries into. A simple, full proof solution.

Of course other players would tread the LiPo route (cos there braver than me) and since selling my XM177 all in one LiPo chargers with Balancer and with a AC power source have flooded the Airsoft/RC market. One of which is the IMAX B6 Professional Intelligent Digital Balance Charger, cool name hey?

The IMAX B6

This B6 I have in front of me was a purchase of our very own E6 Technical Genius Richard Young. At a recent skirmish he left the B6 in my car and said “Your good with the words and stuff, write something about that”. Never one to shy away from a challenge and the written word I took it home and left it in my bag for a couple of weeks before remembering there was something I needed to do…”oh yeah, a review”.

Now doing some research I came across plenty of stuff about the B6, the majority was scaremongering on forums by RC enthusiasts which I read and immediately believed! After a hot chocolate and a muffin I worked up the courage to open this cracking little hard case where a dormant B6 laid motionless.

Straight away I was impressed with the packaging and overall appearance of the B6. The hard case looked as if it could take a proper beating and would handle all the Airsoft community could throw at it. And after chucking it about for a few minutes I whole heartedly agreed with my previous statement, a good start I felt. Inside the case I found the charger , a manual and plenty of accessories. I thought to myself this is brilliant, it’s got the lot only to find out later that Richard had to make up a couple of the connectors as the B6 only comes with deans connectors and crocodile clips. The other connectors such as the tamyia can be made up easily or sourced from any Airsoft retailer or component shop.

This B6 also came with an AC power supply lead. Unfortunately this is too large to fit into the case with the rest of the charger but if this charger is going to be taken to the skirmish field you don’t need it anyway, just leave it at home, kinda makes sense when you think about it. The AC power supply lead is also supplied separately at extra cost, something common when buying items such as this. Honestly, looking at this charger I was starting to see pound signs flying off of it. The price of all this kit was starting to mount up, so the question I have to start asking is “is it worth the money?”…Let’s find out!

For my initial testing I’m using a standard Airsoft NIMH battery. It’s a G&P 9.6v 2200mah battery with a large tamyia connector. My first task was to read the instructions which I generally wouldn’t do but as the B6 wasn’t mine, I better make sure I return it in the same condition I received it.

On first glance the instruction booklet looks a little daunting at times with all the usual “tech nonsense” free flowing but after a quick read and some scanning of the pictures you soon realise it’s easy to follow. I decided to use the discharge function of the B6 first, after all it made sense to me to do it first, and it’s not as if I’ve a lot of time to hang around at home and write reviews all day.

The input controls are simple and with the added LCD screen set up is easy and within a couple minutes of opening the box I was away. Now if your only thrill in life is watching paint dry or licking windows you could amuse yourself for hours watching the progress of the discharge, the continuous screen update is cool to watch but I’ve better things to do. So season 2 of The Inbetweeners on DVD for Christmas me thinks, result.

After some time (I wasn’t really paying attention to how long) a little “beep” sounded out and the B6 had worked its magic, the result, a discharged NIMH, fantastic I thought, “my pro peak does that”.

Now obviously the B6 had been sucking out power for some time and its efforts were clear to see (well feel) as the B6 was hot…very hot. I decided to let it cool down abit before the eventual charging of the battery (so back to The Inbetweeners).

Like the discharging the charging of the battery was again simple, few pushes of a button, check the screen and away we go. The LCD screen told you the power input rate and the estimated finish time which I’ll say again, is a very nice feature.

Now to be honest I can’t quite work out why Rich would give me this charger to review, I mean I don’t run LiPo’s which is basically why you would buy a B6. Yeah the B6 does them all but a cheap ProPeak will do the job for most batteries. So maybe it was a ploy, maybe by getting me to review it was some kind of “Vietnamese” style mind trick to make me want to get a LiPo, therefore needing a new charger…smart fella, very smart!

In my Opinion…

The B6 in my opinion is all the charger any Airsofter would need; it will charge all battery types used by Airsofters and have some features that would make it a worthwhile buy in any Airsofters collection of bits and bobs. Now as I said earlier you can’t just buy the charger and expect instant results. You need the right connectors if you don’t run deans and unless you intend on buying shares in Halfords (for an outside 12v power supply) you need the AC adaptor as well. The hard case to is extra but not essential as any good container would suffice to keep the B6 and all its accessories together. The total cost for all that I reviewed comes to around £45 give or take a few quid. This is a rough estimate, after all there’s always a bargain to be had on eBay or such. For what it is and for what it costs, it’ll do the job, and it’ll look good while doing it. Now let’s have a look and see how much a LiPo is…