I believe that you're right but I sincerely doubt there's going to be a sea change there.Originally Posted by joshs
I believe that you're right but I sincerely doubt there's going to be a sea change there.
#RESIST
Wait...what? Classes intended in the future? (that almost slipped by me). Where do I register? Take my money... please!
I know they're interested in hosting classes. The issue at present is the first weekend class they held (a Sunday-only CCW class) created what the management considered unacceptable wait times (~30min) for regular patrons wanting to rent a lane. This creates an issue because there aren't a lot of people who will take enough vacation to be in a full 2-day class that happens mid-week.
Glad to know that this is something they are tracking on though. Another range in the area took the stance that damn the members, groupon and classes and rentals were more important. More reason I am glad to have switched over.
Was even pleased to see a non derp full auto shooter on the line, instructing a young blonde who was herself reasonably squared away. And thus far only 1 judge - whose owner was not there long at all. didn't catch the process, but outcome was likely based on his use of birdshot.
Tough to square the circle between normal access and class times. Hopefully they can work it out one way or another.
Bumping this with a couple questions:
- Is ESS very crowded similar to the NRA range? Weeknights, weekends, etc.
- Has ESS siphoned away some of the NRA crowd?
I haven't done any live fire in multiple months and am probably going to let my peacemaker membership lapse due to how far away it is, so that means I'm looking at either going back to the NRA or potentially ESS (which is more expensive and further away).
I've been to ESS twice and it was half full both times. They have a lot more lanes.
They seem to have siphoned the folks who live west if the NRA.
I've been going there since about 2wks after they opened, different days/times, and have yet to wait more than 15min for a lane, and that's only occurred twice. Doesn't mean that I'll never have to wait longer than that at ESS ever...
...but even when ESS is crowded, they have enough lanes that the crowd is cycled at a notably faster rate than NRA is capable of doing. Been going there for something like 7yrs, and 15+min waits are utterly commonplace, not to mention too many 45+min waits to count. Not their fault, their footprint is their footprint, and that's not gonna change.
ESS sounds pretty nice, especially with the reduced wait times. Unfortunately it's about 30-40 minutes away from me, whereas NRA is about 15; and is $120 more per year for an annual membership.
The NRA wait time was indeed pretty legendary, especially during holidays or when there were gun shows. Has anyone noticed this has decreased due to the siphoning effect or has everyone pretty much switched over to ESS and not looked back?
I go to both depending on the day and my goals. NRA's wait times have definitely shrunk a bit now that ESS is open but my understanding is that peak times -- especially weekends -- are still pretty rough. In contrast, my wife and I were at ESS late Saturday afternoon and I think we had less than a 15min wait.
NRA is much closer to me, I know just about everyone there, I've got one of the "2hr" memberships, the lighting in the booths is better (something ESS is actively addressing), and there is an RO on the range at all times.
At ESS I've yet to be kicked off for time even though the membership only gives you 1hr at a time, it's open every day of the week, the waits at peak times are significantly better, and you can photograph/video if you want.
If someone told me I absolutely had to pick just one, my answer would be to f*** off.
While it's a longer drive for me, ESS has become my go to range. I hate the 45 minute+ waits at the NRA range, which are all too common.
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