I wouldn't say Vanguard sucks. there Decent and have decent honest techs.
As for Heroes. They Over Price Everything. hell my brother bought me a Kwa 1911 there FOR 200 DOLLARS WHEN it was only 150 online. Not to mention i was there one day and Saw a father buying there kid a Kwa pistol. And when they asked for a Extra mag too buy for the kids pistol. The Service Rep didn't give em the correct mag. Instead he gave em a WE MAG. Now ill admit not all the staff at Heroes are that incompetent . The Girl that works there is quite nice and friendly.
Now for me the real good Airsoft store was Gearbox when it was still around. IT was just a bus ride up from my work and home. I really wished They never went out of Business.
However I noticed recently when searching for airsoft Smoke Grenades online. I ran into darkstar Paintball
http://www.darkstarpaintball.com/Default.asp there On Alma school and Warner. A bit north of Guns & Etc. I was wondering if anyone knows about them. It looks like they recently got into the Airsoft market. I personally may swing By there on one of my regular runs in the area and check on em my self.