Post by SWATORNOT on Jan 8, 2006 20:20:41 GMT -5
Well I recently was invited to go out for a game and started going through my gear in order to see what needs fixing or just replacement. Upon inspection of my beloved Redz Comfort 2-Pod leg harness the thing had come to its end. The belt loop was unravled and was definately not going to work.
I started to hunt down a new pack by today(1/8/06) and Looked at a few different varieties, 4+1s, 6+1s, and 2 pod setups. I found a couple of nice choices for a 4+1 and a 2-Pod pack on SpecOps but was not sure it woudl arrive by today. Friday I took on the mission of finding a new pack and checked my local Gander Mountain store. They had 6+1s and a few 2 Pod packs. I surely did not need the 6 pod system, I tried one before and it was just too much weight around the waist for me to be comfortable with (Some can live with it, I cannot).
I noticed a nice JT 4-pod harness on the shelf as well, seemed like a sweet setup, 4 pods horizontal across your back, nice elastic/velcro type waist securing setup so the pack would go no where. Very easy to pull pods out and put them back in, however I was not looking to spend $50 on a pack (At least not at this point, I am waiting for a vest).
My mother was with me asking all the usual questions and happend to spot another pack similar to the JT setup hidden on a bottom shelf. I looked at it and said, "Nice find mom!" Sure it wasn't exactly what I wanted but it held 5-pods vertically behind you. I tried the thing on and loved the secure and comfortable fit it had. The price was only $30, more than I wanted to spend but it was the only option I felt good about.
Now to point out this is more of a "speedballer's wet-dream" type pack. Maybe not as nice as some but for the price it was very good. This is primarily a speedball type harness simply because of the fact that once you pull the pod out, you will struggle more trying to put the thing back into place. The pods will not move anywhere while held in place by the elastic straps.
Now the down fall here is once the pod has been "plucked" the elastice strap does not hold form of the round pod shape at all, you basically will need to reach around with both hands and find the strap, open in up while trying to slide the pod back into place. This was a big down side for me sicne I do not like leaving pods in the woods, sometimes you forget where you dumped one at and leave it. I knew when I purchased this harness that it was desgined to be that way, simply dump and run type thing. I am going to try and find a way to get the elastic to stay "open" to make it a bit easier to put a pod back in instead of dumping it in the woods.
The overall fit of the pack is the best I have used. The way the pack is secured to your body is by two flaps, one goes aroudn your waist and the other goes on-top with a strip of velcor on the end to secure the flaps in place. If that wasn't enough they added two more elastic straps to that, one on each side to secure the first flaps in place and also to help "Snug" the pack up against your body. With all 5 pods filled and the harness secured to you the pack does not move a bit, pods stay put and the thing practically conforms to your back, VERY comfortable. I also rememebered reading an articel in an APG issue about pack profiles and thought to check that in my mirror, what I found was simply perfect. From the front you saw nothing that indicated that I was loaded with more paint but the "belt" part of the harness. I could turn my self about 45* before starting to see a "profile" of the pods sticking out, to me this pack seemed to stay very close to the body and had little to no profile that stuck out.
Conclusion
Overall I am satisfied with the purchase and the quality of this harness. Getting the pods out was easy and quick, the only down side as I stated was if you intended to place the pods back in the harness. The Secure and comfortable fit allowed me to wear this with no issue for about 3 hours (When we stopped playing).
You can view this product Here *Harness I reviewed above is at the very bottom. The image at top left of the page shows a player wearing the StranJ Paintball Matrix Extreme harness.
Enjoy!
I started to hunt down a new pack by today(1/8/06) and Looked at a few different varieties, 4+1s, 6+1s, and 2 pod setups. I found a couple of nice choices for a 4+1 and a 2-Pod pack on SpecOps but was not sure it woudl arrive by today. Friday I took on the mission of finding a new pack and checked my local Gander Mountain store. They had 6+1s and a few 2 Pod packs. I surely did not need the 6 pod system, I tried one before and it was just too much weight around the waist for me to be comfortable with (Some can live with it, I cannot).
I noticed a nice JT 4-pod harness on the shelf as well, seemed like a sweet setup, 4 pods horizontal across your back, nice elastic/velcro type waist securing setup so the pack would go no where. Very easy to pull pods out and put them back in, however I was not looking to spend $50 on a pack (At least not at this point, I am waiting for a vest).
My mother was with me asking all the usual questions and happend to spot another pack similar to the JT setup hidden on a bottom shelf. I looked at it and said, "Nice find mom!" Sure it wasn't exactly what I wanted but it held 5-pods vertically behind you. I tried the thing on and loved the secure and comfortable fit it had. The price was only $30, more than I wanted to spend but it was the only option I felt good about.
Now to point out this is more of a "speedballer's wet-dream" type pack. Maybe not as nice as some but for the price it was very good. This is primarily a speedball type harness simply because of the fact that once you pull the pod out, you will struggle more trying to put the thing back into place. The pods will not move anywhere while held in place by the elastic straps.
Now the down fall here is once the pod has been "plucked" the elastice strap does not hold form of the round pod shape at all, you basically will need to reach around with both hands and find the strap, open in up while trying to slide the pod back into place. This was a big down side for me sicne I do not like leaving pods in the woods, sometimes you forget where you dumped one at and leave it. I knew when I purchased this harness that it was desgined to be that way, simply dump and run type thing. I am going to try and find a way to get the elastic to stay "open" to make it a bit easier to put a pod back in instead of dumping it in the woods.
The overall fit of the pack is the best I have used. The way the pack is secured to your body is by two flaps, one goes aroudn your waist and the other goes on-top with a strip of velcor on the end to secure the flaps in place. If that wasn't enough they added two more elastic straps to that, one on each side to secure the first flaps in place and also to help "Snug" the pack up against your body. With all 5 pods filled and the harness secured to you the pack does not move a bit, pods stay put and the thing practically conforms to your back, VERY comfortable. I also rememebered reading an articel in an APG issue about pack profiles and thought to check that in my mirror, what I found was simply perfect. From the front you saw nothing that indicated that I was loaded with more paint but the "belt" part of the harness. I could turn my self about 45* before starting to see a "profile" of the pods sticking out, to me this pack seemed to stay very close to the body and had little to no profile that stuck out.
Conclusion
Overall I am satisfied with the purchase and the quality of this harness. Getting the pods out was easy and quick, the only down side as I stated was if you intended to place the pods back in the harness. The Secure and comfortable fit allowed me to wear this with no issue for about 3 hours (When we stopped playing).
You can view this product Here *Harness I reviewed above is at the very bottom. The image at top left of the page shows a player wearing the StranJ Paintball Matrix Extreme harness.
Enjoy!
