I could not even find a loose thread and yes,
I was being that picky. Once I let go of the
fact that it had mismatched camo, I started
to look at the features of the pod pack.
I like this thing. The pack I received was
a 5+6. That is a lot of paint, and paint can
get heavy. This pack comes with removable
suspenders which I think is awesome. I had
to try the pack on at this point. The pack’s
fit is pretty straight forward to most modern
packs with regards to the Velcro straps and
the added Velcro elastics to tighten up and
secure the waste. The suspenders were
fitting a little loose on me, so I looked to
adjust them. It’s easy enough to adjust
them as they are fastened with Velcro, but
this led me to discover the first flaw in it’s
design. I am 5’11” which is on the tall side
of average. I am just a normal height. When
I adjusted the suspenders, I had Velcro flaps
hanging open. This leaves them exposed to
get caught during play and complicate one’s
game. Now it is an easy fix, a little electrical
tape and you are golden. I would likely use
electrical tape regardless because I hate it
when Mr. Murphy of Murphy’s law joins me
in a game. That said, I think that I would have
really liked to see the Velcro go further up
the suspenders for shorter people that want
to use the pack.
Once I had it on, I realized that it needed
pods in it for a proper feel. I loaded it up
with all the different pods I had handy and
it took them all perfectly. Some packs hold
certain pods too tight. A prime example are
Dye Lock Lid pods which do not even fit in
all packs, but they fit perfectly in the Zodiac.
Some of the pods fit loose and I am not sure
how I feel about that, but I doubt that it will
be an issue on the field. It is just something
that I noticed.
Finally, we need to address the retention
system that the Zodiac pod pack uses to keep
the pods in place. This system is brilliant. I
LOVE IT! It is also the only think keeping it
from being the best pod pack ever made in
the history of paintball, but I will get to that
in a minute. The Zodiac has the speed eject
elastics on top like many basic pod packs do,
but instead of a giant Velcro flap holding the
pods in place it uses a wide and sturdy nylon
loop attached to elastics. The elastics on top
and the loop on the bottom squeeze the two
ends of the pod and it does not move. At all.
Genius. The loop will only come off one way,
when pulled away from the body. A lot of the
New York teams are using these packs and I
do not think that it will be long before these
packs take over the woodsball tournament
scene. They are that good and when playing
in the woods, being silent is an excessively
big edge to have on your competition.
080 paintball.media magazine