Ronin Gear

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Ronin 4+3 Thunder Pack
by Bill Mills

The Ronin Gear name has been steadily growing in popularity.  This Southern California based product line, distributed by I&I Sports has a variety of soft goods, including the 4+3 Thunder Pack.  

The Thunder Pack combines the layout and features of a tournament pack with extra pockets and features of more use to recreational players.  Its basic design is a nylon web pack attached with a single belt featuring elastic “snugging” straps at the sides to ensure a tight fit to the waist.  A removeable pad adds comfort to the small of the back, while a pocket on the right side is large enough for a barrel plug, and a left side tube is set up to carry a fleece squeegie.

Pack nomenclature can be tricky.  In the mid ‘90s there were two numbers, the first was the number of pods, and the second, the number of tanks, a 4+1 would carry 4 pods, and a tank to be used on remote or carried as a spare.  Since then, remotes have fallen out of fashion, and the second number has been used to indicate a second row of pods.  For example a 4+1 now is often used to mean a pack with 4 vertical pods and one horizontal pod on top, or in the case of the Ronin Gear Thunder Pack, 4 horizontal tubes, double stacked between a row of three.

Horizontal tube placement puts the ends of tubes in easier reach, but most packs are set up for either left handed or right handed tube pulling.  The Thunder Pack is set to work from either side.  Tubes can be loaded left or right, and in the first row, short bungee straps secure the tubes protecting their lids from flipping open.  Formers in the borrom row pockets hold them in an open shape, which makes them easy to reload on the field.  While tournament players could typically care less, and toss their pods away during a game, recreational players know that pods have a habit of walking away on their own of left in a bunker during a walk on or big game, so stuffing them back in the pack can be important. 

Spare bungee straps are included with the pack, and the straps that hold them in place are secured with metal snaps which allow them to be replaced if broken or worn.

A second stacked row of pods fits on top of the first row.  This row is held in with elastic straps that have formers to make them flatten out.  They are more difficult to re-load in the field, but allow more paint to be carried without expanding further up or down the player’s back.

Ronin Gear’s Thunder pack fits a growing niche of crossover products for players who are looking for features found in both tournament and recreational paintball play.
 

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