Y-Paintball Chest Protection - Better protection, cheaper, but restricts movement
Marker Setup:
SP Vision Shocker with Evolve v2 bolt kit, unimount, trniity feedneck, SS freak set, VIRTUE board, FireBallMountain Delrin Blade Trigger
Strengths:
+ Fit
+ No movement restriction
+ Good shoulder or back protection
+ Ventilation
Weaknesses:
- Very poor chest and side protection
- Cost
Review:
Well when I received this I was impressed at how light it felt and the fit especially. Although protection coverage is relatively poor it does not inhibit movement or feel like crap on the field. Very breatheable too.
On to protection.... on the back it's excellent. Even on upper arms and shoulder tops is good too. HOWEVER, the chest and side protection is garbage. If you look at the pic closely, you can see this. Pads protect less than 50% of the chest area. There's a large open area between the top and where the chest pads start (leaves upper chest open) and poor protection on lower abs (it barely covers upper abs). As per the sides, there is no protection there whatsoever.
If hits do manage to hit the pads, then yes it works well and you don't feel the hit much.
Conclusion:
Overall I'd say it's great if you just want a little bit of protection and confidence boost but buy something else if you want optimal chest/back protection. It does fit and breathe well though.
Given that this product is designed to protect you (which i think it does relatively poorly compared to other products, I give the product a rating that is less then average.
There's a newer version out now that is a lot better. I've got the old and the new, and they each have their pros and cons. The old didn't protect as much, but it was lighter. The new protects better, but is a little bulkier. It all comes down to personal choice. Good review though, thanks for not "flaming" it because you had some issues with it.
