Sky Ranger Vest - ASR Airsoft Reviews

Author

Cheesehead
Review Administrator

Registered: February 2004
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 2539

Review Date: Sun March 5, 2006

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $90.00 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Waterproof, Loads of Pouches, Lots of Versatility, Affordable, Durable
Cons:	Camo Pattern is Too Dark

By Imports4Life
Originally Published: 19 Febuary, 2004

After buying my first set of gear (some surplus web gear) and my first AEG, I wanted a new look. I wanted that elite “I’ve got lots of money, and I look cool” thing for myself. Realizing I had nowhere near the budget to get the REALLY nice gear, I turned to eBay. After a day or two of looking, I found a vest that fit my needs. The vest that I found was the Sky Ranger Vest. And yes, this IS the really crappy looking one that’s for sale on RedWolf.

<a href="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/medium/1.jpg"><img src="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/thumbs/1.jpg" alt="1.jpg" border="0"></a>

Anyways, after sorting out my babysitting money (Yeah, I had a high class job), I put in my order for this fine piece of combat gear. Roughly 4 days later, I had this and my replica Interceptor vest in my hands. I ripped open those boxes with all my might and tore open the plastic bags they were trapped in. They sure were pretty, that’s for sure.

Main Vest

But seeing as how this review is only on the Ranger Vest, I’m only going to talk about that specific one. Look for a review on the Interceptor later. After looking the main part of the vest over, I found the pouches and inspected them. They all looked good, and seemed to be made of a Nylon material, with a Gore-Tex type layer under it all.

The main body vest is made of the same material, and has some mesh nylon pouches on the back. There’s one on the back of the bib, and one long pouch on the back of the main vest (the back of where all the main pouches attach). The vest hooks around your body with three different straps. One strap located on the bottom of the vest buckles around your back, securing it in place. The other two straps are arranged in an X-design, and are attached to the top right and left edges of the vest, and end on the opposite middle.

All of the straps are nicely secured, with large plastic fasteners to adjust the length of the straps. My vest came with 4 mag pouches (Holds 2 M16 mags each), one canteen pouch, 4 grenade pouches, one radio pouch (adjustable for size), and one big leg bag. The whole vest and each pouch are waterproof because of the Gore-Tex type lining under the nylon outer.
The bib has the same amount of webbing as the main vest, so any of the pouches can mount onto the vest. Normally, the grenade pouches are mounted on the bib, but you can change that up depending on your “mission.” The bib, if you do not want it up, can be stripped of its pouches and folded down out of the way. The whole vest, if only used over your BDU’s, is a little loose. Then again, I’m only 5’10, 145 pounds. So for a bigger sized person, it could fit them really nicely. The bib has a little slack, but nothing major.

<a href="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/medium/2.jpg"><img src="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/thumbs/2.jpg" alt="2.jpg" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/medium/3.jpg"><img src="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/thumbs/3.jpg" alt="3.jpg" border="0"></a>

Pouches

The mag pouches are made nicely, and can hold 2 M16 mags each. I’m not sure if they can hold AK/G3/SIG/MP5 mags, because I don’t have any of those mags in my hands right now. They are secured closed by a strip of Velcro, and are opened by a pull-strap on the top of the pouch cover. There is also a strip of Spandex type material that is split up in such a way, where two shotgun shells can be held.

<a href="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/medium/4.jpg"><img src="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/thumbs/4.jpg" alt="4.jpg" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/medium/5.jpg"><img src="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/thumbs/5.jpg" alt="5.jpg" border="0"></a>

The grenade pouches are made in the same way as the mag pouches, but are held closed even tighter by an additional snap-button closure, along with the Velcro strip. The canteen and the radio pouch are both held closed by snap and Velcro closures also. The canteen also has two small pouches to hold water purification tablets or whatever you may want to put in them. The leg bag is very thick, and is secured to your lag with two straps, closed by big plastic buckles.

The straps that go around your leg have a strip of Spandex sewn halfway in, giving the bag some stretching room if you want to slide it up or down your leg should it get uncomfortable. It also helps to keep it nice and snug on your leg. There’s a lot of room inside the leg bag, enough to easily hold 3-4 1000mL cans of green gas or whatever you feel like putting inside it. It could also be used as a drop mag, for an easy place to drop your empty mags.

<a href="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/medium/6.jpg"><img src="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/thumbs/6.jpg" alt="6.jpg" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/medium/7.jpg"><img src="http://www.airsoftretreat.com/gallery/data/569/thumbs/7.jpg" alt="7.jpg" border="0"></a>

Each pouch attaches by slipping two long pieces of fabric (not sure what they’re made of either. I’m just not a fabric guy) through the webbing, and securing it with buckles. It’s kind of hard to explain since I’m at a loss of words, but the pictures will show what I’m talking about. Once the pouches are locked into place, they are quite secure. The only way I was able to take them back off, was to purposely pull them off. To attach the leg bag, you need to attach the special fitting. After this, you just adjust the leg bag to fit onto your leg comfortably, and then buckle it into place with the fitting on the vest.

Conclusion

Overall, I think my $90 was a pretty good investment for this vest. It’s held up nicely, is waterproof, has loads of pouches, lots of versatility, and is actually affordable. Plus, the pattern matches my BDU’s almost perfectly, except it’s slightly darker. Not only that, but it looks cool. I would definitely recommend this vest to someone on a budget like me.