Yeah, I dont think any amount of debate is going to sway me from my position that "light and tight is right" in terms of my marker and gear setup. I've seen and played long enough to have a firm grasp on what consistantly works best under varying playing conditions, and versatilty is the key!
In respect to vests...I agree with famousgamer about grenades, cell phones, tools, snacks, radios etc. Again, I'm only commenting on standard 20-30 minutes games. Since the advent of level 10 I dont even take a squeegie out with me anymore. In the incredibly rare instance of a ball break I'll shoot through it and squeegie at the next pause in play.
As for the expensive vests, sheesh. Spec Ops came out with some lighter, smaller vests, I think they called them "Dagger" or something, a couple of weeks ago. People are raving about these things like they were the second coming of christ. With their $125 price tag, I was like "They look pretty much like a $15 LBV you can get on ebay or at an Army Navy store." I also made some smart alecky comment that if one wasnt careful, they were going to look as pretty as a speedball player with all the fancy spec ops stuff. One response was "Are they the only ones (speedballers) who should have $200 pants? Why cant we have $200 clothes too?" I guess its like everything else. Why buy designer anything when you can get a similar version at Wal-mart for $20. People have different financial priorities, and if they can afford it, more power to 'em. I for one take a measure of pride when someone asks me about some piece of equipment or clothes and I tell them how I modified it or made it on the cheap and saved a ton of moolah. I'm not like one of santa's elves, sitting in a workshop slaving at creating stuff all day. But I'm also not above taking a needle and thread and scissors to my stuff and altering it for my playing style. If an hour or two of sewing means I've saved $125, thats two more Saturdays worth of paintballing I can fund! Anyone have any cool clothing or vest creations out there?