When you’re paintballing, and you’re very competitive and eager to win, you don’t want your equipment to fail you, there’s nothing more frustrating than that.
But that doesn’t just mean getting the best possible paintball gun, it also means getting the best possible paintball pods.
If you use an unreliable paintball pod, you risk losing paintballs from the pod and voiding their contents.
OUR TOP PICK
These are one of the most highly rated with online retailers by customers, and they’ve earned an impressive 4 and a half stars out of 5.
They come as a pack of 6 and are available in 4 different colors, namely black, blue, red, and light smoke.
They have a high ammo capacity, coming in at 150 rounds per pod. This means you can have long sessions of rapid firing, without having to constantly stop to reload the gun.
What we love about these particular paintball pods is that they have an advanced spring-loaded lid. This goes a long way to ensuring the pod’s reliability.
The lid will only release when you want it through the gun, and you will not risk losing paint by accident.
Many customers have reported that they’re also very strong and sturdy.
They’re also very comfortable to use, with an enlarged thumb groove and contoured lid.
These pods are a universal size that will fit any paintball pod harness.
Pros:
- Great customer feedback
- 150 rounds per pod
- Spring-loaded lid
- Strong and sturdy
- Fits any universal harness
Cons:
- No lime green option
EDITORS CHOICE
The Virtue PF165 has a great ammo capacity, and can in fact fold 20% more paintballs than Virtue’s other ranges, with 30 extra paintballs. This means less frequent stopping everything to reload your gun.
What we love about these pods is the lid. It locks tightly in place when not in use, so you don’t have to worry about the contents ever falling out and voiding your ammo. And it’s on a durable hinge that won’t come loose.
Yet you can access the ammo rapidly when you need it. This is thanks to its very intuitive tab with it’s easy to use “Press Flick” button.
There are several buying options with these paintball pods, not only do you have four colors to choose from, namely lime, red, and blue, but you can also buy in bulk if you prefer to.
They normally come in a pack of 6, or if you go for lime, you can buy a pack of 12, or you can buy enough for your entire team, with a pack of a whopping 48 pods.
And they’re quite sturdy and durable to boot.
It’s popular with customers, having earned 4 and a half stars out of 5 on their Amazon page.
Pros:
- Very high ammo capacity
- Reliable lids
- Buy in bulk option
- Sturdy and durable
- Great customer feedback
Cons:
- No smoke color option
BEST VALUE
What we love about this paintball pod is it’s patented lid system. It’s an advanced system and is the first of its kind.
It features a very secure latch system that will keep the paintballs securely in place no matter how much you move, and you won’t risk losing paintballs and voiding their contents.
And that’s not all - it has a very large ammo capacity, able to hold a whopping 160 rounds in one pod.
That’s about 20 rounds more than what you’d get with a regular paintball pod! This means you don’t have to reload as frequently, and can sustain longer rapid-firing sessions.
And better yet, these paintball pods won’t ever slide out of your hand, no matter how sweaty you get. This is thanks to their ribbed outer shell, which ensures a very secure grip.
There are 3 colors to choose from, namely cyan, lime, and smoke. And you can choose whether to buy them singularly or as a pack of 6.
Sure it does cost more than your regular paintballs, but with all these advanced features, if you’re serious about paintballing, we think you’ll agree it’s well worth the money.
Pros:
- Advanced patented lid system
- Ribbed outer for better grip
- 160 rounds per pod
Cons:
- Expensive
RUNNER UP
If you mean business and you like to really look the part, then you might want to consider this paintball pod, which features a fierce-looking skull on each end of the pod.
In terms of ammo capacity, it’s quite high, coming in at 150 rounds per pod, which is an extra 10 more rounds than the usual paintball pod, so this means you don’t have to reload quite as frequently, and can pull off more sustained rapid-fire sessions.
This also means that you can carry larger loads of ammo without having to carry extra pods.
As we discuss in our buying guide, later on, the reliability of a paintball pod all comes down to the lid.
These skull paintball pods feature an advanced spring-loaded lid. This means that you’re not going to accidentally lose any paintballs, and your paintballs will remain entirely secure until you’re ready to use them.
They’re also very comfortable and intuitive to use, with an enlarged thumb groove, and contoured lid.
They come in a pack of 6 and there are 5 colors to choose from, namely black, blue, lime, dark smoke, and light smoke.
True, they’re a little more expensive than some of the alternatives, but this is a top paintball pod brand, with a good reliable lid, and a fierce-looking skull, so we would argue they’re worth the extra money.
Pros:
- Fierce-looking skull
- 150 rounds per pod
- Spring-loaded lid
Cons:
- Expensive
RUNNER UP
This is a really popular set of paintball pods, having earned hundreds of individual customer ratings on the Amazon page. And better yet the average customer rating comes in at 4 and a half stars out of 5.
The ammo capacity is fairly high. It comes in at 150 rounds per pod, which is ever so slightly more than the usual 140 rounds per pod. This means you won’t need quite as many pods, and you won’t have to stop everything to reload quite as frequently, and your rapid-fire sessions can go on for that bit longer.
The type of lid used is a spring-loaded one. It opens very rapidly right when you need it, and on the flip side, it doesn’t open unnecessarily, and lose any of your paintballs from the pod and voiding the contents.
They come as a pack of six, and you can choose between a very bright lime green or a more subdued light smoke color.
The price is very fair and reasonable, and the pods are of a universal size and will fit in all universal size harnesses.
Pros:
- Great customer feedback
- 150 rounds per pod
- Spring-loaded lid
- Fits any universal harness
Cons:
- Only 2 colors available to choose from
RUNNER UP
The beauty of these paintballs is that you don’t have to buy mere packs of 6, but you can also buy in bulk, and get a pack 4 times as big, with a total of 48 pods.
This is perfect if you find yourself tasked with buying all the paintball equipment for your entire team, and you all need to be using the same color.
There are 150 rounds included in each pod, which is a fairly high ammo capacity compared to the more usual 140 rounds. And this has two main benefits.
First off, you won’t need to carry quite as many pods on your person. And secondly, you won’t have to stop to reload quite as frequently and don’t get interrupted so much in those intense rapid-fire sessions.
It features a spring-loaded lid to ensure that paintballs are only released when you need them, and you won’t find yourself losing and voiding any of the contents.
We’re also fans of the lids indented thumb, which helps to give you easy access to your ammo when you need it. You don’t even need to look at what you’re doing.
They have a good, solid polypropylene construction, making them both very durable and impact-resistant, able to take a knock or two while you’re out on the field.
We’re also fans of the raised “bones” grip, which helps to ensure the pods won’t slide from your hands when you reload, no matter how sweaty your hands get.
They’re of a standard size and will fit in all standard universal harnesses.
There are 4 different colors to choose from, including the ever-popular lime green, aqua blue, black, or smoke.
Pros:
- You can buy in bulk
- “Bones” grip
- 150 rounds per pod
- Spring-loaded lid
- Impact-resistant
- Fits any universal harness
Cons:
- Some customers have reported receiving 5 pods instead of 6
RUNNER UP
These paintball pods have seen tremendous popularity with customers, having earned an average Amazon customer rating of an impressive 5 stars out of 5 at the time this article was written.
It has an average ammo capacity, with 140 rounds in each pod. They have a durable spring-loaded lid, which will flip open right when you need, and keep all the paintballs secure in place the rest of the time. You don’t risk losing paintballs accidentally and voiding their contents.
They’re made of durable, heavy-duty plastic and won’t get crushed in the heat of the battle.
These pods are designed to fit all universal size harnesses.
The drawback to these is that you only get a pack of 3, not like the more usual pack of 6. Plus the pack of three only costs a little bit less than a pack of six would normally cost.
There are two colors to choose from smoke and clear. We would recommend going with the smoke over the clear color, as it helps to see if members of the enemy team have in fact been shot.
Pros:
- Spring-loaded lids
- Excellent customer feedback
- Made of heavy-duty plastic
- Fits any universal harness
Cons:
- Expensive
RUNNER UP
If you’re looking for the best possible price for a pack of 6 paintball pods, you won’t get a much more affordable price than this - especially if you manage to catch one of Amazon’s deals.
It has an average ammo capacity, coming in at 140 rounds per pod, so you’d have to fire a whopping 140 rounds before you’ll need to reload a new paintball pod into your gun’s hopper.
It has a reliable flip-top lid, that will open when you really need it and will keep the paintballs securely in place the remainder of the time, so you won’t end up losing the pod’s paintballs and voiding the contents.
These pods are made in the USA, and will it snugly in any standard or universal size harness.
Only the blue option is visible on the Amazon product page, but there are other colors you can get elsewhere on the website.
Pros:
- Excellent price
- Reliable lid
- Made in the USA
- Fits any universal harness
Cons:
- Few colors to choose from
RUNNER UP
This pack of paintball pods comes as a pack of 4, and with an ammo capacity of 140 rounds per pod, you get a whopping 560 rounds for a very good and reasonable price.
They all have a tight and reliable flip-top lid. And the lid has a wide hinge, from which it gets its strength.
It will open easily when you need quick access to your ammo and have lined up your shot. But it won’t come open accidentally at all.
The individual paintballs will remain securely in place, and you don’t have to worry about losing the contents accidentally, and voiding them.
If you follow the link to the Amazon page, it will bring up the clear colored paintball pods, however, if that doesn’t work for you, there are other colors available from this brand elsewhere on Amazon.
They’re of a standard, universal size, able to fit into any standard, universal harness.
Pros:
- Good price
- Tight-fitting flip-top lid
- Wide hinged lid
- Fits any universal harness
Cons:
- Comes as a pack of 4, not the usual pack of 6
Best Paintball Pods Buying Guide
As promised, here’s your paintball pod buying guide!
All About Paintball Pods
Paintball pods are basically sturdy plastic tubes with a spring-loaded lid. You can carry them around in a harness on your person. There is usually about 140 rounds worth of paintballs in each pod.
You can load the pod one-handed into your gun’s hopper, and keep your other hand ready on the trigger to take those all-important shots.
What To Look For in a Paintball Pod
Number of Rounds in Each Pod
The more rounds you have in each paintball pod, the less frequently you have to reload, and this can make all the difference when you find yourself face to face with a member of the enemy team. This is also referred to as ammo capacity.
About 140 rounds in each pod should be about enough for you’re average, but you can get some with a higher carrying capacity for meatier bursts of firing.
Easy Access
When it comes to reloading your paintball gun, you might find yourself in an open position, spotted by the enemy team. In which case the faster you can reload your gun the better. And one of the main things that can influence how quickly you can reload is how easy your ammo is to access.
This means your paintball pods should have an easy opening, but without allowing any accidental opening and voiding the contents. The more effective the lid in this respect, the better quality the paintball pod and the more reliable it is during the game.
This is why spring-loaded lids are a favorite option with many paintballers.
Impact Resistance
For more fierce paintball competitors who are ready to get down and dirty, the paintball pods need to be robust. They need to be able to take a knock or a scrape without any risk of spilling its contents.
You can’t really play at full belt if you have to treat your paintball pods like a selection of eggs that could crack at the slightest bump.
And on that note, it’s worth noting at this point that you should also consider the quality of the harness that you’re using to carry around the paintball pods.
I was around 12 the first time I shot a paintball.HOLY COW that was eye-opening... oh yeah, I couldn't believe how much the sting of getting hit was.I remember to this day the adrenaline rush after getting plucked off by some guy probably 20 years older than me.
Please join in and share your experience with the different gear reviews on the site.Drop a comment, I would love to hear from you!
- 6 Best Paintball Markers - January 21, 2021
- 8 Best Tactical Backpacks - January 21, 2021
- 6 Best Military Paintball Guns - January 21, 2021