Spiritus Systems Thing 2

The good ol’ Spiritus Systems Thing 2, which was released almost 5 years ago now, so we can look at it with the gift of hindsight.

I have only used mine very briefly, but personally had no major complaints. That said, is the 3 a significant step up from this? Yes I would say so; both can be true.

There were a whole raft of expanders for placards released in the late 2010s which added 2-4 PALS rows either side of your mags, and I myself think that type of setup is fantastic if you only need a pretty minimal amount of equipment. Essentially all of those products were only comprised of cordura however, which may not provide enough rigidity once you add big chungus comms/more mags/link/munitions on to those side panels. Thing 2 addressed that main concern, but I would maybe say it was a ‘first stab’ at fixing the issue, and the changes made for version 3 have since refined the basic concept. Again those considerations won’t matter for everyone as I’d wager a lot of people using a placard with expander are either trying to stay fairly low profile or they’re just practicing or otherwise participating in a hobby.

The raw plastic construction here is a little more basic and not as optimal in certain respects if any of the PALS space isn’t covered by pouches. As always with a built-in pouch, these integrated radio pouches shave a sliver of weight and don’t require additional purchases.. as long as they fit what you have. Always swings and roundabouts. Ultimately to have even a glimmer of a hope of satisfying everyone you have to go fully modular.

On the version 3, the centre portion can mount pouches as well as placards, there’s an extra side PALS column plus double side pouch mounting and lessened visual signature. My actual favourite feature is the very narrow row of PALS slits at the base of the sides, because you always somehow end up with a pouch that won’t attach properly when the grid is either shorter than 5″ or doesn’t include slots on every row. Thing 2 however was super light for what it offered and a pretty good value if it fit your requirements.