Given how quickly the gear world changes, this thing is borderline old school compared to the current crop of similarly sized PALS chest rigs. At least 8 years old by now. It’s designed more to be a placard itself on the front of your PC, rather than play host to a common micro rig (which is how I’ve modified mine, post these photos being taken). The fabric is a laminate of cordura with something like polyurethane, rather than the 2 layers or cordura that has been the standard for a while now.
There’s quite a lot going on here, but the stiffer fabric and very large harness (super comfy) would make an ideal carrier of a good amount of weight – the lower harness straps being elastic does give me pause there though. Having elastic built in to the back strap is welcome however.
Having the angles on the side panels causes you to lose a row of PALS at the sides so some pouches will sit perhaps lower than you would like. The older style square cuts for PALS *can* be a problem if you have an oddly sized pouch as well, but then can also save a few grams.
A lot of the big names in the US don’t actually offer a rig like this anymore i.e. one that comes with everything but the PALS pouches. I’ll get a Thing 3 soon which will be an interesting comparison to this.
Many of the reputable alternatives are either fixed types or hosts for modern placards, so if you do just want a PALS grid and you want US quality and are happy to pay the price, this remains an option that certainly has it’s advantages.
Leave a Reply