What do you want to see in Tactical Gear?

[Darius137]

I've been working with two other individuals in starting up a small gear making company. We're focusing on chest rigs and pouches for now, and will eventually move into light Ghillie wraps/tops, headgear, packs (detachable from gear) and sub loads. We've got financing and working prototypes as well as designs right now for 5 chest rig variants and 12 pouches. Working on more, as well.

My question to everyone is, what do you like about gear?

1.) What gear stands out as really effective. Any particular pieces or brands?

2.) What would you like to see done with gear that you wish companies would do.

3.) What would you pay for this gear? For chest rigs, plate carriers, or pouches?

4.) What colors of camouflage/solid colors would you buy your gear in?

5.) What is the standard load of gear you use for airsoft, and if a chest rig was made speficially for an airsofter's loadout, what pouches would you need to hold what gear, in a perfect world?

6.) Anything else you'd like to add.

[phiz]

http://www.tacticalconcealment.com/pd-viper-hood.cfm - $80

[icebullet]

My question to everyone is, what do you like about gear?

1.) What gear stands out as really effective. Any particular pieces or brands?
Personally, Eagle and Pantac stuff is the only thing I buy. I prefer the quality of Eagle, and the warranty that Pantac holds.
2.) What would you like to see done with gear that you wish companies would do.
Actually have a reliable website where I can order all colors and anything I need.

3.) What would you pay for this gear? For chest rigs, plate carriers, or pouches?
It would all depend on where it's made, and what kind of quality is put into it.
4.) What colors of camouflage/solid colors would you buy your gear in?
Multicam, Khaki, and Urban Grey/Black

5.) What is the standard load of gear you use for airsoft, and if a chest rig was made speficially for an airsofter's loadout, what pouches would you need to hold what gear, in a perfect world?
I would suggest a low-cap, mid-cap, and high-cap versions. As most games have a maximum of 3 high caps on their person, and a unlimited amount of mids. I carry about six mid-caps on my PC at all times. 7.62 pouches would also be great for those running M14's, and SR pattern rifles. Also, integrated Hydro, and a place to store all the other shit a airsoft player needs. (e.g. loader, map, grenades, etc.)

6.) Anything else you'd like to add.
I hope the best, and hopefully you could market this to bigger retailers around the country, such as AirsoftGI and Evike.

[VogonFord]

I have a minor one, in that I want an actually usable ALICE shotgun shell pouch. The USGI one sucks.

[Ivan Daylovich™]

If you could make an OD Canteen pouch for an Alice belt that wouldn't bounce all over the place I'd be all over that shit.

[Darius137]

My question to everyone is, what do you like about gear?

1.) What gear stands out as really effective. Any particular pieces or brands?
Personally, Eagle and Pantac stuff is the only thing I buy. I prefer the quality of Eagle, and the warranty that Pantac holds.

Good warranty. Check.

2.) What would you like to see done with gear that you wish companies would do.
Actually have a reliable website where I can order all colors and anything I need.

The website will have a slick interactive dummy to see the gear as you create it on our page.
3.) What would you pay for this gear? For chest rigs, plate carriers, or pouches?
It would all depend on where it's made, and what kind of quality is put into it.
4.) What colors of camouflage/solid colors would you buy your gear in?
Multicam, Khaki, and Urban Grey/Black

Urban Grey/Black? You mean "Urban Digital" or the Arc'Teryx style Grey or straight black (two options)?

Right now we've got Multicam, MJK and Black as options. The closest we've got to Urban Grey is Ranger Grey.
5.) What is the standard load of gear you use for airsoft, and if a chest rig was made speficially for an airsofter's loadout, what pouches would you need to hold what gear, in a perfect world?
I would suggest a low-cap, mid-cap, and high-cap versions. As most games have a maximum of 3 high caps on their person, and a unlimited amount of mids. I carry about six mid-caps on my PC at all times. 7.62 pouches would also be great for those running M14's, and SR pattern rifles. Also, integrated Hydro, and a place to store all the other shit a airsoft player needs. (e.g. loader, map, grenades, etc.)

We have 7.62/5.56 options in pouches, and settings to carry between 0-7 integrated shingles not including attached pouches.
6.) Anything else you'd like to add.
I hope the best, and hopefully you could market this to bigger retailers around the country, such as AirsoftGI and Evike.

Wholesale options are not really being considered, though if we get large enough or we find a reasonable price that we can wholesale it at, it's a possiblity.

http://www.tacticalconcealment.com/pd-viper-hood.cfm - $80

I've got a slightly lighter and smaller Ghillie 2-piece design. Do you like the longer cape-like ones? I always felt that a hood connected to the rest of it limited vision, hearing and mobility, and the larger cape also limited mobility as well as agility when dealing with closer ranges at a non-sniper (ie: airsoft) pace of doing things.

I have a minor one, in that I want an actually usable ALICE shotgun shell pouch. The USGI one sucks.

For a custom pouch like that, you should talk to Clayton at Shaddoxtactical.com

He will do whatever you want, and his stuff is pretty good. I've been using him for one of the prototypes, because he'll actually sit down with me and draw out schematics, and fix minor tweaks as I wear and test the gear.

[Darius137]

If you could make an OD Canteen pouch for an Alice belt that wouldn't bounce all over the place I'd be all over that shit.

The issue with ALICE is that it can slide left to right unless the belt is completely filled with other pouches.

A way to stop the bounce is to use 550 cord and connect the back-top of the canteen pouch with 550 to the base of the H-Harness in the back.

[Payback]

make stuff that fits fat guys better. We're airsofters, not all of us have that small waist line anymore. Finding a good fitting adjustable PC is a little more difficult. I also prefer ones that cover my belly down to my belt.


Also possible a good side arm solution for a PC, or a belt attachment for a holster that isn't a leg holster.


Flash bang (thunder b) pouches. The double m4 mag pouches work, and the flashbang pouches are too small. Something that fits them well in a single and double configuration would be great.

Maybe also a good pouch to hold your extra bags of bb's. Right now i carry a large admin pouch on the side of my PC, it can hold 6 extra bags, but it's a phony pony to close up after i open it. My arm doesn't quite move that far back, and some of them you can't one hand close the zipper. I'm sure there are pouches that work, but you asked for airsoft specific stuff.


Price wise, i would pay condor prices or lower. I think they have fair prices. Like $60 to $120 for plate carriers with no pouches, $5 to $15 for pouches.

OD or woodland would be my preference because of our area. MC if it's not priced too high. Or PENCOTT FTW!!!

[icebullet]

The Arc'Teryx Style of grey. Black would also be killer too, it looks pretty good with Multicam. It's a nice contrast.

The interactive slick is pretty cool.

[Snowman]

1.) What gear stands out as really effective. Any particular pieces or brands?

Eagle stuff is excellent, even though nowadays it's made in the DomRep. It's durable, cheapish, effective, and comfortable. You can get it in MJK/khaki for cheapsies on Ebay, and it's pretty darn common online. It is one of the most popular brands out there, so it's often either out of stock at retailers, or it goes for out-the-ass prices on Ebay if it's not khaki.

Tactical Tailor is good stuff, definitely quality construction. It's durable, although some of it isn't that ergonomic or comfortable. The MAVs are good chestrigs, although they feel like they're more utility-oriented, rather than combat-oriented. TT's mag pouches are also pretty good. Only downside with those are the MALICE clips.

SOTech gear is heavy and durable.

LBT is also really good stuff. I've never owned an LBT plate carrier, but I had the privilege to borrow one for a game, and I loved it. Definitely on par with Eagle comfort and functionality, a bit lighter and better distributed because of the pads, and the inserted M4 pouches were nice. As well, I do own a 0612F, which is my personal favorite riggers belt over the SpecOps, BDS, and BHI belts because of it's literal flexibility (it's two layers of 330D nylon).

Crye Precision is my favorite clothing company for uniforms and fatigues. I've got a set of their Combats as well as a Field shirt, and I love them to death for their comfort. In my opinion, it is absolutely worth spending the money to at least get the pants and pads, which were lifesavers after Propper and TRUSpec. I also owned a JPC, which while is was one size too small for me, was an incredible piece of kit. It was extremely lightweight and breathable, but it was a Small, and I wear a Medium, so I decided to sell it.

2.) What would you like to see done with gear that you wish companies would do?

Keep up the stitching and comfort levels. Competition is good for prices. :v

3.) What would you pay for this gear? For chest rigs, plate carriers, or pouches?

It depends on the brand. I'd be perfectly willing to shell out $700 for a Crye CPC, or $100 for a DBT FAPC. For a general large plate carrier, I'd go no more than $400, and the price decreases as the coverage decreases.

With pouches, up to $80 for larger utility pouches, $50 for smaller to medium pouches.

Packs I don't really use often, sooo, nothing.

4.) What colors of camouflage/solid colors would you buy your gear in?

Ranger green, khaki, Multicam.

5.) What is the standard load of gear you use for airsoft, and if a chest rig was made speficially for an airsofter's loadout, what pouches would you need to hold what gear, in a perfect world?

Mag pouches for 6 M4 mags, radio, hydration (MAP pack), couple of utility pouches, weapon's catch, couple frags, and admin pouch of some sort.

LBT got it right with their 1961 line. Enough for 6 mags, couple utilities, couple frags, radio, holster.

6.) Anything else you'd like to add.

Make sure it's lightweight, but durable. LBT and TT have started going to 330D and 500D gear as opposed to 1000D, because it's lighter, but still durable. For airsoft, you don't need 1000D because you're not deploying outside the wire every day, but it still works perfectly even then.

[Junto]

1.) What gear stands out as really effective. Any particular pieces or brands?

I'm very happy with everything I have from HSGI, even if I cover it in condor pouches. It all rides well and never gets uncomfortable, pretty much regardless of the weather. Their Taco mag pouch looks interesting to me because of the variety in mag sizes I have for all of my primaries, but I haven't gotten my hands on any yet.

2.) What would you like to see done with gear that you wish companies would do.

Better designs for command, radio, and mag pouches. As far as mag pouches go I want something I can put G3 mags in one weekend, and then STANAG and AUG mags on others. I'm tired of trading back and forth. All I want in a radio pouch is for it to be relatively small and easy for me to fish my radio out of... even if it's on my back. I hate needing other people to get my radio out for me and I won't put it on my front side because any time I go prone it'll hit the damn call button.

As far as command pouches go, the little flat ones that hold 1 pistol mag and just about nothing else are stupid and way bigger than they need to be. I've been using one of the condor fold-out map pouches with the front velcro flaps and pen slots for a while and I feel that it's a bit bulkier than it needs to be. I'm sure there'd be a happy medium between the two. A spot for a pen or two, a small, clear, wet-erase-friendly map holder, and a general area for a speed loader and a lighter or something is all I need.

3.) What would you pay for this gear? For chest rigs, plate carriers, or pouches?

I'm pretty well set on chest rigs and plate carriers, but I'd be willing to shell out between 20-30 for good multi-mag pouches and things of that approximate size, and more for things like command pouches, butt-pack-style pouches, and dump pouches (Still haven't found an idea one yet and anything on a drop-leg is right out.)

4.) What colors of camouflage/solid colors would you buy your gear in?

I'm an OD, Coyote Brown, and whatever that more lush color of green the weesatch comes in fan. I won't buy patterned pouches because nothing comes in Tiger stripe and I won't wear, for example, multicam pouches over MARPAT or something like that.

5.) What is the standard load of gear you use for airsoft, and if a chest rig was made speficially for an airsofter's loadout, what pouches would you need to hold what gear, in a perfect world?

I usually use my battle belt with an H-harness. I have some mag pouches on my left, pistol mag pouches on the back of my left hip, a dump pouch over my left a$$ cheek, my nalgene bottle pouch in the middle, then gear pouches/my holster/my knife sheath on the right side. It's fairly decent for skirmishes and the like, but it limits ease of access on some things that are easier to get to if I'm using my plate carrier.

An ideal piece of gear might be something like a MOLLE-lined belt with an h-harness and something on the chest that doesn't take up a lot of space, just for the smaller items and some extra mags. I think adding something similar to the Tactical Tailor MAV to the belt and harness loadout would free up some belt space and make things easier to get at.

[Orwell]

Colors, sizes, methods of acquisition, etc. aren't my thing. I just want one thing, more than all others: more versatile tall pouches. There are often places for pens in a uniform, and there are great drop pouches, but as a diabetic and a friendly guy I carry a test tube (read: unexpanded 2 litre bottle,) full of pills and a candy bar for low blood sugars, and currently I put them in pistol mag pouches. I see a lot of versatility for that general size of compartment, but they're rarely available. I'm sure you can think of some improvements. Hard lining, perhaps?

[Junto]

A few hard-lined pouches for cigarettes, diabetes supplies, and other crushable items would be really neat. That's a solid idea.

I know they make full plastic pouches for glasses, smartphones, etc., but it wouldn't even have to be that sturdy. Kydex sheets or some other durable plastic could be sewn right into the pouch for support. Used to have an ALICE box mag pouch with hard sides. Loved that thing.

[Darius137]

Awesome ideas! Thanks do far. I've gOt a lot of the plans doing some of these things, and I'll see about getting the rest set up.

[newboots]

i like the shotgun sabored but for assalt rifles, i saw one once and thought it was an awsome idea. and as for colors i like black or OD