This kit is under a pretty heavy reconstruction. It's been ages since I updated the thread, just due to a lack of funding. When I updated my signature links I thought about leaving this one out, but didn't want to have to hunt for the thread when I do get around to an update, it's there for my own lazyness.
When I started with this kit I wanted a vest that could replace and/or stand alone from a backpack. It was a total mall ninja thought process, forgive me. The new plan, is somewhat less mall ninja.
All of the responses in the past 24 hours have been right in line with my thoughts of the past few months with this kit, so I will explain thus;
Tribunal Power wrote:Somebody drives a Chrysler, maybe a Concorde.
Looking good here, but looks like quite a burden, considering it's just a vest. Personally, excluding mall ninja hard-ons (which is totally okay, btw), I don't see a purpose for vests; all they really seem to do is interfere with a pack. Plus most of the stuff crammed into vests are generally already in the pack anyways.
Still, I gotta give tac vests serious cool points.
It does look burdensome, but when it was fully loaded as pictured above, it was well distributed weight, as a good vest should do. Vests do have a very limited niche market, but now that funding is starting to turn around with more fun money, I can justify it purely for the raging ninja hard on.
And yes, it's a Chrysler, POS. I walk to work now, I'm hoping after the winter I can pick up a newer Ranger or Dakota, we'll cross that bridge when it comes though.
XboxStarfish wrote:Would you really walk around in that black ninja vest? Just get a backpack and some pants with pockets.
The plan
was to walk around in it, I believe in one of the first posts I wanted a kit I could swap out pouches on, and use for camping and bug out. I lived in a very rural area, I could bug out if needed without being seen, and I wasn't concerned about being noticed while hiking in it, if anything people noticing you while hiking would be a benefit in the event you needed to be found.
In reality, the only reason I would wear this kit out the door, is a total PAW, either the way it is now, or the way it will be when I've updated it. That doesn't mean I won't be bringing it with me in a bug out.
Oh, and I already have a backpack, and pants with pockets, but thanks for the tip.
Hachiman wrote:I also considered going to a vest set up for my base gear but reconsidered due to heat build up and my tendency of overloading everything I own. This being said, if you are also using a pack, possibly a MOLLE sustainment pouch will attach over your bladder bag on the vest. With this, if you needed to ditch your pack you could take some stuff from it and load into the sustainment pouch but wouldn't have to reconfigure your set-up like you would with attaching or detaching a buttpack. You could weave a little shock cord through the PALS webbing to snug the sust pouch down and keep it from flopping about.
I ended up deciding on using a chest rig and lightweight belt in conjunction with a lightweight pack. The chest rig "balances" my pack out nicely and my belt is going to carry the bare bones minimum. I just starting working on my reconfiguration and should have a thread up in a few weeks.
This is what the vest will become. Heat buildup hasn't been an issue for me, even though this vest doesn't breath as well as others, the back breathes better than most packs on their own. Overloading is something to be aware of. In the original post, I had way too much on this kit. It was covering too many bases, while, as I said above, vests are a very niche market.
If you read through my grey man thread (see signature), you'll see what is my real BOB, it's been pretty thoroughly overhauled in the past few weeks though, between the MBO and short distance uses, as well as little things I've picked up around town. I'm hoping to do a full update of gear in that kit this weekend, I've got a new pack coming from the UPS Monster on Thursday.
The new pack is a Tactical Tailor Removable Operator Pack. It's slightly bigger than the current grey bag I'm using now, with the added advantage of not being grey . I ordered it in black, so it shouldn't be overly noticeable in an urban environment. I can then set up the vest in a way that I can attach the pack, almost like an over sized molle pouch. If finances stay the way they are, my next kit will be an INCH bag, which I will make sure is also is capable of carrying the TT-ROP.
I look forward to your kit Hachiman, can I expect you to post it in your own thread, or will it tie into Sigboy/GD4's warbelt thread?
(Summary, update to come
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