For my friends running modern battle belts you probably have done the exact same thing I have. You got a new belt, you loaded it up, wore it for 5 minutes and you said to yourself, "this isn't what I expected".
What I've experienced is something like this. I got my belt on at the range and then realized the weight was too much for it and my pants were starting to slowly and annoyingly sag. Even with the modern belts being two piece design. Where the inner belt is velcro and the outer belt is the belt your gear attaches to. It still somehow does not work optimally.
I have reduced it down to being afflicted with "Hank Hill butt" and unfortunately unless I get cash for a sketchy Brazilian butt lift I am stuck trying to find a better solution.
Enter the Eagle Industries low profile battle belt suspenders.
This project was able to be done with the help of One Thief Surplus. On a facebook post they had posted something about harnesses so I commented if they could help me with a sagging modern battle belt. Quickly to my surprise they private messaged me and he came up with this design I am testing out.
Just for clarification. I paid for my harness but the owner was cool enough to send me the attachments free of charge to test out and to give my honest opinions on. And for that I am super grateful.
What do I need to try this out?
You need your belt you would like to attach this to. Mine is a Ronin Senshi belt for this example. And then all you need is an Eagle Industries H harness, and 4 pigtail adapters.
The suspenders on their own are made to mate with other gear but it can be used for a bunch of different things if you have an imagination and willing to try something new out. The pigtail adapters are actually from bag repair accessory kits. Each normally have 2 but for this project you would need to procure 4 total. This is because the harness on its own only has male clips and you need 4 female clips to connect them up.
Setting it up was fairly straight forward. My belt had to be totally disassembled to accommodate and place where the pigtail adapters would fit. After doing a mock up test fit it was apparent that it was going to be a big change up.
Immediately the two piece belt was very easy to take on and off. Where as I have fumbled around in the past trying to get it on and off and lined up properly with the inner velcro belt. With the harness set it lands right where it needs to and all you have to do is clip the main buckle and go.
Some speed tape later and shifting my gear around a bit, I had to also make some room on my belt. Because of where the pigtails had to go the real estate had to be open for them. As in you cannot run the pigtails through the molle on your belt. They simply run over your outer belt. I had to omit an AR mag pouch and also had to drop the fixed blade knife off from the original pre-harness set up. Which was fine because I didn't plan on getting in a knife fight anyways. This freed up the space I needed to run this. Take that into consideration as your belt may need some shifting and changing.
Currently now I keep 2 pistol mags, dump pouch, IFAK and my pistol. No frills.
In the little time I was able to wear it the harness and belt was pretty comfortable and easy to adjust on the go. I felt more confident in the new set up to hold the weight of the gear I decided to don.
What are the pros and cons of running this set up?
Pros
Low profile. Harness can be worn under plate carriers, chest rigs or other gear.
Better support and fitment.
Flame retardant.
Quick on/off after set up.
Battle tested and trustworthy manufacturing.
On the cheaper side for the harness.
Cons
Set up a bit of an initial hassle.
May require more time to fit and set up over other battle belts.
Optimal fitment may require permanent modification to pigtail adapters.
Not cost effective to purchase multiple bag repair kits with adapters.
Pigtail loops are a bit odd. Infinity loop type deals. Not simple loops.
But that is why this is a prototype. I have a handful of ways I think that modifications could make this type of set up a long term rig to run. The fact it can be ran low profile is super nice for those of us who may want to train in different environments with adverse conditions. I can see under duress this harness rig set should work awesome. Before I would not feel comfortable running around with the Ronin belt on its own. Now I feel like it would work no problem. But It will require longer term testing to determine if this is the case.
While we haven't seen many rigs like this yet for modern 2 piece belt sets, maybe we will in the future. Its unconventional right now but with how gear has to be worn, for my personal taste this makes sense. Only time will tell if this will start to be a thing. As far as I know I have yet to see a similar set up like this available.
Sometimes, utilizing parts and pieces you already have to make a battle system work is part of the game. This is especially true for military surplus gear. Like our troops will do, sometimes its about making something from little or nothing. Being inventive and creative has huge benefits in the world of gear. Especially when comfort is involved.
Over time I will report back my findings and maybe show some of the modifications I make to the set up if there is an interest in such a thing.
Big thanks again to One Thief Surplus for the idea and hooking it up with the pigtail adapters and the idea for this prototype. Check out their website and add them on facebook and youtube if you would like to snag the parts to make this, watch some videos, or to just get some surplus gear in your grubby hands.
Go train.
One Thief Website
On Facebook
Check out their YouTube
No comments:
Post a Comment