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"James" Jumpable Plate Carrier

 

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I ordered the clone Crye JPC after reading up a little bit on the real one and deciding that I want to try the vest out to see if I like the feel before I commit to a real one. I've been using a large Condor plate carrier (similar in size, shape, and function to an Eagle PC) and a Flyye 6094 for the last 4 or 5 years and decided I wanted to try something lighter. The total with shipping came out to $111.80.

 

Here's the information on the JPC from Crye's website:

The Jumpable Plate Carrier™ (JPC) is a lightweight and minimal vest designed for maximum mobility, weight savings, and packability. At just over one pound for the entire carrier, the JPC™ offers a variety of configuration options to suit an operator’s needs in terms of load carriage and comfort. It features our revolutionary new AirLite™ cummerbund system with our patent-pending integrated attachment system that allows pouches to be mounted on both the inside and outside of the cummerbund, shedding unnecessary weight and bulk while improving ventilation. It also features integrated admin and magazine pouches on the front of the carrier.

 

While Crye offers multiple sizes, this one seems to only come in one size, which is fine by me. I ordered the Coyote Brown version since I my team wears UCP and CB looks better with more camouflage patterns. The stitching is quite nice, although I noticed that the stitches continue through the MOLLE webbing all the way down the vest. I don't have a problem with this, but it's not what I'm used to. Also, some of the loops on the back plate are bowed out a little bit, which may be a quality control issue, but it doesn't really bother me. Altogether I am quite impressed with the quality of this replica.

 

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The JPC came in a very large mailing envelope with the vest inside a plastic bag, sandwiched between the fake plates. The package arrived here in California from ShooterCBGear in 9 days, which isn't bad. I bought from this retailer because they include two medium size fake SAPI plates, which fit nicely in the vest. The Coyote Brown seems a little bit darker than my other gear. It's about the same shade as the Coyote used by ATS Tactical, but darker than others. Honestly, I don't care about this at all.

 

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The plates slide up into the front and back pockets and are secured by velcro. According to the review of the real deal on Military Morons, this is replicated faithfully.

 

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The medium sized plates fit in quite nicely, with just a little bit of velcro hanging out, although I'm sure I could clean this up if I tried hard enough.

 

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The inside of the plate pocket (or "bag" as MM refers to it) has cordura running down the middle, but the top is a soft mesh and the sides are a soft, thin, neoprene-like material. These features seem to be for ventilation and it looks and feels quite comfortable, although I question the durability of these materials. Time will tell.

 

Crye's Airlite cummerbund is really the distinguishing feature of the JPC and even on the clone version, it is way cool. It is made up of rows of PALS webbing with a semirigid piece of material running through the middle (similar to what's in the StKSS system?). This saves weight and also allows you to place pouches on both the inside and outside of the cummerbund. Neat! The cummerbund attaches to velcro in the front of the carrier, like with most other vests on the market, and the girth is adjusted by weaving shock cord in the back through the layers of webbing. I'm a pretty skinny guy, so mine overlaps quite a bit, but it is very adjustable. It seems like "one size fits all" may apply to this. The sides of the plate holders also have 1" common loops (in front) and a ladder lock buckle (in back) both to allow attachments like side plate pouches and to allow an operator to remove the cummerbund and just run a single strap on the sides of the vest. The shoulder straps are made of pretty thick Cordura (MM calls the material on the real one "die-cut Hypalon") and seem to have some of the stiffening material inside. Each is covered with a thin neoprene sleeve with a few loops for hydration hoses and comm wires. The straps are very adjustable and low profile. The only issue I have with them is that they're set kind of far apart, so they sit almost on top of my shoulders, instead of between the neck and shoulder.

 

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The front flap of the plate carrier acts as a low profile magazine pouch. it is held closed by velcro and lies almost completely flat when not filled. In the picture I have a KWA high cap, a Magpul PTS M-Version Pmag, and a G&P mid cap in there. All fit well. I even managed to squeeze some AK-47 magazines in there, although they were crammed together pretty tight. The pouch is very open and the magazines are separated by elastic. I plan to do Frogfish's KYWI mod to those pouches, as the elastic and the velcro on the inside top are functional (I understand why they're there) but they kind of annoy me.

 

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On the top of the front plate is an internal admin pouch that can hold pistol magazines. It "swings" out pretty far and can hold quite a lot of stuff, but I don't know if I'll use it for much more than a few pistol mags as I don't like how it makes the vest bulge out right under my chin. For those few mags, however, it will be quite nice. I know there were rumors that this feature was not included on the clone JPC. Rejoice!

 

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Left to right- KWA Glock magazine, KWA 1911 magazine, Tokyo Marui 5-7 magazine. Pretty much any pistol mags will fit, separated by elastic as in the front mag pouch.

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Here are a few size comparisons with my big Condor PC, which is similar to a 6094 and Eagle PC. I'm about 6'1", 150 pounds:

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It's easily 1/8th the weight of the big PC with all of the pouches mounted, which is a real breath of fresh air. Size and feel-wise, I'd call it a lighter, more useful DBT FAPC.

 

In closing, I am quite impressed with this clone JPC. The quality is top-notch, being Flyye-level or better throughout the whole rig, and Crye's concept is solid. I plan to mount a TYR hydration pouch on the back, BFG 10-speed shingles either inside the cummerbund or on the front flap, and Eagle 40mm pouches on either the front flap or the outside of the cummerbund. I'm sold on the JPC and I'll probably run this for this summer then invest in the Crye. My only regret is that I may have been able to just buy the Crye one for $150 more, but that will come in time.

 

Here are my few complaints:

-shoulder straps are too wide-set

-velcro in the front pouch is annoying

-cummerbund doesn't quite tighten around my waist enough to hold any weight. This could be because I'm thin, but the vest is light enough that unloaded most of the weight is supported simply by the friction of the plate pockets against my back and chest.

 

Overall a solid buy! I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking at the JPC and is on a bit of a budget.

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I used this at a small local game today and enjoyed it thoroughly. Very light and comfortable and didn't impede my motion at all. Unfortunately my M4's hop bucking tore so I had to use my SCAR-H. I managed to shove two .308 mags into the two outer pouches in the front flap and then I stuck some .308 shingles on the front. It all worked fine, just as effective as if I'd been using an M4.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did notice the two side slots on the CPC are also slightly larger, so I hope I can squeeze some SCAR H mags in there at some point when I get the funds organized. I had thought of just sniping the elastic bands and molding my own SCAR H KyWIs.

 

Just one note from your review, the STKSS are in no way flexible, they are carbon fiber rods with a webbing cover, the real JPC seems like it has a plastic internal construction, much like the CPCs inner cummerbund.

Edited by frogfish
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  • 3 months later...

Some not so amazing pictures of my copy JPC in CB.

 

I have a 24hr milsim game this weekend, so will report back on how it coped after that.

 

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So far I like it, it's an interesting design so I'll see what it's like to play in. Quality wise it's pretty decent, sure it will hold up to most skirmishing requirements...the one downside is that there is a manufactuing error on mine - on the left cummberbund the velcro which should be on the inside (to reduce movement and to help attach the aftermarket plate pouches) is on the outside. This can be seen on the above pictures. Everything else is put together correctly and this error is hidden once pouches are on.

 

How I'm I've set it up for the coming weekend:

 

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Mega, this would be the ideal PC for someone as lilliputian as yourself. You can make the cummerbund smaller by rethreading the shock cord on the back, and then just cinch it down with the velcro up front. I have a 31" waist, and have no trouble. I'm sure it could fit somebody like you with a few minutes of adjustment.

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Well, if this thing can hold up the load of pouches Appslapp is sticking on it, then I'd say it's a success. I've got a Crye one coming in this week so when I get home from school in December I'll do a write-up comparing it to my cloner.

 

Scuffer:

24h game with no hydration?

 

Here's what mine looks like with pouches. Please ignore the funny-looking 40mm pouch setup. I've stopped bothering with grenade launchers.

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Edited by validtumoralarm
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The clone JPC from James is better than Condor, about equivalent to Flyye, and nowhere near as good as Crye.

 

As promised, here are the differences I've noticed.

 

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-Obviously, I got mine in MC, rather than CB like my cloner.

-For some reason the MOLLE webbing on mine was sewn on upside-down, so all of the "Multicam" marks are upside down. Not actually a problem, but I don't see why they couldn't have done this the right way....

 

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-stitching is just a little bit funky in some places. The velcro inside the plate pouches is sewn down the middle instead of around the edges, which strikes me as a little weird, but I'm not worried about it coming off. At least all of the edges of everything don't fray like with the clone one.

 

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-Emerson or James or whatever REALLY messed up on the shoulder straps. The strap is made of Hypalon, which is a tacky, rubbery material. Feels really cool. The clone JPC just has double-layered cordura.

 

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-the stretchy sleeves and velcro loops on the shoulder strap are MUCH better on the Crye vest. The sleeve is thicker and stays in place much better and the velcro loop things are a lot more durable.

 

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-The mesh at the top of the plate pouch has bigger holes and feels a lot beefier.

-The openings at the bottom have pull-tabs. The clone is missing this.

-The neoprene-esque material on the sides of the plate pouch is thicker and not as stretchy.

-the Airlite cummerbund is a little bit more rigid. Not a whole lot, but noticeably so.

 

I'm very glad I purchased my Crye JPC and I'm very thankful for the James copy for warming me up to the concept.

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