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2012 - The year your kit went on a diet


TheFull9

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I can understand that the military service of whatever country will always demand the best. Yet from an environmental point of view, this is pure waste, and from a financial point of view is puts more pressure on the taxpayers.

Now, don't go flaming on me, I DO realise life depends on these investments, but a year seems so extremely short!

 

Out of curiosity, what's happening with the 'old' equipment? Don't tell me it gets destroyed! :(

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Lone bullet, despite what you think the military demands the best and pays for the cheapest.

 

And yes all the nice kit issued to guys who get it taken away gets destroyed and this is everything from pouches to optics, some makes it to surplus auctions.

 

Ck the plate frame is already in use according to S&S, and while it has some proprietary pouches it is supposed to accept molle in "most" traditional locations. It wouldn't surprise me if first Spear's stuff is in use as well. Do remember most of S&S stuff i based on items made under contract.

 

As for Crye's airlite I'll hold off final opinions until some officially clarifies the material it's made out of, if it's the stuff used for the JPC shoulder straps it's destined for failure.

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Aren't a lot of the new lightweight items using the same laser cut material as the JPC? Certainly looks and feels the same.

 

I have a few 500d things but continue to opt for 1000D when its an option. As an airsofter I don't need to shave ounces from my rig.

 

Plate frame actually looks pretty cool though.

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The pricing makes lots of sense if you're hoping for a jackpot government order.

 

FYI the cost for selling this gear isn't to make a killing off of the buyers or contracts its a mix between the cost of production, R&D, and the cost of doing business. I can tell you from personal experience from the civilian and defense soft-sided manufacturing business that production is NOT cheap. Easily a quater to a third of the MSRP the cost of production. The remaining cost is split between distributor costs, contractual agreements, shipping, and profits. Unless you are part of a major conglomerate like Eagle Ind. the little guy essentially lives off of sales of individual items on a case-by-case scenario.

 

I wouldn't bash vendors for how much their products are, they price it simply to survive...

 

On the topic of the gear, I like it and appreciate the innovative features. This all reminds me the time around the late 90s and 9/11 when an explosion in the demand for gear laid the groundwork for the designs of all the gear we use now. As for the quality of 500D, I still use some of my 500D stuff even though its 2-3 years old. I use it between airsoft, weekly trips to the range, training events, and abuse from research purposes at work. 500D is good, 1000D is better. I'm happy for using both.

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FYI the cost for selling this gear isn't to make a killing off of the buyers or contracts its a mix between the cost of production, R&D, and the cost of doing business.

 

In some cases yes, in some cases MSRP is often 100% over wholesale cost, and wholesale cost is even over production costs. Some Companies have "pro-deals" which is a discounted cost, usually somewhere around production cost, designed as an incentive for retailers to try products in order to get them to sell them better. Inov-8s pro deals for example are some of the best I've ever seen, does that mean the product isn't worth MSRP, no it certainly is, but it means that profit needs to be made by the manufacturer and the retailer, otherwise there is no reason for the retailer to sell the product.

 

 

 

 

500D is good, 1000D is better. I'm happy for using both.

 

But you see the actuality for most people including those who are active Mil is "500D is good, 1000D is overkill" I have 1000D kit from 2006 that has seen 5 deployments (friends who borrowed stuff) and looks brand new. Even for some it's "330D is good, 500d is too heavy".

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hard to judge with engrish.

 

MY first guess was that they might have just used a rigid material for the plate carrying sections, though that then begs the question of how they got the fake plate in there in the first place. Glued in maybe? You may well be right, I'd just be somewhat surprised if EBB had suddenly started issuing warnings against using their gear in the real world.

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Sigma, I haven't see actual figures or read any direct account from someone who's personally experienced the failure (only 2nd hand or worse), but there have been enough failures for people across the interwebs to get up in arms about it. I would bet that FrogFish has some actual figures he could reference.

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liking this "technology" however to fit the pouches am i right in assuming its done with cover off the armour? allowing access to the rear to fit the tabs?

 

With the First Spear stuff? Yes, you can access the rear of the mounting area to facilitate attaching the 6/12 pouches.

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  • 4 months later...

Alright guys. Now that I'm at a stage where I've got enough of this new lightweight gear to have a complete PC and belt rig setup, I thought I'd see what sort of actual weight savings we'd be looking at in the real world with a quick comparison video. Obviously there's been a lot of claims by the manufacturers about the sorts of percentages of the weight we can cut from our LBE using this new technology, but how much of a difference does it really make once you've bought a set of gear you like and put it all together? I dug out the kitchen scales to have a look.

 

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I would bet that FrogFish has some actual figures he could reference.

 

I sent a few back to Crye that were replaced propmtly, and I've seen a whole stack getting the straps replaced at Vel-Tye. but that was january of this year....

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