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Some of the guys on my team have begun running lightweight loadouts instead of the traditional plate carrier/tacvest over the summer. Since I'm not particularly bright I've resisted this trend for some time. Recently however, I decided it was high time for me to build a belt-based first line setup for hotter days or games that require more mobility and less..stuff. While I love my Eagle Plate Carrier, it's not always necessary to truck all that ###### and weight around the field. If you're anything like me, if you have a pouch, chances are you're going to put SOMETHING in it, otherwise it'd be a WASTE of that space! Better to leave the extra luggage behind sometimes in favor of mobility.

 

Friend of mine pointed me at the ICE website (http://icetactical.com/battle-belt.html) awhile back and, since it was pretty much exactly what I was looking for, I ordered the thing immediately. I had yet to learn of ICE's poor record of delivery and communication, so I blithely paid my money and began to wait.

 

Now, I must digress a bit and rant for a moment about what a poor job of follow up and customer service ICE Tactical does. This article is as much a complaint about ICE as it is a praise for this belt. I know that others have had similar or worse experiences, most to do with ICE's BDUs.

 

I was quoted 3-4 weeks to delivery, then sloughed off at the beginning of the 3rd week with an email saying, 'we're behind on deliveries, sorry, we'll let you know.' Fine, I thought, no big deal. I sent 3 follow ups over the course of the next 3 weeks with no reply. Finally I received a reply when I told ICE to cancel my order and refund my money. By that point, as one might imagine, I was pretty well fed up. By the way, they use Canadian Air Mail's Small Parcel Service, or some such carrier. Said carrier, in keeping with the theme of contempt for the customer, doesn't issue tracking information, if that sort of thing is important to you.

 

Anyway, 8 weeks after placing my order, my belt was finally here! The stitching and feel are very good, the belt is padded nicely while not being heavy. I was afraid that the quality would be subpar after having to threaten to cancel my order, but the piece is very nicely built and put together cleanly. There are few loose threads and I could not find a single sloppy seam anywhere. Stitching is sturdy and the webbing is quite secure. The intervals of the stitching on the webbing vary a bit at the hips. I suspect this is by design to allow for the curvature of the hip.

 

While the belt itself is a nice piece, there ARE other solutions out there. TT makes one, DBT makes one, hell, just about EVERY top of the line manufacturer makes a MOLLE belt now. I thought I had to have one in Airsoftpat...err, Multicam...but after mounting the pouches, you can't tell the damned thing's in Multicam anyway. Buy one in Coyote Tan (since you'll likely wait for a Multicam one) and get on with your lives. [/rant]

 

The PALS webbing is actually folded and stitched Multicam fabric as opposed to the usual nylon webbing that you'll see on other products:

 

mini-IMG_1417.jpg

 

Whether the fabric being used for the webbing is good or bad I couldn't tell you. As I said a moment ago, the stitching is sturdy and my pouches are very snugly mounted to the belt. As I said earlier, when you mount pouches on the belt, you'll never see the pretty Multicam stuff again.

 

The ICE Battle Belt requires that you use your own belt of your choosing, as the 'Belt' is actually a sleeve. I went with a rigger's belt as ICE show on their website, but any belt will suffice.

 

Photos!

 

mini-IMG_1411.jpg

 

mini-IMG_1412.jpg

 

mini-IMG_1413.jpg

 

 

The belt features two dropleg openings - pictured is the one on the left side. The flap lifts up, you attach the dropleg strap over your belt and off you go.

 

mini-IMG_1415.jpg

 

The inside of the belt is fitted with black mesh (to help the belt breathe) across most of its width. There is also a high friction section at the small of the back.

 

mini-IMG_1416.jpg

 

The belt distributes weight very well and doesn't flop around despite the stuff I've hung on it. I'm very happy with this loadout for the application I mentioned prior. I can carry the essential stuff for an average game and not be burdened by a stiflingly hot vest that restricts my movement. Good stuff!

 

Closing thoughts:

 

The only real beef I have is that it would have been nice to have gotten the damned thing when I was promised it. Honestly I'd be very reticent to recommend ICE to anyone until such time as they improve their track record for meeting their quoted delivery times. At the very least they need to improve their customer service by keeping people up to date on the status of their orders and by actually replying to emails - hint: reading and ignoring customers' concerns is not the way to do business.

 

In fairness, this is a great product. I work with the public and (among other things) am responsible for the customer service function at my job. The 'customer non-service' treatment I received would have cost us business, money and likely someone his job.

 

If you're willing to fork out the scratch and then wait for some unknown period for your product to ship out, you will not be sorry. This belt is top notch.

Edited by Wupjak
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Hi mate, nice review. Could you tell me how long this belt is? I bought a cheapo Viper one to try out but the actuall Molle part wasn't long enough on me, to place the pouches where i need them.

 

If it's long enough this looks just the job to go with my chestrig to pack my pistol and mags.

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Nice review and pics!

 

I want one myself :P

 

But for anyone wanting to get one now: Wait a while. ICE is redesigning the belt and should be revealing it soon (soon, therefore should be within the year ;))

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  • 2 months later...

Its been a few months since this article was written and since i just found it today i thought i would add my two cents to wupjaks comments.

 

To expand upon what wupjak said about ICE's customer service or lackthereof, i would like to introduce everyone to my nightmare.

 

I ordered and paid for my belt on May 2nd of 2006. ICE tactical immediately proceeded to remove money from my checking account via paypal and here it is october 14th and i still havent recieved my order. Yes, they have had my money since May 2nd.

 

Just like Wup, they originally quoted me a delivery time of three to four weeks. I patiently waited knowing that they have to supply real operators first before civilians. Eventually around the end of june i started to get a little annoyed. Six weeks had passed and i still hadnt recieved my belt. I emailed ICE tactical inquiring about my order and low and behold they actually managed to respond. I had an event coming up on the 22nd of july and i pleaded with them to deliver my item before then. They said it would be no problem so again, i put on my waiting hat and patientedly sat by.

 

The 22nd of july came and went and my belt was nowhere to be found.

 

I send another email after the event trying to find out where my belt was but they never responded. Around the end of august i sent yet another email trying to get in touch with the company but again, no response.

 

By dumb luck i managed to find an alternate email address of the owner of the company. I sent him the following mail on september 23rd:

 

"

Hobey, i placed an order with your company on may 2nd of 2006. It is now almost october of 2006 and i havent recieved a word since then about the status of my item. I am wondering what is going on and i am also wondering why no one is responding to my emails.

 

Considering i paid for this item five months ago on the same day of the order i am going to consider this a theft unless i recieve a response within a timely fashion. I know you guys are busy but you still need to keep your customers up to date as to what is going on.

 

Again, if i do not recieve a response in a timely fashion i will be contacting the better business bureau as well as the fbi to report internet fraud and theft.

 

Thanks for your time, i hope we can resolve this in a manner that pleases both parties.

 

Sincerely,

 

Ian Goodman"

 

Hobey actually responded on the same day much to my amazement. Im pretty sure that when i saw his response in my inbox i shed a tear. This is what he had to say:

 

"Ian,

Sorry for the delays and lack of communication. This should not have

happened. Your belt will ship Monday.

 

Hobey Walker

www.icetactical.com

Integrated Combat Equipment (ICE)

RR1, I-7

Bowen Island, BC

V0N 1G0 Canada"

 

It is now october 14th and my belt still hasnt arrived. I guess he sent it on the back of a sherpa who is now proceeding to walk from canada to my house down here in florida. I should hopefully see the belt sometime in 2038.

 

All i have to say is that these guys are a bunch of lying, deceitful thieves. Do not spend your hard earned money with these asshats. The lack of customer service at this company is absolutely appalling. No one should be able to operate a business like this.

 

If my belt doesnt arrive in another week i will doing exactly as i said in my email, i will be contacting both the FBI and the better business bureau. Hell, i may even attempt to contact an american embassy up in canada if one exists.

 

To sum all of this up, these guys are scum. Spend your money elsewhere.

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Hi all, i too have fallen victim to the nightmare that is Ice Tactical Due to living in the UK i initially sent Ice an email enquiring wether or not they supplied to the UK, Hobey sure enough sent me an email the very next day saying that they did indeed ship to the UK for the measley sum of $14, Hooray i thought a retailer on the other side of the atlantic who didn't charge an arm and a leg to ship stuff.

So i sent him another email, stating i would be very interested in obtaining a Battle Belt and all i required was their paypal account details, he got back to me the same afternoon with the requested info. Now at this point i thought here is a retailer who is quick, helpful and efficient (To get their hands on my money and thats it i later found out :angry: ) So two days after sending my payment i received another email from Leanne at Ice Tactical saying delivery times were running at 4 weeks, okay i thought to myself, custom belt made to order, that doesn't seem too bad really.

 

Fast forward to 6 weeks later, i'm getting a somewhat concerned. So i begin to pen out an email to Leanne, but while typing it dawns on me, these guy at Ice probably supply real world operators, so those orders might take precedence over mine, so i tone down the nature of the email while still emphasising that as a paying customer i would like to find out the status of my order (Not too much to ask!) Nothing, not a whistle.

So i wait a couple more weeks and decide to sent a email to Hobey who had proved so helpful to begin with. I even copied and pasted the original email Leanne had sent me stating the 4week waiting time and pointed out that is was fast approaching 8 weeks since i placed the order. Did i hear back from helpful Hobey? Did i ever!!!!!

 

Now my mind really started to race, had they gone out of business? had what ever part of canada the company was based in been wiped off the map by some freak meteor shower? Maybe all the Ice Team had been involved in a freak motor accident resulting in all of them loosing their arms? Alas not, as i checked the website and found it had been updated, so i knew someone at ice still had the use of their upper limbs. So i sent another email to Leanne (last week infact) hoping to finally get a reply, even if only for them to tell me the belt was going to take 6 months at least i could put my mind at ease, no such luck!

 

I'm now trying to ascertain wether Canada has some form of Department for trade and industry to whom i can report ICE Tactical to what can only be classed as gross neglegance and misconduct. At this time the only solice i have is that Batle belt itself seems to be a great piece of kit thanks to Wupjak's review, nice one :) . I will be sending hobey a very strongly worded email, actually Wupjak could u im me Hobey's alternate email address please? But i will keep all those who have too fallen victim to Ice Tactical and its bad ways updated to my plight!!! Magsz keep the faith bro, we shall prevail!! i hope :blink:

Edited by No Trace 13
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I resisted the temptation of getting one of those for a few reasons.

 

One of my teammates ordered one and it took forever to get to him (now I know the rule of gear, hot stuff means long wait time), and he got a semi-defected unit (yes, it was probably just a bad apple). I guess they were rushing to get it out in time so the PALS webbing was sewed out of spec making a few channels too wide.

 

I will wait until ICE gets their production up to demmand, but for now, I am still looking into SOE and DBT and TAG belts, maybe even the Blackwater belt. I prefer something on the belt that I can fasten my suspenders to.

 

I do like the idea of ditching my plate carrier, and wearing just a belt, so all the weight will be closer to my center of mass. Not to mention, all my stuff will be lower and easier to reach.

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I resisted the temptation of getting one of those for a few reasons.

 

One of my teammates ordered one and it took forever to get to him (now I know the rule of gear, hot stuff means long wait time), and he got a semi-defected unit (yes, it was probably just a bad apple). I guess they were rushing to get it out in time so the PALS webbing was sewed out of spec making a few channels too wide.

 

I will wait until ICE gets their production up to demmand, but for now the SOE and DBT and TAG belts are my realistic options, maybe even the Blackwater belt. I prefer something on the belt that I can fasten my suspenders to.

 

I do like the idea of ditching my plate carrier, and wearing just a belt, so all the weight will be closer to my center of mass. Not to mention, all my stuff will be lower and easier to reach.

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Living in florida i dont get to see snow all that often.

 

Im quite tempted to take a trip up to canada with my trusty baseball bat on cough..shall we say a nice relaxing vacation.

 

Back to seriouness.

 

I spoke to leanne a few days ago and she promised to check the status of my order and call me right back. I guess canadians have a hard time dialing phones with their flippers because she never called me back.

 

Could any canadians shed some light on these poopies? Does anyone live near their offices? Does anyone for that matter know hobey personally?

 

Im going to keep calling them until i wear a track in my phones TFT display.

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I do like the idea of ditching my plate carrier, and wearing just a belt, so all the weight will be closer to my center of mass. Not to mention, all my stuff will be lower and easier to reach.

 

This cracks me up :P So you're all going back to webbing systems now? Got to laugh at that one!

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This is the email that i sent to Ice tactical. I am currently on the phone with paypal dealing with this bs.

 

I called ICE tactical last week and much to my surprise Leanne actually picked up. She assured me that she would check the status of my order and get right back to me. She never called me back and since then i have dialed their number at least six times daily and they have never picked up the phone. What a bunch of thieving degenerate poopies.

 

"Dear Hobey,

 

Due to your inability to fulfil my order in a timely manner i have begun taking measures to rectify the situation.

 

I have contacted paypal and filed a claim. I am in the process of dealing with the FBI in regards to internet fraud and theft. I dont know who to contact in British Columbia but you can be assured someone will be contacted as soon as possible about your shifty business practices.

 

I do not appreciate calling your offices, speaking with leanne and then never recieving a phone call back. I also do not appreciate recieving an email from you stating you will be shipping my product out on monday the 25th of september 2006 and yet again, never recieving the product.

 

You have had my money for more than six months, you do not return my emails and you do not return my phone calls, as far as im concerned you've stolen my money and like i said, i will be taking every measure neccessary to get my money back.

 

You can do one of the following:

 

1. Either ship me my product IMMEDIATELY with a valid tracking number by Monday october 23rd 2006.

 

2. Or you can refund my money in the amount of 73.00 USD by Monday October 23rd 2006.

 

Upon completion with either option one or two i will be sure to immediately cancel the claims i have opened against you.

 

Again, i hope we can amicably settle this by completing either option one or two.

 

I am not one to casually throw out threats and i absolutely loathe doing so but at this point in time i am beyond cordial relations. You have failed miserably as a businessman so i implore you as a man to do your best to make this right.

 

Thank you for your time and yet again, i look forward to resolving this business transaction.

 

Sincerely,

 

Ian Goodman"

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Even if they do have that much demand they NEED To keep their customer base updated. They should NOT quote delivery times of 3-4 weeks if they cannot supply their userbase with the product for six months.

 

If they had originally quoted me a delivery time of six months i would not be having this kind of problem. Plus, if they actually responded to my emails instead of ignoring me i wouldnt have any issue with the company.

 

The reason why i am so ###### is because they have failed miserably with their correspondence and on the rare occassion that they do get back to me they lie through their teeth.

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