Good TAC vest for newbie?

[Rugger_can]

Personally I would suggest the following.

Buy what you can afford.


If your young, or on a budget. Get repro stuff. It works and its inexpensive. And best of all, it looks fairly good for the price. Look for cheaper repro molle stuff, as you can expand it and make it suit your needs for bargin basement prices.


If you've got money to burn. Go the extra mile, buy the nicer stuff, but again, I suggest something you can modify to suit your needs. Molle stuff is great because as your needs and desires change your "core" gear can change to suit those needs.



Above all else, do whats right for you. Enjoy yourself and get out to games. Also ignore the gearqueers that will tell you that you NEED to get the best quality gear and anything else is a waste of money. I played with crap.. (I mean it) for years and I had a blast. Hell at one point I had a homemade chestrig using a dutybelt and 3 long LBV88 pouches for my ak. It worked great and it was durable as all hell. People laughed but I didn't care because it was fun. So if you like that vest go with it.


I would suggest you invest your money in other things. Like GOOD BOOTS, GOOD Knee/Elbow pads, GOOD goggles, GOOD Bdu's/Clothes that are comfortable. these things will keep you comfortable and safe on the field.


Cheers

[kaiu]

Vest wise I would say it probably depends on what kind of field you intend to play at more... Different fields, different guns, different style?

It's all personal preference I guess... You can go to a surplus store and see how comfortable it is to grab a mag and stuff....

[Crunchmeister]

Get it. It's only $40. You'll gain experience with it and realize what works for you and what doesn't. If it falls apart, then it's not a big loss. Once you get to use it a few times and see what other vests and carriers people are using, you'll know what you want. Only then invest in a good quality vest that will last. It sucks to spend $300+ on a good quality vest / plate carrier only to find you don't like it, have to sell it at a loss, buy another one, etc. In the long run, this will be cheaper IMO. And if it holds together, then you'll have an extra vest for alternate loadouts.

As for everyone calling things crap because they don't cost hundreds of dollars. I showed up at my first game with a cheap $60 CADPAT vest that looks just like that one, only with mag pouches all around and no holster. Had all kinds of people tell me I should have sprung more cash for a better on because that one wouldn't last, etc.

That CADPAT vest saw more use than my other 2 vests combined, it's still is in excellent condition despite the abuse it's seen, and bears a load better than my CIRAS. For functionality, I prefer my CIRAS as I can configure it as I need depending on the game and my loadout, but quite honestly, if I'm to choose one simply for comfort and simplicity, I'll reach for my cheapo vest first any day.

[juicy]

Originally Posted by Rugger_can

Personally I would suggest the following.

Buy what you can afford.


If your young, or on a budget. Get repro stuff. It works and its inexpensive. And best of all, it looks fairly good for the price. Look for cheaper repro molle stuff, as you can expand it and make it suit your needs for bargin basement prices.


If you've got money to burn. Go the extra mile, buy the nicer stuff, but again, I suggest something you can modify to suit your needs. Molle stuff is great because as your needs and desires change your "core" gear can change to suit those needs.



Above all else, do whats right for you. Enjoy yourself and get out to games. Also ignore the gearqueers that will tell you that you NEED to get the best quality gear and anything else is a waste of money. I played with crap.. (I mean it) for years and I had a blast. Hell at one point I had a homemade chestrig using a dutybelt and 3 long LBV88 pouches for my ak. It worked great and it was durable as all hell. People laughed but I didn't care because it was fun. So if you like that vest go with it.


I would suggest you invest your money in other things. Like GOOD BOOTS, GOOD Knee/Elbow pads, GOOD goggles, GOOD Bdu's/Clothes that are comfortable. these things will keep you comfortable and safe on the field.


Cheers

I totally agree with you on this. Only thing about going with cheap gear is that it's basically worthless if you try to sell it, and chances are that it'll fall apart on your sometime soon. There are a few bits of inexpensive gear that are fine, like pouches and stuff that isn't loaded too heavy. If you've got cheap pouches filled with shit, they can possibly rip. Same goes with MOLLE platforms.

Good boots, goggles and clothes are a must. I dunno if good knee/elbow pads are entirely necessary unless you dive all over the place - I have Condor knee pads right now and even though they're shit, they do the job just fine for me. I've been recently leaving them around my ankles and pull one or both up to my knees if I need them for extended periods of bushwhacking or kneeling. Plus, you do get more mobility if there's less shit around your legs, IMO. Works great for me because I'm an overweight mofo with no degree of fitness, lol.

[Percuvius]

Originally Posted by Crunchmeister

Get it. It's only $40. You'll gain experience with it and realize what works for you and what doesn't. If it falls apart, then it's not a big loss. Once you get to use it a few times and see what other vests and carriers people are using, you'll know what you want. Only then invest in a good quality vest that will last. It sucks to spend $300+ on a good quality vest / plate carrier only to find you don't like it, have to sell it at a loss, buy another one, etc. In the long run, this will be cheaper IMO. And if it holds together, then you'll have an extra vest for alternate loadouts.

As for everyone calling things crap because they don't cost hundreds of dollars. I showed up at my first game with a cheap $60 CADPAT vest that looks just like that one, only with mag pouches all around and no holster. Had all kinds of people tell me I should have sprung more cash for a better on because that one wouldn't last, etc.

That CADPAT vest saw more use than my other 2 vests combined, it's still is in excellent condition despite the abuse it's seen, and bears a load better than my CIRAS. For functionality, I prefer my CIRAS as I can configure it as I need depending on the game and my loadout, but quite honestly, if I'm to choose one simply for comfort and simplicity, I'll reach for my cheapo vest first any day.

I think that's good advice, I won't know what I like until I field test it. I stuck with the vest and it'll be here on Monday. It had 50 user reviews averaging 4.5/5 stars so it should be fine for now and it's better than going with no vest because I spent my airsoft budget on guns.

[The Chad]

How about nothing. If you really need pouches, just get some old CF webbing from an AS store.