Incognito
February 24, 2001, 16:11
http://www.amacominc.com/~anomalos/myharness.jpg
I bought this Israeli combat harness and it was everything I have come to expect from the Israeli's. It is made of heavey duty nylon webbing and condura. All of the pouches on this unit are made of a very strong nylon material that I would say is much thougher than the condura. It is padded on the inside, and the pads are made of what I would call normal condura. The pads are very large and make it very comfortable even when laying on the ground. The shoulder straps are not padded, but are made of 1 1/2 - 2" nylon webbing.
There are four mag pouches, each one will hold 2 mags. There are two grenade puches, each one of them will hold 2 15rd. 9mm pistol mags almost like they were made for them. These grenade pouches will also hold a motorola radio very nicely. There is one smoke grenade pouch which is bigger than the other two grenade pouches. This pouch would hold a larger radio, or maybe a GI angle head flashlight. There is also one other very small pouch which would hold a pair of multipliers, a compass, or other smaller items. There are two canteens, and then there is the small butt pack. All of these pouches have sturdy velcro closures, which I didn't think I would like. But now I see that with the velcro you can pull the pouch flaps down tight and fasten the velcro, and then you don't get any rattle from the mag pouches. Even the 9mm mags do not make any noise when I pull the flap down tight and fasten it. The buttpack is very small, maybe 10" square, and pretty slim, which makes it out of the way if you want to wear another backpack. I have a medium ALICE pack and a large load bearing pack, and they both work very well with this harness.
One of the nice suprise features about this harness is that it works very well with FAL mags. The 20 round FAL mags come almost to the top of the mag pouch, because of the way the mag pouch is cut low in the front. They do not fit too tight at all. In fact they fit perfect. With two FAL mags in the mag pouches, I can slip my index finger into the pouch and easiliy grab the mag. You could put something in the bottom of the pouch to make the FAL mags come up further, but they come out so easily I don't think that would even be necessary. Since the mag pouches fit the 20 rd FAL mags so perfectly, you would think that the 35 rd .223 mags would fit loose and rattle. But with the velcro flap closures I was mentioning above, that is not the case. Just fasten the flap tight and there is no rattle.
This harness is very comfortable in whatever position I am in. I have a 32" waist and it just fits me. It could go smaller if I removed one, or both of the canteens. It will adjust much larger also. It is very easy to get into and even easier to get out of. There is a pull cord, just pull it and the harness unfastens and you can slip out of it.
In conclusion...I would say that this is the best combat harness/load bearing vest setup I've ever seen. its not like a vest, it uses straps so it is very cool and air flows through around your chest and back unlike a vest. My experience with vest is they cause sweat in those areas. I have never owned a South African pattern 83 vest, but I have handled one at a show once. It seemed like a very nice rig, but in my opinion does not compare to this one. However, the price of this one does not begin to compare with the SA gear either. This gear will cost about 2-3 times more than the standard SA 83 pattern set. On a scale of 1-10 I would give this one 11. I have several pictures of this vest on this web site: www.amacominc.com/~anomalos/idf.html (http://www.amacominc.com/~anomalos/idf.html)
[This message has been edited by Incognito (edited February 24, 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Incognito (edited February 26, 2001).]
I bought this Israeli combat harness and it was everything I have come to expect from the Israeli's. It is made of heavey duty nylon webbing and condura. All of the pouches on this unit are made of a very strong nylon material that I would say is much thougher than the condura. It is padded on the inside, and the pads are made of what I would call normal condura. The pads are very large and make it very comfortable even when laying on the ground. The shoulder straps are not padded, but are made of 1 1/2 - 2" nylon webbing.
There are four mag pouches, each one will hold 2 mags. There are two grenade puches, each one of them will hold 2 15rd. 9mm pistol mags almost like they were made for them. These grenade pouches will also hold a motorola radio very nicely. There is one smoke grenade pouch which is bigger than the other two grenade pouches. This pouch would hold a larger radio, or maybe a GI angle head flashlight. There is also one other very small pouch which would hold a pair of multipliers, a compass, or other smaller items. There are two canteens, and then there is the small butt pack. All of these pouches have sturdy velcro closures, which I didn't think I would like. But now I see that with the velcro you can pull the pouch flaps down tight and fasten the velcro, and then you don't get any rattle from the mag pouches. Even the 9mm mags do not make any noise when I pull the flap down tight and fasten it. The buttpack is very small, maybe 10" square, and pretty slim, which makes it out of the way if you want to wear another backpack. I have a medium ALICE pack and a large load bearing pack, and they both work very well with this harness.
One of the nice suprise features about this harness is that it works very well with FAL mags. The 20 round FAL mags come almost to the top of the mag pouch, because of the way the mag pouch is cut low in the front. They do not fit too tight at all. In fact they fit perfect. With two FAL mags in the mag pouches, I can slip my index finger into the pouch and easiliy grab the mag. You could put something in the bottom of the pouch to make the FAL mags come up further, but they come out so easily I don't think that would even be necessary. Since the mag pouches fit the 20 rd FAL mags so perfectly, you would think that the 35 rd .223 mags would fit loose and rattle. But with the velcro flap closures I was mentioning above, that is not the case. Just fasten the flap tight and there is no rattle.
This harness is very comfortable in whatever position I am in. I have a 32" waist and it just fits me. It could go smaller if I removed one, or both of the canteens. It will adjust much larger also. It is very easy to get into and even easier to get out of. There is a pull cord, just pull it and the harness unfastens and you can slip out of it.
In conclusion...I would say that this is the best combat harness/load bearing vest setup I've ever seen. its not like a vest, it uses straps so it is very cool and air flows through around your chest and back unlike a vest. My experience with vest is they cause sweat in those areas. I have never owned a South African pattern 83 vest, but I have handled one at a show once. It seemed like a very nice rig, but in my opinion does not compare to this one. However, the price of this one does not begin to compare with the SA gear either. This gear will cost about 2-3 times more than the standard SA 83 pattern set. On a scale of 1-10 I would give this one 11. I have several pictures of this vest on this web site: www.amacominc.com/~anomalos/idf.html (http://www.amacominc.com/~anomalos/idf.html)
[This message has been edited by Incognito (edited February 24, 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Incognito (edited February 26, 2001).]