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The Purchase:
Looking around for my first vest I was interested in purchasing a plate carrier type vest rather than a LBV (Load Bearing Vest). I also wanted a rather slim/small setup as well. And finally I wanted to purchase a vest that came with pouches included.
My search finally brought me to this CIRAS type vest. It seemed to have everything I wanted but unfortunately was out of stock almost everywhere; likely because of the time of year. Even more unfortunate, I wanted one in OD green and another in Coyote Tan. I ended up purchasing them from different websites as one only had the OD green vest and the other only had the Coyote Tan vest.
I purchased the OD Green vest from Evike.com and was happy with my purchase. Pretty typical affair; I purchased it, they processed it, they sent it out with a routing number, and it got here. I ordered it on a Friday and they didn't process it until Monday, which is fine. It was shipped from their store on Tuesday and it made it to my house by Friday. So if you ordered the vest before noon on Monday you should get it (In Oklahoma) on Friday.
They even had a map on their website somewhere showing the average delivery times for each state. It was right on at 3 days.
This is my only order from Evike (I had 4 other items in there are well: a helmet, a bag of 4000 bbs, a 8 set box of 130rnd magazines,and a $15 pair of goggles) and everything got here in good condition. I don't think that is enough experience to really review their shipping and accuracy though.
I called once to question why it was taking so long to process my order (I wasn't thinking of the weekend at the time) and the guy who answered was rather abrasive and quick to get me off the phone. I understand my question was probably a bit silly to him considering, but still believe customer service should always be politely patient with their customers. He wasn't rude, just not exactly welcoming either.
The Coyote Tan vest was ordered from Tiger Tactical. The process didn't seem as well documented as Evike's worder but the vest got to my door within 3 days (including processing) compared to Evike's 5 (2 day processing, 3 day shipping). Seems like they got the item out of their warehouse a bit faster is all. Given the difference I wouldn't say one is better than the other in shipping times. This vest also came 100% accurate and without damage.
The OD Green vest from Evike was $100 and the Coyote Tan vest from Tiger Tactical was $80.
Evike charged $18 for shipping while Tiger Tactical did not charge anything for UPS ground delivery.
Anyone shopping at Evike.com I would suggest using the coupon code "thankyou" for 20% off.
The full order from Evike included the vest, a helmet, a bag of 4000 bbs, a 8 set box of 130rnd magazines,and a $15 pair of goggles that totaled $265+$18 dollars but was only $211+$18 after the coupon.
The Vest:
The vest(s) look just like they do on the web page. They were comfortable to wear and did not feel cumbersome. The stitching was what you'd expect from an airsoft vest but I wouldn't really call it bad; nothing ripped or tore from the couple of hours I played in it, in which I crawled quite a bit. (OD Green).
Both vests came with a small admin pouch, a larger accessory pouch, a 3 slot magazines (m4/m16) pouch, a 2 slot magazine (m4/m16) pouch, two single pistol magazine pouches, and a larger radio pouch.
All pouches are separate from the vest and attache using the standard molle system. The m4/m16 magazines pouches all use elastic bands to better grip your magazines. All pouches close using a velcro system.
Adjustability:
The adjustable straps include the two top shoulder straps, two waist straps that connect under the front sides of the vest, and two smaller elastic straps that are meant to be connected to eachother under the main body of the vest to keep the vest feeling snug and from moving around.
The vest is a quick release type vest and therefor requires a bit more work to comfortably adjust it to your likes as you have to open the back up and run a line through all of the adjustable straps.
On this note I'd like to point out that this is where the only differences (other than color) of the two vests shows.
The OD Green vest I purchased through Evike and the Coyote Tan vest I purchased through Tiger Tactical had different amount of adjustable slots on the straps. I'm going to guess that both vendors use different manufacturers, but it could be that all the Coyote Tan vests come from a different manufacturers than all the OD Green vests.
The Quick Release Function:
The quick release function, while not really important for airsoft, does work with a bit of shaking. I'd imagine with plates the vest would fall apart without any effort at all with the quick release line pulled.
The line is run through one of the shoulder straps and into a smaller velcro pouch on the front/top of the vest. I don't see there being any way of the line being accidentally pulled; that's good.
The Included Pouches:
Both the 3 slot and 2 slot magazine pouches were advertised to hold 2 magazines per pouch but I found that one of the 5 combined slots would not fit two magazines in it.
I was a little upset by this at first but soon found that the pouches with 2 magazines were WAY too tight to be able to pull a single magazines out of a pouch without pulling both out accidentally.
With single magazines in each slot I was much more pleased. This does limit your immediate magazine accessibility but I didn't have a problem with this.
I plan to use the accessory/radio pouch to hold an extra mag or two if I ever did run out of magazines from my main ammo pouches.
Besides that 6 magazines (5 in your vest, 1 in your gun) was more than adequate for me.
With 130rnd Mag magazines that was a solid ~780bbs.
The two pistol magazine pouches were very typical pouches, carrying a single magazine each.
The larger accessory slot had some elastic straps inside that could be used to keep important documents or items a bit secure or separated from things you may just want thrown in there for easier access.
Things such as maps, extra batteries, or other items you wouldn't need often come to mind.
The smaller chest mounted admin pouch is pretty much only useful for documents and other flat items. I used it to carry my dead rag as it was an easily accessible pouch.
It also has fabric attached to the front of it to attach velcro patches such as name tags.
The radio pouch is larger than most radios you will use for airsoft (thinking Motorola type) and was built for military sized radios. I still have it attached to my vest in the back though and will likely put extra magazines in there for team members to access.
Internals:
Each vest also had internal slots for SAPE style plates; securable with velcro tabs.
The vest does not come with SAPE playes but did come with a small foam-like square. While others will probably remove them I have chosen to keep them in as they're somewhat comfortable. I assume they make the vest a bit more insulated though, which is why I imagine most people will remove them upon purchase.
Conclusion:
While I was looking forward to being able to carry 10 magazines in the vest comfortably for longer operations I can't say I'm upset with my purchases. Both vests are comfortable and do not feel heavy or cumbersome in any way to me.
As of right now I would suggest this vest to anyone because of the look, quality, and price. I will update this if I find anything unsatisfactory in the future.
My only advice would be to purchase it from somewhere like Tiger Tactical rather than Evike as it was a cheaper price and free shipping. Both of the vests were pretty equal in regards to quality. If you do purchase it from somewhere more expensive like Evike I would make sure to google any sort of Coupon you could use.
Update (4 Months Later):
I've had this vest for 4 months now. Of the 4 months I've spent 3 going to airsoft skirmishes or operations consistently. I feel like I am rather hard on my equipment as I spend a lot of time prone, rolling, dropping, and crawling through branches.
Of the two vests I spend most of my time wearing the Tan one as I typically run Multicam camos.
I've been extremely happy with both vests over the last 4 months. They do everything they're needed to do. However, despite my approval of the vest, there are a few things that do sort of bug me.
The first being stitching. But I'll be fair.. it's not something I didn't expect to happen, nor something I'm actually annoyed by. I only mention it because technically it is a drawback. I should just be able to take it to a tailoring shop and have them reswitch the fabric with no problem. And, honestly, for the amount of abuse I have given the vest it's held up remarkably well. Matter of a fact, the stitching problems I have aren't even from use, but rather user error.
As shown in previous pictures the vest connects the back to the front through the use of elastic straps under the arms and around the waist. These straps are velcros under two velcro molle flaps found on the front of the vest. The flaps open and close on a vertical plain while the straps apply pressure on a horiztonal plain. The layers applied here allow the vest to stay together as well as keep the molle flaps down.
However, the problem here occurs when a user goes to remove the vest. I found that at first I would accidentally grab both the molle flap and the elastic velcro stap. When I would pull up it would then release pressure from the elastic strap and thus pull the molle flap on a horizontal axis, which pulled against the stitching of the molle flap.
As you can see in the pictures below the left side molle flap of my vest still has the stitching intact while the picture on the right shows the right side molle flap coming loose from the vest. Since this began happening I have no longer 'opened' the vest through the right flap and instead use the left side.
Being one to learn from my mistakes I make sure not to grab the elastic velcro when I go to pull the molle flap up. Since then I've had no problems with the stitching. This leads me to believe that the stitching is adequate and that the stitching that was coming undone was from my own mistakes.
Regardless, stitching something like this is costs so little and is so easy. Someone could even do it themselves with a needle and thread. I wouldn't count this as a negative for the vest personally, but I'll list it none-the-less for everyone else. Some people may not be as forgiving.
The other problem I've had regarding stitching was the the radio pouch, though it wasn't really 'stitching' I suppose. Anyone that knows how the molle system works is use to the snap button locks at the end of the molle straps that you thread through the molle on the vest.
My tan radio pouch lost the female snap lock however while I was rearranging it on my vest. I believe this too was a user error; me tugging too hard on it while it wasn't properly unattached.
This too, however, seems like a small problem. I'm sure I can have another female end put on the strap for little to nothing.
Stitching aside, my only real annoyance with the vest is the lack of PALs and the magazine capacity.
As stated before, each magazine pouch was supposed to hold 2 magazines each, however, the front 3 would only hold each. While, as first I didn't mind, I've noticed for longer games, primarilly operations, I wish those I could fit another 3 magazines in there. This is easily correctable with new pouches, but the vest was originally such a deal for me because it included necessary pouches.
The other thing, which is related to a lack of carrying capacity, is the lack of a pals system. While the molle flaps do curve around your waste, most of the space immediately under your arm is just where the elastic band is, which has no sot of molle system on it. I'm not sure if there is an attachment for that or not. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that on the real deal the fit is much more snug so that the back and front molle 'connect'.
But, again, for someone new, I would still highly recommend the vest. Especially for it's price range.
