5.11 Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier review
Our Verdict
The five.11 Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier looks and feels like repurposed military gear, only it'due south also a super-effective workout tool.
For
- Adaptable design fits every body
- Super-durable construction
- Multiple weight options allow you come across your level of fettle
- Versatile features permit you add together accessories and customizations
Against
- Expensive for a single piece of workout gear
- Tactical features are useless in a fettle context
Tom'southward Guide Verdict
The 5.xi Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier looks and feels like repurposed military gear, but information technology's also a super-effective workout tool.
Pros
- +
Adjustable design fits every body
- +
Super-durable construction
- +
Multiple weight options let you meet your level of fettle
- +
Versatile features permit yous add together accessories and customizations
Cons
- -
Expensive for a single piece of workout gear
- -
Tactical features are useless in a fitness context
If you're interested in adding a weight vest to your workout routines, you've probably heard of the 5.11 Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier. As the official weight vest of the CrossFit Games for several years running, it'south hugely popular — only it's as well really expensive. And information technology's far from the only pick on the market place.
v.11 Tactical sent us two different weight vests to examination, the five.xi TacTec Plate Carrier, which we're reviewing here, and the newer 5.11 TacTec Trainer Weight Vest, which may not have the same popularity, only is a fleck less expensive and has a more fettle-oriented design.
After a few weeks of testing the TacTec Plate Carrier in my workouts, I'm sold on the unabridged weight vest concept. But is the rugged belong actually the best choice for your home workouts? Read our full five.11 Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier weight vest review to meet what we liked, and what we didn't.
v.11 TacTec Plate Carrier: Toll and availability
The 5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier is sold through a number of retailers, including Rogue Fettle, Dick'south Sporting Goods and Adorama, every bit well as a huge number of tactical supply outlets. With a list price of $220, information technology's definitely one of the more expensive weight vests out in that location, but it's got a rock solid reputation among both professionals — both the physical fitness and constabulary and military types.
The TacTec Plate Carrier comes in four colors:
- Ranger Green
- Blackness
- Storm Gray
- Kangaroo Brownish
The belong can be used with a variety of weights, but our review sample came with the 5.11 TacTec Weight Plate Sandbag, a set of fillable sandbags that fit into the Plate Carrier and have the same overall contour every bit a metal weight plate. A prepare of ii costs $50, bring the total cost of our vest setup to $260.
For a sleeker, more fitness-oriented accept on the plate carrier design, check out our review of the 5.eleven Tactical TacTec Trainer weight vest.
5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier: Design
The TacTec Plate Carrier is, first and foremost, tactical combat gear. Non "combat gear inspired" and non "tactical" in the sense that information technology comes in black and lets you adhere a carabiner or ii, but legitimate military and police gear worn in the line of duty. Just, by swapping out ballistics-rated armor plates for heavy weights, the same plate carrier works as an fantabulous piece of fitness gear.
The gainsay gear artful volition be a selling betoken for some, and off-putting to others, but in that location is an undeniable ruggedness to the belong design. The 600D polyester used in the vest'due south structure will stand up to all sorts of abuse, and the diverse hook and loop closures and padded straps and torso panels manage to residuum comfort and functionality.
The military features offer some customization and holds everything deeply in place, with plenty of aligning and features similar MOLLE webbing for attaching accessories, such as a hydration pack or water bottle holder.
In other instances, that military design means there are features that the boilerplate fettle user will never demand, like a take hold of-and-drag handle in the back of the belong, and an emergency quick release handle in the forepart that pulls apart the cable that holds the front and back halves of the vest together. It's the sort of thing that may be useful for SWAT team members in crisis situations, only adds zero useful for abode or gym workouts.
The belong features webbing attachment on front and back, along with a laser cutting attachment console that works with any Velcro-like material as well equally strap-attached gear.
five.eleven TacTec Plate Carrier: Setup
Loading this thing is the first claiming you'll run into before you ever outset your workout.
Because it's designed as much for 18-carat tactical use in combat as it is for your next WOD, it'south super secure. Perhaps likewise much for regular working out. In that location are overlapping velcro flaps on the front and back panels of the vest. Open those up and you'll find the interior pockets for the weight plates, in our instance the sand filled weight plate replacement sandbag.
But inside each weight pocket yous'll find more velcro, with two sets of internal straps in each pocket. At showtime glance it's a tangle of nylon webbing and hook and loop material, and it's a niggling confusing every bit you're trying to get everything split and out of the manner then that you can put in the weight plate.
Later on a lilliputian examination, I realized that there are two sets of straps, a pair of lateral straps and another pair of horizontal strips. These work in conjunction, sticking to each other with velcro, and so securing inside the plate pocket with nevertheless more velcro.
Once the plate is seated in the pocket, you can cinch downward the lateral and horizontal straps, velcroing them to each other to secure them, and so sticking them to the interior velcro of the pocket to further secure the plate. Similar I said, it's a lot. Information technology makes sense when you lot're talking near torso armor for the SWAT team, mayhap not and then much for someone looking to get for a jog.
The adept news is that once the weight is situated in the belong, and fully secured with the various straps and flaps, it should exist relatively maintenance costless. Unless y'all want to adjust the weight in the vest, you could but leave it fully loaded, ready and waiting for your next workout.
5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier: Fit and adjustment
The plate carrier is worn just similar body armor, it goes over the head, bib style, with two shoulder straps. The sides are secured with a heavy duty elastic cummerbund, a wide waistband that secures in the front with hook and loop. This is so farther secured with a big claw and loop flap that holds downwards the cumberbund ends, keeping everything snug and secure.
The design is literally boxing tested, and does a very skilful job of distributing the weight and assuasive you lot to clothing it as tight or loose as y'all prefer. In addition to waist adjustment, you can also alter the shoulder strap length for a tighter or looser fit up top.
With padded straps, stretchy elastic and layered fastener panels keeping everything snug, the vest does a neat job of belongings everything equally tightly to the trunk as yous want, while still giving you lot breathing room — a literal result in this case, especially when you accept a 10 pound sandbag strapped to your chest.
Adjusting the shoulder straps and cumberbund waist band is likewise a flake of a procedure. Since the belong uses an internal cable to hold the ii halves of the belong together, yous really need to pull the belong apart earlier resizing anything. 5.11 has a helpful YouTube video to walk you through the procedure, merely the whole affair is pretty involved. The expert news is that you won't likely need to adjust the vest fit more one time.
Loading the vest with weight is as well a trivial complicated. The front and back panels of the belong are compartments that tin can exist filled with several types of weight, from specialty weight plates to standard barbell plates, or (in the case of our review sample) a sandbag.
The front and back plate compartments are secured with Velcro forth the bottom of the edge, but inside there are two L-shaped straps to concord the plate or sandbag weight in place. Between the compartment closure, the straps and the adjustments on the sandbag weights that we were provided with, in that location's a lot of Velcro to manage when you lot put weight in the vest. Exist ready to accept the various bits of Velcro sticking to the wrong thing a few times while you become the vest loaded the offset time.
Once the weight is secured with the L-shaped straps — which hold the plate in position both vertically and horizontally — it's a pretty snug concord, and then the weight doesn't shift.
v.xi TacTec Plate Carrier: Weight
For our review, 5.eleven sent united states the TacTec Weight Plate Sandbag, which is designed specifically for use with the vest. Filled with sand they allow y'all load up the vest to 20 pounds of total weight, but they're easier to transport than traditional steel plates.
Selling for $50 for a set of two, they're too significantly cheaper than either the light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation cut steel or cast metal used in other weight options. Yet, considering they don't come with sand, the sandbag option is a petty more labor intensive to fix up.
The sandbags are made of the same 600D polyester fabric that the vest is made of, with a heavy duty hook and loop closure on 1 edge and hook and loop straps that tighten down to remove any backlog slack once the bag is filled to the desired weight.
The material is backed by rigid plastic boards to retain the correct shape. It not only prevents bulging, information technology too helps the bags maintain rigidity while loading the vest and working out. The pocketbook itself has a bifurcated, 2-compartment blueprint, which helps spread the sand evenly across the vest, minimizing any shifting or jutting from settling sand subsequently the handbag is total.
A rolled hook and loop enclosure at the bottom of the sandbag does a surprisingly good job of preventing leaks — in my weeks using the sandbag with two different vests, I never noticed any stray sand in the belong, or when switching the weight from one vest to another.
The only consequence that the sandbag presents is the need to buy some sand — a fifty pound handbag of all purpose sand does the trick for about $v — and the quondam hassle of filling. While a plastic cup and a bath scale are really all you need, you will want to accept care to make sure that you fill up the two compartments of the sandbag evenly. Also, just a tip from someone who'due south done it, yous'll desire to fill this outdoors, or put downwards some sort of a drop material, considering there is no mode to scoop 20 pounds of sand without making a bit of a mess.
I filled the 2 bags to 8.75 pounds each, for a total of 17.5 pounds. Combined with the weight of the unladen vest, information technology totals out to 20 pounds of actress weight. This effectively filled the sandbags to maximum volume, so going heavier would require a unlike fill fabric, such as BBs.
The filled purse is and so cinched tight with the three aligning flaps. One time it's filled and adjusted the sandbag feels pretty solid, without any of the shifting and unstable load that you might think of with granular fillers like sand.
5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier: Conditioning
In actual utilize, the five.11 Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier is a highly constructive slice of equipment, letting yous ramp upwardly the intensity of almost any activity. To put the vest through its paces I wore it for a handful of workouts, including a brisk 30-minute walk, a simple calisthenics routine (pushups, squats, pullups), and a HIIT boxing workout with a heavy bag.
The only issues I had were that the vest was a little beefy. And note just because you use information technology to strap sandbags to your body, but the straps and cumberbund themselves are chunky, and add some majority and friction to movements that you might not want.
There's an emergency release handle in the front — another one of those features that's more for combat operators than fitness enthusiasts — but the position of the handle is such that information technology would occasionally rub uncomfortably on my pharynx and collarbone. Some fine tuning of the straps fixed the issue, but the fact that I had to accommodate a characteristic I'm non likely to always use was irritating.
The padded shoulder straps and vest panels kept everything fairly comfortable, but the mesh textile used on these padded sections is a fleck rough. You lot'll definitely desire to wear a layer under the belong. A T-shirt did the trick just fine, merely some customer reviews and user posts online suggest that performance fabrics — think moisture-wicking Under Armour — volition really get damaged by the rough texture.
On the whole, the vest did exactly what I expected it to do. Information technology held the weight securely, leaving me free to worry about my form and focused on grinding out reps instead of existence distracted by shifting loads on my chest and back.
five.11 TacTec Plate Carrier: Verdict
The 5.eleven TacTec Plate Carrier is considered by many to be the gold standard for weight vests, thanks largely to its prominent utilize in the CrossFit Games. And it'southward like shooting fish in a barrel to see why, with serious durability, a wide range of customization options and a design that'due south both functional and comfortable.
Just compared to five.11's other weight vest, the 5.xi TacTec Trainer, I think this model is a great selection, only not the best pick for pure fitness gear. It's more expensive, it's bulkier and more than complicated, and there are non-fettle features that simply aren't helpful for non-military users.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/5-11-tactical-tactec-plate-carrier
Posted by: dennardgilleach.blogspot.com
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