TacArm Alta modified Ballistic Elbow Pads
To further expand TacArm's soft armor line they now offer ballistic elbow pads. These are created by taking Alta elbow pads (53010 series) and destitching the main soft padding so it can be removed. This then creates room for the kevlar insert to go in which starts at level II protection. This is plenty enough to stop most frag and can stop many pistol rounds. If you plan on dropping all day on your elbows, the padding might be missed, but I felt the pad with ballistic insert was comfortable enough with "normal" use.
If you don't mind paying extra and were going to wear elbow pads anyway, these TacArm versions are an easy tactical choice. The weight gained due to the insert is very minimal and very little impact comfort is lost. The user can treat these elbow pads like any other, but gains substantial protection. For those who already have Alta pads and are in the DIY spirit, there is the option to buy just the armor insert. Just to check options I also inspected some classic Hatch elbow pads, but since they are made a little smaller than the Altas, the TacArm inserts wouldn't have fit in very well.
Using the same tech and concept, inserts are also available for Alta knee pads (504 series). Be sure and check those out as well.
<www.tacarm.com>
OPS-CORE ACH - ARC Helmet Rail System
I first saw these back in shotshow 2007 and am recently pretty jazzed to get my hands on a set. If you ever wanted to mount something on your helmet, usually one has to do some drilling, creative gluing, or add on some velcro. With the ARC system the user has a solid platform that allows attachments to be easily put on and off, yet also can be locked down for security. In a pack you get 2 main rails, 4 longer screws with backs, 2 Picatinny rail inserts, and 2 create-a-mount inserts. The main rails are made of some heavy duty polymers so are tough, yet lightweight. They have a nice organic no-snag design to their shape making them HALO / HAHO capable. On that note I'll go ahead and assume one will need the inserts taken out to safely do such actions, too bad that would be the best time for a helmet camera :) The rails also have 2 hole slots in the back area so one can mount them to S-M helmets or L-XL helmets. Installation would have been easy, but the thread-lock on the long screws made tightening extremely difficult. There just isn't a great way to hold the screw mounts while one tightens the screws so they just slip around. After scraping some of the thread-lock off with a knife, I was able to get a decent fit. OPS-CORE acknowledges this issue and made a pdf showing a method using 2 flathead screwdrivers to help screw installation. <Tips PDF>The rails make a straight parallel line with the side of the helmet. This makes usability easy, but I wish the rails curved with the helmet. With a curve, one could adjust if the mounted object is facing slightly left or right by where placed on the rail. As is, mounted objects will face only straight forward no matter where placed on the rail. The Picatinny insert is metal and uses the central grooves of the main rail to lock into. A lever allows adjustability, but a screw also is integrated to lock the insert down when desired. The other inserts are lighter duty being made of plastics and use the upper and lower notches of the main rail to lock into place. The create-a-mount insert has 3 holes to assist in screwing items onto it. Variants are also available such as the camera mount which also have an o-clamp style piece attached to the insert. This one is specifically made for helmet cameras like the VIO POV.1, but can also work with small flashlights. The cool thing about this mount is that one can keep the screws a little loose and be able to adjust up and down direction on the fly. Sadly there still is no left and right directional control. Although with the ARC system I can't get a good gun-cam view, I can get a good helmet camera view to generally see what I see. Other inserts available include one similar to the camera one, but works with the surefire x200-x300 lights and a double camera mount is available. Technically one could mount the x200-x300 surefires to the Picatinny inserts, but the mounts made specifically for them allow for up and down angle directional control. My first request for a new available mount would be for one to hold a larger flashlight around surefire G2 size. Since the camera mount was made for a camera, there are very few flashlights small enough to fit. Offhand one will not be able to use standard helmet covers with the ARC system, but specialty helmet covers are available for when both when required. If you are on the hunt for a modular helmet attachment platform with more security than velcro-like options, I highly recommend checking out the ARC system.
<ACH-ARC ORDER FORM PDF>
Bonus VAS Shroud info from OPS-CORE:
Although I do not have one to review, I thought my readers would appreciate knowing about it. The following text is from OPS-CORE:
VAS Shroud is a low-profile Shroud for mounting Night Vision Devices to ACH, MICH, PASGT, and Lightweight Marine Helmets. It was developed to replace the original helmet “hook and strap” mounting system issued for use with the majority of PVS 7/14 systems currently fielded. And while the hook and strap mount system does offer the benefit of being quickly removable, it has drawbacks with respect to weight, stability and snag hazards.
With the advent of other “permanent” NVD mount products from various manufacturers, many of the stability and snag issues have been improved. Unfortunately, these systems require users to replace their current solution with completely new mount arm and shroud components that cost hundreds of dollars more, and yet offer essentially the same level of attachment functionality. Worse yet, these new NVD mount designs actually increase the amount of weight in the shroud, which must be carried around on the helmet at all times (like during the day) when the NVD is not even attached.
The Ops-Core VAS Shroud offers a simple upgrade solution to give anyone using the Standard US Army Mount Arm #A3256368 the increased performance of other high-end mount systems at a fraction of the cost. Not only does it resolve all of the deficiencies in the original hook and strap design, but it is also the lightest, lowest profile and least obtrusive “permanent” mounting solution currently available.
We are now in full production for all black, tan and green versions and have less than 30 day lead times.
<VAS ORDER FORM PDF>
TacArm ACU Ballistic Elbow and Shoulder Pad Inserts
SPECS:
ACU Ballistic Elbow Pad Insert- Threat Level II - 5" x 6" - 4.5 ounces
ACU Ballistic Shoulder Pocket Insert- Threat Level II - 4" x 5.5" - 3 ounces
I had a chance to check out the knee pad inserts earlier and luckily I now also have a set of elbow and shoulder inserts to show you guys. In the same concept as the knee pads, these pads are made to fit inside ACU pockets with no sewing or mods required. Both are rated Level II protection (24 kevlar layers) so offer great frag protection and can even defeat a .357 Magnum pistol round. Of course the bruise after that would be quite a sight, but it sure beats getting shot normally. The pads fit into their designated pockets fairly easily, yet fill them up enough to prevent shifting. As with the knee pads, it doesn't matter which direction the pads are inserted, which is nice to not have to worry about. I recommend picking a consistent insert direction to help with breaking in flexibility, but the user does not have to worry about any protection loss if they forget.
The elbow pads go into the ACU elbow pad pocket, as you probably guessed. This area is wider than one might first think of an elbow area to be to give some wrap around coverage. The placement is actually mostly on the forearm instead of the middle of the elbow to make arm usage less restricted. The result is good coverage on the forearm and enough on the actual elbow joint to keep it protected as well. The upper part of the elbow is unprotected so consider this when doing a backwards elbow strike. Although the Tacarm elbow pads will keep your elbows from getting scraped or stabbed, If you bang your elbows a lot, adding in some simple foam elbow pad inserts in addition to the ballistic pads would be in your best interest. This way you can have both ballistic protection and some blunt force protection. The price of the protection is some minimal added weight, less breathability causing heat, and slight decrease in mobility/comfort.
The shoulder pads go into the shoulder/bicep pocket. Rather than being a common physical impact point like the knees and elbows, the shoulder pads are geared toward specifically adding more ballistic protection. Some may find these a less obtrusive alternative to the full size standard issue bicep armor pads. Although the Tacarm pads offer less space coverage, they are lighter and don't come in contact with any joints to keep comfort as high as possible. Since most users are used to having something in their shoulder pockets, adding in the ballistic pads is quite a non-event and hardly noticeable when worn. Depending on your pocket contents, the Tacarm pad may be useful as a pocket divider in some cases. The main down side is loss of some pocket space and some minimal weight added.
They may be simple, but I find all of the Tacarm ballistic pads to give great protection options. Since they use the existing pockets, they are not a hassle to take in and out multiple times in one day to adjust as the mission requires. The more you use them, the more flexible they become allowing them to become less noticeable to the wearer. Also keep in mind these pads will work with many military tops out there such as the SKD Enhanced Combat Shirt (BDU) and the, Tactical Response Uniform (TRU), any that are ACU-like. For those in high risk areas that want some extra protection, but don't want to be weighed down with too much "fluff", I highly recommend checking out what Tacarm offers.
<www.tacarm.com>
TacArm ACU Ballistic Knee Pad Insert
TacArm is a small company that is lesser known, but has some great ideas. They noticed the problem that the issued vests were generally doing the military right, but many limbs were still being severely wounded due to lack of protection. Due to this, Tacarm's current specialty is extra soft armor protection for your main combat uniform. Although they offer fully modded uniforms for maximum armor holdings, they also offer armor that will fit in your standard uniform as is. I got a hold of the knee pad inserts and have been beating up on them for a little bit. These can take near any frag that could come one's way or even pistol rounds. The inserts are 5" x 8.0" and are 7.0 ounces for level IIIA or 5.0 ounces for level II. They are simple in shape since made to fit in the ACU knee pad area. They fit the intended kneepad pocket well causing them to stay in place with no flopping about. Luckily other pants have been adding these knee pad areas and I was able to put them in my 5.11 Tactical TDU pants and my ICE-Tac pants. Alternatively they will also fit in the cargo pockets horizontal or vertically. It doesn't matter which way you put them in, the protection will be the same no matter which side is facing out. As straight up knee pads they only offer a little relief from hard blunt forces, so if you plan on banging your knees around you should add in simple thin foam knee pads like 5.11 Tactical offers. First impressions are that the pads are a little stiff, but if your pants and belt are on right, the pads are surprisingly not too noticeable. I've been running around with them so the armor has become more flexible as promised on the site. When doing some actual rucking it is recommended to have socks that come up high enough to meet the pad's bottom. Without the pad some abrasion can start to occur. Since the armor is in the pant and not strapped down to your leg, they aren't too much hotter than no pads at all. While running, the pads started to turn slightly away from my body, but I did not find this to be an issue for impact and would actually be preferred in an IED situation. My feelings so far is that the mobility and comfort price is reasonable for what the pads can offer in a hostile environment. I wouldn't take them up into a mountain patrol, but would be useful in urban patrols and convoy operations. (*NOTE: I perhaps am not qualified for such advice, but those are my thoughts). So the end result, TacArm has a great line of soft armor to allow those in high threat areas to add protection as desired which can easily be put in and out at anytime. I think most will agree a pair of pants that are completely level II rated would not be practical. TacArm's pads offer a nice middle ground in the classic dilemma of armor vs. speed.
<www.tacarm.com>
Ops-Core ACH Head-Loc™ Retention System - X Improved MICH strap
I showed this a while back in my shotshow footage, but now I finally got around to showing some up-close pics. This is the business right here, the differences are immediately noticable. Due to the custom plastic hardware and connection design this strap is very easy to adjust while still on your head. Up and away is to losen, Down and toward is to tighten, very intuitive. The standard MICH strap, on the other hand, pretty much only allows tightening while on and it isn't that easy to do the back straps. The bulk of the Ops-Core strap is made of Nomex so you can count on fire resistance when disaster occurs. The creator wanted me to note the desert color shown is more golden than he would like and this is not the final color. As you may have guessed, Nomex color selections aren't as vast as typical milspec webbing. Besides the ease of use, the Ops-Core strap is much more stable as well. For those with NVGs or those who just like to headbang, you will appreciate the improvement. I've been trying out the X-strap version, but apparently the H-strap version has even more stability. Both are offered since some will like the fit and feel of the X-strap version more. Installation is easy just like the standard MICH strap. The Ops-Core strap is currently available in sizes of S/M and L/XL and colors of Foliage Green, Urban Tan, and Black. Both versions can be purchased with main buckle on left or right side and a 3" extension strap is now available for use with gas masks. Here is a link to the shotshow vid if you missed it: <OPS CORE DEMO>
<www.ops-core.com>
Revision Bullet Ant Tactical Goggles
For those who want a mid point between glasses and goggles, Revision made these. The kit comes with a nice pack of instructions, lenses, dust sock, and of course the carry case itself. Durability specs are up to par with Revision's usual beyond compliance of military ballistic goggles with no lens distortion. Although vision is good for this style of goggle, a lot of peripheral vision is lost compared to 1 lens style goggles like the Desert Locust. Prescription inserts are available using Revision's clip in system. The Bullet Ants generally feel good on my face, but were very prone to fogging on my tests so far. One such instance was while playing ultimate frizbee. To add insult to injury I took a nice shot to the eye right after I had to raise my goggles since I could not see due to fog. Perhaps tearing off the foam that covers the hex vents would help the fog issue. More on the plus side, I think they look pretty cool and I like the quick strap adjust hardware on the right side. I was able to quickly adjust comfot while the goggles were still on. Those who want the full protection of a goggle, but not the size of 1 lens goggle may want to check these out. Other notes include the Bulletants were made for optimal compatibility with the British Army’s Mark VI helmet and the design lends itself to work well for Special Air Force Operations. Check out the revision site for all the detailed technical specs:
<www.revisioneyewear.com>
Revision Sawfly Glasses
The Sawfly Glasses aren't exactly new, but that doesn't make them any less great. They meet and exceed all the Military ballistic requirements and thus have become US military approved eye-pro. I display here which appears to be the "Deluxe" Kit with a Soft carry case. The frame part is semi-flexible with adjustable arms. The arms have 5 positions which allow adjustability to most heads. When I first put them on I thought I was going to go crazy from temple pressure, but soon found I could easily adjust the arms for a comfy fit. Even then there are 2 frame sizes of regular and large. The tips have rubber to help stay on your head and on optional strap comes with the kit which snaps onto the arm ends. The Sawflys already stay on one's head pretty well, but it is nice to have the strap if you plan on some vigorous activities. Changing frames is easier than expected in which one places them in the frame slot and "rocks" them in or out of place. It is nice that the nose pieces come with each lens and can be interchanged. The nose pieces also connect with Revision's prescription inserts like most of their products. Peripheral vision is overall great. While looking directly forward, I just see hints of the frames in the top of my view. Since an open lens design, the fog resistance is overall great as well, but I was able to fog them up during sports activities. They did however, unfog on their own with less activity rather than requiring a full wipe down. As you may have guessed, each lens type did its job well. The dark lens made for good sunglasses, yellow enhanced cloudy or dim light situations, and clear was good for unmodified vision. Although new, apparently tan frames are now available which have slightly different rubberized arm ends. Check out the revision site for all the detailed technical specs:
<www.revisioneyewear.com>
Revision Desert Locust Military Goggles
Revision hooked me up with a pair of these goggles at shotshow. I haven't made it to a base trip yet, but I have been wearing them off and on and I did send a coworker with them to a SFAUC trip. He was quite happy with them and did not fog despite near freezing weather. My impressions so far: These are a great size delivering protection with as much field of view possible. Kit comes with carry bag that has a pocket for a spare lens, in this case the tinted one and a cover sock was also included. The Desert Locust is one of the easiest goggles to change lenses out of. Just pull up on the frame and the rest is easy. I worry it may be too easy and perhaps the frame can start to become un-attached on accident, but I have had no issues yet. Just in case you didn't know, most lens changing on goggles is balls hard. The strap detatch is also fairly easy and can be done by twisting the end piece away from the frame. Re-attaching is a little harder, but nothing dramatic. The seal against the face is just a rubber-like material, but still comfortable. The nose area does not push in on my nostrils at all like the Flakjaks do a little due to its padding. The Desert Locusts fit great with a MICH and just barely touch the rifle when aiming with a fully collapsed M4. I can get a nice sight picture without feeling the goggles fighting against the rifle to get my face where it needs to be. Although these are not made to wear with glasses, prescription inserts are available. I hope to update with a vicious fog test soon. The DLs have anti fog coating and foam covered vents, but thermal lenses are not available yet. Check out the revision site for all the detailed technical specs:
<www.revisioneyewear.com>
*UPDATE: I was able to recently do a quick fog test of my own. As expected, 1 balaclava on a cool day plus a 1 mile run, = a good batch of fog. I do however feel the same would occur with ESS profile goggles.
KP Industries Tactical Ultra Flex III knee pads.
So although I didn't "need" any new pads I thought I'd check out these fancy pants KP industries knee pads. The 2 piece hinged system looked like a good way to get full knee motion range without resistance. Not too long ago I took them to put them through a quick beating on my SFAUC visit. Beforehand, First impressions out of the box were a little so-so since the way they are stored, one pad pushed in on another in a mesh bag, causes 1 pad to be bent in a bit and one pad to be bent out. You can see these effects clearly on pic 4. The bent in pad caused unwanted pressure points on the extremities of my knee area. Moving on, The elastic straps were secure and easy to use. Just drop through the hole and push back to lock in, and adjust as needed. The straps extra slack will flop around so its recommended to make an elastic holder or wrap them as seen in pic 3. The pads are also functionally symmetrical so you can reverse the sides where the connections end up. One can just switch the left and right pad to go from both connections to inner/outter leg, but if one wanted to, you could setup the pads to both connect on the right or left. Once I got them adjusted to semi comfy, I proceeded to do some knee flops on misc outdoor surfaces from grass, mulch, dirt, to pavement. The grass was a little wet so I had an amusing slip and slide effect going on, but hard stuff like sidewalk wasn't too friendly too the plastic. Damage wasn't anything substantial, but scratched them up propper. The important thing learned was that I could knee flop some very hard surfaces, but the KP pads kept my knees damage free. Another observation was since there was no padding on the top half of the pad, a slight pressure point occurred at the very top. As you can see from my silly pic 7, when the knee is fully bent, some of the knee is exposed, but I did not find this a problem since it was not a collision point in most cases. Later on the SFAUC trip I gave them a good breaking in wearing them full days for about 5 days. The bent in pad settled down a bit and I appreciated the thin straps. Unlike many other kneepads out there, at the end of the day the back of my knee wasn't all torn up from the strap causing abrasion. I didn't use the pad retention system of my pants, but they still held up great running and didn't do the classic knee pad straight down to the ankles shift. The SF dudes were amused by the look of the pads and called me robocop time to time, but also partly from the fact they started to squeak. Was odd for them to suddenly go from silent to squeaky on the last day, but I made a vid so you can hear how bad it was, but also show how easy it was to fix with some WD-40. They have been squeak free so far and I'll give the pad my vote for best exterior hard kneepad out there due to ease of motion and comfort once broken in. If I get motivated I'll glue on some closed cell foam to the top half and perhaps change out the black elastic for OD or coyote. <Squeaky Vid>
KP Industries Tactical elbow pads.
The KP elbow pads didn't impress me as much as the knee pads, but that doesn't necessarily make them bad pads. The main reason external elbow pads are rarely used in the military is that the upper strap almost always falls in the elbow joint and causes abrasion and or resistance everytime the arm is bent in. Since the KP elbow pads are not on the hinge system they suffer from this upper strap problem. Furthermore, since I'm <monkey> sized, I have to tighten the straps near as far as they can go. This causes the triglide to be all up in my inner arm joint adding to the strap problem. I need to take more pics, but the loop velcro placement seems unrealistic even for a beefy guy. The straps seem to depend on velcro-ing to the elastic rather than loop velcro. The stick of the velcro and elastic is decent, but it clearly is not good for the elastic causing it to fuzzy up after about 10 strap on/offs. Strap problem aside, the protection is good. I can go out and running elbow the side of a building without damage issues and the added forearm protection is a plus. This is good for actions such as long low crawls. The strap being further down the arm due to forearm protection also seems to assist in preventing the pads from shifting, but after activity it seems the elbow strap is doing most of the hold work. Since I knew I'd be running around bending my arms all the time, I didn't take these on my SFAUC trip. Overall these pads are good pads when it comes to elbow pads in general, but I was hoping for improved comfort.
HATCH Knee Pads WC:
Simple and Affordable classic knee pads. Overall offer good protection and cushioning with nice flexibility. Since I'm <monkey> sized I can't tighten these as much as I would like and rely on the specwargear pants with knee pad retention system. Otherwise these guys go straight to my ankles after a sprint. Earlier I tried attaching surgical tubing from my belt to the pad strap which apparently caused a lot of stress on the pads breaking one buckle and starting to rip one of the sew points as shown in the pics.
HATCH Knee Pads WC:
Simple and Affordable classic elbow pads. My <monkey> size also fights me on this product with the straps not having enough velcro to cinch as far as I would like. Thus after vigorous activity they tend to shift. When I get them in the right place, they can work quite well, but when shifty they can make bending one's arm abrassive. Which is hard to avoid when using guns all day long.
CVC HELMET + SKYDEX PACK Conversion:
I wanted a Super-Light weight helmet for my helmet cam and misc use and came up with this guy. Bought a cheapo Small CVC helmet at the surplus store for $20 and then got a SKYDEX PASGT pad conversion kit from Safety Systems Corp. It came with an alright chinstrap, but I ended up using the one I took off my main MICH. Drilling 2 holes in the back was pretty easy, but hard part was getting the loop-velcro-like pad inside the CVC shell off. Otherwise the SSC Skydex pack had everything I needed: Straps, pads, screws, velcro, and even alchol wipes for prep. At $75ish mil price this is a much more affordable package than the Oregon pads and I'll note the Skydex wont harden in the cold! I started with size 6 Pads since it was a small helmet, but later got a size 8 pad pack and like it better.
Sorry for the crappy first pic, it is how it comes packaged.
MICH Monkey Style:
My MICH: did a wing-it camo job and velcro addon. Have semi recently added more medium browns (not shown). Replaced black strap with foliage one from supplycaptain.
ARENA INDUSTRIES FlakJak Goggles:
I was on the lookout for some good non fan anti fog ballistic goggles and thought I'd give the FlakJaks a try. At first I wanted to get the full vision of the Mozambik, but after contacting Arena they said they were for non helmet use. Call me crazy, but it would have been nice to just put that intel on their website.
Anyway, I got a good mil price on them at safety systems corp and got to beat up on them a bit on a base visit. The anti-fog performance was great. Being up in WY it was a little cold, but after running around to heat up, the FlakJaks still kept the fog away. I kept at it hard and water/sweat started to condensate on the lens which caused some blurring, however I don't think any goggle is going to prevent this. Specifically I have a "Low Flow" version of the FlakJaks which just means the "Razorback" vents are fairly compact. The manual says to not remove the vents, however they appear quite easy to remove and replace. If one were to come across extra vents I see it as a possibility to put in ones appropriate to the environment. Now when it comes to vent performance, the vents clearly aided in the anti-fog, but for being low-flow I can't exactly recommend them for full vehicle use. After kicking up dust in some rough rides in a hummer, the amount of dust you see in pics 4 and 5 are all on the inside of the goggle. Most of this dust snuck in from side blasts and is a very fine dust, so my eyes didn't have too much problem with what got in.
The field of view is overall great, but when mounted on a helmet such as a MICH, the strap connection pushes plastic into view. The plastic isn't a blinder or anything, yet would be very avoidable by just making the strap connector piece rounded rather than mostly square. You might have a better understanding of what I am talking about by looking at the right side of picture 6. Otherwise the strap adjustment and release system works well, I see now I need to take a picture of it.
I haven't had a chance to fully use the super special purple lens, but works well toning down the sun. The main purpose of the lens is to fool the eye to allow the eyes to go from bright environments such as outside to low light environments such as inside with faster eye adjustment times.
Overall I find the FlakJaks to be a solid ballistic google with superior anti fog qualities. Along with the rounded side connection suggestion, a matching OD green strap would also be a nice touch.
