Review: 215Gear Ultimate Riggers Belt

I've been wanting a decent, MilSpec belt for some time now. Something I could wear day to day, and not look like too much of a dork with metal grommet-ed webbing everywhere. I frequently carry a number of things on my person, often on my belt. Drink bottles, hammers, axes, phone, small satchels, my coyote tail (no, really). All kinds of things, time to time. I'm very fond of going "hands free", and having a belt dig into my boney hips one too many times led me to do some research. I managed to find something that fit not only my aesthetic visually, but also met my desire for a rugged, dependable and multipurpose item. A Riggers Belt.

Following a link I saw online, I was lead to 215Gear, who's Retention Lanyard I reviewed recently and settled on their "Ultimate Riggers Belt" over the slightly less awesome but still impressive looking "Enhanced" version. Both belts are made from parachute quality webbing, and "7 Class sewn" throughout. The webbing is doubled for most of the belt, and is adjustable via a full width and very long hook-and-loop band which feeds through the male end of the very spiffy anodized aluminium "Cobra Buckle" which has a quick release safety lock, which if I read correctly, has a 9kN rating by itself, with the whole belt rated at 18kN. (NB if you are baffled by what all these load ratings really -mean- have a read of this document, essentially, anything more than 12kN is going to mess your body up, but the belt will hold). That's good enough for me! It should be good enough for anyone who doesn't have a T-800 endoskeleton. 

Apart from the awesome buckle (which I feel the need to add, has confused some testers when trying to undo it), being a Riggers Belt, it features a bunched loop hole for use an an attachment and anchor point for a carabiner for a Retention Lanyard, accessories, or in a pinch, an emergency rappelling/belay point as demonstrated by the awesome team at ITS in this clip. 

The only drawback I have found with this belt is that the buckles are quite wide, and I've had trouble wearing it with some pants with sewn on loops. I -could- detach the male end buckle and feed the belt, reattach it and off I go, but its just been too much effort. Similarly, the belt is too wide for my multitool pouch's belt-loop, so I have to pocket that when I wear this belt. Again, I -could- adjust, just laziness on my part. 

Awesome, awesome piece of gear. I'd stake my life on it. I probably will, soon enough.