Review: Global Gear - Zombie Outbreak DeadHeadvest

Here is another fun piece from the Global Gear's Zombie Outbreak "Tactical Response Gear", which I've already covered some items from, the Hydro Bugout Pack and the Grunt Plate Carrier.

This time, it's another chest rig, the Dead Head Tactical Vest, in the same multicam looking pattern as the Grunt Plate Carrier, and in this case, is very similar tot he look of a couple of other vest's I've seen come up recently on Dvor: and OpsGear as well.

However, Global Gear is local, and I'm always keen to cover things that local businesses  stock. No point having to wait 6 weeks shipping when the zombies come, is there?

What can I tell you about this vest?

Firstly, like the Grunt Plate Carrier, the pouches are made of a textured vinyl, finished with nylon webbing. This isn't as big an issue for me on this vest, as the backing is a nylon mesh material, to which the pouches, webbing and other panels are sewn.

The left side front panel of the belly of the vest is covered with loop-field, to which is attached a twin magazine pouch panel, with a retaining loop of webbing. This can be swapped out for the included "fast draw" pistol holster, which for some reason comes attached over the left shoulder. (More on that later). As well as the removable twin-pouches, the left side features a single fixed magazine sized pouch. Above these are a triplet of pistol magazine / flashlight/ utility pockets, and a small radio pocket at the left shoulder.

Over on the right side, over the fairly chunky mid-line zipper, are three more fixed magazine pouches, each with the elasticized sides, hook-and-loop fixed lids and drainage grommets that this line features. Above these lays a wide admin type pocket, that has a panel of four shotgun shell loops of elastic attached to the lid with hook-and-loop. these could be removed to put a nametape or ID to the chest. The right shoulder is fitted with a thinly padded patent-leather panel, as a shooters-rest.




The back of the vest features three sets of three reinforced bands of nylon, like a kind of "super PALS/MOLLE" which is apparently for fixing larger tools to. This is actually a pretty good idea, as I'd like some way of attaching my Stanley FUBAR, my DeadOn Annihilator Superhammer my Fiskars log splitter or the ever needful Deuce by Zombie Tools to my rig, and these loops offer a means.

You can also see the "quick-draw" pistol holster that is currently attached to the back, left shoulder. Why you'd put a pistol holster here is a bit beyond me, unless its there for a buddy to draw, but I made use of it anyways, slotting my RangerHawk axe in it because I'm fond of keeping something handy for close encounters....

The pistol holster includes a small pouch for an extra magazine, or perhaps in this case, a sharpening stone. A hook-and-look lashing secures the holster through one of the d-rings present on top of each shoulder.

 A couple of neat features are that inside each of the front panels is a zipperable pocket, for paperwork, or items you want to keep more secure. The main back panel also features a hydration pouch pocket, behind a hook-and-loop seal, although there are no attachment points to hang one.

The vest comes with a wide belt, adjustable by virtue of being hook-and-loop sandwiched between nylon webbing, with a big fastex style buckle. Each side of the belt features a removable single pistol magazine/flashlight pouch, and is mounted tot he vest by virtue of a set of press-stud and hook-and-loop loops.

You can see here the three size adjustment straps for the the torso, fairly standard, but a great add to be able to adjust to fit yourself comfortably. One issue I had was that the chest piece seemed too tall, in that the front and back sagged a little, although I may need to adjust the shoulder pieces, but this only does so much.

I found that this vest was a  higher quality construction than the Grunt plate Carrier, mostly by virtue of not being mostly all vinyl, other than the pouches, and it certainly would suit a costumer, recreational hunter, weekend adventurer or MilSim player very well.

Review: Zombie Outbreak Hydro Bugout pack

Following on from my Zombie Outbreak Grunt Plate Carrier review, is another item in this line, again, thanks to Global Gear for sending them my way. This time I'll be showing you a daypack. This is the Hydro Bugout Backpack and here is what I can tell you about it:

Styled closely to that of the Maxpedition Typhoon or the Maxpedition Malaga from their Gearslinger range"

This is a smallish pack, measuring in at 30"W x46"H x 5"D with a storage capacity of 25L and happens to be loaded with features. One of the first things you notice about this pack is that it has some serious compression strap options. The front strap arcs over the top of the pack via two straps forming a v-shaped yoke over the front top external pouch, then connects to a webing strap that runs the whole length of the pack, with a Fastex style clip closing the two ends, and a D-ring pull toggle to assist in compression. The v-straps have sliders to adjust their tension as well.



The backside of the pack shows off the adjustable, and removable shoulder straps, a feature I really like, as it gives a whole new dimension to modularity and storage, carriage and orientation of the pack. At the top side of the straps, two close d-rings give a friction-feed closure to the shoulder straps, via the thick and heat-sealed webbing straps, before meeting the closed-cell padding of the harness. The front side of the shoulder straps feature more webbing, with PALS/MOLLE loops here and there, and more d-rings for attachment options. A light sternum strap, again removable, and can be relocated to best suit your needs.

The bottom of the shoulder straps is a more traditional tri-slide type buckle, but is seated on reinforced triangular flaps, giving a nice secure mount to the back, without pinching or pulling the pack. A wide belt with adjustable and removable straps finished off the mounting options. It's also good to note that the back is of a breathable mesh. The last notable feature of the back is the hydration bladder pocket, with a broad hook-and-loop closure and an internal webbing loop to hook a bladder to. I have had trouble fitting a 3L bladder in it, it simply isn't tall enough.




This is the top, front pocket, which is both surprisingly deep, and compressible, is a double sided zipper closing accessory pocket. The front of the pouch features a loop-field backing which has a single row of five channels of PALS/MOLLE loops. However, because of the stitching, only three of these rows are available. The loop field, being bisected by the MOLLE loop webbing, is only just wide enough to carry a nametape.



The front bottom pocket is even more spacious, holding my 1L Zombie Squad Nalgene bottle with plenty of space to each side, for more accessories. Again, as with the top pocket, it features twin zippers and deep sides, and has the main compression strapping running over the top of it. This poses something of a problem, as it limits the ability to get into the pocket to some extent. The front of the pocket features two of the same strips of PALS/MOLLE as the top pocket, this time backed with webbing bands instead of the loop fields of the top pocket. Two short compression straps mount to the bottom band, and allow you to really bind the pack, cinching it in tight.

This is the first and front of the two big internal compartments. It is a fully unzippable pocket, allowing it to be opened flat, and emptied fully, easily. You can see the utility pocket, with it's twin pen holders, and a single deep utility pocket. This is a good shot of the material used in the bag, it is a heavy, plasticized fabric, quite rugged, and whilst not a Cordura type of finish, it seems to hold up to wear well, and presumably adds some significant waterproofing.

The stitching is also clearly visible, and is of quite reasonable quality. The internal seems are all taped, which is great, as it lends considerable survivability to a pack like this, especially if things are constantly being stuffed in, and hauled out roughly...

Inside the second main compartments , which this time does not quite unzip all the way due to the bottom compression straps riding slightly over the base of the zipper, is deeper than the first compartment, and also has the additional bonus of two large pockets. The first sits against the back of the first compartment, and is made of mesh, and is deep enough to hold my iPad comfortably, and securely. The second is against the back of the pack itself, and is zipper closed, but only runs about a third of the depth of the pack, presumably to not eat into the hydration bladder space.

Here is the whole pack, stuffed full of blankets, books, bottles, clothes, and showing you the V-straps of the top compression straps, as well as the two additional single row, double channel PALS/MOLLE loops that are found on the side of the pack. The top seam also features webbing loops for dummy-cording or running a hydration bladder tube which I always like.

You can also see the drag-strap type of heavy rolled webbing handle at the top of the pack, and perhaps under that you can make out the mysterious elastic webbing square. I had initially thought this was the feed-hole cover for the hydration tube, but there was no slit for that purpose. It is also covering a square of loop-field, again, with no clear purpose that I can discern. A mystery, but not an unpleasant one.

Here is my typical load out, when I was teasing carrying it around. It packed quite nicely, and I was please with not only how each compartment filled out.


Lastly, I'll leave you with this: some might call the ultimate test of a daypack: here the Hydro Bugout is stuffed under my Virgin Australia Airbus 330 seat...

I like this little pack, it is well put together, full of features and carriage options. Certainly a good bug out bag option. I think I will be loading it up and putting it in a easily accessible location for the whole family.

Review: Zombie Outbreak - Grunt Plate Carrier

I was very pleased to see when I got my email newsletter from Global Gear that they were going to stock a fun new line, the Zombie Outbreak: Tactical Response Gear. I got in touch with them to see what they could tell me about the line, and they were kind enough to send me a few examples, which I'll be reviewing over the next few weeks.

Here is the first example, a Plate Carrier called the Zombie Outbreak Grunt in multicam.

I was really excited as I haven't looked at a quick-release/cutaway plate carrier before, and this one looked feature packed, which is something I always value.

This is a fun set, and I am really glad to have added it to my costuming collection, it will give me some great additional costuming for my MilSim and Stargate Lasertag LRP events.

Here are some of the things that I can tell you about the Zombie Outbreak Grunt plate carrier:
  

It comes with a front and back section, which includes flank flaps, in place of a cummerbund. Those flaps connect with hook-and-loop as well as having Fastex-style buckles (which are part of the Quick Release Cutaway system, and I'll get to that later). The shoulder connections are again hook-and-loop, with additional adjustable nylon webbing fastening to add to the security and load-bearing of the set.

The front and back are fully PALS/MOLLE webbing covered, but unfortunately the top four set of strips don't match up fully to the bottom four sets, either in rows, or the 1" gap between channels, making cross-linking of accessories a bit difficult, but not impossible.  You can see the drag handle at the top of the back, it is nicely reinforced and bar-tacked onto the shoulders of the back panel.

Some of the stitching was a little off, too, but again, you'd have to be looking pretty close for this to matter.

The first set of accessory pouches that come with the Grunt are a three- M16/M4 magazine style set of pouches, half-magazine sized sides, with elastic siding and a hook-and-loop closure on the lids. The backing features plastic reinforced PALS/MOLLE strips, to allow it to be connected immediately, without any accessories like the ITS Tactical MOLLE Stix.

The second accessory pouch included is an admin panel, which features two paperwork pockets, eyelets for threading dummy-cording, and a GPS/phone/flashlight pouch, with a hook-and-loop webbing strap. The admin panel also features a broad square loop field for affixing patches.  As with the first pouch, the backing features plastic reinforced PALS/MOLLE strips for attachment.

The third and final included accessory is a utility / flashbang pouch, which was originally mounted on the back panel, but I prefer to have my pouches around the front for ease of access. Elastic webbing pockets, on the back and front of the pouch give plenty of storage options, drainage grommets and webbing hinge-holders add to the functionality of this zipper closing pouch.

As with the first two pouches, this accessory features plastic reinforced PALS/MOLLE strips for attachment.

The inside of this pouch is also a little informative. You can see the pale green backing of the backside, which shows what appears to be the textured, heavy vinyl construction of both the pouches, and the entire plate carrier itself, rather than the woven 500-1000 denier nylon that companies like Cordura produce, and is the mainstay of tactical gear and apparel.

The plate carrier pouches inside the front and back panels were a nice touch. They included a sheet of closed-cell foam padding, as well as a sewn-in webbing strap to assist in removing the plate, and a hook-and-loop closing pouch style closure. You can see here that I've included my typical plate substitute polyethylene cutting board. You can also see the internal finishing, and again, the vinyl material the set is made of.

Here is the inside view of the front plate carrier pocket, obscured by the Quick-Release Cutaway cables (yes, in lurid Toxic Zombie Green, much like the scales of my KA-BAR Zombie Killer knives.) The strapping for the Cutaway system sort of closes off this access, which means to load it with plates, you'd need to activate this system first, then replace it.


Lets have a look at that Quick Release/Cutaway system now. For those of you who have worn body-armour of any description for a length of time, you will probably agree that getting it off in a hurry can be a real pain. More so when having to do it in an emergency. (boo hulu) Injury, accident and duress add to this, so having a system that does it swiftly is a real boon.

The system is that a pull on the webbing loop at the bottom of the front of the plate carrier pulls these plastic coated steel cables, releasing the cords thread through eyelets that hare holding the sides, and tops of the plate carrier together. Here you can see the wire nestled in its seating, and the cords looped around it.

Once the cable is pulled free, the buckles and webbing holding the plate carrier together can be bypassed, letting the user tear the hook-and-loop free, and clearing the way to treatment or escape.

Here is the same system at the shoulder, where the cords wrapped around the cable, and fed under webbing to keep them out of the way, when pulled free, allow the shoulder pieces to tear away.

This is a really ingenious system, and whilst it is a pain to put it all back together, I'd rather have those extra seconds of medical aid/egress or mobility in almost any situation, to have the time to spend putting it all back together when needed.




here's me giving it a test.....

So, to finish off, here are some pictures of me in it. As I've said, I was really pleased to receive these (and other items, to come) and they have certainly added new dimensions to my wardrobe and costuming options. It was great to get to see how a quick-release system works, and definitely has some nice features, but I was a little surprised by the construction, both in the materials and care put into finishing. However for a substantial fraction (along the lines of 1/3 - 1/4) of& the price of leading lines, this is a option that really looks the piece, without breaking the budget.

Don't get me wrong, this is an excellent costume piece, and would probably even suit paintball, airsoft and recreational hunters as well for those who are happy with form over function, but it isn't what I'd stake my life on. A real bargain for what it is, especially with all the included accessories, and it certainly "looks the part". I expect to see a bunch of these at IRL Shooter events coming up!