Review: Platatac GBH-R hat

Since getting myself a tandem AquaYak, we've been getting out on the Bay a lot more, and I wanted to get myself some sun-protection for under my bump-helmet.

My dad had kept his US GI Boonie hat when he left Viet Nam, and I swiped it, but it seems as I've grown both up and out, and it's too tight to really be comfortable these days. I'm guessing his short-back-and-sides gave him a bit more room than my ponytail does, too.

I'd seen the Platatac GBH and GBH-R and thought it was time that I updated my cover. (1968 boonie on right, for scale and reference.)

I went in and after some back and forth to get the right fit, I settled on the GBH-R (which has a narrower brim).

This is a feature packed hat. Hats have features, you ask? Yes indeed. so, apart from the obvious; fit and cover, which the GBH-R provides with a circular stitched brim to add stiffness, it also features a sew-in cord chin-strap, with a traditional leather cord-lock (I remember teething on my dads). Inside, a mesh lining with hidden vents adds heat dissipation and wicking to keep hot heads cool.

I chose the pre-dirty looking ATACS-AU for mine, which is made of the windproof Nyco ripstop (the Multicam version is 100% Crye cotton ripstop). You can see it here up against my Multicam First Strike Snatch Bag  which shows off the subtle patterns of the ATACS-AU, this is my first piece of this particular camo scheme and it is "street capable", in that it doesn't particularly -look- like camouflage, in the way Multicam or Auscam DPCU does.

The GBH-R also features a hidden internal shock cord retention around the brim, with cord-k at the rear to adjust tightness. 

There are a very robust set of branch-loops around the side band, which are bartacked onto the hat, and these are both well spaces and generous enough to stuff a variety of items, be they local foliage, spares, or even lures.  I plan on rolling a coil of paracord around mine, following Stormdrane's fine examples. 

Lastly, the GBH-R features a 35mm x 35mm loop field on the crown for IFF patches and badges. I have a glow in the dark patch on mine currently, helping me find it in the dark of a tent overnight, or the bottom of a kit bag. 

I tend to wear mine "sides up" with the chin-strap acting as a retention loop. The hat has stretched to fit nicely, especially helped by some hot weather tree-cutting I did, getting good and sweaty, which also proved the quick cooling and drying properties of the Nyco ripstop. The other thing I like is that the whole hat is fabric, meaning it is both lightweight and crushable; when not being worn it can be mashed into a pocket, or into a pack, then pulled out, flipped open and it's ready to wear. 

Review: TruSpec Combat Shirt

 I snapped up this shirt from eBay, and have gotten a lot of utility from it. Not surprising considering its design origins.

This is the TruSpec Combat Shirt from Atlanco.

The key thing about this kind of shirt, and the reason I wanted one, was that it combines a 60/40 cotton/nylon blend t-shirt material body with a rugged 65/35 polyester/cotton ripstop blend arms and shoulders. Cool and comfortable torso, tough and rugged arms and shoulders for hard wear and outdoorsy adventure.

Basically I wanted a work shirt that would be good to wear in the long hot Australian summer, in or out of my gear. I always look first to military gear, because i know that it is often built extra hardy, and, essentially, for badassness.

The TruSpec shirts however, have added functionality that is well worth covering. As well as being a breathable, wicking and fast drying ,aterial, the "No Melt, No Drip" Cordura Baselayer fabric is reported to reduce the severity of burn injuries and helps protect against flash fires.

Considering my proclivity for being too close to fires, both controlled, wild and just being stupid, I thought this was a great additional feature that whilst I didn't intend to test to stringently, would come in handy.  As well as what it is made of, the folks at Atlanco gave some thought to those who might be wearing it, and what other utility they would look for. Both biceps house a zippered storage pocket, angled for ease of use.

They also feature loop-fields for attachment of patches, here i've got one from Strike Industries, who make the Simple Plate Carrier pack and Tactical Sling Catch i'm so fond of. 

I've also got a double sided call-sign panel from PatchPanel and one of their IR IFF squares in the built in tape-covered area. Very clever way of making this a "need-only" system of ID.

The other arm features flag, rank and nametape fields, as well as the zippered pocket.

You can also see here the padded elbow patch, with its double stitching and placement to really add to the build.

It was also great to not e that there were no shoulder seams, and all the seams were flat, which really minimizes chafing and pinch-spots, especially noticeable when carrying a pack, or doing repetitive work like chopping wood or digging in a field.

I also liked the cuffs, which also featured hook-and loop closures, to keep nature out, but also the gusseting that kept the fit true.

They offer these in several different sizes, in a variety of colour schemes. I opted for Large/Long in order to accommodate my super long arms, but could have done with a "medium" body fit, i think. The Khaki/Sand option sat nicely for me. You can see here how the tough shirt sleeves poke out of my First Spear OAGRE vest, whilst my torso has the softer wicking cotton/nylon t-shirt.

All in all a very comfortable, rugged and practical shirt, and one that I expect to get a lot of hard wear out of, no matter what I throw at it, or myself into.

Review: Griffin - Mossy Oak Survivor iPhone case

One of the contacts I made whilst at the SSAA SHOT Expo was Peter Ferrigno of Griffin Technology, who showed off one of their pretty hard core iPhone cases. I've covered a couple of cases before, in the Snow Lizard SLXtreme case and the Opt Silicone Armor case.

Being a Sporting Shooters type event, Griffin was displaying the Mossy Oak variant of their Survivor range, Peter was kind enough to send me one to have a play with.  This is a three part case, which Griffin report being compliant to MIL-STD 810G standard.
 
Griffin demonstrations for this case include imbedding it in a block of concrete and hammering it free, which is pretty impressive. The three components of the case are the main body, the removable face-plate, and the belt clip.Here's how the whole case it put together:

The outer cladding is made of shock and vibration-absorbing silicone, whilst a polycarbonate shell provides the outer structure and is also the patterned component, for your Mossy Oak needs.

Inside the outer cladding, the inner structure is again the hard polycarbonate plastic providing inner support and is backed up with foam padding to add to the internal shock absorbance.

A scratch resistant polycarbonate screen cover clips into the main outer cladding at six points to lock into place.






The belt clip attaches via two clasps that lock onto the top and bottom of the phone, and will work either way up, to suit your tastes and how you wear your rig.

You can see here that the back panels of the phone have a couple more polycarbonate sections with the Mossy Oak pattern showing through. You can also see the clever swiveling camera port, which is inset into the backing.

These ports follow the same pattern for all the access points of the camera, and whilst they don't offer submersion-level protection, I imagine that they would shrug off anything but total immersion. This is a weather proof case with a lot of thought put into the needs of the outdoorsman.

Each of the audio port, mute-switch and power socket ports are covered with a thick, snug fitting silicone plug, hinged and deeply set, almost difficult to open, so no risk of accidental exposure.

 I found the home button a little tricky at first, as it needs a good solid press to activate, but once I have the angle down pat, it was a breeze to operate.

The polycarbonate screen protector was really responsive, and tactile, which was a nice change from the somewhat sluggish response from the SLXtreme case, even with a film screen-guard on my iPhone. The audio was pretty clear, both receiving and making calls, and the front facing camera still worked fine for all my tacticool selfies.

The belt clip deserves some more description too. Fully swivel-able, in stiff slicking fashion, the clasp itself has a latch over the opening end, to lock it closed, to prevent accidental un-clasping when you are belly crawling in the wilderness. It also will lock open, and back, to create a stand, which is a nice addition.


 The all-important PALS/MOLLE test was a great success, and showed that not only did the tongue of the clip fit into the channels nicely, but that it could be swiveled in place for optimum viewing angle, and detached from the backing for use easily, and replaced just as easily.

The biggest drawback I had with the case was that the power socket plug was too small for me to dock with either my in-car music/charger or my desktop docking clock-radio. However, when I was out and about, this wasn't really an issue.

Being a clip-on cover, and the way the access ports close, this isn't a submersible case, which means I wont be strapping it to my chest on my next Tough Mudder, but it IS really weather resistant, which means I can keep using my phone in Melbourne's inclement weather, and not worry about shirting it out.

All in all this is a very rugged and hard wearing feeling case, and I have no doubt that I could hand it to any of my kids and expect to get it back fully functioning, if a little sticky. Perfect for distracting them when taking out zombies or triffids in the front yard!

Review: CE Jay Engineering - Phoenix Jr IR Beacon

As I posted recently, I had a surprise delivery arrive, and wanted to let you know all about it. A "restricted export" item, I feel very privileged to be able to play with it, hard to get out of the US.

This is the Phoenix Jr IR strobe beacon

This 30x20x20mm (1.2x0.75x0.75") block of acrylic weighs only 8.5g (0.3oz) and has a 9v battery attachment point on the bottom, slightly covered by a lip. Inside the acrylic you can see the three IR LEDs and the simple controlling circuit board. Simplicity in design! 

The 9V battery will provide 200 hours of strobing, according to CE Jay Engineering, and even after draining the battery of its primary charge, they suggest that giving it a2-3 hour rest can eek out a short while of extra strobing, in a pinch. The flash rate of 20 milliseconds every 1.3 seconds was specifically chosen to prevent confusion with small arms fire, which is a VERY good thing, to my thinking. 

The clear case, and design allows for a 360 degree viewing angle, from around the beacon, and a 240 degree viewing angle from the vertical( due to the battery, obviously). 

Whilst not "waterproof" the beacon is purported to function whilst immersed until the contacts fail due to electrolytic corrosion. That's pretty impressive. No switches, no moving parts, just the 9v connectors. Plug in a batter, and it's on. Pull battery off, and it is off. 

I tested it with my Yukon 3x42 NVG, placing the beacon on my car and walking down the street until I lost line of sight, and I have no doubts that this beacon would be visible for hundreds of meters more. To get a decent photo, I took it inside, and with my iPhone, took a couple of "down the relief" shots.

Unlike some IR LEDs, those used in the Phoenix Jr are totally invisible to the human eye, with no tell-tale red pulse. This means for covert use, either in static positioning, or secreted on your person, and even through clothes, you can signal to NVG equipped observers. 

I am throughly impressed with this piece, and am going to see a out placing an order for the non-export restricted waterproof carry case for it. I think this kind of item that would be ideal for assisting Search And Rescue teams finding me in the event that I have a misadventure. That or IFF when I am out laser tagging. 

Review: Tactical Tailor - Concealed Carry Sling Bag

This is the second item in my series for David Reeder of KitUp! and Casey Ingels of Tactical Tailor, and I am thrilled to be getting my hands on another pre-release item, which made it's way over the Pacific to me here in Australia. Due to be released later in March, hopefully this review will stir your interests and imaginations.

I'm always keen to include inconspicuous items to my repertoire, both in my EDC, and how I go about lugging it. Recent air flight trips reminded me that having a high density and easy to store carry-on bag is very desirable. My trial of the Zombie Outbreak Hydro Pack was a good experiment, but when it comes down to it, I want something rock solid. I am happy to say that the Concealed Carry Sling Bag by TacticalTailor is that. Made predominantly from a 500d Cordura, in blue-grey and black, this is a sporty looking pack that has a sting in its tail.



This is an ambidextrous pack, with a single central main padding shoulder strap, with twin detachable straps, with an interesting styled clip at the end of each, anchoring to a ring at the end of the shoulder strap. Each of the detachable straps features a long webbing, sufficient to create a "third leg" style wrap around connection, to keep the pack stable on your back when running, climbing and generally adventuring.

The shoulder strap is heavily padded with a breathable mesh covering, giving both really solid padding, broad coverage over the shoulder and a wide attachment to the body of the pack, giving a very stable connection. The top of the strap to pack connection also features a very sturdy carry handle. It appears to have a Helium-Whisper compatible loops down towards the strapping end, but I don't have anything compatible to test that out on.

Another nice feature is that both detachable straps have a padded "wing" for where the webbing would otherwise dig into your kidney, both of which have webbing stitched in, not quite PALS/MOLLE proportioned, but certainly compatible, if you wanted to affix an accessory. Topping it off, there is a pocket behind the wings on both sides to stow the detached strap, if not being used as a "third leg" to get rid of dangling cords for a more streamlined fit.

Inside the main compartment, which has double zipper pulls, each with a hefty cord pull-assist, which works to give out a full opening compartment, which as you can see can fit a variety of goods. When filled, this compartment nicely fits the depth of my Zombie Squad Nalgene, so that makes a good guide for how much stuff you can lug in this section.

Inside the front compartment, which is fitted with a long daisy-chain of webbing loops running vertically over it's surface, and sporting another two cord-fobbed zippers for closure, you'll find the first of two hidden surprises is pack had to offer. Fitted to the loop field that makes up the entire of the back surface, is an adjustable pistol holster. This hook-backed panel loops around on itself to give an adjustable width, and has an accessory strap to accommodate the length of your pistol. Off to the side of the panel is an elastic loop to hold a spare magazine. I've not decided what I will use this holster for, not having a pistol to carry, myself, but I'll be sure to find something to use it for. This compartment easily holds a Nalgene bottle, with some spare room at the sides.

At the very back of the pack is where the real secret lies. Behind a very inconspicuous zipper, blended right in with the seam of the grey Cordura and the meshed-foam backing is another cord-fobbed zipper, (one for each side of the bag for true ambi action) is the final compartment, held snug against your body, for the concealed carry win.

Again as with the front compartment, this has a broad loop-field panel, encompassing the entire back, and comes with a very thorough admin panel, but this can be fitted to the front compartments panel, swapping out to suit your needs. Currently I am keeping my iPad in is compartment, until I can think of a better use for it, but as it is, it's a very secure and stable storage pocket, with a billowing inside backing to accommodate your packing needs, without giving away your secrets.


Here is that admin panel, showing off its five internal elastic webbing loops, for pistol magazines, flashlights, multi tools or a variety of other chunky items. On the outside, two more wide elastic loops run lengthways, each topped out with a second, narrower elastic bang, sectioned into two, ideal for pens, glow sticks and markers. Finishing it off is a zippered pocket, giving you a very versatile and being hook-backed, modular piece of accessory to suit your needs and loadout.



Lastly, here's a shot of me having slung the bag from back to front, showing off how level it rides. From here I could quickly access all three compartments with a yank of the cord-fobs, and get at my needfuls. Ideal in a travel situation, ideal in a hazardous situation. When I'm hauling a big load on my back, but still want access to my iPad, papers, food or EDC kit, this functionality, being able to have a comfortable, slung pack at my belly comes in very handy. Whilst a bit too small for my comfort as an everyday pack, (because I haul a lot of junk around) my partner Omega was quick to snaffle this one up as an out-and-about pack, that wouldn't weigh her down, be too "hooah" looking and tough.

This sling bag is all of that. And more.

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.

Home Front: Walled security?

One of the thoughts coming on from thinking about the Urban Preppers seen on National Geographic's "Doomsday Preppers" is what to do to prepare in the event of "bugging-in" to secure and if needs be, fortify one's location.This is our little house. I've shown this shot before. We have this little rendered weatherboard place, wide window frontage, white picket fence. The3re is a bolted wooden gate for access down the side of the house to the back yard, and along the street-facing side of the street, a single window with wooden shutters. The back yard has a falling apart wooden fence and a steel rolling gate set in concrete.

So, being the consummate scavenger and opportunist that I am, I have always kept my eyes open for alternate dwellings, should disaster strike, and we decide to "bug-in" locally, but not necessarily at our place. On a local street is this promising fenceline. Note the bluestone (basalt) fence abutting a red-brick type fence. Great coverage and security you may think.

The problem lies here. The edge of the solid frontage is another wood plank fence. There goes your unassailable castle-wall... Still, the height of the stone frontage, and the coverage of the treeline give you an "out-of-sight" advantage that our white picket fence does not.

Even the stone wall wont stop even the most average able bodied intruder, but it does at least present a physical barrier, and shelter from that front.

Just down the road a bit further is this gated and walled place, again, some gate is better than none, and the high stone walls gives that "out-of-sight" protection too. The gate is a bit of a problem in that regards, again, but some hastily applied scrim or boarding would solve that. 


Again, the problem is the side fence. You can just make out here, another wood-plank fence, but again, behind a dividing and obscuring tree-line.

So, what to do? well, having lived in hurricane affected Houston I have witnessed what storms like that can do to glass frontages like I have, so, for non-society breakdown triage, it will be boarding and taping of our place, and perhaps "bugging-in", to abandoned local places we are still scoping out.

Review: colours, cams and gear

A little while ago, I mentioned I might do a review of my variety of cams and colours. Here goes I suppose! I gathered my collection of kit and clothes, and made a pile, sorting out the different cam patterns and this is what I came up with. I have placed them against each other so you can get an idea of what works with what, and where one might wear them.

(1) Desert AUSCAM/ DPCU "bunnies behind a rock" shirt.
(2) Desert Camouflage Uniform "coffee stain cam" shirt
(3) AUSCAM/DPCU "hearts and bunnies" Raven pack accessory bag
(4) M81 Woodland on my Stargate LRP pants
(5) Multicam "scorpion cam" on my Half-Med kit

I was gifted both the desert patten shirts, and don't have matching pants. Would love to get some in DCU, nostalgic to my years living in Dubai.



Then I noticed that my Woodland pattern things were slightly different, notably the pants I wear at Stargate LRP lasertag(4) were different to the (6) 3x30rdn Mag Pouch I reviewed, which is again different to the (7) Lazy Patch Duvet suit I have. I don't know how much of a difference this would make in effect, I suspect the differences are slight enough not to matter.
My colour preference for kit is khaki, because being a soft green, and not "camouflage", I feel I can wear it in social and urban settings without standing out too badly like a mall-ninja, but I have a collection so here is some more to compare and contrast....

(8) Platatac CSI folder in their Khaki
(9) AUSCAM pistol holster, appears to be "larger" print than the pack or jacket.
(10) Hill People Runner Bag prototype in Khaki
(11)  BlackHawk! Advanced Kneepads in Coyote Tan
(12) SCAR mini chest rig (review pending)in Tan
(13) my Drop-leg holster in Woodland
(14) my fathers OD boonie-hat from Vietnam (1969-1970)

As you can see, the differences between khakis/tans/ODs  and how each of them sit against the cammo patterns can be quite striking. Having made the choice to wear the once-common and standard Woodland to fit in with the Stargate LRP idea I've been running with, it would still be easy to transition to the now popular and apparently very effective Multicam, which is probably much more suitable to the Australian scrub, whilst still sensibly utilising my extensive khaki kit.

Review: Lazy Patch Duvet Suit

Winter is Coming. I am really not fond of the cold. I have lived in Denver in the US, Surrey in the UK and Calgary in Canada, so I am no stranger to "proper" winters, with snow, sleet, black ice and exploding water pipe misery. That's one of the reasons I am so pleased to be living in Melbourne, all in all, we have very mild winters here. The temperature rarely drops below freezing. The weather is however, very changable and the butt of many jokes....

Either way, I dont enjoy being cold. I'm usually happy to put layers on, with a t-shirt, a vest, a polar fleese jumper like the ones I have reviewed, and the like, but there are times where I just want to rug up, sit at my computer and watch hilarious people hurt themselves whilst family records it for YouTube. Thats where the Lazy Patch Duvet Suit comes in perfectly. They also get called Doona Suits, but thats a cultural thing I think :)

I  got mine a few years ago, a gift after spotting them online, these are in fact made by a Melbourne based comapny, which pleased me to no end. What they are is a set of pants and jacket, made of fluffy doona material, with a cotton inner and outer laer, stuffed with 100% polyester. The great thing is that they are made as an "all over" outfit, being extra long in both wrist and ankle length, which is especially good for a long limbed critter such as myself, regular pajamas usually leave me with bare chilly skin.The Lazy Patch suit jacket also is cut long to ensure you have good coverage and no sneaky drafts stealing away your precious body heat. The jacket features a large pectoral pocket, and two good-sized hand pockets as well as a very high collar, giving you doona all the way up to the cheeks for that all-over body warm feeling.

The zipper on the jacket is double ended, so you can regulate your airflow, for when things start to warm up. The pants have a drawstring closure, which normally would perturb me as I don't have much in the way of hips, but tying them up , combined with the squishy nature of the doona-pants, have never given me pause to worry about loosing them. They also feature a set of pockets, which is great. Lazy Patch have recently started shipping their suits with a clip on hood to reduce the loss of heat from the head (but please note the old "75% of your heat loss is through your head" myth was busted). My suit pre-dates this however, so I can only guess at their awesomeness. They also make booties of the same material to complete the all-over body cocoon of warmth. Now, obviously, my suit is in Woodland Cam, but they offer a variety of other colours, mens/womens/kids cuts and the like. These aren't weatherproof, being cotton based but for those times when you are going to be cold but dry, they are really exceptional for keeping you warm, not weighed down with layers and layers. Purpose built to keep you snug, indoors. That said, I've taken these camping frequently, great for those nights around the campfire and the early morning dashes to the calls of nature.

They have a new product, an all encompassing suit they call the Pouch Suit. This looks a bit more rugged,
outdoors capable. I'd love to give one a try. However, till then, I will be spending more evenings in my Duvet Suit, trying to remember not to wander to the shops in it, more for the cammo than anything else.

So, come the storms, snow-drifts, blackouts, I'll be ready. And warm.