All posts tagged 5.11 Tactical

5.11 tactical bags and accessory pouches

It seems that everyone and their dog has making nylon gear but there is a very big difference  in the quality.   We’ve sold a ton of clothing over the years and it often amazes me about the customers that have pointed out product defects.   There have been stitching issues with just about every clothing manufacturer and sometimes missing buttons.  Nobody is perfect but there are definitely customer service issues and consistency differences.  5.11 tactical is King of the tactical accessories and clothing, but there are several smaller companies that do things better and have their own niche.

As an internet based business we don’t stock everything in our Pennsylvania location and we ship from multiple locations.   When it comes to stocking gun cases and rifle cases  we have chosen to stock the Elite Survival Systems product line because it just seems more interesting.  Don’t get me wrong the 5.11 gun cases we sell are very nice and to each his own when it comes to choosing a gun bag.   The 5.11 rush messenger bag is a very popular gun bag and it might just be the right size for what you need.

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Summer and Spring options and the transition from tactical pants

We sell a lot of clothing via our online webstore and now that we have a retail location here in Pennsylvania we have people driving 2-3 hours just to try on some of the products we sell.  In 2011 we some of the most turmoil we have ever seen in the production of tactical clothing, we saw Eotac fall off the face of the earth, price increase,  companies leaving China and long waits to get in new production clothing.   We have heard from many of our customers that anything over $40 for a pair of pants is too much, but with inflation, it’s hard to stay under that unless you want to buy the failed tactical product lines.

Last Summer we were surprised to see how much the Blackhawk Lightweight pants sold and after trying them out for ourselves, we were kind of surprised people liked them so much.  Although these tactical pants seem to be made well, the fit on them just seemed too restrictive and several of our employees told us that they liked the Eotac, Woolrich Elite and TruSpec tactical pants the most.   Every style of   pants has a different appeal, but the hardest thing to do is to carry all of your gear in your tactical shorts that you were wearing with your pants.   The Woolrich Elite 44905 shorts

 

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Wearing the right pants for the job

I recently took a trip for work where I figured that I was better off getting there on time than going back home and getting changed into my Woolrich Elite 44429 pants and then going back to work again.  Every once in awhile I still need to make the novice mistakes of cutting time out of a project and then creating a problem.   Brain farts are coming amonst males and last week was one of them.   There are plenty of times where I want to go out and really am not in the mood for wearing any kind of tactical pants. It’s nice to be able to put on a pair of pants and just go and not have to load up all of the flashlight, guns, magazine holders and knife and just go.

Well, without going into too much detail, I missed not having pants with wide hand pockets and it go really annoying that my flashlight got turned on in my pocket because the other stuff that I had to put in there kept hitting the on switch.   Most good tactical pants will be big enough to fit a j-frame revolver and even if you aren’t carrying a gun in your pocket, that amount of space means keys, flashlights and magazines tend to not fall out of the pockets.  The way the stitching is done, the gear will catch on the pocket lining before and reduce the chances of something falling out.

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3 suggestions for the 7 day CCW holder

If you are a 24/7 concealed carry holder you probable already know most of this, but there are always new carriers that can use the advice and avoid discomfort and irritation.  I like many before me stared out carrying a 1911 45acp and felt well armed, but after several years of either bruising myself or having a holster fail, it was time to move to something smaller.   The 1911 is actually a very good gun for CCW because it is very thin and not really as heavy as some of the other 45acp guns.   The Springfield XD is probable the second most popular firearm but that thing is a tank when loaded to capacity.

I have many friends that have carried the 1911 in the small of their back, but to me this is something that can cause grave injury.   The whole tactical pants market is absolutely flooded to capacity, but there is no reason that with an elastic waistband, you should be able to carry a gun at 3 or 9 o’clock.   If you can carry a gun on a paddle holster you can usually get away with carrying a larger firearm, IWB is for thinner guns depending on your body type but that usually means a single stack firearm.  And then there is always pocket carry and  thing is by far the most comfortable way of carrying.

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Woolrich Elite style 44429 pants

There is still an awful lot of confusion going on for customers that have been buying the Woolrich Elite products since their original inception.   The thing we’ve always liked about selling Woolrich products is the name basically sold itself.  That’s a hard thing to do in this cluttered tactical clothing market, but I have to say that 90% of the times people have walked in our doors and saw the name Woolrich, they always referenced a jacket or layer of clothing that they’ve had for decades.   There have been some changes since the original Woolrich Elite Series clothing came out, but the quality of the products has not changed.

Looking over all of the  items that have sold over the  years in our store, the Woolrich Elite Style 44429 mens tactical pants is one of the most popular.   These tactical pants are built like a tank and the only thing some people have said that was negative was that they were a little on the  heavy side.   I’ve compared them to some of the 5.11 tactical pants that say they are 8.5 oz cotton canvas, but both pants do not weigh or feel the same.  There has also been a slight product SKU change from the original Woolrich Elite product line.  The Style 4429 pants are the same as the 444429 pants.  The only real change we have seen is the wallet id pocket has been slightly altered and opened up.  If  you wore Eotac style 202 pants, this is really the only alternative.

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5.11 Covert Casual Pants Review

Today we got in a large quantity of the 5.11 tactical line, everything from Tactical Polos, EMS pants and the 5.11 parkas.   5.11 really has the EMS market and from what our customers have told us, it really is hard for them to even look for another brand.   Yesterday we got some complaints about some of the product that have been discontinued, but not everything that has been  discontinued was for reasons other than it was a  slow seller.  Sometimes products changes occur and recently some major production issues coming from Asia caused clothing to completely dry up.

The 5.11 Covert Casual pants are to this day the vest fitting 5.11 pants I own, but I’m still very annoyed that there regular line does not fit me so well.   Some of this may be subjective about tactical pants fitting properly, but I have 12 different 5.11 pants in front of me and only this one gives me the movement that I need.   The Covert Casual pants are made in some very nice colors other than the boring Khaki colors that everyone seems to make pants in.   The pockets are a little over thought, but if you can use them, you use them.

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We want to hear from you

There are few tactical clothing companies that have really gained some traction in the tactical community and others have fallen off the face of the Earth.  Some were due to poor quality, bad designs or the economic problems of making clothing in foreign Countries were cotton prices have sky rocketed and that’s going to put a shot to the market.   Some companies seem to be more secure than others but we recently heard that some clothing manufacturers have raised prices almost $20 for a pair of pants.   Meanwhile, you can still get some 5.11 tactical pants for under $30.   I’m still amazed at the people that won’t pay more money for something that will hold up better thus making your money stretch out.

We were in this debate years ago when the tactical market exploded and competition was everywhere.  Since there have been cutbacks in military deployment and many of the private security contractors have left Iraq we have noticed a bit of a slow down, but it’s still up from a decade ago.   Woolrich Elite tactical pants are a few bucks more than some of the competitors but to this day it’s still one of the least complained about products we’ve sold.  Every once in awhile there are complaints about buttons falling off or tearing, but that’s all.   All clothing will shrink even if washed properly, we want to hear from you about what  you want us to stock and what you think about the situation in the tactical clothing industry.

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All those tactical pants and what to choose from?

We recently got in another shipment of Blackhawk Warrior Wear and some of the Tru-Spec 24/7 in limited quantities.  Like many companies out there we have been trying to monitor what is going on with the clothing manufacturers because there are plenty of credible rumors going around about people leaving China and looking elsewhere.  Much of the 5.11 tactical products are geared to Law Enforcement and EMS, and they do a great job of keeping that market, but there is plenty of room for competition for comfort and quality control.   We’ve done a few movement tests with the tactical clothing that we got in and Tru-Spec was the hands down winner.

The 24/7 line from Tru-Spec would not pass as concealed carry pants  in my opinion because real concealed carry means not looking like you are packing a gun.  Most of the 5.11 tactical, Blackhawk tactical pants and even Woolrich Elite and the defunct Eotac line look very similiar from a few feet away.   The big difference is the fit in my opinion.   Guys with different body sizes mostly guys that are body builders.   Sometimes people forget this and that is why there are so many tactical clothing companies because none of them can accommodate everyone.

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Fall is around the corner, don’t get caught in the cold

This is one of those times of year that you have no idea if you should be taking the air conditioners out of the window or leaving them in.   Usually you decide to pull them out if after you wake up in the morning and it’s 45 F in your bedroom because the temperature dropped in the middle of the night.   There are also seasonal changes at this time of the year in the Northeast where you walk out the door and freeze until your car warms up and then by late morning you are sweating and have to take off your jacket or a sweatshirt that you thought you had to wear all day.   One way to avoid the shocks in the season changes is to stick with lightweight pants until it get’s really cold.

The best deal we have running on tactical clothing right now are the now obsolete Eotac tactical pants.   They are going for $29.99 for all sizes and colors and these are the lightest weight tactical pants that you can find.   Some people don’t like the fact that they can wrinkle but if you hang them up after washing them, they really aren’t a problem keeping wrinkle free.   100% cotton ripstop material is something invented during WWII for our soldiers serving in the Pacific where bugs and heat exaustion were a problem.   Going from wearing tactical shorts in the summer to where heavy weight pants in the fall and then sweating your you know whats off isn’t fun and the lightweight tactical pants are the way to go.

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Labor Day sale at Rogue Elite

We will be bringing in more tactical clothing this fall from 5.11 tactical and Blackhawk as well as Tru-Spec.  We have heard lots of good things about the Tru-Spec 24/7 pants and considering that they are Gunny approved, we’ll have to say they are Rogue Elite approved.   As the American economy slows down, we’re waiting to see what happens with the clothing manufacturing business.   Cotton prices are still way up and some of the t-shirts we have brought in are almost $2 more over last years pricing.

Some of the tactical apparel that we sell got really expensive while others have slowly worked their way up to the inflation that we have expected.   We’re still running a great deal on $30 tactical pants from Eotac that has sadly gotten run down to the minimum.   We pretty much just have OD Green tactical pants in lightweight and standard weight and if we don’t heard something big this fall, this is the end of something great.

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