All posts tagged Lightweight Tactical Pants

Tru-Spec 24-7 SERIES ECLIPSE TACTICAL PANTS

If you’re looking for something extremely light weight while we transition into hot weather clothing season, this is the best thing besides wearing shorts.  The pocket designs are completely different than anything else in the Tru-Spec inventory but it is something I personally wear and highly suggest for hot weather.   The 100% nylon pant is so lightweight that I would not recommend it for pocket carry unless you put a piece of cardboard or or something that helps avoid printing because you will print in these.  There is a 65/35 poly cotton ripstop version of this pant but I don’t find it as cutting edge. Tru-Spec 24-7 SERIES ECLIPSE TACTICAL PANTS is best worn in the nylon style but it is extremely forgiving in hot weather.

I always have to transition my knife to the side leg pockets and my Kimber pepper blaster to the other leg pocket but theses are extremely popular in the lower half of the Country.  Tru-Spec 24-7 SERIES ECLIPSE TACTICAL PANTS is highly breathable and when it’s in the 90F range, the difference in sweating and fatigue is considerable.   This is something I consider as a trade off for much of the 100% cotton ripstop pants that were in my inventory.   There is no elastic waistband so you are going to have to be more accurate in finding your actual size and if you are going to be carrying IWB you are going to have to consider a size up.

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If the tactical clothing you are wearing doesn’t fit you right, it won’t wear right.

Tactical ClothingIn our industry everything has it’s breaking point, your rifle barrel, your boots, your optic ect.   When people say a certain brand sucks, be very careful how you take that because on our side of the counter we see things break all the time.   The differences between footwear from brand to brand and durability might really be more about style rather than manufacturer.   We keep a pair of boots in our store to show people some of the bullshit that we hear when people say something sucks and it falls apart.   The boots are beat up looking, obviously water soaked and the stitching is coming apart.  These tactical boots look like they are 2 years old and have been beat to death.   The truth of the matter was it was a landscaper that used them in muddy environments and should have been wearing waterproof boots, when we called him out on it he said he could  only afford 1 pair of boots and didn’t want to have to switch back and forth.

Much of the same things happen with various gloves, frisk gloves, shooting gloves and hunting gloves.   Everyone has differences in their fingers and one brand might be tighter or loose in certain areas, the palms, or certain fingers.  If you are pulling in areas the glove isn’t designed to be pulled the stitching is going to break at certain points.  Another good example of this is with handcuffs.   A vast majority of handcuffs can actually be broken and there are many Special Forces personnel that train to learn the weak points in the hinges and over time all the twisting and binding will cause them to break, no need to picking locks.   If you do the same thing with your footwear, tactical pants, tactical shirts it’s going to tear.  There is a reason why a lot of tactical clothing companies are designing pants with gusseted crotches because of the way the human body moves and it’s not about stronger stitching it’s about why regularly designed pants just don’t cut it in the running and gunning world.

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2yrs into carrying the Tru-Spec product line

truspec tactical pantsThis is our second year of carrying the Tru-Spec tactical clothing line and we are very happy with what our customers are telling us.   The reviews on tactical clothing made by Tru-Spec are much better than what we are hearing  about 5.11.   We carry some of the 5.11 tactical apparel and gear like the backpacks and molle stuff, but we get a lot of complaints about shrinkage and lack of durability.  If you just compare the polo shirts that men or wome would wear in an Office environment,  The Woolrich Elite tactical polos in style 44435 would be the most durable but they are much heavier in weight.  I’ve had the same Tru-Spec 24.7 series tactical polo for a year and it has faded and the name tag has worn, but it’s still in tact.

The biggest winner that we discovered were the 24/7 series tactical pants, many of our customers told us they had a great product line and their womens Truspec tactical pants were very well received unlike some of the other clothing companies we dealing with.    I’ve heard some good things about the Blackhawk tactical clothing line for women also, but price points are something we are seriously thinking about.  We noticed several vendors in the area have stopped carrying the Vertx product lines because there were too many issues in trying to get product and the starting cost of the tactical pants were around $64.99.   The Tru-Spec Simple Tactical product line is a really smart thing, there are some variations in fit and sizing if you are already wearing the 24/7 series, but we have a good exchange policy so let us know if something doesn’t fit.

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New tactical clothing option without the sticker shock!

truspec simple tactical We’ve had lots of tactical pants, tactical shorts, and other items come in to our store and some of our employees wear all different types of tactical apparel.   We first found out about the Tru-Spec 24/7 series womens pants from an employee that was wearing them and told us they had a great reputation for quality and price points.   We’ve tried several other clothing companies products but many of them were either too expensive the fit just sucked, or the quality control was too spotty for us to even risk our reputation in carrying them.  I’ve heard lots of people mention how much 5.11 tactical products are being marketed but the prices have really shot up.   Not a lot of people are going to go along with the sticker shock, and we’ve seen people do this in the past.

There is something to be said about costs being a ceiling, there are products that come on the market and then when prices go up, people start shopping around for a better deal.  In an economy like this products like Truspecs simple tactical line will do well because not everyone in Law Enforcement needs zippers and pockets at every point.  Yes, they like to carry tactical knives or put an AR15 magazine in the pocket, but comfort, durability and price points are very important.  Once products get above $50 or so people will bail on you unless they have the money or the need for the product.

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What tactical pants work for you?

blackkhawk tactical pantsI’ve been wearing Tru-Spec and Blackhawk pants for almost a year and my tastes have changed dramatically.   I started out with the Tru-Spec 24/7 Series pants but had a few issues with my wallet being kicked out of the ID pocket and it started to bother me so much I re-considered wearing the Blackhawk Tactical pants.  I normally carry pepper spray in the front pockets of my Woolrich Elite Series Tactical pants and my Eotac pants but only Blackhawk and 5.11 tactical had a pocket that was similar to the platform that I was use to.  I attempted to get into 5.11 tactical pants several times but have gotten so much negative flack and proved it myself with several wear tests that it’s hard for me to even have a 5.11 tactical product in my clothing rotation.

The Tru-Spec 24/7 Series pants may not work for you but the quality is defanitely there.  I would defanitely say that the Blackhawk tactical pants that I’ve been wearing for 4 months now have grown on me.  I wish the side cargo pockets were about 2 inches deeper and I wish they had an ID pocket in the seat area on the left side.  If Blackhawk Warrior Wear did that these might become my favorite tactical pants.   I will be making my switch to tactical shorts in a few weeks after an unseasonable cold Spring.   I’m not sure that here in Pennsylvania the Poly Cotton rip stop pants will be comfortable in 100F weather but I will definitely be posting  about various tactical pants and tactical shorts.

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Walking in and being able to walk out with what you want!

law enforcement supplies in Pennsylvania There’s been a lot of discussion on the news about internet taxes, sales taxes and other things that are very much in the minds of companies that sell online.  Ebay and amazon have differing opinions about what should be done, and States like Delaware aren’t going to be happy about it.   Now that we have an actually store in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, many local Law Enforcement and security companies have been very happy that we actually stock inventory and that we aren’t just a drop shipping company.   Many of the gun shops in the area sell ammunition, firearms and magazines but their prices are usually higher than what the  internet companies are selling them for.   An internet sales tax will have a big impact on what things are sold for online.   Things like tactical boots, ballistic eyewear, waterproof pants, rain gear, and SWAT Team gear is something you want hold in your hands and fit it to your body.

Along with many tactical products like Magpul, VLTOR, AR15 upper receivers and magpul pmags, we stock gun parts and magazines for Glock, magazine springs and followers from Wolff gun springs.   We have an expanding showroom of law enforcement supplies in pennsylvania where our 1500 sqft showroom is expanding every year.  This year we will be bringing in products from Tactical Tailor, 5.11 tactical and more Tru-Spec and Blackahawk tactical clothing.   We expand our products based on customer feedback and our ever growing tactical apparel and gear are the best there is.

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Some new observations about tactical pants after a plane trip

Blackhawk tactical pantsThis year I had to do some business trips and I was in and out of cars, hotels, motels and airplanes for several days.   I had the new gunny boot cut tactical pants with me, Woolrich Elite Series Tactical Chinos, Tru-Spec 24/7 pants, and the Blackhawk lightweight tactical pants with me.  I figured this would  be a good time to force myself to try them out because normally I don’t like to switch up my gear.   I always had a flashlight with me and if I wasn’t wearing the Tru-Spec pants I had to find another way of keeping track of where it was so I knew it was always there when I needed it and knew that it didn’t fall off or get lost.

Well, after a long plane trip, I was won over by one of my lease worn tactical pants and that’s because I found the pocket placements to be very useful for what I was doing at the time.   The 65%/35% polycotton ripstop pants from Tru-Spec were very similar to the Blackhawk tactical pants that I was wearing on the plane trip but the leg pockets with the sidezip were very useful while being in the seated position.  I used these pockets for tickets for my flights and it was much easier to access than my hand pockets.  I never really thought about this until I was sitting there drinking a beer and was about to check what time my next flight was.

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What does Tru-Spec have in store for us in 2013 regarding their tactical pants?

tactical pants We just watched a video about the new stuff coming from Tru-Spec and it was music to our ears to here that what they were primarily going to do is put a less expensive pant on the market.  Who has done something like that in the last 10yrs?  Not a single company that we can think of.  Years ago 5.11 pants were about $30-$40 and when Woolrich Elite Series hit the market they were the first tactical pant we sold that was almost $50 a pair.  You do get what you pay for but now that we see that so many tactical clothing companies have overdone their designs, there is something to be said for simplicity and quality.

We like the Tru-Spec tactical pants and especially the new Gunny boot cut pant, but were looking forward to the new pants that will be well received with our Law Enforcement departments that are always on a budget.   We have not seen these new Tactical Pants yet but I expect our sales rep will be out with them shortly.  The major selling point of the Tru-Spec product line is that it is the best priced tactical product line in comparison to Vertx and 5.11 tactical.  We’ve picked up a lot of customers in the EMS world from 5.11 just based on price points.

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We have a clear winner for best priced tactical pants

And the hands down best pants for anyone with a budget are the Tru Spec tactical pants.   The lightweight poly cotton ripstop pant is an easy transition for anyone that has been wearing the 5.11 tactical pants, and more than a number of our customers have mentioned that the 5.11 tactical apparel line  has become more and more expensive.  We’ve so much turmoil and price increases with tactical clothing and it affects anyone that was getting their stuff made in China.   Cotton prices are up as well as shipping and transportation.   We are seeing UPS ground prices hang around $14 and that if for products under 3 pounds.    Two pairs of tactical pants, whether they are lightweights or standard weights are going to be over 3 lbs and most people’s sizes will be close to 2 pounds each.

If you factor in order 3 or 4 pairs of pants and they are each $50 a pair, that is $150-$200 for them.  If you got a pair of tactical pants that were just as good quality wise, and they cost $10 each, you will get them for $120-$160 dollars.  Those are pretty good differences in prices and for many of our Law Enforcement departments that are looking for something that doesn’t burn up all of their clothing expenses are going with Tru Spec over Blackhawk and 5.11 just based on cost.   If you are already getting the quality and the same basic material, what’s the point in tossing another $10 a pair in the trash.   There are always feature differences with tactical clothing so we’re not knocking 5.11 or Blackhawk, but saving money in a bad economy is very important.

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New TruSpec tactical pants coming in

We heard the rumors a few months ago but we finally got to hold the new TruSpec tactical pants in our hands.  These pants are part of the new Gunny approved tactical pants, shirts, vests and gear that will be available in late October.    They are similar in looks to the tried and tested tactical pants and are made of the same material with a polyester cotton blend, but then you will notice the differences.   As a tactical gear and clothing dealer, we have sold lots and  lots of brands of tactical pants and we see the reasons people want to move to something else because it may have some function or feature that they need.   There is no “do all” tactical  pants and much of this comes down to  your price range and preferences in pocket designs.

The new gunny tactical  pants have larger knife or flashlight pockets and this will help prevent the limitation on the size of knife a user can place in them.   The best feature about these tactical pants are that they have a gusseted crotch which was probable the number one reason we lost customers to Blackhawk tactical pants or vertx styles.   In todays standards of what tactical clothing is suppose to do, if it doesn’t  have a gusseted crotch it is going to get a FAIL mark.    Some of the new lightweight vests that are coming out are also very nice and we can’t keep enough lightweight vests in stock already.

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