OSOE Cobra Belt - Initial review - pics loaded, not 56k friendly

[Urban Tactical Gear]

Well fellas, they are finally here. I picked up some of OSOE's (johnwillis) Cobra Belts. Got one in khaki and one in black (one for fun,one for work). After talking to john at length, and after watching their video on TRG's site, I pulled the trigger.

According to TRG's website:

Sizing: The Original S.O.E. Gear Duty Belt is sized specifically to each end-user and can be manufactured in any size.

.
after talking to john, i determined that even though my wieght fluctuates from time to time, I needed to order the size according to the pants i was currently wearing.

We generally do them even sizes. They will go out a couple of inches but won’t go in any

. So I ordered a size 34. boy was john right. it can be expanded to fit a couple more inches should i need it to.

The belt is constructed from 1.75 type 7 webbing, with MULTIPLE sewing points. There are upwards of 10 "x" stitching going around the belt. John has constructed this belt to be used either in the belt loops of your pants, or on the outside of them. He has tacked a 1.5" wide piece of velcro loops (not the hook side) on the interior of the belt so that if you choose to use it as an outter duty belt, it can be attached easily to your velcro inner belt.

the buckle on this thing is monsterous. It's not <heavy> per say, but you can tell from the feel that it's pretty damned rugged. <ETA> I have now read that the buckle is rated to withstand 3790 pounds of load capacity.


The buckle however is the main problem when using it with every day pants, hell even BDU's for that matter. <note: i have no tried this on acu cut pants yet>. The buckle is the widest part of the belt. In order to thread the belt through regular pants (i wear wrangler cargos for work, and a variety of jeans) you have to tilt the male end at an angle and push it through the belt loops. [span style='color: rgb(255, 0, 0);']


So far I have not managed to figure out a way of doing while wearing the pants. On all three types of pants shown in this "review", I had to thread the belt onto the pants prior to mounting the clothing.


Guys, this is only an initial review, but so far i'm impressed. I just recieved them from john, via priority mail, this afternoon. give me till the end of the week, wearing one to work every day, and i'll give you a comfort/break in review. I also plan to break one of the two belt buckles, if i can. i'll let you know how that goes, and whether or not i'm successful or not.

[rob_s]

I think I'd be inclined to un-thread the buckle to get the belt on and only actually use the buckle if I need to ditch the britches. Although, the question then becomes why have a buckle at all....

unless of course you eat a lot of mexican food...

[Eric]

While the buckle looks interesting, it does not appear to be practical for the most part.

[Stickman]

Guys, this is only an initial review, but so far i'm impressed. I just recieved them from john, via priority mail, this afternoon. give me till the end of the week, wearing one to work every day, and i'll give you a comfort/break in review. I also plan to break one of the two belt buckles, if i can. i'll let you know how that goes, and whether or not i'm successful or not.

Great writeup, thanks for posting it. I'm interested in your followup.

Two quick things. First, I would be interested in hearing how you plan to mangle that buckle, I've got one on a sling and it is a beast. Very stout, and overbuilt from what I can tell.

Secondly, your Panasonic camera has its whitebalance set to shade. You might want to put it on auto, or if you are shooting under incandescent lights, switch it to that setting. Auto whitebalance is pretty good on most modern cameras. If you switch it over, your whites will look white instead of orange.



Unlike the unwashed heathens above, I like it.

[Urban Tactical Gear]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evt8Lg-ukqE

[Ian/SWAT-K9]

JW makes the toughest gear on the planet.....PERIOD!

Lots of stuff in stock

Go HERE! http://www.tacticalresponsegear.com