Glad you found a set-up that works for you & your situation.
Glad you found a set-up that works for you & your situation.
Late to your thread, but I'll offer my thoughts.Originally Posted by Phaedrus
I have a Strandhogg and I like it. I have some variety of RMA III+ plate in mine and found that they fit well, which is to say they were snug. The laser cut MOLLE is good. I have no First Spear pouches on mine and it works fine with ESSTAC's WTF strips and some more traditional MOLLE pouches. I really dig the tubes attachments and find that they are great for my use case (patrol officer with the potential need to swap from soft armor to the plate carrier quickly). No adjusting required and very easy to don/doff. I purchased First Spear's soft armor inserts for the sides of mine as that made the most sense for me and I think they are fine.
This is P-F...I am confident you will learn. Eventually. Or not.
Seriously, glad you scratched the itch.
pat
I got an email yesterday that the Strandhogg V3 in Black was out of stock with an 8 week projected lead time. Bummer! But after thinking for a moment I inquired if they had the same one Manatee in stock and they did! So they'll ship me that. I was really torn between black and manatee so this isn't a big problem to me. Everyone sells black, camo, OD, FDE, etc but that particular shade of grey is not so common (I know what it looks like in person from HPG products) so I'm good. Now it's in the hands of UPS.
I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned. - Richard Feynman
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.- Archbishop Helder Cāmara
Hahaha, so true! This will be my 4th plate carrier and hopefully each one is getting me closer to the Platonic ideal of the form. I've got a slick/lo-pro Shellback carrier which will probably stay in the rotation, maybe kept in the Subaru, as it's pretty decent and comfortable in a minimalist package. The build quality isn't anything to write home about but it should hold up fine to occasional use.
I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned. - Richard Feynman
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.- Archbishop Helder Cāmara
Well, just a quick update! I'd say it's a mixed bag. I ordered my Strandhogg v3 in black and just over a week later they emailed to tell me it's out of stock with an eight week lead time. That bummed me out but I decided to see if they happened to have it in Manatee, my second choice. They did, so it went out right away. The carrier itself is terrific! Great design, fantastic construction. With carrier in hand I decided to get a placard, the mag inserts and a few other things. Again, eight days pass and I'm told that half the items are out of stock in Manatee but I could sub OD green if I was in a hurry. Well, the placard was Manatee and the insert Green so I figured being inside the placard it wouldn't show, so I took the subbed color instead of waiting two months. The order then arrived in a timely fashion.
Then I decided I'd order the soft armor inserts for the Overlap Cummerbund. Well, turns out they won't sell those to anyone without MIL or LE credentials. First Spear does have some product lines that are stated to only be for GOV entities, and it's clearly stated. But no mention is made that armor for the cummerbund is GOV-only. Frankly, this is a really crappy business practice IMO! Setting aside companies that won't sell to civilians, I think if that IS the policy it should be stated up front. It's reasonable to assume a fair amount of people wouldn't buy a $177 cummerbund if they knew that not only would FS not sell armor but that they use a custom cut not readily available. Fortunately, a couple companies do sell soft armor specifically made for FS and it looks like my Level IV ceramic/PE side plates will work fine. Still, it's not great to be $1,100 into the kit only to realize they won't sell you the rest.
All that said, at all times FS CS was courteous and professional. The products themselves are stellar! I do think it's poor business practice though to take order for products that aren't in stock, especially given the ability to electronically manage inventory. I don't know how often it occurs but I've placed two orders so far, and both were backordered. And I think they should be more transparent about what they'll sell to civilians and what they won't. Maybe I missed it but a careful examination of their website doesn't mention this at all.
All in all I love the Strandhogg v3, and even with the extra time and legwork on my end to set it up I think it will be a great carrier. Still, if I knew about these issues ahead of time I probably would have purchased something else.
I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned. - Richard Feynman
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.- Archbishop Helder Cāmara
FWIW, RMA Defense 1155mc plates do indeed fit the Strandhogg, albeit fairly snugly. The plate fit the back panel more easily, probably just a minor variation in the plate bags. Anything larger or thicker would probably be a no-go. This is a Size M carrier (designed for M SAPI-cut plates).
I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned. - Richard Feynman
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.- Archbishop Helder Cāmara
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