01 Nov Reconbrothers Templar’s Gear Budget Plate Carrier Setup
Reconbrothers Templar’s Gear Budget Plate Carrier Setup
Spending 400 to 500 Euros on a full plate carrier setup can sting. And we know that, because we’ve already been there.
But the reality when it comes to these sort of products is that if you want quality and comfort, you have to be open to spend such amounts money. Which is for most people just something incomprehensible and they’ll declare you crazy.
But this made us think; What if there is a way to still get that top of the line quality, durability and modularity, but at a more affordable price? Well, we dove into what our brands offer and found the solution to this.
Let’s introduce you today to the Reconbrothers Templar’s Gear Budget Plate Carrier Setup.
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But before we dig into this subject, make sure to subscribe to our blog page by filling in the form. Also Make sure to visit our Youtube Channel by clicking the button. Also have a look at our store shop.reconbrothers.com for your quality tactical stuff. And amongst those you can find our selection from Templar’s Gear.
Let’s get to it
Without any further ado, we’re going to give you the elephant in room directly. The plate carrier we’re showing here costs 200 Euros. We know some might say; that’s not a budget friendly product. But considering this is a setup of a top quality brand and since it price-wise comes really close to kits provided by other lower-end brands, it is certainly something worth checking out.
Also the fact that we’re talking about a 200 Euro product compared to a 300 or 400 Euro product of the same brand, that has very useful standard features other models don’t provide, we think this is certainly not a bad guess. So, for you guys that haven’t rage quitted yet, let’s move on with our blog.
Before we want to talk about this product, we first want to bring you what the Polish Templar’s Gear brand is all about.
Introducing Templar’s Gear
Templar’s Gear is a company that mainly focuses on creating products that are ergonomic, functional, durable and low weight.
Design & colors/patterns
They are known for their laser cut designs, using top of the line materials and working with original colors and patterns like Coyote Brown, Concamo and Multicam®. And as good as 95% of their products can be found in one of their many different colors and patterns. Their counter is currently on 15. So if you require gear in a special camo, this is the company you should look into.
Used materials
Also important to know, is that they only use legitimate and trustworthy materials like Cordura® and Velcro®. And when it comes to the Cordura® fabrics, they overall use 500 den Cordura® and Cordura® laminate but certain parts are even a 1000 den for more durability. Also good to know is that all their products are also infrared-repellent treated.
So, now that you had a quick intro into this company, let’s look into what the setup we’ve put together can offer you guys.
The Setup
For starters we usually introduce these sort of setups we’ve come up with by starting with the fundamentals we always keep in mind. Which are easy access, minimal stuff and efficiency of movement. Now, all these still apply but for this one we’ve really looked into what is the absolute core of what a plate carrier needs. And basically a carrier really only requires 2 things: one is a way to carry a pair of plates and the second is to carry essential battle equipment.
Plate carrier base
As a base for this, we had a look at the different plate carriers Templar’s Gear offers and the CPC LP Set was the one that caught our attention. This because it’s a fairly cheap one and it leaves out a lot of possibilities.
Complete the setup
So this is our base for the setup. Only thing we needed to add to make it into a fully functional set is a front panel. And for this we’ve chosen to offer various Templar’s Gear shingle front panels. Here you can choose between either an AR/AK panel like this one, or you can go for panels made for submachine guns.
These are divided in fat or slim mag versions. Fat being for for example Scorpion Evo mags and and the slim ones are for for example MP5 magazines.
Now, you might think; is that it? Well, let’s show you its features and possibilities and after that you can judge whatever you want. Let’s start with the front panel.
Front Panel
No PALS
On its own the front panel doesn’t feature any sort of PALS to attach pouches. But as you can see, it does have 2 buckles and and a large Velcro® spot on the bottom to easily attach and detach front panels, like the options we provide in the pack.
There’s also the possibility to make up your own front and back panels which makes it super easy to change setups, but we’ll get to that further in this blog.
PTT slits & Velcro®
On the top of the panel you can find slits to attach a PTT and at the center it has a fairly big spot of Velcro® loops for ID purposes.
Shingle panel(s)
If we have a look at the AR/AK panel, which is one of the 3 options we provide with this pack. You’ll notice that is has a big back of Velcro® hooks and it features the 2 other sides of the buckles. This is obviously made to be attached on the front of the panel and holds its place really securely.
The pouches on this panel also retain magazines really well thanks to their shock cords and the grab and insertion of the magazines goes smoothly as well. These shock cords can also be tighten or loosened however you see fit and the remaining cord can be hid away inside the panel, so you don’t have to cut them and afterwards regret it.
Back Panel
No PALS
If we go to the back of the plate carrier you’ll notice that it standard also doesn’t feature any sort of PALS system, but it does have zippers to attach and detach back panels with ease.
Why no back panel in the pack?
Now, why didn’t we add this one into the pack? Well, that’s because in most cases you don’t really need a back panel anyway if you have enough other spots to carry your stuff. That is the case with this one which we’ll cover in a bit. And we also really wanted to keep the essence of this pack to the very basics so that’s why.
Pre-made panel(s)
Regarding the types of front and back panels we mentioned earlier, we have already drawn out pre-made sets of these. Meaning we have come up with functional and well thought-out panels which can be used to upgrade this CPC LP or any other CPC plate carrier from Templar’s Gear. And since this CPC LP Set is so modular, we will also make new packs in the future where you can choose which pre-made front and back panels to go for. This will be a more “advanced” CPC LP setup rather than this budget one.
Velcro® spot
Aside all this, the back also features a very big piece of Velcro® which is meant for unit identification.
CoolMax® backing
Furthermore, the front and back panel feature a Coolmax backing for a slim but well-padded profile. This backing provides a cooling effect and is also easy to clean compared to the usual used 3D mesh.
Plates insertion
As for the insertion of plates, both the front and back panel use a very simple Velcro system that is easy in use.
Shoulders
Features
Going to the shoulders, these are made with a 3D mesh padding which is thick enough to offer a comfortable spread of the pressure created by the weight of your plates.
Adjustment system
The length of these shoulders use a Velcro® system and are very easy to adjust. They also stay neatly fixed and thus won’t move freely during all the action.
PALS
At last, the shoulder pads also feature PALS slits on top that can always come in handy to fix for example cables, tubes or even attach cameras.
Now let’s look at the cummerbunds.
Cummerbunds
These are probably one of the most interesting parts on this whole plate carrier, because those are what have drawn our attention.
Build-in pockets
As you can see, these cummerbunds feature 3 pockets on each side. Most think these are only applicable for magazines, but that it not the case at all. You can practically fit anything from items like grenades, radios, magazines and much more. They also come with included shock cords which gives you the modularity for an extra secure retention on all those pouches.
Elastic feature
Aside this feature, the cummerbunds are also elastic which provides a lot of advantages. One being that they provide an extremely slim profile. Another one is that they are comfortable, even when carrying bulky items, since these adjust to your body. And another implication of these is that you don’t require to make any sizing adjustments when wearing more layers of clothing, like a jacket during bad weather, because the cummerbunds auto-adjust themselves.
Adjustment system
As for their adjustment system on the back, it is a very simple system that allows to be changed by the use of Velcro® rather than the usual “corset-like” designs. And to us it is still the best and easiest adjustment we’ve seen.
Final thoughts
The current setup is in our opinion certainly an interesting product for people looking into their first quality set or for people that would like to have a different color or pattern at a pretty affordable price.
And to be honest with you guys, if we personally would need a new set for whatever reason, it will highly probably be this one. We also introduced it to a few people already and they all believed it is a great setup that leaves plenty of options open while being high in quality.
If you guys want to get the Reconbrothers Templar’s Gear Budget Plate Carrier Setup, you can get the full set in one of their 15 colors with one of the 3 front panels and a free Reconbrothers patch through our store shop.reconbrothers.com. And we offer this pack for 200 Euros instead of 220 Euros.
Thanks for reading our blog
“Reconbrothers Templar’s Gear Budget Plate Carrier Setup”
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