5.11 Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier review
Our Verdict
The 5.11 Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier looks and feels like repurposed military gear, but it'south also a super-effective workout tool.
For
- Adjustable design fits every body
- Super-durable construction
- Multiple weight options let y'all meet your level of fitness
- Versatile features permit you add accessories and customizations
Against
- Expensive for a single piece of workout gear
- Tactical features are useless in a fitness context
Tom's Guide Verdict
The 5.11 Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier looks and feels like repurposed military gear, but it's also a super-effective conditioning tool.
Pros
- +
Adjustable design fits every body
- +
Super-durable structure
- +
Multiple weight options let you meet your level of fettle
- +
Versatile features let you add accessories and customizations
Cons
- -
Expensive for a unmarried piece of workout gear
- -
Tactical features are useless in a fettle context
If you're interested in adding a weight vest to your workout routines, y'all've probably heard of the v.eleven Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier. As the official weight belong of the CrossFit Games for several years running, it'due south hugely popular — but it'due south also really expensive. And it'south far from the but option on the market.
v.11 Tactical sent us two different weight vests to examination, the 5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier, which we're reviewing here, and the newer v.11 TacTec Trainer Weight Belong, which may not take the same popularity, just is a fleck less expensive and has a more fitness-oriented design.
After a few weeks of testing the TacTec Plate Carrier in my workouts, I'm sold on the entire weight vest concept. But is the rugged vest actually the all-time option for your home workouts? Read our full 5.11 Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier weight vest review to see what we liked, and what nosotros didn't.
5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier: Cost and availability
The 5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier is sold through a number of retailers, including Rogue Fitness, Dick'south Sporting Appurtenances and Adorama, as well as a huge number of tactical supply outlets. With a list cost of $220, information technology's definitely one of the more expensive weight vests out there, only information technology's got a rock solid reputation among both professionals — both the concrete fitness and constabulary and military types.
The TacTec Plate Carrier comes in 4 colors:
- Ranger Green
- Black
- Storm Grey
- Kangaroo Brown
The vest can exist used with a diversity of weights, but our review sample came with the v.xi TacTec Weight Plate Sandbag, a set up of fillable sandbags that fit into the Plate Carrier and accept the same overall contour as a metal weight plate. A set of ii costs $fifty, bring the total cost of our vest setup to $260.
For a sleeker, more than fitness-oriented take on the plate carrier design, check out our review of the 5.11 Tactical TacTec Trainer weight belong.
5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier: Blueprint
The TacTec Plate Carrier is, starting time and foremost, tactical combat gear. Not "combat gear inspired" and non "tactical" in the sense that it comes in black and lets you attach a carabiner or two, but legitimate military and constabulary gear worn in the line of duty. But, by swapping out ballistics-rated armor plates for heavy weights, the aforementioned plate carrier works as an excellent slice of fettle gear.
The gainsay gear aesthetic will be a selling point for some, and off-putting to others, but there is an undeniable ruggedness to the belong pattern. The 600D polyester used in the belong's construction volition stand up to all sorts of abuse, and the diverse hook and loop closures and padded straps and torso panels manage to rest condolement and functionality.
The military features offer some customization and holds everything securely in place, with enough of aligning and features like MOLLE webbing for attaching accessories, such as a hydration pack or water bottle holder.
In other instances, that military design means there are features that the boilerplate fitness user will never need, similar a grab-and-drag handle in the back of the belong, and an emergency quick release handle in the front that pulls apart the cable that holds the front end and back halves of the vest together. It'southward the sort of thing that may be useful for SWAT team members in crunch situations, only adds nil useful for home or gym workouts.
The vest features webbing attachment on front and back, forth with a light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation cutting attachment panel that works with any Velcro-like fabric as well as strap-attached gear.
five.11 TacTec Plate Carrier: Setup
Loading this thing is the get-go challenge you'll encounter before you ever offset your workout.
Because it's designed as much for 18-carat tactical use in gainsay as information technology is for your next WOD, it's super secure. Perhaps besides much for regular working out. There are overlapping velcro flaps on the front and back panels of the vest. Open those up and you'll observe the interior pockets for the weight plates, in our case the sand filled weight plate replacement sandbag.
But inside each weight pocket you'll find more velcro, with two sets of internal straps in each pocket. At first glance information technology'southward a tangle of nylon webbing and hook and loop material, and information technology's a piddling confusing every bit you lot're trying to get everything separate and out of the way so that you can put in the weight plate.
After a little test, I realized that at that place are ii sets of straps, a pair of lateral straps and another pair of horizontal strips. These piece of work in conjunction, sticking to each other with velcro, and then securing within the plate pocket with nevertheless more velcro.
One time the plate is seated in the pocket, you lot can cinch downward the lateral and horizontal straps, velcroing them to each other to secure them, and then sticking them to the interior velcro of the pocket to farther secure the plate. Like I said, information technology's a lot. It makes sense when you lot're talking about body armor for the SWAT squad, maybe non and so much for someone looking to get for a jog.
The good news is that in one case the weight is situated in the belong, and fully secured with the various straps and flaps, it should be relatively maintenance free. Unless you desire to adjust the weight in the belong, you lot could but leave information technology fully loaded, ready and waiting for your next workout.
5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier: Fit and adjustment
The plate carrier is worn merely similar body armor, it goes over the head, bib way, with two shoulder straps. The sides are secured with a heavy duty elastic cummerbund, a broad waistband that secures in the forepart with claw and loop. This is and so farther secured with a big claw and loop flap that holds downward the cumberbund ends, keeping everything snug and secure.
The pattern is literally battle tested, and does a very good job of distributing the weight and allowing you to wear it as tight or loose every bit you prefer. In addition to waist aligning, you can also change the shoulder strap length for a tighter or looser fit up peak.
With padded straps, stretchy elastic and layered fastener panels keeping everything snug, the belong does a bang-up chore of holding everything every bit tightly to the trunk as you lot desire, while all the same giving you breathing room — a literal event in this case, especially when yous take a 10 pound sandbag strapped to your chest.
Adjusting the shoulder straps and cumberbund waist band is besides a bit of a process. Since the vest uses an internal cable to hold the two halves of the vest together, you actually need to pull the vest autonomously earlier resizing anything. v.11 has a helpful YouTube video to walk y'all through the procedure, only the whole thing is pretty involved. The good news is that you won't likely demand to adjust the vest fit more than once.
Loading the vest with weight is also a little complicated. The front and back panels of the belong are compartments that can be filled with several types of weight, from specialty weight plates to standard barbell plates, or (in the case of our review sample) a sandbag.
The front and back plate compartments are secured with Velcro along the bottom of the border, but inside at that place are two L-shaped straps to hold the plate or sandbag weight in identify. Between the compartment closure, the straps and the adjustments on the sandbag weights that nosotros were provided with, there's a lot of Velcro to manage when you put weight in the vest. Be gear up to have the various bits of Velcro sticking to the wrong thing a few times while you get the vest loaded the first fourth dimension.
One time the weight is secured with the L-shaped straps — which hold the plate in position both vertically and horizontally — it's a pretty snug agree, so the weight doesn't shift.
5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier: Weight
For our review, v.xi sent u.s. the TacTec Weight Plate Sandbag, which is designed specifically for use with the vest. Filled with sand they let you load up the vest to 20 pounds of total weight, but they're easier to ship than traditional steel plates.
Selling for $l for a prepare of two, they're too significantly cheaper than either the laser cut steel or cast metal used in other weight options. However, because they don't come with sand, the sandbag choice is a little more labor intensive to set up.
The sandbags are fabricated of the same 600D polyester fabric that the vest is made of, with a heavy duty claw and loop closure on one edge and hook and loop straps that tighten down to remove whatever backlog slack once the bag is filled to the desired weight.
The fabric is backed by rigid plastic boards to retain the correct shape. It not only prevents jutting, it also helps the numberless maintain rigidity while loading the vest and working out. The bag itself has a bifurcated, 2-compartment design, which helps spread the sand evenly across the belong, minimizing whatever shifting or bulging from settling sand subsequently the bag is full.
A rolled claw and loop enclosure at the lesser of the sandbag does a surprisingly good job of preventing leaks — in my weeks using the sandbag with two different vests, I never noticed any stray sand in the vest, or when switching the weight from 1 vest to another.
The only issue that the sandbag presents is the need to buy some sand — a 50 pound pocketbook of all purpose sand does the trick for about $5 — and the one-fourth dimension hassle of filling. While a plastic loving cup and a bathroom calibration are really all you need, you will want to take care to make sure that you fill the two compartments of the sandbag evenly. Likewise, merely a tip from someone who'south done it, you'll want to fill this outdoors, or put downwardly some sort of a drop fabric, because there is no manner to scoop twenty pounds of sand without making a bit of a mess.
I filled the two numberless to 8.75 pounds each, for a total of 17.5 pounds. Combined with the weight of the unladen vest, it totals out to 20 pounds of extra weight. This effectively filled the sandbags to maximum volume, then going heavier would require a different fill cloth, such as Bbs.
The filled bag is then cinched tight with the 3 adjustment flaps. Once it'southward filled and adjusted the sandbag feels pretty solid, without whatever of the shifting and unstable load that yous might remember of with granular fillers like sand.
5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier: Workout
In bodily use, the 5.11 Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier is a highly effective piece of equipment, letting y'all ramp upwards the intensity of virtually any activity. To put the vest through its paces I wore it for a handful of workouts, including a brisk 30-minute walk, a uncomplicated calisthenics routine (pushups, squats, pullups), and a HIIT battle workout with a heavy purse.
The just issues I had were that the vest was a trivial bulky. And note simply because yous use it to strap sandbags to your body, only the straps and cumberbund themselves are chunky, and add some bulk and friction to movements that you might not want.
There's an emergency release handle in the forepart — another one of those features that's more for combat operators than fitness enthusiasts — but the position of the handle is such that it would occasionally rub uncomfortably on my throat and collarbone. Some fine tuning of the straps stock-still the effect, but the fact that I had to suit a characteristic I'm not likely to always use was irritating.
The padded shoulder straps and vest panels kept everything fairly comfy, merely the mesh cloth used on these padded sections is a fleck rough. Yous'll definitely want to wear a layer under the belong. A T-shirt did the flim-flam just fine, but some customer reviews and user posts online propose that operation fabrics — recall moisture-wicking Under Armour — will really get damaged by the rough texture.
On the whole, the vest did exactly what I expected it to exercise. It held the weight securely, leaving me gratuitous to worry nigh my form and focused on grinding out reps instead of beingness distracted past shifting loads on my chest and back.
five.xi TacTec Plate Carrier: Verdict
The five.11 TacTec Plate Carrier is considered by many to be the gold standard for weight vests, thanks largely to its prominent use in the CrossFit Games. And it'due south easy to run into why, with serious durability, a wide range of customization options and a design that's both functional and comfy.
But compared to 5.xi's other weight vest, the v.eleven TacTec Trainer, I think this model is a great option, but non the all-time choice for pure fitness gear. It's more expensive, it'due south bulkier and more complicated, and there are not-fitness features that only aren't helpful for non-military users.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/5-11-tactical-tactec-plate-carrier
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