by vulrath » Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:37 pm
I haven't tried anything else, but I did own a Condor battle belt for a little while. I don't know if you've ever run around wearing a plate carrier (you've mentioned that you don't play much), but that gets uncomfortably toasty fast, even in the middle of winter. When I added the battle belt, the extra padding jumped the temperature (and consequently the discomfort) by a noticeable amount. My lesson from all this: Condor battle belts are probably not a good idea, and if I put padding around the kidney area of my back, I automatically start sweating for some reason.
I will say that HSGI does make a good product, and they have earned every penny of the high price tag you're looking at. In a world where everyone's going to China for cheaper manufacturing, they've also kept their manufacturing center in the good ol' US of A. That's worth something in my book, too.