Arktis Gear opinions

[JoeTomasone]

I saw this on Ebay, only found one person in a search that said they had used (different) Arktis gear.  Any opinions?   This pack was supposedly designed by a CAP GTL.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Civil-Air-Patrol-Ground-Team-Search-Vest-Water-System_W0QQitemZ220239303544QQihZ012QQcategoryZ36071QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

[Eclipse]

No idea who designed it, but its not on my "must-have" list.

For one thing, all the weight is in front, with all the stuff.  I prefer it distributed better and higher.

As an FYI, there's always a ton of these listed on eBay.

[Jolt]

I've been considering designing a pack for the past couple of weeks.  I've been finding it difficult to pack all of the required stuff into the standard bags and still have the more important stuff immediately accessible.  Maybe it'll be one of my summer projects.

[RocketPropelled]

I own and use the one without the water bladder (I already have way too many options for the water bladder, didn't see the need to pay extra for another)....

It's roomier than it looks -- there are a lot of "hidden" compartments on board. The big pouches on each side have a wide opening behind them -- you can tuck away your map case or something flat between the vest itself and the pouch, which is nice.  Much of the storage in the vest doesn't photograph well.  Each of the pockets has a velcro closure as well as the fastex strapping to lock it down.

If you look at the front view, the vest portion on each side also has a zipper in the front, for more "flat" storage for maps, forms, et cetera.  You just unzip it, reach in, and draw what you need. Very handy. I was very impressed with the rig when I pulled it out of the box. There's a lot of "bonus space" you don't see in the pictures.

Eclipse:
It only looks front-heavy cause of the angle of the photos. Most of the weight/holding capacity is on the sides, and bears nicely on the shoulder straps. The "front" sections are small enough to handle things like your GPS, some snacks, that sort of thing.  I can keep pretty much my whole 24-hour gear inside it comfortably.  It's not something you want to crawl in and out of vehicles all day with, but it's comfortable to wear out and about, and well-balanced. I liked the layout much better than the standard chest rigs and vests, mostly because it's not designed as an ammo carrier, with all the pouches shaped for 5.56 magazines.  You can adjust the height of the rig via the strapping, wearing it high as a chest rig, or low as a hip-vest.

And by the way, the seller's not technically correct -- this is just a standard Arktis 1624 rig in OD green. You can buy 'em elsewhere in DPM, if you wanna keep it British. But it's not a CAP-specific design.  There are probably a lot of CAP fans of this rig (I'm one of them); but as far as I know, no CAP types went to the UK and advised Arktis on how to make a decent vest....

[Eclipse]

I can see in the pics on the Arktis site that it seems to hang lower and more to the side then the eBay photo.

To be frank, I was turned off the minute I saw the obvious attempt at affiliation with CAP, so I never gave it a second look.

[0]

Try searchgear.com  They've got great stuff.  The hydravest is a great item. it could count as three items you need all rolled into one.  The vest comes in orange, it comes with a water source, and it's a place to carry you gear.  Plus they've got excellent customer service.  I ordered the vest from them, they emailed me the next day letting me know it was out and when it would be in.  And if I had any questions to call which I did and their phone rep was very pleasant and easy to work with. 

[Trouble]

I saw this on Ebay, only found one person in a search that said they had used (different) Arktis gear.  Any opinions?   This pack was supposedly designed by a CAP GTL.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Civil-Air-Patrol-Ground-Team-Search-Vest-Water-System_W0QQitemZ220239303544QQihZ012QQcategoryZ36071QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

This is the Arktis Norloose Rig (NL rig), its a vest / LBE hybrid, works quite well for what its meant for, which is light infantry / recon units. It was originally designed to meet a requirement of the Royal Netherlands Marines Corps.  The sniper element, 2nd REP of the FFL used NL rigs for sometime also, not sure if they still do. The Norloose rig is just fine for GT work as long as you don't try and fit everything including the kitchen sink in to it.

Typically, Arktis gear is a good quality product at a reasonable price, there were some equipment failure issues a few years ago, after Arktis had moved a good portion of their production to China, those issues have since been addressed and production has been relocated back to the UK. I have use several Arktis products for CAP and work, never had a problem with any of them. 

I have used the NL Rig before. It worked fine in combination with a Camelbak Mule.

BTW: Their Advanced Chest Rig is similar to the NL rig with a different suspension system, I personally find the Adv. Chest Rig a little more comfortable.

As For a CAP GTL helping to design this rig, unless someone from the Arktis Design Team recently joined CAP, this Guy is full of Equine Waste.

[JoeTomasone]

Makes sense, I guess.

I guess in re-looking at it, it doesn't meet one of the goals I'd like to achieve, and that is a 24 hour pack that has an extra component to add and make it a 72 hour pack.   I don't know if anyone has/makes such a thing, but I guess I should keep looking.

[Capt M. Sherrod]

While I don't own one.  If you are looking for something that you can turn a 24 into a 72 hour pack - search for Stonewall's post about the CFP-90