Anyone have experience with US Palm gear?

The $300 plate carrier with IIIA inserts is looking pretty attractive (and then I'll add rifle plates later when I have the money for light weight rifle plates).

I have one of their defenders for my grab and go bag.  It is good quality and is comfortable.

Briefly owned a Defender.  Had to sell it 'in the interest of domestic bliss.'  Loved it.  Excellent quality and design.

Those do have enough space that the original soft armor can be replaced with plates later, right?

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I have one and it is good quality for the money.  If you plan on running hard plates all the time I'd buy a dedicated hard plate carrier, but the Defender will certainly hold hard plates for times when you want to run them. It's nice to have the option of running either hard or soft plates depending on your needs.

I have took my soft armor out and put some rifle plates in for shits and giggles, I would not suggest going that route. Its OK if you are standing still, but once you try any kind of real movement the plates move all over the place. Its much better to have a carrier with a cumber bun.






 

This.

Depending on the plate, you can absolutely run hard armor in the the Defender either stand-alone or ICW. That being said, think carefully before you start adding too much weight to something like this. The design intention was to have something affordable that would give you rapid access to ballistic protection, not a substitute for an OTV. I tried one of mine with two older SAPI plates, and while they fit with the IIIA inserts no problem, it was brutally uncomfortable. Even with the shoulder pads, it was clear that plates simply overloaded the system. In a HD type scenario, for which this was designed, this is likely a non issue. However, if you are thinking you could stuff some plates in this thing and take a carbine class or something, you are sorely mistaken.

The Defender is an awesome piece of kit to keep next to your nightstand, just in case. You can throw it on instantly and have some ballistic protection along with a few extra magazines. I found a single random 8x10 SAPI plate and stuffed it in the front of the Defender I use for HD. Works like a champ.