After reading Havoc1969's review (www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=6&f=10&t=204100) of the Phantom manufactured CIRAS knockoff being marketed by 1337Tactical (www.1337tactical.com/), I was sufficiently impressed to give one a try myself.  I purchased a set from them on EBay for a grand total $229.98 shipped, and after about 10 days the following setup arrived at my door:



As I pointed out in Havoc1969's thread, all that gear comes to about $800 if purchased from Eagle directly.  So just how good is it?  I have a real Eagle Maritime CIRAS for comparison purposes.  

The Good
The quality of the materials seems to be on par with what Eagle uses.  I could detect no difference, visual, tactile or otherwise in the Cordura material.  The denier, thread count, texture and fabric weight appear to be the same.

The stitching is very neat overall.  Triple and double stitching is used in all the same places as Eagle, so it is evident that the original was closely studied.  I didn’t do any pull testing as Havoc1969 did, but I’m nowhere near his size and wouldn’t be able to come close to the test he did of the drag handle.

I’ve read comments as to the meshing used, and my inspection shows that Eagle uses the softer mesh.  Every Eagle review I’ve read comments on how the cummerbund Velcro catches on and chews up the mesh in the front.  The firmer mesh of the Phantom model has no affinity for the Velcro and this seems to have cured this problem.

Havoc1969 voiced some concern as to the quality of the pouches and I think I have to disagree with him.  The pouch construction looks no different than anything else I’ve seen from name brand vendors.  Triple stitching where applicable, taped and sewn edges and Kydex reinforced MOLLE straps are standard.  I am especially fond of the design for the medical pouch and may order another for my original CIRAS.

I know Phantom isn’t spending money on R&D and can thus afford to sell these items cheaper, but if they are cutting costs in the manufacturing of these items, I can’t tell where it is happening.

The Bad
During my inspection of stitching, I did come across one place where a stitch had pulled out/frayed.  This stitch was in a non-load bearing portion of the vest, so I wasn't overly concerned, but I was still a bit put off.  I have read reviews of name brand gear with similar issues, so it is not entirely unreasonable that everybody lets a defect loose from time to time.

When attempting to insert my 10"x12" ceramic plates, I hit a snag.  The plate entered the front pocket without problem, but one of the support straps in the rear panel had been made too short, and the resulting opening was too narrow.  The upper part of the pocket was fine, though.  No rear plate for me...

Even though the release feature appears to be a direct copy of Eagle, it doesn't work!    I pulled and pulled and pulled on the release pillow and I couldn't get the cable that ties everything together to budge.  Only when I manually disassembled the vest from the rear and laid the shoulder straps straight did I have any success in moving the cable.  I tracked this issue down to the shoulder strap itself.  There is a piece of fabric sewn onto the length of the shoulder strap, which forms a tube for the release cable.  This was made too small resulting in high friction forces when it bends over the shoulder.  No quick release for me…

Edited to Add:  OK, I figured out the issue with the release.  The cable used by Eagle is 5/64" in diameter and the Phantom cable is 5mm in diameter.  For those of slow with metric/standard conversions, the Phantom cable is about 0.050" too big.  I swapped in the Eagle cable and pillow and the quick release now works properly.  This is standard vinyl coated steel cable that I think I can buy at Home Depot, so no big deal.

The Ugly
Those of you who familiar with the CIRAS know that there are large Velcro covered flaps that attach to the cummerbund.  Eagle uses a single piece of 6” wide Velcro for this task while Phantom uses a 2” and a 4” wide piece.  Nothing here affects use; it’s just a visual defect though.

Resolution
I sent an e-mail to my EBay seller informing him of the rear plate pocket problem and received a prompt no BS reply to just send the rear panel back to him for replacement.  That takes care of my plate issue.

I'll be sending another email shortly asking if there is anything to do about the release feature, which I discovered later.  The shoulder straps are an integral part of the front panel, so I don't think they'll be easily replaced.  I may just cut away part of the fabric tube where it bends over my shoulder or maybe I'll just leave it be and call it a non-releasable CIRAS.

Conclusion
Overall I’m quite impressed.  I would be extremely hard pressed to tell the difference between a real CIRAS and the Phantom knockoff in a blind test, with the exception of choice in Velcro materials around the cummerbund flaps.  Those of us who don’t wear gear everyday for a living are bound to get a lifetime of service out of the Phantom CIRAS for a fraction of the cost.  I don’t think I could even buy a complete set of pouches for what I paid for the whole Phantom package.

I am, however, a bit disappointed with the plate and release issue.  At least 1337Tactical appears willing to stand behind the product and address customer satisfaction.  The plate issue was caused by bad workmanship, but the release issue is quite possibly due to bad design.  I’ll post a follow-up as more info becomes available.

Please feel free to ask questions!

Final Resolution
I finally received my replacement rear panel and it has the same problem with the plate strap being too small.  I know it's not the same panel as the frayed stitch is missing.  I let 1337 Tactical know there was still a problem, and received the following email:

I apologize; the vest that you have received is a new revised version of our vest. The only difference is that your vest is made of Curdora material.  Indeed the retaining strap was cut too short on these batches of vests. We would like to ensure that you are satisfied with your purchase and are willing do to the following: Give you a 30$ refund for alteration costs to the vest. 2. Full refund 3. Ship the vest back and we will exchange with a vest that does fit the plates but will not be made of Curdora. Please let us know what you would like to do. Regards, Jon 1337tactical.com

At this point I wanted to wrap it up and took the $30 refund, which was immediately remitted to my account.  I'm just going to run a stitch puller across some seams, and create an opening in which to put the rear plate.  I guess the vest Havoc1969 received was one of the older vests, not made from Cordura.

Overall, I wish this could have been different, but I still think I scored a deal.  Certainly the folks at 1337 did their best to make it right.

Can it also be used with soft armor?
Very Nice!!

Quoted: Can it also be used with soft armor?

Yes, there are places to put soft armor panels just like the original.  I don't have any that will fit this, so I can't determine if it is sized properly for BALCS cut stuff.  I suspect it will work without issue.

so in your opinion are these better than the CTD soft armor carrier's?

Quoted: so in your opinion are these better than the CTD soft armor carrier's?

I've not seen the CTD carriers, so I really can't offer an opinion.  I think that the construction of the Phantom products are certainly up to par with those of name brand manufacturers.  For all I know, this might be made by the same people supplying Emdom with their goods...

Excellent review! Does anybody have photos of this thing loaded up and being worn? Just want to get an idea how much coverage it has.
Thanks.

are you still happy with your vest after using it?

I've never used the small cummerbund with my CIRAS rig.  It's made so that skinny folks can be assured the rear armor is pulled tight around them.  Since that's not an affliction from which I suffer (too many years of good eatin'), I just remove it.  No Velcro/Mesh issues.

Nevertheless, something very interesting to look at as an alternative.

TimW
Phoenix
Practical Tactical, LLC

Quoted: are you still happy with your vest after using it?

I haven't had a chance to use it.  As mentioned in the review, the rear panel was made wrong and wouldn't take a plate.  I had to send it back for replacement and shipping to/from Canada runs about 10-12 calendar days each way.  It arrived there yesterday, so I have another 2 weeks before I get to play.  

Quoted: Excellent review! Does anybody have photos of this thing loaded up and being worn? Just want to get an idea how much coverage it has. Thanks.

There are a few pics at the bottom of the vendors EBay auction cgi.ebay.com/Phantom-Eagle-CIRAS-MLCS-replica-mar-ACU-molle-CB-mc_W0QQitemZ290031359294QQihZ019QQcategoryZ137007QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item290031359294

BTT for final resolution of issues.

OK, going off topic here but still talking about the same dealer (after looking at their auction listings)- has anyone tried their Aimpoint knockoffs?  I know they are cheap Chinese (isn't everything these days?), but figured it might not be bad for a range toy (my (9MM AR).  

If no one's tried them I may order one just to play with it.  
http://cgi.ebay.com/Aimpoint-RDS-Scope-reddot-replica-with-KAC-mount_W0QQitemZ290036286102QQihZ019QQcategoryZ66827QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem  

In my experience, the pouches (especially the smaller medic/utility pouches included) are shiite, because they use one less row of PALS webbing.

For the money, it's fantastic (I have mine with now almost all TAG/DBT/HSGI/Paraclete pouches.

Quoted: In my experience, the pouches (especially the smaller medic/utility pouches included) are shiite, because they use one less row of PALS webbing.

The pouches I have all use a snap at the end of the strap, which eats up a row of PALS webbing.  However, this is the case on all designs using that same approach and not unique to 1337 Tactical.  I don't know if it is a detriment or not...

I guess if you want that extra row, you'll need a design that makes use of a different attachment feature.

Agreed, a fantastic value!

I don't know if my land version was older or not, but my operator cut sapi plates fit just fine.... and I didn't have the problem with the release not working either, as I tried it the first day after I adjusted all the straps.....

Sounds like you got your problems worked out... Good luck!  I have enjoyed mine thusfar.  I agree that the pouches could be made better also, however for training they have worked just fine....  Though I have started to replace them with hsgi pouches as funds allow.