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 GoodThe 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 BadDuring 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 UglyThose 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.
ResolutionI 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.
ConclusionOverall 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 ResolutionI 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.