Anybody have experience with Shot Stop Duritium III+ PA plates? I'm interested in them but can't find much with some light Googling. 2.7 lbs per plate and .7" thick sounds pretty damn good, but they aren't green tip rated. Any other cons regarding these plates compared to similar options on the market? The weight and thickness (or lack thereof) seem almost too good to be true.

Hesco 3810s are 3.9 lbs each and these are 2.7 lbs each, with the functional difference (as far as I can tell) being that the Shot Stop plates aren't rated for green tip. I get that the Shot Stop Duritium III+ PA plates and the Hesco 3810s are technically quite different but they seem to offer similar protection, apart from the green tip rating, from what I understand.

So let's hear it. Experience with these plates? What your buddy told you about these plates? Why I should definitely not buy these plates? I'm leaning towards the Hesco 3810s but the weight and dimensions of these plates is making it a tough choice.

I'm open to any other recommendations for a "true" III+ plate that is anywhere near as light and thin as the Duritium III+ PA plates. Willing to pay for good gear.

Like Saber solutions and I mentioned in the other thread, Shot Stop plays word games and markets things in a cheesy fashion. "III+" is, of course, meaningless, but they're pretty much the only people to sell something as "III+" that can't defeat M855. Also mentioned in that thread, the Hesco 3810 has a ceramic strikeface which is why it defeats M855 where the Shot Stop Tencate plate does not. The Hesco 3800 is the direct competitor to the Shot Stop "III+" plate. Both are pure UHMWPE with no ceramic.

A lot of people will tell you that you should never buy a plate that can't stop all the most common intermediate rifle threats: 7.62x39mm MSC, M855 and M193. I did some non-scientific testing with myself and a variety of plates and soft armor and came to the conclusion that the extra mobility I got with a pure PE plate was worth losing M855 protection. That's a personal thing, though.

I wouldn't buy anything Shot Stop sells because of the way they do business.

@PatriotNC

I appreciate the thorough response. I figured hearing some real world reviews regarding this plate warranted a separate thread from the other comparison thread.

So what pure PE plate are you running now?

I see Shot Stop gets a lot of hate but I'm not too well versed in the world or body armor. I haven't seen any sketchy business tactics from Shot Stop personally, which is not to say they didn't do anything. I ended up looking at their PA plate just doing some googling and researching different plate specs.

I pretty much came to the same conclusion.

Ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain. Keep it light.

@SCR556

So what plates are you running now?

I'm using plates which aren't made anymore and are hard to get, but the rough equivalent is the Paraclete Omega.

The three big things that rub me the wrong way about Shot Stop are the word games with "III+", acting like they have some secret sauce when they just relabel Tencate plates and paying for ridiculous social media marketing that is clearly designed to reel in suckers.

Shot Stop's listed plates have Tencate model numbers and Tencate back labels. They're Tencate plates. There is no "Duritium" "technology", unless the marketing is what they mean. Tencate makes some damn fine armor. Would recommend it without reservation. But if you want Tencate plates, buy them from someone else IMO.

Lots of people sell body armor now. There are quality companies that do it without acting like clowns or paying for clowns on YouTube and Instagram. RMA, AT Armor, Saber Solutions, OP Tactical, Velocity Systems, Applied Fiber Concepts, Bullet Proof Me, First Spear, Tyr, Crye, Safariland, Point Blank, Armor Express, just to name a few. None of those guys go after the hard sell, impulse, low-info market. When a company keeps on getting clickbaity reviews with titles like "Is this the world's most advanced a body armor??", it makes me want to go somewhere else.

Currently two DKX Max IIIs - just under six pounds for the pair.