Body Armor

Hello! While I am not an expert on soft body armor by any means, I have bought two vests in the last 8 years. The reason I replaced my level 2 vest is that there was no manufacturer warranty past the 5 years. Their pitch is that sweat and heat degrade the vest after 5 years. While it still should stop handgun rounds, there is no guarantee that it would. That vest was a point blank vest from safariland.

I searched for a new vest and went with Safe Life Defense’s
Tactical Enhanced Multi-Threat™ Vest Level IIIA+
I purchased the inner carrier when an appropriate sized dress shirt and tie is needed, however for duty purposes, I opted for the external carrier. It is much heavier than my old level 2 vest, but does protect against much more hazards as well.

I don’t own plates, but if I did, I would purchase from Safe Life as well. They often times have sales, and you can get good pricing from them.

Let’s hope and pray neither of us ever needs body armor.
Be safe!
Jake

The Glockodile said:

are there any 3A vests that still present well under a shirt and tie?

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Never seen any. They all "print" in one way or another.
Which is not helped by needing a couple of t-shirts, or a draining T underneath.

Now, under a suit coat or jacket, they print less--but, you want the coat/jacket tailored to fit (which is probably wanted after finding the right holster solution with a vest, too).

While yes they do print to a certain point, attempting to wear a shirt that one normally would wear with soft body armor causes extreme printing. Getting a shirt that adequately fits with body armor on helps minimize the printing. I wore my armor while getting fitted for new shirts. Helped a lot.

Under a jacket you can reasonably conceal hard plates if you have a slick carrier. Some buddies of mine wore theirs to lunch once and I was impressed.

I don't have much knowledge around soft armor or 3A but for level 3 and up, I like hesco and RMA.

My kid just bought some Hesco level IV.