Second Chance has been the industry leader for a long time. It always seemed to be on the cutting edge of the technology. I don’t expect them to test a product for 5 years before offering it to the public, but I do expect them to test it as best as possible and alert people when problems arise. I expect them to take vests out of real world circulation and test them from time to time. It used to be that I relied on what Rich Davis said, whether he was trashing someone else’s product or disagreeing with NIJ. I thought the SXT related recall in the late 90’s was a sign of genuine concern. (Now I’m not so sure it wasn’t just a marketing ploy that didn’t cost them much.) However, I have lost faith in the company over this Zylon flap. I have been reading stuff about Zylon problems for quite some time, so surely SC knew or should have known about the issue long before I did. SC perpetuated the problem by continuing to sell new vests of the same material as the evidence continued to pile up. Once they decided to do the recall, they weren’t ready to handle the volume. I don’t like hanging out. I don’t like it when distributors to whom they refer me don’t return phone calls. I don’t like being told that I’ll receive the temporary inserts in a few days, and I’m still waiting 3-1/2 weeks later. I don’t like getting inconsistent information about the cost of a replacement vest, which appears to vary with who you talk to and when you talk to them. I don’t like being offered a 5% discount on a new $800 vest because my vest is almost 5 years old, when it probably should have been recalled 2 years earlier for a 45% discount. I don’t like being told that it would take a long time to get a replacement vest because of the sheer number of vests involved. It used to be worth it to me to buy SC, because I didn’t mind paying a premium for the best, having full confidence that it would work within its design parameters. Now, I think that U.S. Armor has the credibility based upon its refusal to market a Zylon vest, and the amount I saved by ordering one of their vests instead of SC will allow me to purchase a new one every 2.5-3 years if I want to.
I also think that other companies marketing Zylon vests have a worse credibility problem than Second Chance, which at least has started its recall program. When you get right down to it, it’s probably cheaper for a vest company to play the odds of paying a couple of million bucks to someone who gets nailed by a pass through than it is to recall a ton of vests in circulation.
Until I get my U.S. Armor vest (the whole industry is backlogged due to the Zylon problem), I’ll be wearing a 10 year old SC Kevlar Comfort Lite II. When the new vest comes in, I’m going to shoot my Ultima and see if my sense of security has been false.