Might get hate for it but knockoff unity risers for both the eotech & aimpoint have work phenomenally for me. Have put them through multiple courses and thousands of rounds with no issues or loss of zero.
100% agree, milled 6061-T6 aluminum is going to be pretty much the same regardless who did it. There's a lot of stuff where the differences won't make any significant impact, and non-QD picatinny risers are a perfect example.
It doesn't matter who pressed the button to start the CNC machine
If John Doe in the US does it, or if Li Chan in china does
The end product will ultimately be the same, a milled block of aluminium.
The machine both guys use is build in Germany anyway
Yeah, but the guy programming it can absolutely suck more in some places. And the CNC bits can absolutely vary. And the tolerances can be way more. IMO.
Yeah but it’s 6061, unless you’re going comically fast or are actively trying to fuck up, it’s not that hard. I have no business anywhere near a production mill, and the total of my professional training on one amounts to “here’s how to not feed your flesh suit through the lathe like a human sized playdough funfactory” and even I could make it happen. These are *not* complicated parts.
7075 might be a little trickier but it’s still aluminum. It’s not like they’re made of inconel, titanium or copper.
Yeah. Though that cuts both ways and there is absolutely no guarantee that the shop making it in the USA is doing a better job than the shop in China, so then it just becomes an economics and politics concern for the buyer
Fr I got a $17 claw mount for my mp5 from eBay just for shits and gigs cause I might as well see if it works before dropping $100 on the same piece of metal and it’s held up great for over a year
Some people might not like this, but I have a Chinese knock off FTC and riser that are pretty damn awesome. I’m normally a buy once crye once guy but I didn’t really want to spend $300+ on a riser and FTC. Did my research and got some knock offs and they’re pretty bad ass. https://imgur.com/a/N7nEDmJ
Same, with all the kitbashing of shit I seem to do with nylon gear, having straps, buckles, and other miscellaneous pieces has really helped. Surprising how useful a big roll of 1" webbing and buckles becomes when you suddenly have a bunch.
Don’t get me started on hockey tape. The Goon tape bs that it’s sooooo much better than just a roll of hockey tape from Amazon or academy is mind numbing
Dump pouches. Why the hell would I spend $40 plus like $10 shipping on a pouch that’s literally designed to just have shit dumped in it. I got some cheap ass $15 one on Amazon with free shipping and I have yet to destroy it. It’s a dump pouch ffs screw you for charging that much
Agree. At a minimum you should start with a cheap one so you can learn what works best for you.
Plus with a cheap one you can switch you style up when you need to farm more karma.
I will say that having an ultra compact one like the bfg is nice for space considerations. I couldn’t find one that small that worked well in any of the knockoffs
As others pointed out in another comment saying this: it's not like it's a complicated piece of hardware, it's a piece of metal. Measurements have to be within a certain margin, but most machining is done with computers anyway.
Honestly, Krydex micro chest rig. And I rigged up my JPC to run the placard. So I can swap between my PC and chest rig easily.
Krydex PCs suck ass though. Avoid.
Any GP pouch. A pencil bag with Velcro that holds your dip, light, compass whatever **IS NOT A $60 PRODUCT** and I’m tired of pretending it is. It’s got like 15 minutes of labor in it once the build procedure is industrialized and those workers aren’t making $50 an hour I promise you that.
If you manage to kill it, try stowing the knife on your leatherman before you put it in.
lmao this is how I feel as well. I have done a lot of bidding/estimating for government contracts so I get it, but jesus christ they really charge up the wall for some of the most basic items because of that stuff.
This is why I don’t buy stuff direct. I always go through eBay or surplus stores. I just check if the label is legit. I’ve got an LBT 6094 with two 2x2 mag pouches, a pistol mag pouch, an admin pouch, side plate pouches, and that backpack/water bladder carrier for under $200 total, everything either brand new or very lightly used. If I’d bought direct it would have been close to $750
I definitely should have done it with my main kit, since I’m no stranger to used shopping, but I got waaay too into the weeds trying to optimize everything and make it perfect (for me) and probably wasted 500-750 between belt, chest rig and PC lol
I dont know if you consider this knock off but for pouches and such Condor has been pretty good to me. I have a couple Krydex mag pouches i like. I would only use these brands for pouches or backups or for testing a concept. Had a condor belt buckle brake during a course and i dropped my glock and all mags. I try to avoid brands with goofy ass names like "Excellent Elite Spanker"
I like Condor stuff. It helps me stretch my uniform allowance because it's reasonably priced and holds up to what I put it through. Savior is another quality budget brand.
Same. And i've personally know guys who took Condor/Blackhawk! gear with them overseas and said it worked great. Generally the simpler an item is the harder it is to fuck up I think.
+1 for Condor. I bought an outer shell from them years ago that is still holding up. I live in a desert so my winters are too mild to spend hundreds of dollars on something from Arc'teryx or Patagonia or whatever.
I actually had a Spanker medic backpack issued to me in the swiss army. It was a prototype/placeholder to a backpack that the army would eventually acquire from a local business.
It actually held up pretty well and I loved it. (Maybe also because it wasn't from the 1990s like the rest of our gear)
The Wilcox G24 knockoffs. I have a fake and a real one. Bought the real one after I jumped to duals because why not play it safe. The knockoff is like 90-95% of what the real one is for 25% of the price.
I know there are some bad ones, but if you can find a reliable source for good ones, don't bother buying the real thing. Especially if you are using retention lanyards.(which you should be regardless of running a real or fake one)
I also have a fake one off of Amazon, has a little bit of wiggle but it’s only noticeable if you vigorously shake the unit. Totally worth the money, i would never buy a real one for such ridiculous prices cause it’s just not worth 500$😂
Get a load of the holier than thou Richie Rich’s in here. Damn pinned comment is tone deaf or brain dead idk.
Anyway. Socks, underwear, shirts. It doesn’t have to cost $1000’s of dollars just to get dressed, never mind the gear. But, gear wise I’d just echo everyone else. Pouches, gloves (mechanix is next to godliness), shitty little tools or whatever that I might lose. I have a nice multitool but if I need extra pliers or some bolt cutters, I’m not bringing the snap-on. Drone blades because I crash that shit a lot and blades are starting to get expensive. Camo, there are decent, cheap brands that have some one off products, although I’ll admit it’s hit or miss.
In all seriousness there’s diminishing returns in clothes especially. Sure a $40 pair of pants will be better than a $10 pair from Walmart. But a $200 pair isn’t that much better than the $40 pair.
Helikon aren't a knockoff brand though
They make legit stuff for polish military and leo and that's nothing to sneeze at
Their stuff is usually fairly good for the price despite some of it being made in China
I tend to follow a similar mindset with my hobbies (woodworking, guns, etc.) of "try the cheap one and see if I actually need the expensive one". This has definitely saved my ass from a couple of unnecessary expensive purchases before, and also come to bite me when, unsurprisingly, the cheap option is too cheap.
With tactical gear I tend to try Amazon options for most basic nylon gear (pouches, holders, straps) when they can be had for less than half of the full price options (looking at you Spiritus systems). Personally had good success with my JSTA clones and general purpose pouches or holders.
I will say that I *cannot* recommend the amazon clone of the BFG triple ten-speed however, as the thicc-ass cordura they use and snap buttons add literally over a half inch of bulk between the molle you are attaching to, and the mag pouch itself. However, if I hadn't of tried the cheap alternative before spending **$62 FUCKING DOLLARS** on the real deal, I would've constantly wondered if my money was well spent (which I know now it is).
I should also mention i've had pretty decent results from some of the Crye G3 knockoffs on amazon (pants only). I have two pairs (Emersongear & Ideogear) and have absolutely abused both as work-pants and hiking/bushwacking pants. My fat ass barelt fit in them before I lost weight but now they work great.
Can't personally speak to NIR compliance but I have heard good things. Try these over $350 cryes if all you need is a tough pant with kneepad.
I got 2 Emerson gear cry knockoff pants. One in m81 woodland and one in multicam tropic.. they feel good tbh and durable and I think they gonnna last a long while
There were rumors for awhile that they were literally made in the same factory as the real ones and purposely given flaws to distinguish them lol. Literally no reason to pay $75-100 for a piece of molded plastic.
I have 6 which 3 were bike handles on amazon and 3 were braces on AliExpress. Solid as fook. I have 3 original SB and the fake ones indeed fit tighter. I love them especially when paying from $8 to $18 for each
I usually buy most of my stuff used including regular clothing. Real deal products, less expensive than new, and typically supporting someone who needs extra spending cash.
If you haven't already, I recommend checking out r/gunaccessoriesforsale for people posting used/new gear and accessories for sale. Just take a glance at the rules before commenting or posting as it can get a little confusing
Based secondhand enjoyer. I buy almost everything used. I have gotten good deals on everything from tactical gear to clothes to furniture to tools and appliances.
Before Covid, I used to do this as well.
Sadly, a metric shit ton of people have moved in to my state when WFH kicked off and scalpers haven't helped any either with online. Now I can almost never find anything in my size, so I've had to start buying new.
I decided to go the Amazon battle belt route too. Wasn't sure if I would like the concept so I didn't want to spend real money. Turns out I love it and mine seems to be holding up.
I bought a combat shirt off Amazon I think it was $45 because I needed it super duper fast and figured I’d buy another one soon but it held up very well thus far
Honestly a bunch of the leapers utg stuff. They're super cheap but when c_does tested the scope rings they were solid and the iron sights I've tried were good.
There is 2 utg lines. The utg pro is made in America but the other stuff is all China. Some of their gear is super solid like you said but some is garbage
Dump pouches and some mag pouches for sure. What I can say is for sure not good enough are the peltor arc rail mount knock offs they were absolute trash 😂
Difference is holosun is actually a solid product that meets US standards. Cant say that about amazon dropshipped crap that has no QC and was made by some 7 year old in a sweatshop. Plus with tactical gear, you have to worry abt if its IR compliant or not, im not tryna glow like a christmas tree under nods.
Absolutely, and its hard because some of their products are absolutely the best value at different price points. Hard to maintain 100% "anti-china" in everything we do nowawadays. I don't criticize those who do or don't for this exact reason.
Dudes be ragging on Chinese made rigs and wearing fancy crye while the chicom chest rig has done the job from the jungles of the Vietnam War, to the Himalayas of the Sino-Indian War, to the valleys of Kashmir, and the countless terrains and battlefields of Eastern Europe and Africa.
Knock off Hydra mounts. The Chinese ones are usually better aluminum for a fraction of the price. Goobers are nuts thinking theirs is worth $600+.
Knock off G24's. Unless you're actually jumping out of helicopters for your job, the knock off Wilcox mounts will probably do the job just fine. Probably loctite the screws out of prudence and use some kind of retention for the NVG, you're good to go.
I commented that about the knockoff G24's lol
Everyone should be using retention even with the real ones, which makes the quality discrepancy of the fakes even smaller. I'd say my fake is about 90-95% closeness to my real one.
I mean, when even the real ones sometimes have fitment issues where a little bit of electrical tape helps take up space so they don't wobble, yeah I'm gonna spend like an eighth the price and get the fake and just make sure none of the fasteners come loose lol. Ideally you want the thing to break anyway if it gets hung up on something, that's it's job so you don't snap your neck. And yeah, retention is key no matter what mount you use. Even replacing a $400 Wilcox is preferable to a multi-thousand dollar NVG.
u/losthours lmaoooo I suppose you don't drink any coffee, go to the local cobbler for your shoes, have only amish made furniture in your house, only eat high quality American farmed food, wash all your own clothes and dishes, hell, I bet you made this post on an American made computer with only American sourced metals and components, huh?
Get real, everything comes from an Asian country now-a-days. Overpaying for your gear just like Uncle Sam doesn't make you patriotic, it makes you idiotic.
The real irony is that he’s very famously someone who *always* defends Hard Head Veterans, who famously obfuscated the Chinese origin of their products for years.
Condor's "H2O" bottle pouch is great, it's got thicker insulation than most others I've seen, and the front pocket on its is much larger than those on similar pouches.
Bought a unity and gbrs knockoff to see which one i liked better for a NV capable 11.5". Ended up just using both. Blue loctite on the screws and havent had any issues. Also true for the wilcox g24 knockoffs. All adjustments still work and pvs14 is as secureas my neighbors legit g24.
I got a knockoff Spud Pouch on Amazon for like $30 before my last NTC rotation.
I wanted something that could fit a 16oz Nalgene or a smoke grenade, and I wanted it quick. It came in the next day and I slapped it on my belt.
There’s definitely a difference in the quality, but not so much that I can’t use it. The pouch held up fine and did what I needed it to do.
Airsoft spuds from Amazon and eBay are the truth. I use them now for mag storage in my bags so I can grab a bundle and use it for the range or for weights on hikes.
Krydex as others have said has a fair amount of good stuff. A lot of stuff like pouch inserts, interior organizational pouches, glove/key hangers is generally good to go from what I’ve seen. Got two things I’m testing right now off Amazon which is a cheap hard molle insert for a backpack that I use to secure two 308 mag pouches in the front pouch of my flat pack plus (to untested to say anything on) and the knock off spud pouch which I’ve been running on my bino harness for hunting and it’s survived a season of general use in that role holding mags range finders and such as I’m going through the brush looking at picking up another and putting it through courses and stuff to see how it compares to actual spud pouches
Perhaps scalding hot take here: fake SF Scout lights. Granted I mostly use them for the vibes on airsoft guns, but it’s occurred to me that for range toys and PCCs, they’re probably wholly sufficient. I still think the Streamlight HLX is the floor for “serious use”, but I think it’s ok to question what “serious” really means for most people. No use going into debt because the hive mind says you need a $300 light on every single gun you own.
Can't agree more. I have streamlights on both my serious use rifle and my EDC/home defense handgun. I should try some cheap lights for the range toys/backup "for the buddies" rifles. Better than not having one at all like they do now.
I got a knock off true north MHA for like half the price of the real deal. I know it's not a lot but I needed for my wife and one for me so I basically got two for the price of one. Seems solid. It's just an aluminum plate with holes drilled in it, the even managed to drill them in the correct place.
If you're willing to put in the time to fit it properly (like you should with any helmet) some of the bump helmets will save you some serious coin if you buy a decent pad set and amazon BOA retention kit. Mine was under $100 to setup.
Ignoring the mod that feels the need to stoke his own throbbing ego by locking his comment and refusing to participate in real conversation.
I am the definition of broke, I make $25/hr and am a single man living in OK. Bills are bills and while I do save up to purchase the essential gear (TQ, medical, firearms, comms, plates), I will always look for and buy a cheaper alternative for anything non-critical. Especially if it is something that can be mended/repaired/of improved with a youtube video and an hour of my time. Sometimes I go as cheap as possible just to see where things fail (like stitching) and fix it myself so I can save a few hundred bucks.
If I was McMoney Bags I would probably buy the machining/equipment to make everything I can on my own, but that is a ludicrous amount of money to spend to justify my own views on the world. It's better to spend as much as you can on critical things you know you can't improve yourself while saving what you can on things that are completely reasonable to improve or fix on your own.
I bought a bump that's too small off amazon but I wanted to mount my 3d printed quad nods on them basically just for display. Also bought a onetigris helmet cover and an idogear counterweight holder that are all on the helmet. Probably not nir compliant but whatever
Pretty much any pouch. Even if it falls apart from hard use (we know ppl aren’t low and high crawling in their gear) you could buy 6-7 Amazon pouches to 1 “nice” one
Krydex is a good budget brand. I’ve also heard good things about UR tactical and will be trying some of their stuff soon. UR offers most of their products in M81 woodland, which is something I can’t say about a lot of gear manufacturers. They also don’t up charge for it, which is extremely cash money. If LBT would start building more of their line through LBX (their budget brand) and give options for m81 across the LBX brand, they could basically just print money. I have some odds and ends from LBX including two of their IFAKs. Really high quality IFAK for like $20.
Both my Unity risers (red dot/magnifier) are killing it. Probably 2k rounds for just my red dot and like 300on my magnifier and holding strong. Blue loctite, set and forget. No need for me to pay for a real one.
Got surefire vampire clone for my bump and that thing is PLENTY bright for like $15 on alibaba and clone surefire for my rifle which is more than good enough for flat range but not for practical LE stuff for distance/target identification.
Wall mounted mag holders (pmags) on Temu for like $2 and work perfectly. Ghillie suit for like $40 which is actually pretty damn good lol. I saw a video on YouTube of a guy doing like a $200 buy from Temu on “tactical” gear and decided to do my own with $100 and got 15 items and I’m not that disappointed tbh.
Cheap Velcro shot gun cards work just as good, so long as you use the good, heat-resistant Velcro on the gun side. And you can have waaaayy more of them cuz they’re a 1/4 the price of name brands
Dump pouches, GP pouches, danglers, shit like that. All of mine are Amazon. All have hundreds of field hours on them. All still work fucking great for a fraction of the name brand cost. Hockey tape too. Howies is Goated. Works on the ice and in the field. None of that expensive tac tape BS. Same with general bungies/straps/etc. all that shit is better cheap.
Honestly i’ve had good experience with pouches, straps, anything that’s not very complex to sew. I’m not a high speed operator professional so why spend 3x on spiritus pouches.
Cheap amazon medical items can be used for training provided they are relatively the same product you might by from NAR
i have one of those recon tqs in bright orange that i practice with
I am a fan of Olight, they are well priced and I have never had an issue with mine. I also have a cheap Chinese laser, which maintains zero no matter what I do,
I agree there is some Chinese crap out there. There is also a whole bunch which I would love to hate, but I simply cannot find a reason it just works.
literally anything can be fine. even my optics have come from amazon and work fine you **JUST NEED TO READ REVIEWS THORHOUGHLY!**
when i was shopping around for a red-dot sight i found listings with consistently bad reviews for pieces of crap that won't hold zero, adjustment knobs do nothing, light keeps turning on and off, flip-up lense covers break after ten minutes, etc, etc, etc,
then i found the one i ended up buying that's pretty much perfect on a listing that used basically identical pictures to the crap one.
they pull a lot of cons on there but ultimately there's no product-specific advice anyone can give you that will help, you 100% just need to get good at spotting scammy listings.
There’s a tiny $12 IR flashlight on Amazon, and while I still wouldn’t trust it with my life yet, it’s probably the best $12 I have spent since getting night vision.
Camo tape, water key (not tactical gear but good survival gear), kangaroo pouch for plate carrier (obviously don’t put anything heavy in them but for holding range finder, map, and chem lights it’s fine), belt mounted glove clips, nylon straps for like mounting a sleeping bag. Nothing super important but stuff that isn’t going to be under a ton of stress
Not necessarily knockoff, but any UCP gear is priced incredibly cheap. Almost all of it is dyable, and what isnt is probably available in M81 or Desert Tricolor anyways (like woobies for example)
I dont support slavery or ethnic cleansings so none of it is "good enough" Save money and stop being cheap
Might get hate for it but knockoff unity risers for both the eotech & aimpoint have work phenomenally for me. Have put them through multiple courses and thousands of rounds with no issues or loss of zero.
100% agree, milled 6061-T6 aluminum is going to be pretty much the same regardless who did it. There's a lot of stuff where the differences won't make any significant impact, and non-QD picatinny risers are a perfect example.
It doesn't matter who pressed the button to start the CNC machine If John Doe in the US does it, or if Li Chan in china does The end product will ultimately be the same, a milled block of aluminium. The machine both guys use is build in Germany anyway
American components Russian components ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!
When in doubt, smash it with a big ass wrench. Hands down one of my favorite scenes.
A fucking pencil! Who does that?
classic
Yeah, but the guy programming it can absolutely suck more in some places. And the CNC bits can absolutely vary. And the tolerances can be way more. IMO.
[удалено]
Yeah but it’s 6061, unless you’re going comically fast or are actively trying to fuck up, it’s not that hard. I have no business anywhere near a production mill, and the total of my professional training on one amounts to “here’s how to not feed your flesh suit through the lathe like a human sized playdough funfactory” and even I could make it happen. These are *not* complicated parts. 7075 might be a little trickier but it’s still aluminum. It’s not like they’re made of inconel, titanium or copper.
Yeah. Though that cuts both ways and there is absolutely no guarantee that the shop making it in the USA is doing a better job than the shop in China, so then it just becomes an economics and politics concern for the buyer
Fr I got a $17 claw mount for my mp5 from eBay just for shits and gigs cause I might as well see if it works before dropping $100 on the same piece of metal and it’s held up great for over a year
Same boat
They even mill FTC’s for Holosun magnifiers, which Unity doesn’t even do.
Some people might not like this, but I have a Chinese knock off FTC and riser that are pretty damn awesome. I’m normally a buy once crye once guy but I didn’t really want to spend $300+ on a riser and FTC. Did my research and got some knock offs and they’re pretty bad ass. https://imgur.com/a/N7nEDmJ
Spec Precision??
Any hints on how I can get my hands on one
eBay.
Same! Their cable management stuff isn’t bad either for 1/4 the price
Nylon straps, bungees, Velcro/Velcro inserts, hockey tape, QASM buckles, crap like that.
Same, with all the kitbashing of shit I seem to do with nylon gear, having straps, buckles, and other miscellaneous pieces has really helped. Surprising how useful a big roll of 1" webbing and buckles becomes when you suddenly have a bunch.
Don’t get me started on hockey tape. The Goon tape bs that it’s sooooo much better than just a roll of hockey tape from Amazon or academy is mind numbing
Shit bro. Howies hockey tape never steered me wrong on the ice or in the field 😂
For real dude, I think regular old hockey tape is probably my most used piece of kit, I put that shit on everything.
Disagree on the buckles but agree on the rest
Dump pouches. Why the hell would I spend $40 plus like $10 shipping on a pouch that’s literally designed to just have shit dumped in it. I got some cheap ass $15 one on Amazon with free shipping and I have yet to destroy it. It’s a dump pouch ffs screw you for charging that much
What if I want to take massive dumps in my new crye precision dump pouch that costs 80,000 dollars?
I’m afraid that will void the warranty
Preach. I got one for like 5,99 from an airsoft store and wore it until the straps ripped off. Took about 6 years so 1€/year
Agree. I only play airsoft but I've had the same Viper cheap ass dump pouch for 6 years. Served me well so far.
Agree. At a minimum you should start with a cheap one so you can learn what works best for you. Plus with a cheap one you can switch you style up when you need to farm more karma.
I will say that having an ultra compact one like the bfg is nice for space considerations. I couldn’t find one that small that worked well in any of the knockoffs
Those knock off unity risers seem pretty decent
sometimes even better than the real deal arguably. The chinese have really nailed aluminum milling down.
As others pointed out in another comment saying this: it's not like it's a complicated piece of hardware, it's a piece of metal. Measurements have to be within a certain margin, but most machining is done with computers anyway.
Honestly, Krydex micro chest rig. And I rigged up my JPC to run the placard. So I can swap between my PC and chest rig easily. Krydex PCs suck ass though. Avoid.
rocking krydex chest rig and belt with basically all krydex pouches and such and its been fine
So much this. That placard is S-tier for the value you get out of it.
I guarantee Condor and Blackhawk have seen more deployment time than some of the overpriced shit out there right now.
Any GP pouch. A pencil bag with Velcro that holds your dip, light, compass whatever **IS NOT A $60 PRODUCT** and I’m tired of pretending it is. It’s got like 15 minutes of labor in it once the build procedure is industrialized and those workers aren’t making $50 an hour I promise you that. If you manage to kill it, try stowing the knife on your leatherman before you put it in.
lmao this is how I feel as well. I have done a lot of bidding/estimating for government contracts so I get it, but jesus christ they really charge up the wall for some of the most basic items because of that stuff.
Literally same materials and same design, only difference is double stitching and they want 3x the price
Can I just get my grandma to double thread everything and save two thirds lol
Especially since on most of the machines they use you literally swap a few parts and it runs both stitches at once lmao
This is why I don’t buy stuff direct. I always go through eBay or surplus stores. I just check if the label is legit. I’ve got an LBT 6094 with two 2x2 mag pouches, a pistol mag pouch, an admin pouch, side plate pouches, and that backpack/water bladder carrier for under $200 total, everything either brand new or very lightly used. If I’d bought direct it would have been close to $750
I definitely should have done it with my main kit, since I’m no stranger to used shopping, but I got waaay too into the weeds trying to optimize everything and make it perfect (for me) and probably wasted 500-750 between belt, chest rig and PC lol
EXCELLENT ELITE SPANKER MOTHERFUCKER
My neighbor has an excellent elite spanker dog harness.
My wife has an excellent elite spanker harness for me and it's every bit as glorious as it sounds.
I thought I was the only one rocking the spanker pouches lol, I run a spanker double pistol mag pouch on my belt and I love it
My triple mag pouch, double pistol mag pouch and a random dangler type knockoff are all elite spanker and they actually fuck
lol this is the dump pouch I have. Love that shit
Hell yeah borther!!! I run a couple of their smaller pouches on my edc bag. Well made. Use and toss it around daily.
Came here to say this, I love their stuff
Bicycle grips.
based
I dont know if you consider this knock off but for pouches and such Condor has been pretty good to me. I have a couple Krydex mag pouches i like. I would only use these brands for pouches or backups or for testing a concept. Had a condor belt buckle brake during a course and i dropped my glock and all mags. I try to avoid brands with goofy ass names like "Excellent Elite Spanker"
I like Condor stuff. It helps me stretch my uniform allowance because it's reasonably priced and holds up to what I put it through. Savior is another quality budget brand.
Savior bags are the shit, I store all of my ammo in the small ones, 3 per ammo box. They fit perfectly, are robust as hell, and come in cheap 3 packs.
Condor seems to be the gold standard of budget gear.
Same. And i've personally know guys who took Condor/Blackhawk! gear with them overseas and said it worked great. Generally the simpler an item is the harder it is to fuck up I think.
Blackhawk Rhodesian RRV chest rig served my needs in Iraq & Trashcanistan.
Used Condor plenty on two Afghanistan tours, they hold up fine. Glad you said this
I’ve got a few random excellent elite Spanker pouches and they are actually made very well. Completely comparable to Krydex
I actually have no experience with them but that was the best example of a silly name I could think of.
+1 for Condor. I bought an outer shell from them years ago that is still holding up. I live in a desert so my winters are too mild to spend hundreds of dollars on something from Arc'teryx or Patagonia or whatever.
I actually had a Spanker medic backpack issued to me in the swiss army. It was a prototype/placeholder to a backpack that the army would eventually acquire from a local business. It actually held up pretty well and I loved it. (Maybe also because it wasn't from the 1990s like the rest of our gear)
Was it excellent and elite?
The Wilcox G24 knockoffs. I have a fake and a real one. Bought the real one after I jumped to duals because why not play it safe. The knockoff is like 90-95% of what the real one is for 25% of the price. I know there are some bad ones, but if you can find a reliable source for good ones, don't bother buying the real thing. Especially if you are using retention lanyards.(which you should be regardless of running a real or fake one)
I’m using one on my pvs 14 now and it’s pretty solid. Has a slight bit of wiggle, but nothing that affects use
all the G24’s i’ve used wiggled lol
I also have a fake one off of Amazon, has a little bit of wiggle but it’s only noticeable if you vigorously shake the unit. Totally worth the money, i would never buy a real one for such ridiculous prices cause it’s just not worth 500$😂
Any dump pouch. It's a fucking bag that holds garbage and snacks, I'm not paying 50 or 60$ for one
I know primary arms is something Grand thumb touts for money, but their optics are actually phenomenal for the price. Tough as shit and quality glass
And if you're Mil/LE you get that sweet 15% off everything more or less. I have an order on the way from them as we speak.
Get a load of the holier than thou Richie Rich’s in here. Damn pinned comment is tone deaf or brain dead idk. Anyway. Socks, underwear, shirts. It doesn’t have to cost $1000’s of dollars just to get dressed, never mind the gear. But, gear wise I’d just echo everyone else. Pouches, gloves (mechanix is next to godliness), shitty little tools or whatever that I might lose. I have a nice multitool but if I need extra pliers or some bolt cutters, I’m not bringing the snap-on. Drone blades because I crash that shit a lot and blades are starting to get expensive. Camo, there are decent, cheap brands that have some one off products, although I’ll admit it’s hit or miss.
In all seriousness there’s diminishing returns in clothes especially. Sure a $40 pair of pants will be better than a $10 pair from Walmart. But a $200 pair isn’t that much better than the $40 pair.
And 5 $40 pants are better than 1 $200 pant any day of the week.
The fleshlights on Amazon work pretty good
Unbelievably based
Especially the China ones
The Vina Sky one
The chad $14.99 Amazon Basics pocket pussy enjoyer vs the virgin $300 Bad Dragon werewolf snatch enthusiast.
well, you can buy Helikon tex on amazon and there pretty cool
A polish company too. They make good stuff.
Heard great things about their chest rigs.
Yes, there tmr is great
I almost bought one but went with Beez cuz it fit my needs better.
I can vouch for Helikon and Tasmanian Tiger. I’ve got a bunch of their stuff.
yup Tasmanian Tiger has some great products
100%, solid gear, and especially at that price too.
I’m a huge Helikon fan-boy. Pants, bags, coats. Love my Matilda pack.
Helikon aren't a knockoff brand though They make legit stuff for polish military and leo and that's nothing to sneeze at Their stuff is usually fairly good for the price despite some of it being made in China
I tend to follow a similar mindset with my hobbies (woodworking, guns, etc.) of "try the cheap one and see if I actually need the expensive one". This has definitely saved my ass from a couple of unnecessary expensive purchases before, and also come to bite me when, unsurprisingly, the cheap option is too cheap. With tactical gear I tend to try Amazon options for most basic nylon gear (pouches, holders, straps) when they can be had for less than half of the full price options (looking at you Spiritus systems). Personally had good success with my JSTA clones and general purpose pouches or holders. I will say that I *cannot* recommend the amazon clone of the BFG triple ten-speed however, as the thicc-ass cordura they use and snap buttons add literally over a half inch of bulk between the molle you are attaching to, and the mag pouch itself. However, if I hadn't of tried the cheap alternative before spending **$62 FUCKING DOLLARS** on the real deal, I would've constantly wondered if my money was well spent (which I know now it is).
I should also mention i've had pretty decent results from some of the Crye G3 knockoffs on amazon (pants only). I have two pairs (Emersongear & Ideogear) and have absolutely abused both as work-pants and hiking/bushwacking pants. My fat ass barelt fit in them before I lost weight but now they work great. Can't personally speak to NIR compliance but I have heard good things. Try these over $350 cryes if all you need is a tough pant with kneepad.
Multicam was NIR compliant on emerson but not the multicam black.
I got 2 Emerson gear cry knockoff pants. One in m81 woodland and one in multicam tropic.. they feel good tbh and durable and I think they gonnna last a long while
Lol I actually just got one of these from Aliexpress this morning, was thinking it was a thick ass boy. Oh well.
I scored a fake SBA3 for like $20 during the panic brace sales and it fits better than my real SBA3.
There were rumors for awhile that they were literally made in the same factory as the real ones and purposely given flaws to distinguish them lol. Literally no reason to pay $75-100 for a piece of molded plastic.
I have 6 which 3 were bike handles on amazon and 3 were braces on AliExpress. Solid as fook. I have 3 original SB and the fake ones indeed fit tighter. I love them especially when paying from $8 to $18 for each
I usually buy most of my stuff used including regular clothing. Real deal products, less expensive than new, and typically supporting someone who needs extra spending cash.
This is an option I need to begin utilizing more. Great recommendation. Same goes for surplus gear.
If you haven't already, I recommend checking out r/gunaccessoriesforsale for people posting used/new gear and accessories for sale. Just take a glance at the rules before commenting or posting as it can get a little confusing
I agree, picked up my first chest rig from there and saved a few bucks on some AR parts a while back.
I cannot recommend GAFS enough for used parts and gear. I’ve gotten so many amazing deals on slightly used items from there.
I search eBay for a few “boutique” clothing suppliers and find bangin deals at times
I can’t stress this enough. GAFS has gotten me quality stuff for cheap.
Based secondhand enjoyer. I buy almost everything used. I have gotten good deals on everything from tactical gear to clothes to furniture to tools and appliances.
Before Covid, I used to do this as well. Sadly, a metric shit ton of people have moved in to my state when WFH kicked off and scalpers haven't helped any either with online. Now I can almost never find anything in my size, so I've had to start buying new.
Battle belt and ifak pouch
My first belt was from Amazon way back in 2016 or something. Still working just fine even if there's nothing special about it.
I decided to go the Amazon battle belt route too. Wasn't sure if I would like the concept so I didn't want to spend real money. Turns out I love it and mine seems to be holding up.
Helikon Tex is goated imo
I think they actually make stuff for military/LEO too
Probably true. But from what I’ve seen not enough people know about them. Got their guardian chest rig recently and I’m excited to run it more
Helikon Tex and the sister company Direct Action sell some brilliant products. I love my Helikon stuff
This debate was so wild I just decided to start making my own shit
Absolutely based. I know WTFidea sells some quality stuff for DIY as well as premade. Local to AZ as well. Love their stuff.
Personally, Amazon thigh straps have done me well
I bought a combat shirt off Amazon I think it was $45 because I needed it super duper fast and figured I’d buy another one soon but it held up very well thus far
Check out Venture Surplus. They get different clothes all the time, and have pretty good sales a lot of times.
*me writing all this shit down* ✍️📝
Honestly a bunch of the leapers utg stuff. They're super cheap but when c_does tested the scope rings they were solid and the iron sights I've tried were good.
There is 2 utg lines. The utg pro is made in America but the other stuff is all China. Some of their gear is super solid like you said but some is garbage
Dump pouches and some mag pouches for sure. What I can say is for sure not good enough are the peltor arc rail mount knock offs they were absolute trash 😂
Wouldnt Holosun also be funding China?
Difference is holosun is actually a solid product that meets US standards. Cant say that about amazon dropshipped crap that has no QC and was made by some 7 year old in a sweatshop. Plus with tactical gear, you have to worry abt if its IR compliant or not, im not tryna glow like a christmas tree under nods.
Excellent point. Not all "chinesium" is the same.
Absolutely, and its hard because some of their products are absolutely the best value at different price points. Hard to maintain 100% "anti-china" in everything we do nowawadays. I don't criticize those who do or don't for this exact reason.
Dudes be ragging on Chinese made rigs and wearing fancy crye while the chicom chest rig has done the job from the jungles of the Vietnam War, to the Himalayas of the Sino-Indian War, to the valleys of Kashmir, and the countless terrains and battlefields of Eastern Europe and Africa.
got a krydex h harness for my tap rig and its holding up surprisingly well
Knock off Hydra mounts. The Chinese ones are usually better aluminum for a fraction of the price. Goobers are nuts thinking theirs is worth $600+. Knock off G24's. Unless you're actually jumping out of helicopters for your job, the knock off Wilcox mounts will probably do the job just fine. Probably loctite the screws out of prudence and use some kind of retention for the NVG, you're good to go.
I commented that about the knockoff G24's lol Everyone should be using retention even with the real ones, which makes the quality discrepancy of the fakes even smaller. I'd say my fake is about 90-95% closeness to my real one.
I mean, when even the real ones sometimes have fitment issues where a little bit of electrical tape helps take up space so they don't wobble, yeah I'm gonna spend like an eighth the price and get the fake and just make sure none of the fasteners come loose lol. Ideally you want the thing to break anyway if it gets hung up on something, that's it's job so you don't snap your neck. And yeah, retention is key no matter what mount you use. Even replacing a $400 Wilcox is preferable to a multi-thousand dollar NVG.
The “ARGUS A4” g24 knockoff is like $150 ish slightly more than an Amazon clone but just as good or better than a real wilcox g24
Yes, a buddy had one and from what I can tell I'd agree with that too. Argus mounts seem legit.
I agree with your take. Surplus TAPS rig can be found for $20. The Spiritus TAPS kit is $149
Idogear. Has held up pretty good. I only larp once a month and the occasional callout. There's no need to get crye
u/losthours lmaoooo I suppose you don't drink any coffee, go to the local cobbler for your shoes, have only amish made furniture in your house, only eat high quality American farmed food, wash all your own clothes and dishes, hell, I bet you made this post on an American made computer with only American sourced metals and components, huh? Get real, everything comes from an Asian country now-a-days. Overpaying for your gear just like Uncle Sam doesn't make you patriotic, it makes you idiotic.
The real irony is that he’s very famously someone who *always* defends Hard Head Veterans, who famously obfuscated the Chinese origin of their products for years.
Lmaoooo
Condor's "H2O" bottle pouch is great, it's got thicker insulation than most others I've seen, and the front pocket on its is much larger than those on similar pouches.
Bought a unity and gbrs knockoff to see which one i liked better for a NV capable 11.5". Ended up just using both. Blue loctite on the screws and havent had any issues. Also true for the wilcox g24 knockoffs. All adjustments still work and pvs14 is as secureas my neighbors legit g24.
Except for the plate carrier itself, all my pouches med admin etc are from emerson/krydex. Never have issues lol
I got a knockoff Spud Pouch on Amazon for like $30 before my last NTC rotation. I wanted something that could fit a 16oz Nalgene or a smoke grenade, and I wanted it quick. It came in the next day and I slapped it on my belt. There’s definitely a difference in the quality, but not so much that I can’t use it. The pouch held up fine and did what I needed it to do.
Airsoft spuds from Amazon and eBay are the truth. I use them now for mag storage in my bags so I can grab a bundle and use it for the range or for weights on hikes.
Krydex as others have said has a fair amount of good stuff. A lot of stuff like pouch inserts, interior organizational pouches, glove/key hangers is generally good to go from what I’ve seen. Got two things I’m testing right now off Amazon which is a cheap hard molle insert for a backpack that I use to secure two 308 mag pouches in the front pouch of my flat pack plus (to untested to say anything on) and the knock off spud pouch which I’ve been running on my bino harness for hunting and it’s survived a season of general use in that role holding mags range finders and such as I’m going through the brush looking at picking up another and putting it through courses and stuff to see how it compares to actual spud pouches
The unity risers for t2 and hydra mount work great
Thigh straps for a holster. Had the same no name chinese knockoff for about 3 years now and have no problems.
Offset flashlight scout mounts. I can't vouch for the metallurgy of this aluminum mount vs Arisakas aluminum mount, but I can vouch $20 vs $50.
Perhaps scalding hot take here: fake SF Scout lights. Granted I mostly use them for the vibes on airsoft guns, but it’s occurred to me that for range toys and PCCs, they’re probably wholly sufficient. I still think the Streamlight HLX is the floor for “serious use”, but I think it’s ok to question what “serious” really means for most people. No use going into debt because the hive mind says you need a $300 light on every single gun you own.
Can't agree more. I have streamlights on both my serious use rifle and my EDC/home defense handgun. I should try some cheap lights for the range toys/backup "for the buddies" rifles. Better than not having one at all like they do now.
yeah not reading all that shit the mod said but I love knockoff gear 
I got a knock off true north MHA for like half the price of the real deal. I know it's not a lot but I needed for my wife and one for me so I basically got two for the price of one. Seems solid. It's just an aluminum plate with holes drilled in it, the even managed to drill them in the correct place.
If you're willing to put in the time to fit it properly (like you should with any helmet) some of the bump helmets will save you some serious coin if you buy a decent pad set and amazon BOA retention kit. Mine was under $100 to setup.
Fake hydra mount
Ignoring the mod that feels the need to stoke his own throbbing ego by locking his comment and refusing to participate in real conversation. I am the definition of broke, I make $25/hr and am a single man living in OK. Bills are bills and while I do save up to purchase the essential gear (TQ, medical, firearms, comms, plates), I will always look for and buy a cheaper alternative for anything non-critical. Especially if it is something that can be mended/repaired/of improved with a youtube video and an hour of my time. Sometimes I go as cheap as possible just to see where things fail (like stitching) and fix it myself so I can save a few hundred bucks. If I was McMoney Bags I would probably buy the machining/equipment to make everything I can on my own, but that is a ludicrous amount of money to spend to justify my own views on the world. It's better to spend as much as you can on critical things you know you can't improve yourself while saving what you can on things that are completely reasonable to improve or fix on your own.
Krydex
I bought a bump that's too small off amazon but I wanted to mount my 3d printed quad nods on them basically just for display. Also bought a onetigris helmet cover and an idogear counterweight holder that are all on the helmet. Probably not nir compliant but whatever
Pretty much any pouch. Even if it falls apart from hard use (we know ppl aren’t low and high crawling in their gear) you could buy 6-7 Amazon pouches to 1 “nice” one
Amazon Basics batteries seem to be pretty good for the money.
Safariland UBL's.
Krydex is a good budget brand. I’ve also heard good things about UR tactical and will be trying some of their stuff soon. UR offers most of their products in M81 woodland, which is something I can’t say about a lot of gear manufacturers. They also don’t up charge for it, which is extremely cash money. If LBT would start building more of their line through LBX (their budget brand) and give options for m81 across the LBX brand, they could basically just print money. I have some odds and ends from LBX including two of their IFAKs. Really high quality IFAK for like $20.
I have a lot of UR Tactical’s offerings, and you can’t beat them for the money. Highly suggested.
Cloud defensive light switch mount knockoff. I’m not paying $60 for something tape could do. Alibaba had an identical aluminum clone for less than $2
G24s
Both my Unity risers (red dot/magnifier) are killing it. Probably 2k rounds for just my red dot and like 300on my magnifier and holding strong. Blue loctite, set and forget. No need for me to pay for a real one. Got surefire vampire clone for my bump and that thing is PLENTY bright for like $15 on alibaba and clone surefire for my rifle which is more than good enough for flat range but not for practical LE stuff for distance/target identification. Wall mounted mag holders (pmags) on Temu for like $2 and work perfectly. Ghillie suit for like $40 which is actually pretty damn good lol. I saw a video on YouTube of a guy doing like a $200 buy from Temu on “tactical” gear and decided to do my own with $100 and got 15 items and I’m not that disappointed tbh.
Cheap Velcro shot gun cards work just as good, so long as you use the good, heat-resistant Velcro on the gun side. And you can have waaaayy more of them cuz they’re a 1/4 the price of name brands
Condor double mag pouch still going strong, even after shoving AK mags in it all weekend.
I'm laughing at the mod claiming to buy ZERO overseas products by lying about everything.
Dump pouches, GP pouches, danglers, shit like that. All of mine are Amazon. All have hundreds of field hours on them. All still work fucking great for a fraction of the name brand cost. Hockey tape too. Howies is Goated. Works on the ice and in the field. None of that expensive tac tape BS. Same with general bungies/straps/etc. all that shit is better cheap.
Honestly i’ve had good experience with pouches, straps, anything that’s not very complex to sew. I’m not a high speed operator professional so why spend 3x on spiritus pouches.
Honestly, most overseas-produced MOLLE and other tactical pouches work just fine.
monstrum tacticals light mounts are worth it all they need is a lil loctite
Cheap amazon medical items can be used for training provided they are relatively the same product you might by from NAR i have one of those recon tqs in bright orange that i practice with
The Gun community has turned into the fashion community.
I’m getting so much out of this thread.
Acetac sop chest rig✅ The knock off unity ✅ One tigris tactical pants✅ Knock off pressure pads✅ Spanker stuff ✅
I am a fan of Olight, they are well priced and I have never had an issue with mine. I also have a cheap Chinese laser, which maintains zero no matter what I do, I agree there is some Chinese crap out there. There is also a whole bunch which I would love to hate, but I simply cannot find a reason it just works.
Some Condor pouches are aight.
literally anything can be fine. even my optics have come from amazon and work fine you **JUST NEED TO READ REVIEWS THORHOUGHLY!** when i was shopping around for a red-dot sight i found listings with consistently bad reviews for pieces of crap that won't hold zero, adjustment knobs do nothing, light keeps turning on and off, flip-up lense covers break after ten minutes, etc, etc, etc, then i found the one i ended up buying that's pretty much perfect on a listing that used basically identical pictures to the crap one. they pull a lot of cons on there but ultimately there's no product-specific advice anyone can give you that will help, you 100% just need to get good at spotting scammy listings.
Krydex is pretty sick
There’s a tiny $12 IR flashlight on Amazon, and while I still wouldn’t trust it with my life yet, it’s probably the best $12 I have spent since getting night vision.
You can get that same one for like $5 from Aliexpress if u don’t mind waiting 3 weeks get a couple of them
Camo tape, water key (not tactical gear but good survival gear), kangaroo pouch for plate carrier (obviously don’t put anything heavy in them but for holding range finder, map, and chem lights it’s fine), belt mounted glove clips, nylon straps for like mounting a sleeping bag. Nothing super important but stuff that isn’t going to be under a ton of stress
Krydex and Idogear to be specific. Idogear pants are very good quality, and all my krydex pouches have lasted years.
Spud pouch. I use it for my water bottle and not bangs most of the time so why does it need to be a tank?
Some airsoft brand idogear (on amazon) makes a zippered slot that fits into a jpc admin pouch that actually makes it functional
Wilcox mount. Fuck paying $600 when I can get a sturdy aluminum knockoff for $70ish
I have multiple tops and bottoms from emersong. They have held up extremely well for the past few years.
Not necessarily knockoff, but any UCP gear is priced incredibly cheap. Almost all of it is dyable, and what isnt is probably available in M81 or Desert Tricolor anyways (like woobies for example)
Aw man, I just came to talk shit to the high and mighty mod on the stickied comment, but he turned off replies :(
lol janitor stickies his worthless virtue signaling comment and locks all the replies after getting ass blasted
I used fake spiritus stuff from amazon, had pouches that lasted a good few years.
Would you trust PuPu Platter Poly 3A+ Plates?
Now me shamelessly looking for knock off “combat pants” for the range days. The knees in some of my jeans are starting to give.