Thought spiritus systems and the plate carriers they offer?

So I've been running Spiritus gear for a long time since before they got the Hypebeast hug of death courtesy of Garand Thumb.

Generally speaking I'd characterize Spiritus in three ways, quality, attention to detail, and innovation.

First off quality is impeccable, they're absolutely in the top tier of both build quality and material selection. They take up a no-holds barred approach to design and materials which is reflected in their prices. I'd call them A+ in this area.

Attention to detail is what originally attracted me to the brand back when I started running one of their danglers. It's immediately obvious, one professional to another, that the dude(s) who do the design work fuck use their equipment. Little details like internal tie down loops seem like small, unimportant things but they make all the difference for dudes who need them.

Lastly innovation, Spiritus has continuously sought to improve their lines, many in the industry settle on a profitable pattern and produce that forever. Spiritus continuously refreshes their equipment as they get more and more user feedback, or find new and better materials.

So that's in a nutshell why I've always been a fan of the company. They're good to go, and I try to ignore the IG hype, drop culture, and bullshit the community likes to say about them. They're out making kit for the end user, and I find it funny when I read reviews of people trying to use their equipment outside of the intended use and not being satisfied. Spiritus, despite their popularity, makes equipment for the grunt, not for the fashion industry (ok that's not entirely true, they do make M81 and glam pouches). I'm happy they're seeing so much success, but I think people clamoring for changes are advocating making it a better carrier for their own uses and a worse carrier for the target audience. To be clear I'm not gatekeeping their stuff, I think it's excellent for all sorts of applications, just try to understand which items are made for which purposes.

Specifically talking about their plate carrier, I've got good things and bad things to say. Good things, they've got a better back panel setup than anyone else. No contest. If you run back panels seriously they're the only name in town as far as I'm concerned. Next good thing is they're Crye compatible, so you can interchange Crye components like a JPC front platebag or cummerbund, for example.

I'll seriously caveat that by saying it doesn't integrate well with structural cummerbunds, and that's my main annoyance with the carrier. Spiritus didn't future-proof enough and ended up making a rear platebag that's infuriating to run with an SPC cummerbund. We can discuss if a structural cummerbund is the way forward or not, but it straight up doesn't integrate well. Secondly I don't like the shoulder strap design for an overt carrier. The LV119 is in a weird place where it's a great civilian/scalable kit but not the best DA kit due to the shoulder straps and front platebag. Plenty will disagree, that's just my perspective. I'd mate an LV rear bag on any compatible plate carrier and call it perfection. I'd run a complete covert LV119 with a swiftclip Placard and say it's one of the best SHTF/civilian setups. But I don't like the integration of both concepts.

So TL;DR, the LV119 (complete) is an excellent carrier for a civilian application, i.e. someone carrying a basic load without a lot of extra charges, ordinance, and weight for specific applications. If you're a Swiftclip guy it's one of the best integrations of Swiftclips, and you've got nearly unlimited options on the cummerbund space. I'd try the Crye JPC Stretch bund, I think the pairing is phenomenal.

On the professional side, I'll push the LV rear platebag and back panel, but I'll almost always mate it with a Crye front platebag. I prefer their shoulder strap design and their AVS placard attachment. Plenty disagree and I think their opinions are valid, that's just my $0.02

/r/tacticalgear Thread