Im looking into some plate carriers and soft body armor and im curious what brands have a good reputation. Most of the threads and reviews I’m finding online are from years ago I’d like to know where things stand now.
From what I’ve gathered AR500 is no good. RMA is a respectable budget option. What else can you tell me?
Training in the real plates will risk degrading their integrity pretty quickly then?
What I’ve heard from veterans, plates basically needed to be replaced every deployment, roughly a year. The dings and dents from bumping into everything add up and can theoretically compromise the structure.
Mind you, I’d rather wear beat up plates or old plates than no plates. It’s a critical and regulated item, and so both the users and the manufacturers err well on the side of caution.