First impression review - Condor Outdoor Gunner Plate Carrier

Alright the Condor Gunner Plate Carrier. before I get on to my review I’d like to put some things out there before we go forward; This is a 70 dollar plate carrier. No this isn’t a Crye plate carrier, like my momma always said you get what you pay for. This is made in China. I’m not saying things made in China are bad, however I rather have a domestic product than a communist one.

Alright first impressions. When I first got it out of the box I was surprised how sturdy it felt. I imagined a flimsy 5.11 feel plate carrier but reminded me a lot of the Shellback SF. I immediately grabbed it by the straps and attempted to fling this PC apart (no luck.) this is a first impressions review only, I may update this later after some use.

The good: This thing is purdy. Obviously looks are second but who doesn’t want to look awesome being shot at? The cumberbun is very adjustable. The back is secured with grommets and the quick release strap (this is also bad I’ll get into this later.) the front is secured with Velcro like most PCs. This PC will easily fit someone on the rounder side but you don’t have to worry if you are skinny. I’m 6 foot 3 180lbs muscular build and for the most part it felt fine. The entire thing is covered in molle giving you 100% freedom to put whatever you want on this. The PC can hold 10x13 plates but I doubt you’d want to.

The meh: it’s made from 600PVC Polyester. It’s not terrible but 1000D Nylon would have been great (once again this is 70 dollars. The stitching is decent but not great. They used to have a five stitches per inch sewing on the molle straps which was pretty bad. I don’t know how to describe the new stitching, it’s like a solid line of stitching that’s been gone over a couple times. Not something a little bit of weight could pull apart. One thing I recommend is grabbing some fishing line and enforcing the drag handle. If someone my size had to be dragged away from that handle the stitching would give out before I would move. Some threads are just sticking out where the manufacturers just cut it. It’s not a big deal but I went over the PC with a lighter singeing any part I saw fit. The padding on the shoulder straps is 9/10 but the body padding could be better, it’s a bit on the thin side. (once again 70 dollars)

The bad: one thing that really got me frustrated. The cummerbund and shoulder straps are secured through grommets located on the back plate. The quick release tab is basically the only thing holding it together. It does it’s job well but there’s no other way of securing it other than paracord and zip ties if you don’t care about quick release. The shoulder adjustment is Sub par at best. There are only three grommets located on each shoulder strap and I had it on the smallest one and it still rode a little bit below my jugular notch. Once plates were inside it was kinda better but it was at least 10 inches farther down on the back side than the front which in my opinion is unacceptable. There is plenty of space on the straps for additional grommets and they chose three. This isn’t too big of an issue for me, I could always spend 20 bucks and install some more but as a consumer I shouldn’t have to fix it.

Other than that it’s pretty good. I’ll update this once I get a good month of use out of it. Definitely recommend if this is your first PC but don’t see this as a upgrade if you have anything over 100 dollars before.

PS: there are no pockets for side panels, this doesn’t affect me but I know some people think they will be shot from the side.