The Kit Bag from Hill People Gear is a new piece of gear I came across and am now evaluating.  It keeps your essential gear close and with you all the time.  A good idea in my opinion. 

I like chest rigs and no I am not talking about my favorite physical attributes of the female gender.  The ventral area always seemed to me like wasted space when you're all geared up yet it is the easiest area to access essential or regularly used gear while you are moving. 

A good military vest like my old Blackhawk Air Force Survival model or the Tac-Vest 1B Utility from Tactical Tailor work very well for public service but they tend to scare the horses in todays ultra PC civilian environment if you know what I mean.  Dana Gleason made a product years ago for his backpacks called a Wetrib which sort of floated in that area.  Conterra still makes great radio harnesses including my favorite, the Tool Chest.  A guy in Coronado makes something called the Ribz Front Pack. 

Fact is, there have been a lot of efforts to address the issue but none in my opinion has nailed it.  They were either too big or too small, moved around too much or too constrictive, too loud or just not made very well.  It was always something that wrecked the overall usability of the product for me.  I am hoping this one might do the trick for walking, running, riding and sitting. 

The Kit Bag is from a new company called Hill People Gear.  It appears to be made well of durable, high quality materials and comes in a number of outdoorsman friendly colors but the thing that I am pleased most about at this early stage is that it has a minimalist design.  By that I mean that it has not been over done in terms of "features" that in my experience don't turn out to be practical and certainly aren't necessary.  These features are usually manifest in the form of pockets.  Fortunately, the Kit Bag is not plagued by a plethora of extraneous pockets that would go unused by me.

However, there is one pocket that some of you will be very interested in and it is nestled closest to your chest where it belongs.  A full size pocket designed for but not limited to carrying a handgun.  Oh my, gasped the crowd, not a handgun!  Yes, dear reader, a handgun because when you are far out in the boonies and on the ragged edge help from 911 is a long way away so you might actually have to do something to help yourself.  An astounding expectation in this day and age I know.  Yes, you are very astute in detecting my ever so subtle poke at the growing nanny state crowd.  Are my right wing, libertarian, GDI, conservative tea bags showing?  I'm sorry, my bad but don't sweat it because nobody will ever know your are carrying.

As always, if I end up liking and using the Kit Bag, you will see more about it here.  As Ron White says, that's our policy, so stay tuned.

Thanks.

Wade Nelson
Editor

Sorting through the fads and fashion of the outdoor equipment industry to identify and promote the very best wilderness gear for high end recreational users, backcountry professionals and government agencies. 

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