Our friend David Crane of Defense Review takes a detailed look of the new Maniple-I body armor vest introduced by Personal Protective Systems.
Dave's review is pretty straightforward -- he clearly liked the vest, which seems to deliver a pretty good compromise between the light, low-drag profile of a plate carrier and the heavier protection of an IOTV. These are aspects that are near and dear to my heart, since I never feel comfortable in the field without a good amount of Kevlar between me and my plates, but I don't need the full Samurai suit to deflect an outside-the-hatch IED blast.
Even with a full complement of hard armor plates, the Maniple is incredibly comfortable. In fact, it’s so comfortable, it’s easy to forget you’re even wearing it, particularly if you’re running it without plates as just a (rifle) magazine and sling (more on this, later) carrier in a tactical shooting course. The Maniple-1 is even lower-profile/minimalist than the Cohort-1 model, which is pretty low-profile, itself. This extreme comfort extends to vehicle operations during PSD ops, as the minimalist nature of the vest means it’s no larger (or longer) than it absolutely needs to be to hold the armor plates and soft armor panels, and thus won’t dig into your hips/waist when you’re sitting inside a car for long periods. This is a key element in P2Sys ballistic vest design/ergonomics.
I gotta be honest with you, I haven't worn the Maniple, but from Dave's description and the pics he includes in his review, I don't see a whole lot of difference between this vest and my favorite BLACKHAWK STRIKE armor -- except for the cutaway feature.
But one of the things that I find intriguing about the P2S getup is this cool "Integra-Sling" feature, which essentially is a rubber-bonded loop attached to each shoulder point that allows a single-point attachment to swing the full radius of the operator's chest. That means an ambidextrous sling point that moves the full range of the shooter's motion.
Once you run a P2 Systems vest with an Integra-Sling, you just don’t want to go back to any other vest and a non-integral sling, ever again. It’s an illuminating experience. The P2Sys Integra-Sling attaches underneath the shoulder straps via velcro quickly and easily, and can be quickly and easily adjusted/repositioned or detached/removed.
Be sure to read the full review of the P2S Maniple-I at Defense Review.
