ot: tad gear

My Condor Summit soft shell arrived today so I snapped a few pics. Please forgive the messy floor in The Man Cave, been getting all my hunting gear out for this weekend.

I dig the jacket. If you guys haven't make sure you check out Nutnfancy's review of it on youtube. It covers all the features pretty well.

Okay, this jacket is not a TAD, but it is a very nice jacket. Overall, the stitching is very nice and I only found a few loose thread ends, which I always clip and burn off with any garment I get.

I am 6'-1" just under 200 lbs and wear size 34 jeans. I usually wear Large shirts but I thought I might want to wear a layer under this plus I had emailed Condor and they said they were "slim cut". So, I ordered an XL. I'm glad I did. It isn't blousy over just a shirt and there is room under there for that USGI bear shirt heavy fleece (on the floor in the pic, brown with black elbows) so I could wear this thing as a winter coat for sure with the bear shirt under it.

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Holler with any questions.
 
To be quite honest I use to be all about the military gear thing, but anymore I have fallen out of the BDU wearing days. I do alot of backpacking & camping & have come to find that adventure gear does a far better job then military gear does. Look at Marmot, Mountain Hardwear, Outdoor Research, Arc'teryx if u MUST, but they just as much, if not more that TAD. This stuff is meant for climbing, backpacking, caving, bouldering, getting beat to hell. Look at REI.com or Moosejaw.com for reliable websites with good prices. I am getting a waterproof 100% seam sealed Marmot PreCip jacket from REI here next time I get paid for a cheap rain jacket that I trust will do me good at Red River Gorge, KY for a 4 day pack trip. If it ever rains down there... Burn ban still in affect :(. Alos go to Kohls & look at Free Country soft shells & fleece jackets. I have had mine now for a couple years & has done great. Water resistance aint as good as I would like it to be, but buy some NikWax SoftShell Spray & u GTG:D
 
While TAD Gear products are popular with the HSLD .mil types, their stuff isn't designed specifically as "military" gear. If you look over their website, they've purged all of the photos of their gear in any sort of military setting. I think they always intended it to be marketed as "adventure gear", but guys using it downrange have fueled the "military" image.

If you really want sticker shock, check out Arc'Teryx's "LEAF" line - which is designed with the military in mind. You can get yourself a spiffy $580 halfshell and then find a $499 pair of pants to go with it.

Sorta makes TAD's prices seem a little less unreasonable. :p
 
+1 for condor outdoor. I've got a soft-shell, a ranger hoodie, and a non-hooded fleece jacket and am happy with all of them.

5.11 Tactical makes a good soft shell and its got zip away spots on either side (and a few more pockets) that make it very friendly for concealed carry if your state allows that.
 
I also have both the Condor Soft Shell & Fleece jackets. The best thing, I like about the soft shell are the pocket locations. I've climbed with the Soft Shell up to 12k with 45mph winds and temp down to 9deg, it worked pretty well but there was some wind bleed through the zippers because the jacket doesn't have storm flap-backed zippers. Access to the pockets while wearing a pack is excellent.. It's not very breathable but if you use the pit zips and back zips you can do some temperature regulation. If you can find the jacket, buy it! It may not be a TAD Gear jacket but it has quite a bit of the features for a fraction of the price.
 
Getting ready to put on my Condor soft shell to go pick up some gun stuff at lunch. It is raining pretty heavily. Make for another good rain test. Love this jacket. Maybe I need to do a group buy for ESEE crew members. :D
 
adaman04 said:
Getting ready to put on my Condor soft shell to go pick up some gun stuff at lunch. It is raining pretty heavily. Make for another good rain test. Love this jacket. Maybe I need to do a group buy for ESEE crew members. :D
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Reviews on how it did?
 
LittleSpartan said:
Reviews on how it did?
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This thing is great man. I'm thinking about buying another one to have a spare. Might go with tan or black this time, who knows. The green looks great and I've gotten a lot of compliments on it. I wish I had an OD/Black ESEE patch for the other arm to go opposite my OD/black bolt face logo.

Walking from the car to the building and standing out in the rain while I waited for someone to answer, the water just beads up and shakes off. As with any soft shell, stand in the rain long enough, I'm sure some will start to seek through but it's a soft shell not a rain coat.

I'd highly recommend this jacket.
 
I've been eyeing some of TAD Gear's stuff for a while now also but initially also found them cost prohibitive too.
After months of looking, the first softshell I bought was the North Face Apex Bionic. The arms were a little long so I had a tailor shorten them a bit for me. As nice of a jacket that it is, it wasn't warm enough for my liking on the cooler days so I kept looking and found an Arc'teryx Easyrider softshell for about $200 (normally $300+ Canadian). Now this is an awesome jacket! Except for heavy snow days last winter, this is what I wore 90% of the time last winter, sometimes with just a tank top and t-shirt on below, and I was good! The only thing I'd have liked on it is a hood so I've been looking for something like the Easyrider but with a hood on it (maybe the Arc'teryx Gamma SV Hoody if it's as warm as or warmer than the Easyrider).
I also bought a Columbia "Full Magnitude Vertex" hoody and it's ok but the arms aren't lined as well as the torso so I end up feeling the chill especially in my shoulders. It's got a removable hood though so I sometimes wear it in the fall with a fleece jacket below.

Arc'Teryx Easyrider:
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Arc'teryx Gamma SV Hoody (approx $400Cdn last time I checked)
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Columbia Men's Full Magnitude Vertex Softshell 07 (approx $160Cdn)
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I've been eyeing the Cabela's Over-Under WindShear Zip-Front Sweater and the Patagonia Men's Down Sweater Full-Zip Hoody which are both on sale.

Cabela's Over-Under WindShear Zip-Front Sweater:
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Patagonia Men's Down Sweater Full-Zip Hoody:
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I picked up a Condor soft shell last weekend. It's not the one Adam has, it's a new model, kind of a downgrade from the Stealth, no hood and a few less pockets.

I really like it, great quality and it doesn't scream tactical aside from the velcro on the sleeves.
 
shotgunner11 said:
I picked up a Condor soft shell last weekend. It's not the one Adam has, it's a new model, kind of a downgrade from the Stealth, no hood and a few less pockets.

I really like it, great quality and it doesn't scream tactical aside from the velcro on the sleeves.
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From all I've looked at Mike, it doesn't look like much of downgrade. People kept asking for a no-hood version because some thought the hood was too bulky rolled up in the collar (I really like it) and that the interior and ink pen pocket design wasn't great. They changed both of those things.

I looked at or tried on lots of soft shells, my favorite was TNF Apex Bionic, but it was cut for a small school boy.
 
So after searching for a softshell for a while and after reading this thread , I decided to order one of these. Below are some pics of it when it arrived. It was mis-stiched and then just left in a couple places. I was going to use this for hiking, etc. Would it be "picky" to exchange this for one without the mis-stitching or is this on par with Condor products?

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If I look closely enough at any stitched product I own, I'm sure I could find some sort of mis-stitch or flaw. This includes stuff from Levi's, Mountain Hardwear and TAD, not to mention the tactical/field gear I use.
With those missed stitches and flaws though, I'd be shipping it back and asking whoever you bought it from to pay for it.
 
Rich275 said:
If I look closely enough at any stitched product I own, I'm sure I could find some sort of mis-stitch or flaw. This includes stuff from Levi's, Mountain Hardwear and TAD, not to mention the tactical/field gear I use.
With those missed stitches and flaws though, I'd be shipping it back and asking whoever you bought it from to pay for it.
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Yeah I might agree with that.

Condor is well-known for making cheap quality "tactical" gear mainly geared toward airsoft. Some of their stuff is pure crap and missed stitching, etc. is pretty common. BUT on the jackets it seems they really stepped it up. I have heard of very few complaints about issues with the soft shells. They are even making some of it here in the US now that is hit or miss. For $80+, you shouldn't have stitching completely missing the mark. Loose ends to clip here and there, okay, but not totals misses. Worth a shot.
 
When you guys ordered from US CAV did you get a confirmation email right away? I just placed an order for a XL Condor softshell in Foliage but didn't sign up for an account. I accidentally closed my order number window and haven't received an email with my receipt. I'm just use to seeing a confirmation receipt right away.....
 
krazichinaman said:
When you guys ordered from US CAV did you get a confirmation email right away? I just placed an order for a XL Condor softshell in Foliage but didn't sign up for an account. I accidentally closed my order number window and haven't received an email with my receipt. I'm just use to seeing a confirmation receipt right away.....
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No, I did the same thing, and never received an e-mail about my order so I could track it.
 
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