How Do You Know If You are Choosing
the Right Soft Body Armor (Bulletproof Vests)?

Like every product niche in existence, the soft body armor (aka bulletproof vests) industry will try to tell you that their particular soft body armor and tactical vests are the best. You can go from vendor to vendor and they all start by telling you how their bulletproof vest is the best. Few start by telling you how to pick your soft body armor of bulletproof vest in a way that makes sense.

Of course, the purpose of all soft body armor, tactical vests, and bulletproof vests is to provide enhanced survivability in what would be considered mortal combat or high death potential environments were bullets, knives and explosives are the main death threat.

All users of soft body armor, hard body armor, and tactical vests know that there really is no bulletproof vest. There are a number of materials, mostly Kevlar based and of various weights and density that provide “bulletproof” protection. By adding plates (thus weight), the level of protection for any tactical vest can be improved.

When choosing your vest, you want to first consider level of protection required. You can review these in earlier posts. These levels for soft body armor and tactical vests are well established by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).

You determine the level needed by analyzing the threat. For instance, a prison employee is most likely to face a sharp or blunt object threat, not a firearms threat. This doesn’t exclude a firearms threat, but makes the primary consideration knife and spike related injuries.

Other forces, such as the Army or Marine Corps, face primarily high velocity, penetrating, armor piercing, and explosive shrapnel threats. It does not exclude knife and spike threats for close quarter combat.

But, as you can see, your starting point for choosing the proper level of protection is significantly different. Use the NIJ standards as your starting point. If you use upfront cost as your starting point, I can almost guarantee you will choose the wrong soft body armor (bulletproof vests) or tactical vest.

In the next issue, we will look at another aspect of choosing the best soft body armor for your protection.

Please Leave your Comments below. We LOVE hearing from you, and want your feedback.

- Daniel Gonzalez
- Wayne Sharer

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It’s been a few days. I took a little time to find out more about the latest in marine corps, army tactical vests and soft body armor news.

I found some interesting information on the latest from the US Army.

Fox News is reporting that the Army plans to make a purchase of 120,000 advanced bullet-blocking plates in 2009. The plates are called XSAPI. The plates I mentioned in an earlier post are called ESAPI. The new XSAPI will be stocked in Kuwaitt.

All this XSAPI an ESAPI jargon kinda drives me crazy.

Anyhow, even though the ESAPI only saved lives, and never injured anyone, the desktop warriors who didn’t get to sign the papers are pulling them from the field. ESAPI is made by Armor Works of Chandler, AZ and a company named Ceradyne of Phoenix. I have written specifically about Ready2Protect soft body armor and hard body armor, but for the moment, I have no specific info on Armor Works and ESAPI.

Like most hard body armor, it is simply a soft body armor with plates added to it for to help protect the upper body from armor piercing rounds. One specially made ceramic plate is placed in the front of the vest and one in the back of the vest. The XSAPI plate is about 6 1/2 pounds, so full protection adds twelve pounds to the weight of the vest. This means the total weight of the vest is around 20 lbs or more with full protection.

The new XSAPI is made by Ceradyne and The Protective Group of Miami Lakes, Fl. The Army may purchase up to 1 million XSAPI plates.

The Ready2Protect soft body armor can be made as a hard body armor. The armor plates for the Ready2Protect vest weigh 6 lbs and the vest by Ready2Protect weighs 6.7 lbs. So double plate protection using the Ready2Protect hard armor or tactical vest would weigh only slightly over 18 lbs. There is no vest anywhere that achieves the high Level IV rating that the Ready2Protect vest does, at such a very light weight.

Well, that’s’ the latest for soft body armor and Marine Corps and Army tactical vests for today.

I’ll have more soon. Be sure to come back.

Please, leave your comments below. We would love to hear from you.

- Daniel Gonzalez
- Wayne Sharer

Click here for tests video of Ready2Protect Soft Body Armor

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Welcome back, and so glad you could take time to join us.

We have spent a significant amount of time looking for the best ways to contribute to communities and ensure safe, and prosperous development. By pure chance, we discovered the world of soft body armor. As we dug deeper, we found that the majority of America’s top defenders use soft body armor that is no where near the full capability of today’s technology.

Why would we put our public servants at unecessary risk when there is highly cost effective, superior equipment immediately available?

We found Ready2Protect. Ready2Protect soft body armor is an amazing discovery because it is lightweight, waterproof, easily customizable, and fully level IIIa Ballistic and Level II knife and spike certified, WITHOUT the use of heavy ceramic plates.

This soft body armor is a fully concealable tactical vest, which compared to any tactical vests or soft body armor anywhere, is extremely comfortable. It is cooler, more flexible, and it is completely waterproof (with no heavy or heat causing cover).

And on top of these benefits to comfort, it is fully certified for both Level IIIa Ballistics, and Level II Knife and Spike threats - without any additional soft or hard plates. Ready2Protect has put together a far superior product.

Ready2Protects soft body armor is not only beneficial in comfort and livesaving, it is a government budget planner’s dream! As it stands now, the Ready2Protect carries a full 5 year warranty, which exceeds anything on the market, but reality is, it will exceed 10 years service life.

So if you can do some basic math, this is a potentially 300% lifetime savings compared to soft body armor and tactical vests (bulletproof vests) using kevlar and other materials.

Get a look at the Ready 2 Protect soft body armor test videos by clicking here

- Daniel Gonzalez
- Wayne Sharer

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To most people, soft body armor used in police force and military tactical vests, is somewhat just pure magic that works. A soft piece of cloth that stops or significantly halts the movement of and otherwise deadly bullet.

What makes this soft material, this soft body armor work? It is a very strong, specially woven net of material.

It is like a tennis racket. The racket has a woven network of strings fastened tightly together in its head. When the tennis player swings the racket and hits the ball, it hits the woven face of the racket.

The energy of the ball is absorbed and dispersed through the net from the point of contact of the ball and the woven net. The energy is spread from the single point of impact throughout the entire racket head.

With all the interacting laces of the tennis racket head pulling together, it completely absorbs the force of the ball and the force of the swing provided by the tennis player. This is a lot of force, but the net does not break (at least not with first contact).

Soft body armor is just a very small, and tightly woven version of the same principle. Of course a bullet, is moving much faster, and this is why a soft body armor or tactical vest (bulletproof vests) use such a finely and tightly woven material.

Most common is the kevlar vest. Dupont produces the Kevlar material used in soft body armor vests and there are several others. The most Ready 2 Protect has produced a vest far superior to anything imagined by kevlar vest soft body armor users.

Ready 2 Protect is also perfecting the implanting of nanotubes in soft body armor and tactical vests. Though Ready 2 Protects vest already out perform anything on the market in protection level, weight, lifetime costs, and waterproof capability, the addition of the nano tubes will make their vest unbeatable.

I know this was quick, and I hope it gave a quick and easy to understand insight into soft body armor and bulletproof vests.

Please leave your commments below

And thanks again for joining us.

- Daniel Gonzalez
- Wayne Sharer

See the best vest anywhere in live tests by clicking here

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