There aren’t too many things to come along and spark me to want to start a thread over but this belt is one of the few. I spied them on Facebook through another friends company and was instantly drawn towards what I hoped would be my next belt. I have had belts made by all the people everyone is thinking about but they just don’t work out for me like they do for others.
Stiffness: I wanted a stiff belt but found other belts to be too stiff. Some were perfect. This is pretty damned close. It can hold up a gun and some mags like many of the other great belts. What this doesn’t do is cut into me like I felt others doing. I have sold off all my other cobra buckle type belts so I am unable to make a direct comparison but this feels a little better.
Ease of use: It wasn’t until the cobra buckle belts came along that belts became a pain in the ass to use. This belt is easier to use but you lose the (in)convenience of the cobra buckle. That is a plus for me, I found them to be a major pain in the ass. The pals spacing on the non-buckle end can be a little tough to thread through some gear but nothing outrageous. There is also nothing to lose unlike the male buckle end on some cobra belts.
Noise: Not that it matters to everyone but I hated taking care of business and having a belt chatter the whole time. This is silent.
Quality: Seems very well made, much like all the other belts out there. There is no drop in quality when you buy from someone else as others would have you believe.
Overall: This belt has replaced my wilderness 5 stitch. I wore the two back and forth for a little over a month now carrying all kinds of crap and keep coming back to the Atlas belt. I think it is the belt I was looking for as I find the cobra buckle belts to be more work than needed. That is not to say the other belts suck, there are lots of well made belts out there. Bottom line is this belt should be added to any list of good belts.
I am not associated with Volund Gearworks.
To my knowledge their website is in progress and not quite ready. I found them through Facebook.
I have been talking to Jake at Ares for awhile about ordering his belt. I worry that it will be uncomfortable due to the stiffness. I also worry I will get annoyed with working around the cobra buckle, and that it SCREAMS “CCW” to those in the know. But, I want something more stiff than my Wilderness Instructors belt.
So, in comes this belt. My worries about the Atlas are that it isnt that much stiffer than a Wilderness Instructor belt, and that the velcro securing system will wear out.
I have also been trying to find a belt mfg that can make a belt in MCMAP Brown so I can wear it while deployed, but so far Ares cant do it and wilderness doesnt offer a brown either. I emailed Volund, I hope they can accomodate.
so it still does the whole both ends overlap at the front of the belt thing and a thin outside strap is what attaches like the cobra buckle belts do ?
I found that set up, no matter how stiff, to give close to no support up front where I load most everything (AIWB, blade) unless I offset the buckle to the side.
which is a PITA, and gives me no more functional difference than any other belt.
I keep meaning to order one of these to try, but keep forgetting.
I wear a Jones 1.5" EDC belt (1.5" Cobra buckle) daily and don’t really understand the difficulty some people seem to have operating that system platform, but I think the Volund has some interesting aspects I’d like to try.
Myself and another here have been testing the Atlas for a bit. I’ll give it a proper review, but I like it. It’s more unique.
As far as stiffer then your 5 stitch, it probably isn’t. I don’t view this as a bad thing necessarily though. It’s a very thin and low profile belt. The buckle is nearly non existent. It has enough stiffness for any CCW purposes though.
As for matching the Marine Corps brown, that may be tough. Try contacting Kary Welch of Endeavor Stitch Works. He gets a whole lot of colors in - including MARPAT. Some of the weird ATACS and shit too. For deployment, or any use really, I whole heartedly recommend the standard Riggers in 1.5" or 1.75" over the 1" buckled style (Ares Ranger, Jones EDB, etc). This isn’t a shot at either company, especially since they both offer some bad ass Riggers belts.
Some people don’t like removing the buckle. On Cobra belts, you have to remove the buckle to thread gear. My issue isn’t as much with getting it on, it’s just I don’t think the EDB style does anything better then a standard Cobra Riggers, and a few things worse.
Exactly. For lack of a universal term, I’ve coined the Ares Ranger style the 1.5"/1".
I should have said Cobra Riggers, but there’s also a lack of universal terminology there. Technically, that would refer to having the offset V or D ring to click into - which doesn’t matter much for CCW.
Two weeks in, I’m definitely liking it. Rigid enough to easily support my EDC stuff, but not the kind of crazy-rigid my Ares Ranger sports (still love the Ares belt for 2X AR/2X pistol mags and a pistol for taking/teaching classes; the rigidity shines, then).
I, also, don’t get the gripes about how “complicated” a belt is when it comes to what one needs to do to thread into loops or take a dump, as mentioned by those that will still use the belt they’re describing as such. If it’s that big a PITA, the logical COA is to change to a different belt. Not like there ain’t plenty of options out there.
I mean…it’s BELT LOOPS, for the love of Ned. They’ll be complicated when they require a damned CPU to successfully interface with a belt; until then, somebody’s definitions are kinda screwy, or they need to open and drink a can of “Man.”
I don’t tend to notice weight, but losing the bulk of a two-ring, Cobra, or riggers-type buckle is definitely nice, in general, and particularly if I have to offset the buckle for some reason. No more hot-spot over my hip bones, yay! How a simpler buckle impacts the price of the thing is a definite perk, too! $45 is not too shabby.
Though, for the first time in years…I probably should have ordered the medium instead of the large. :eek: I’m using the last of the 4 PALS loops both with AND without an IWB holster. I can’t tighten the thing at all with the two innermost loops.
Ive got a black one on order now, made with a sizing range of 34-40. He’s got some brown webbing coming sometime in the future, and if the color is right I’ll order one too.
I’m in the same boat. I typically wear a 36" waist size in jeans and the Large is slightly too large. I contacted Matt and he’s making everything right, suggest you do the same, he’s a really good guy.
I got a Medium and could have done fine with a Small. My waist is between 30-32" and I’ve got the G-hook on the last (innermost) PALS web, plus the nylon strap is cinched all the way down.
