tbendick said:
My Problems I run into.
Stuff falls out of my pockets because the Velcro only last so long.
DRD - not a big fan of it.
New knee pads suck...
New suspenders suck, went back to using the older ones.
How they came to MP got me. But in the 90's they did test diffrent things.
FDNY 6012 said:
Ok first the MP FDNY spec gear has pros and cons just like any other gear. The pros are the replaceable knee pads, angled cuffs so the pants don't drag and tear, great heat protection and takes a good beating. The cons are the rubber sheet over the knee pads but remember its a spec that the FDNY chose which means you don't have to get it but it is good in a way because it keeps the knee pads from becoming boiling water sponges, DRD is annoying but is required by NFPA and is in every new turnout coat. The coats have nice big pockets ( Bellows pockets) whic can pack alot, flashlight strap, harness snaps thats as far as specs go. The trick to the gear is webbing behind the knee pads. In my opinion the gear is great and even though im a explorer the gear is comfortable and flexable, I never really had any complaints about it and only heard complaining about the rubber pads and thats it.
HMMMMMM Thanks tbendick & FDNY 6012 and the rest for your repsonses.
Interstingly enough our new spec has the same DRD as the city (the "metro packadge") but we decided to go with that and the "luggage handle" based on getting a glove around it easier. While DRD's do suck it it NFPA req'ed so we cant really do anything about it when specing the new gear but work with it so we might as well make it as practical as we could. I have seen some people getting caught up on nails and screws with the DRD's when going thru walls so keep that in mind. We have already showed MP some issues with the DRD where the velcro pulls and shreds on the webbing by the chest hook/buckle. They said they are going to work on it.
We went with the removable window frame knee pads and switched to the bi-flex because they caused the pants to fles better and it was easier to squat with than the old knee pads, but I never saw the "rubber sheet" your mentioning. tbendick, what dont you like about those pads, or is it the rubber thing?
We also hated stuff falling outta the pockets so we asked specifically for 3 or 4 peices of velcro to be added (ie the same as the jacket bellows pockets) on the pants in hopes that this will help with that issues. We are also going to get a small notch cut out of the pocket to allow our PESS to not put tension on the velcro and we will see where this goes.
We are trying the new suspenders that are have tabs on the inside of the pants and not the stupid clip which just comes off, and we are going to try the quick adjust comfort backs to see if these are better than the annoying ones with the metal ring digging into your back.
In terms of webbing storage, well I got 30' of dept issued webbing in my right knee pad and 15' in comming out of the inspection port in the jacket lining
(I picked that trick up from F Ill and C Renyolds in R1 a few years back) I recently saw some people put webbing behind their name patches on the jacket backs but im not sure how practcal that would be to get to as well as if the name is not mounted on a velcro patch you cant really do that.
Just my few cents