The Blackhawk Omega vest is a well built vest, I’ve had mine for over 3 years now and it shows no sign of falling apart despite quite extensive use. It can carry the necessary equipment for most of the commercial sites that I’ve been to, that is magazines, water and spare BB’s. It distributes the weight of this load well and is easy to get on and off. It does get very hot though and this is something worth thinking about in the summer as you’ll be carrying a heavier load of water to compensate. I’ve modified mine from the original by cutting off the belt loops, as I never wore a belt with it, and removing the Hawktex sniper shoulder as it made too much noise. The reason I don’t wear a belt and belt kit is that I wanted a compact unit that carried everything on the vest. I’ve found that crawling around in the mud is complicated by belt kit but not by a vest. The sniper pad was covered in a rubber material that squeaked when you moved or had the butt of your gun against it which is not a problem if you stay completely still but that never usually happens. Removing it has improved the feel of the vest no end and you don’t need it for airsoft as there’s no recoil.
The pouches on the Omega vest are very secure and I’ve never had one open accidentally. It is really designed to hold M16/M4 magazines but will accept AK mags, however this reduces the number that it can carry and so with standards you need to find somewhere for 2 extra. The pouches are also good pistol holsters with the G19 and P226 fitting perfectly (with and without a tactical light fitted) and the P14-45 being a slightly less secure fit (although it never came out). The upper pouches are big enough for spare BB’s and other consumables, like batteries and food.
The back of the vest has a pocket for a hydration pouch which is both a good and a bad thing as you need somewhere to put your Camelbak but it alters the fit of the vest as it is on the inside. That is, as you drink water and the pouch reduces in size this will loosen the fit of the vest. There are Blackhawk Tactical System (BTS) fixing points on the back of the vest and you can add extra pouches to these. In the past I’ve used Blackhawk pouches with and without the BTS fixing system and a single PLCE SA80 pouch to add extra carrying capacity for longer games (none of the vest pouches take a malt loaf). These have fitted very securely and I’ve never had a problem with losing anything off the back.
Overall, this is a well made vest with sufficient carrying capacity for short games that don’t stray too far from the car park. If you use standards then you may find that you run out of pouches very quickly, but I think these vests work best when they are carrying the load that they were designed for. Aside from the lack of carrying capacity, the main problem with this vest is the use of Velcro. No matter how hard you try you will always have to go into a pouch at some point when you’re trying to be quiet. The tell tale rip of Velcro is unbelievably annoying and I only wish that alternative methods of securing pouches were used on these vests.
