Crye’s Modular Riggers Belt

The tagline on the Crye Precision website's belt category page reads, “Our belt systems are contoured to dramatically increase wearer comfort when carrying weight on the hips. Offered in ballistic and non-ballistic versions, our belts allow a lot of gear to be off-loaded from a vest and carried comfortably on the waist.”

Well, yeah. That's what we'd expect it to say — but do they?

Are they comfortable? How do they hold up? That's something we've been trying to suss out over the last couple of weeks while in the field with this tracking class. Admittedly, this isn't enough for a thorough review, nor is what we're doing as hard on the gear as a deployment to asscrackistan, but we have done enough we feel we can give you a good first impression. We'll follow up with more info later. Note that we have mostly worn the MRB on the exterior of our snivel kit. It's designed so you can run the inner belt through the loops of your trousers (in fact, it's meant to be used on its own) but conditions here precluded that most days so we ran them more like a traditional “battle belt” but it's a nice feature you should be aware of in case you are someone who might want to switch one belt load for another without rearranging all your pouches and holsters and whatnot.

The Crye MRB is above all else comfortable, and the biggest reason for it is the set up the latching points at the front, where it buckles. The way it layers and overlaps, one behind the other prevents it from digging into your belly or abdomen, and it doesn't bunch up your clothing either (even with multiple layers). The second advantage is the way a second tier of MOLLE loops folds down when necessary. This doesn't just add webbing, it also adds traction. For lack of a better explanation it helps create a form-fitting lower edge to the belt. The belt itself rides atop the hips, but that lower portion essentially spread-loads the weight of the belt across your hips and lower back — this makes it as comfortable as a padded belt without having any padding to add bulk.

The MRB is actually more comfortable than many padded belts. It might not be quite as comfortable to wear as the HSGI SureGrip (which is a great war belt, make no mistake) but it has substantially less surface area too, which will be significant to some people. This isn't by any means a minimalist belt, but it's definitely sleeker  and lighter than most of its competitors. The way it's streamlined will appeal to many potential wearers because it keeps gear and modular pouches up closer to the body than other belts, making it less likely to interfere with the natural swing of the arms, of bending or leaning or the like.

The adjustability is another positive feature. It cinches down and loosens up easily, but not so easily that it slips (which was one of our initial concerns). Add that to the ability to change up the exterior layer; you can wear the interior half of the system with most pants and maintain one or more exterior rigs to change loadouts rapidly (i.e., you could have a truck rig, a hiking/camping rig and more). You can also slide the outer/second layer onto a load-rated rigger's belt and use it without the inner half if need be, giving the wearer additional latitude in potential uses or modularity.

More to follow in a few months after we have more time in it.

The Crye Precision Modular Riggers Belt is available in black, MultiCam, desert and ranger green. They retail for $111.60 and can be found here.

Here's how the Crye Precision website reads.

MODULAR RIGGERS BELT

Our Modular Rigger's Belt (MRB) is a single, lightweight belt system that carries your gear and holds up your pants. It features our new LoopLoc inner belt layer that passes through pants belt loops, keeping the MRB oriented and stable. Made in the US from US materials. There are two main ways to configure the system to suit any operational need:
˚Keep the inner LoopLock layer attached to belt for most secure and stable setup.
˚Wear inner LoopLock™ layer as a separate low-profile pants belt for added versatility.

FEATURES

˚Multiple pistol mounting options (on inner LoopLock layer, on exterior MOLLE sleeve, and on main belt)
˚Main belt can be replaced with alternate load-rated rigger's belts
˚Ergonomically shaped for long wearing comfort
˚Extremely light and low bulk
˚MOLLE sleeve has opening for drop leg holster integration
˚Inner LoopLock belt functions on its own as a great low-profile pants belt (no bulky hardware)

Read instructions and full details here online.

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