Hybrid EDC Belt

I’m no stranger to gun belts, having carried daily throughout my 20s while living in 2A-friendly states, usually on any reasonably priced leather gun belt popular at the time. In my 30s I found myself back in a blue state and no longer doing the daily CCW, but I was then appointed to a certain three-letter federal agency and was instructed to “start getting used to dressing like us” and that’s what I did. I began making my rounds in the tactical belt circuit. I tried them all until I discovered a certain brand whose name I won’t mention (starts with an “A”) and I fell in love with their flagship belt model. Life/Fate intervened and I ended up not taking the agency gig, but since I already had all these belts I ended up using them for work in the industry I transitioned to. Now, I LOVE “A” gear and I stayed loyal to them for a decade, buying four or five different belts. The original flagship belt was my go-to, particularly when I found myself back in 2A-friendly states where I was able to carry again. I also bought another model with the Cobra buckle, as it looked very cool and I just wanted a Cobra buckle belt, but found it awkward to put on with an odd design and the buckle was always a PITA to disengage. I ended up chucking that one in the closet for years. Fast forward almost a decade and I made the decision to begin carrying a Byrna CL, IWB at 4:00, just like the old days. And after being sorely disappointed with the newest “lightweight” model of the “A” brand belt I picked up a couple months ago, I dusted off the old Cobra belt and tried it out for a couple of weeks. Nope, just as awkward and difficult as I remembered it being back in 2018. And then that led to a wine-fueled Google deep-dive on current Cobra buckle belts that somehow led to Blue Alpha. American owned and made? Cheaper than my “A” gear belts? Certainly looking like a better design? Should I take a chance on another Cobra belt? I received my Blue Alpha EDC Belt in the mail today. I holstered up, locked in and that was all I needed. I’ve been wearing gun belts for over two decades. I know what a quality rig set-up should feel like. The Blue Alpha EDC Belt is a winner. First off, I’ve seen a few posts whining that it’s too thin. I don’t know what the hell those folks are carrying on their belts but this is every bit as stiff as my “A” brand and every other synthetic gun belt I’ve ever owned and I have zero issues loading an IWB/OWB rig and double-mag carrier and keeping my pants where they belong. If you want to go full Mall Ninja with walkie-talkie, five sets of cuffs and four double AR mags, go get a duty belt. Second, this design just MAKES SENSE more than any other gun belt has made sense. Seriously. Nothing unnecessary, nothing made more complicated than it needs to be, straight forward, simple and logical. Blue Alpha basically took into consideration every design flaw from every other tactical belt over the past decade and just eliminated them. The buckle threads through belt loops like with no issues, quick adjust is actually quick, lock in and you’re good to go. No straps hanging out/around, no unnecessary pieces, elastic loops or other BS; this is like everything I loved about the “A” gear flagship belt but with a Cobra buckle and better than the current “A” gear offerings with crappy, flawed buckles (but that’s another story for another day), and speaking of Cobra buckles… Third, I don’t know how or why but the Cobra buckle on the Blue Alpha belt is the polar opposite of the Cobra Buckle on my old “A” gear belt. IT JUST WORKS. EASILY. No problems, whatsoever, pushing the two tabs to disengage the best. The “male” end is, as advertised, small enough to fit through jeans belt loops making it unnecessary to remove the buckle and reattach every time to put on pants, like with the “A” gear belt. In days of the past, in youthful younger years, difficult buckles were always cause for concern should the situation arise where jeans needed to be removed immediately, but those glory times are behind me; rather, getting my belt off quickly these days is more an issue of a bad choice for breakfast or too much Metamucil, so I can certainly appreciate a buckle that works as is should, and fast. I put on the Blue Alpha EDC belt, added my IWB rig, walked around the house for a bit and then took it off and put my “A” gear belts back in the gun bag. Even that crappy composite buckle version that I was going to use while travelling overseas in a few months, back in the bag it went. The only old belt that’s still in my closet is the black version of the flagship “A” belt that I’m still going to use for now with black shorts and black shoes, and that’s just until I order a black version of the EDC belt next. There’s simply no other way to put it…THIS BELT JUST MAKES SENSE. If I’m going to be perfectly honest and point out any areas I’m not 110% thrilled with, it would be this: I am not a complete fan of how the female buckle end of the belt is designed, as when you pull the belt through the buckle and then lay it down on the Velcro, the buckle doesn’t lie completely flat. Still a significantly smaller footprint than any gun belt buckle that I’ve ever worn, but just worth mentioning. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest. The other area where I absolutely concur with other remarks in the reviews is that the Blue Alpha EDC does run larger than the sizing parameters would suggest. In better days when I was still Uncle Sam’s property, running six days per week and spending more time in the gym than at work, my pants waist size was 30-inches. Since rotating back to straight John Q. Taxpayer life and becoming even more accustomed to domestic life that size has increased to 32-inches, but after reading reviews I ordered the 30-inch belt and it’s just right for IWB; were I not concealing a rig IWB the 30-inch belt might be almost too large, and almost certainly would be if I were back to my old 30-inch waist weight. Straight up honesty can be summarized as follows: If I ever found myself in a SHTF situation where I was going to be loaded down with a full-size OWB rig, multiple spare mags, potentially a belt holster for an AR/AK mag and I suppose a flashlight, then yeah, I’m going to wearing my “A” gear upgraded super-stiff flagship belt set-up. Would the Blue Alpha duty belts work better? Maybe? Possibly? Probably? Who knows? I’m just never going to know since I’ve already spent a small fortune on all the crap I already have and already like enough to keep in my go-bag. But for EDC? I cannot think of a better EDC belt currently on the market than what Blue Alpha is offering. As I said above, it makes sense. If you’ve carried for years, you’ll understand this, too, the second you put it on. Even if you don’t carry, this belt just makes sense. I just wish I came across Blue Alpha ten years ago.