It can be hard to keep up with the best tactical gear that’s released each year. You end up checking a lot of different retailers, and inevitably you’ll miss some really cool stuff. In this article we’re going to cover the best pieces of tactical equipment including: tactical pants, packs, first line gear, and more. Keep reading for to see our recommendations.
I’ve used a lot of different tactical gear over the past decade, either as a Marine, or in law enforcement capacity. I’ve used the best, and I’ve used the worst, so I feel qualified to give some recommendations for those that are looking for quality tactical gear.
If you’ve read any of my previous load out articles (DEVGRU, Delta Force, Army Ranger) then you should already be familiar with some of the items I’m going to highlight below. While I’m not limiting my selections to something that special operations units are issuing, I will include their gear if it’s the best.
I should also point out that most of this equipment can be purchased the cheapest from Amazon. You won’t be getting any huge discounts from them, but a lot of this gear does qualify for free shipping through Amazon Prime. I also want to point out that we’re an affiliate of Amazon, and we receive a small percentage for the referral, at no cost to you. This brings us to our first question, what makes a piece of gear the best?
How To Find the Best Tactical Gear
To be perfectly honest, there are many good tactical manufacturers. You’ve probably heard of most of them. However, there are many other companies that make bomb proof tactical gear, that you’ve never heard of. To my mind, quality tactical gear has to meet several requirements for me to recommend it.
First, I prefer the equipment be designed by someone who has actually used that type of equipment professionally. There’s always something lost in translation when you tell an engineer what you want, compared to doing it yourself. This is why some items issued to regular Army soldiers and Marines is quite shitty. It’s made by people who’ve never used it in their life!
Secondly, I prefer it to be used by those who specialize in that job. If I’m looking for the best sniper bipod, I’m not going to ask a breacher! Guys and gals that use the gear everyday can tell you exactly what’s needed and what isn’t needed. The details matter, and no one knows the details better than masters of their craft.
Lastly, it won’t be the cheapest version you can find. You can’t find the best, or even good tactical gear, if you’re pinching pennies. That doesn’t mean that I always go with the most expensive version, as that often reflects marketing skill more than the details of the equipment.
I tend to look at gear that is priced above the average. If the cheapest item is $20 and the most expensive is $100, then I’m looking at gear that’s $60 and above. Now, let’s talk about the most useful piece of tactical gear you can own, the tactical backpack.
The Best Tactical Backpack
The tactical backpack is one of the best products that I carry on a regular basis. There are so many options that it can be hard to choose from. The best packs can be used for outdoor activities like hiking, and hunting, and can also be used to carry all of your gym items.
I think this is one area where service members have a distinct advantage over non military personnel. First, infantry guys live out of their packs and use them harder than anyone. Secondly, we’ve seen a wide variety of packs, from issued gear, to personally purchased tactical bags. This gives us a like at the good, bad, and ugly.
Best Assault Pack
Assault packs are compact bags that can be used to carry the most important pieces of tactical gear. Normally they carry things like first aid kits, a tactical jacket, and a little food/water. They aren’t heavy packs, and they only carry the bare essentials. One of the best tactical backpacks is the Haley Strategic D3 Flatpack.
Haley Strategic D3 Flatpack
The Haley Flatpack is extremely flexible, and can be mounted to a most plate carriers. It has an expandable zipper section that can be used to collapse or expand the backpack. It’s also features a relatively low key design and could be carried on your daily commute with attracting notice. Next, let’s look at some larger bags, in case you need a little more room.
Best 2-3 Day Tactical Backpack
These size packs are the best for most folks. They allow you to carry a wide variety of gear, but won’t look like your hiking the Yellowstone! Mystery Ranch makes some of the best backpacks out there, and I’ve had great experience with their harness systems, and shoulder straps. Let’s check out the Mystery Ranch 2 Day Assault Pack.
Mystery Ranch 2 Day Assault Pack
These packs are awesome for a couple of reasons. Their load management system is great for fitting over body armor, or carried normally. This is very important if you need to do both. Most tactical backpacks are only designed to do one or the other, which makes it very uncomfortable if you aren’t using it how it was designed.
Best Sustainment Tactical Back Pack
These are true survival packs, that will allow you to carry tons of equipment like a sleeping bag, solar panel, and food / water. These packs should sustain your for a longtime without resupply.
Elberstock Terminator Pack
This pack has excellent ratings, and is 4000 cubic inches. It’s also constructed of waterproof 500D nylon, which doesn’t actually make it water proof, but it does mean that the pack won’t absorb water if it gets rained on. This doesn’t sound important, but you don’t want to carry around an extra 5 pounds of water weight when you’re moving miles on end.
Best Tactical Gear: Pants, Tops, Belts
First line gear are the items you wear everyday, no matter what you’re doing. These are tactical pants, tactical tops, boots, and your belt system. You might include things like under garments, and socks, but we won’t for the purposes of this article.
I’ve also taken the liberty of looking around on the internet at other tactical gear reviews, to make sure that their experiences line up with mine. Social media can be great, but fancy marketing doesn’t always mean something is actually good!
Best Tactical Pants
My favorite manufacturer of tactical pants is Crye Precision. I’ve worn a lot of different BDU style pants over the years, and they’re by far the best, and most durable. They Crye Precisions G3 is also the preferred tactical pant for every special operations unit under SOCOM. That’s a pretty strong endorsement, and one of the reasons they’ve been a best seller for a while.
Crye Precision G3 Combat Pants.
The pants linked above are in multicam, but the Crye G3 combat pants come in a ton of different colors, from ranger green, to multicam black. They do shed water well, but I wouldn’t say it’s waterproof fabric, more like water resistant. Yes, I do know that’s a ton of money for tactical pants, so I will recommend a good value option as well.
My second favorite pair of tactical pants are the 5.11 Chino pants. These pants have the added benefit of being able to be worn around town without looking like a militia member. I normally wear a pair of these when I go to shooting matches, as they have a lot of different pockets and they are very stretchy. That makes active movement a lot easier.
5.11 Tactical Chino
I’ve had a pair of similar style 5.11 pants for about 3 years, and I’ve found them to be very durable. They coat their cloth with a teflon coating which keeps them from getting easily stained. Many of their lower profile pants have some cool pockets, like dedicated rifle magazine pockets. They also also have pockets specifically for folding knives.
This doesn’t seem that cool, but I hate having my knife in the same pocket as my keys. That’s just to much crap in one pocket. Now that we’ve covered two options options for tactical pants, let’s move on towards tactical shirts, and tops.
Best Tactical Gear: Tops
A good tactical top needs to fit well, and wear well, especially if you plan on wearing body armor over it. It can be hard to find a fabric that is durable enough to handle the friction of armor, and not feel like a damp towel once you start sweating in it.
It’s no surprise that Crye Precision G3 Top is my favorite for tactical shirts. It can be worn in cold weather with some thermal layers underneath or in hot weather with the sleeves rolled up. It also features shoulder pockets with external loop velcro fields.
Best Tactical Gear: Crye G3 Combat Top
If you’re in a very hot environment, then a short sleeve combat shirt may be what you’re looking for. This shirt from Kryptek has some very good ratings, and features a rugby style collar, that keeps body armor from chaffing your neck.
Kryptek Tactical Shirt
This shirt comes in different colors and sizes. It has many of the same features that the Crye shirt does, namely the shoulder pockets, with velcro. I’ve used those pocket for tourniquets, wallets, as well as smaller items like gloves. They’re handier than you might think. Now let’s talk about different tactical belts that you can use.
Best Belt Systems
I’m not going to cover underbelt systems here. Or normal belts. These belt systems need to allow you to mount pouches on them. At a minimum, most wearers will want to mount their holster, and some pistol mag pouches to the belt.
I’ve worn the Ronin Tactics Task Force Belt for three years now, and it’s been amazing. It’s very compact, with the ability to mount molle pouches or clip on style pouches should you prefer. I’ve found that this flexibility is key, and it’s been extremely durable. Here’s a belt set up from instagram. This isn’t mine, but it shows you what we’re talking about.
They’ve done a few things that are quite smart. The baseline webbing is very stiff. You can’t fold this length wise. This provides enough structure to mount even heavy pouches, and weapons catches on it. Most importantly, they’ve made it so the velcro inner belt is 2 inches in diameter.
This is crucial because it keeps the hook velcro on the outer belts away from your skinny. This prevents chaffing, and spreads the belt load out, increasing your comfort. The only down side is you need larger pant loops than some pants offer. While I generally wear this belt with Cryes, you can fit it over most pairs of jeans. Unless you wear skinny jeans, in which case you owe me some lunch money nerd!
I’m not going to recommend any other belt systems, not because there aren’t any good ones, but because I don’t have any experience with those belts. This belt is very expensive, coming in at around $190. You can get cheaper belts, but this is one area that I don’t mind spending money on, as I will be wearing it for long periods of time.
Best Tactical Gear: Boots
This is probably the hardest tactical item to recommend. Everyone has their own favorite pair of shoes, and everyones feet are different. I’ve tried boots that everyone raved about, and absolutely hated them. Personally, I prefer the lightest pair of waterproof boots I can get my hands on.
If you’re hiking for any significant length of time, you’ll know that adding ounces on your feet will really hamper you. In fact, there is solid research that states that adding weight to your extremities directly impacts your likelihood to be a casualty in combat.
I think the best all around tactical boots are the Salomon Quest boots. They’re waterproof and extremely durable. I’ve had a pair for around 4 years, and they barely look worn.
Salomon Quest 4D Gortex Boots
The link above takes you to the Amazon page where you can check out all the colors these boots come in. I’ve found that they offer great grip, and ankle support, as they’re taller than ankle boots. My only complaint is that they are on the heavier side.
If you want a lighter weight option, that’s still waterproof, then I recommend taking a look at the Merrell Agility Peak boot. I’ve worn these for a little over a year, and they’re comfortable. They feel only slightly heavier than a tennis shoe.
Merrell Agility Peak Waterproof Boot
I have flat feet, and this boot has a fairly high arch, so it took a little bit of wearing for it to feel comfortable. If you have normal or higher arches then this will probably feel great straight away. Overall I’ve been very happy with it, and it’s been more than durable enough for normal operations.
We’ve covered all the normal first line gear, and you have some great recommendations. Now let’s talk about san item that you might carry every day, that can come in handy.
Best Tactical EDC Item
One of my favorite tactical accessories is a quality folding pocket knife. I’ve carried a lot of different brands over the years, from Benchmade, to Spyderco, and more. Most reputable knife manufacturers make good items, but I’ve found that tactical users need a few extra features that can help out. This is why I prefer the Zero Tolerance ZT 350. You can read my full review of that knife here.
Zero Tolerance ZT 350 Folding Knife
While I can’t go through the full review here, I can cover some of the best parts of this knife. First, it’s spring assisted by pushing the tooth. This means you can activate it easily with gloves, which isn’t always the case with a thumb stud.
The tooth, also acts as a guard when the blade is locked open. This is important, as it keeps you from sliding your hand over blade if you have to push the knife into something. Cutting yourself with your own knife isn’t cool. It’s one of their best sellers. Check out the full review for more details.
Final Thoughts
For those of you who are real gear nerds you’ll notice that most of these items aren’t new tactical gear for 2022. They’ve been around for a while. I’ve included these items because they’re still some of the best value for your money today.
While the newest gear might be cool, it also doesn’t have a proven track record. If you like this kind of gear then stay tuned, because we’re going to be covering more items including AR15 accessories, plate carriers, and more in the coming weeks. Now get out there and get training!
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Thanks for your service and thanks for your time and making a good list of gear. I am trying my best to gather up somethings. Like you said it is hard to know what is truly worth buying.
Thanks for the kind words Dale
My heart is full of gratitude for all of the servicemen and servicewomen of our amazing country. Thanks to ALL! I really liked how you provided a price point to start looking at. Sometimes, I associate the most expensive to obviously be the best quality, but it’s important to start your research in the middle going up! Also, I agree with what you said regarding the newer gear may be appealing, but not have the history of users to back up a quality product. Thanks again for this!