Last year I had the opportunity to Review the SafeGuard Stealth Concealable Brand Vest Body Armor and I can say I was quite pleased with the vest. It fit well, seemed to be unnoticed by others, wasn’t horribly heavy or otherwise uncomfortable, and so on. I have, in fact, worn it a few times since then–just for grins–and probably wouldn’t mind wearing the vest daily if I had to.
So, when Safeguard Armor contacted me a few months ago I was happy to do another review, this time of the GHOST body armor. And, I should apologize to you, the readers, as well as to Safeguard because I had every intention of doing this review BEFORE we moved but just didn’t and, well, I’m finally getting to it…
So, about the GHOST vest. According to their website, the GHOST:
- NIJ Level 2 or 3A Ballistic Protection
- Edged Blade And Spike Protection
- Carrier Made from 100% Coolmax® Cooling Material
- Light-Weight Extra Small Carrier
- Adjustable Velcro Shoulder & Waist Straps
- Built to be Worn for Long Periods of Time
- Weighs Less than 2.5kg
The vest I received was a level 2 ballistic and level 1 blade protection, you can learn more about the differences in protection levels, if you like. It came in the all black carrier and included an all white carrier which happened to be–for all intents and purposes–the exact same size as the previous Stealth concealable vest I got last year, and that’s where the confusion began…
You see, the first thing I noticed was that the newer black GHOST vest carrier was significantly larger than the previous vest I received (and, therefore, also much larger than the all white GHOST carrier I received too). Here’s a photo comparing the black GHOST carrier to the Stealth vest I received last year:
To be honest, I don’t think the photo above does the difference proper justice. And, again, the white GHOST vest carrier is the same size as the Stealth vest from last year. Anyway, as I was curious, I took the ballistic plates out and compared them. Here’s the front plates (the GHOST plate is on the right):
As you can see, the GHOST plate is vastly larger! So, I choose to take the back plates out and compare them as well:
This time there’s not such a big difference but the GHOST back plate is a bit larger. Ok, what now? Well, I was curious if the GHOST plates would even fit in the all white GHOST vest I received and, sadly, the front plate wasn’t even close to fitting, as such, I didn’t bother to try the back plate. So, now I’m wondering why I have this additional (and much smaller) white vest carrier? I honestly don’t know.
More importantly, I’m wondering if I received the wrong vest! I say this in part because when I tried on the black GHOST vest carrier it fit me as if I should have been a bigger person (I’m only 5’4″ and shrinking it seems). To confound me even more, the tags on the GHOST vest carriers seemed correct but it’s obvious that the black carrier is significantly larger AND it doesn’t fit quite right.
I should briefly mention that I did take a few pictures of myself wearing the vest but most turned out not so good as I was holding the camera myself. Suffice it to say that this black GHOST carrier fit very poorly around the arms and even around my waist despite my “beer gut’s” best efforts to the contrary. 😉 In fact, the concealable vest I got last year fits MUCH better and is far less noticeable under clothing, in my opinion.
Speaking of which, about the only complaint I had regarding the vest from last year was that it, in my opinion, rode too high up my belly (slightly higher than my belly button) which was about correct according to their sizing chart. This GHOST vest, on the other hand, fit much more like I would have preferred. It fit down to my waist and, as you might suspect due to the size differences, covered much more body area in general, and even overlapped the sides a bit. I liked all of that and quite preferred it.
As for weight, the GHOST vest does seem to weigh a slight bit more than the concealable vest from last year, and that’s to be expected as the front ballistic plate is quite a bit bigger.
What’s my ultimate conclusion here?
I honestly think I got the wrong sized vest, although, I do like that it covered more area than it probably should have. The drawback, obviously, is that it’s far less GHOST-like than one would prefer… or expect. If I could get the arm openings and waist to fit a bit more snugly then this vest would have been perfect!
I should say that I didn’t bother to contact Safeguard about the vest, mostly because I had waited so long to do this review and I figured it couldn’t hurt to have a larger vest that fits bigger people. With regards to Safeguard Armor, I think they’re a good group of folks trying to do a good thing for people. Maybe they just got this particular vest wrong and I’m sure they would have remedied the foul up… or straightened me out if I were in the wrong. 🙂
All that said, if you’re in the market for a quality vest that could one day save your life (or that of a loved one) consider the GHOST body armor or even the Stealth body armor by Safeguard Armor. I’m sure you’ll be fully satisfied.
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