Reviews

Emerson Tactical JPC Vest In Multicam

Freon

The item described in this review is an airsoft replica of Crye Precision’s Jumpable Plate Carrier (JPC) made by Emerson Tactical. It is possibly their first generation release as I have been hearing of succeeding releases being vastly improved. I have yet to see such and will follow up with another review if I do.

From Crye’s website:
“The Jumpable Plate Carrier™ (JPC) is a lightweight and minimal vest designed for maximum mobility, weight savings, and packability. At just over one pound for the entire carrier, the JPC™ offers a variety of configuration options to suit an operator’s needs in terms of load carriage and comfort. It features our Skeletal™ cummerbund system with our patent-pending integrated attachment system that allows pouches to be mounted on both the inside and outside of the cummerbund, shedding unnecessary weight and bulk while improving ventilation. It also features integrated admin and magazine pouches on the front of the carrier.”

FIT

Being a plate carrier. In order for this to fit properly, one will need to have replica ballistic plate inserts. Emerson’s JPC comes with them, however they are made of Styrofoam. I don’t have an authentic JPC for comparison, however I can say that for me, the fit was a little weird. Maybe it’s the gut or the lack of weight from the plates that made it ride up a bit.

Adjustment points for the JPC are on the Velcro holding the shoulder straps together and via the thick bungee cord holding the two sides of the cummerbund behind the plate carrier.

For sizing, my guess is that this is a medium sized plate carrier according to Crye’s size offerings. On a larger person, this plate carrier will appear small and inadequate. For smaller people, it looks like it fits just right.

It does not fit well on petite women at all.

MATERIALS

Emerson used 1000D cordura and webbing for almost all of this plate carrier save for the shoulder pads, shock cord parts and some of the inside areas of the carrier. They used Styrofoam for the dummy plates and these are held by a flap at the bottom of the front and back of the carrier, secured by Velcro.

These are not exactly similar to the authentic version but do a good enough job.

STITCHING

Stitching looks to be solid and held together despite the abuses I put it through.

COLOR

This is where things get messy. The color of the multicam used for the vest and for the webbing was everywhere! On the 1000D cordura, the multicam color was too light compared to authentic multicam. On the 1000D webbing, it was too vibrant. The elastic material that made up the shoulder pads was something in between the two and was noticeably not quite multicam.

Not a problem if you’re not very detail oriented.

FAIL

The fail for this item would have to be the Styrofoam dummy SAPI plate inserts. The one in front broke in half on the first use and it made the whole vest squeak very faintly every time I moved.

CONCLUSION

With other replica brands like TMC getting it right and at the same price, this version of the Emerson JPC would not be a good choice.  Its only saving grace was that I got it for half the price.

(In the photos: Emerson JPC in the middle, TMC JPCs on either side).

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