Leo Kohler ATACS FG UBACS and Trousers

[geoffreym]

Having owned, and been thoroughly disappointed with Propper ATACS FG kit I have been on the prowl for a set of higher quality ATACS FG kit. After stumbling upon Leo Kohler on action hobbies (unfortunately out of stock since seeing them) I have been doing a bit of research and found that if these were up to the same standard as their other kit, I would be extremely happy with them.

After waiting a month for a restock at action hobbies, and not even being able to get an estimation (staff were very apologetic, but they just didn't know) I had a look around and found http://www.tacwrk.com/ which sell them, they promptly dispatched them and I have been extremely happy with their service all around. This will hopefully be a long term review to compare it after a year.

and now onto the review/comparison

 

History

As far as I can tell this company also supplies a large amount of kit to the Bundeswehr, and they do their kit in a large amount of various camouflage patterns.

 

(from action hobbies)

 

Trousers:

The KSK (Kommando Spezialkräfte-German Special Forces) Combat Operations Field Trousers from Leo Köhler in A-TACS Foliage Green.
Designed to offer high quality and functionality in field.
Material: 48% Cotton / 52% Nylon Ripstop - very durable.

 

UBACS:

The Under Armour Combat Shirt by Leo Köhler in A-TACS Foliage Green.

This is a new and improved version by Leo Köhler.
Main section is a normal T-shirt, with shoulders and sleeves added to make a one piece garment.
The shoulder section has a Velcro closure collar.
The cuffs are adjustable with Velcro.
The main shirt front has Velcro tabs for various patches.
Two upper sleeve Velcro-closure arm pockets with extra large Velcro patches.
T-Shirt - 68% Cotton / 32% PA (Polymid)
Shoulders and Sleeves - 48% Cotton / 52% Nylon Ripstop - very durable.
Approximate weight: 450 g

 

First Impressions

 

Very very good, the material used feels light but extremely strong, the colour is deep (unfortunately I cannot compare it to the fresh propper kit and will not trust my memory to make an accurate comparison) and my partner (who does quite a bit of dressmaking) says that the stitching and thread used is orders of magnitude better than the propper kit, and hopefully the dye will be a stronger set.

 

 

 

the only slight irritation is that they seem to use 2 different type of buttons, my preferred fabric loop on the pouches and more regular star thread on the main button flap. Propper use all star thread attachments, I have already physically broken one of the buttons and have had to reattach 2 others from broken threads.

 

 

(and it has a zipper, much much preferred to button flies)

 

 

I have never seen this before but it seems that there's an internal "gaitor", not entirely sure what the point of this is, any ideas are welcome.

 

 

The UBACS seems kind of half and half, the sleeves are made of the same material as the trousers, and feel very good quality. However the actual under armour shirt seems of a less than ideal material and doesn't feel as strong as I would expect, but still feels okay, if the dye was better I would prefer the Propper UBACS for design and shirt material.

 

 

 

 

For reference the propper kit was bought end of July 2012, and has been worn between 1 and 2 times a month.

The Leo Kohler kit has arrived fresh today and I will be wearing it between 1 and 2 times a month as well as the NAE.

Will be updating as I have things to update with.

[M_P]

Cheers for the review and comparison.

I've just got some propper trousers, did u have any other major problems other than them fading? (And buttons)

Might have to look into some of these newer sets if the proppers don't hold up long.

[geoffreym]

Cheers for the review and comparison.

I've just got some propper trousers, did u have any other major problems other than them fading? (And buttons)

Might have to look into some of these newer sets if the proppers don't hold up long.

The fading was the main issue (you can see the fade) but everything else is just sub-standard from something I would have classed as high quality due to the price, the stitching is quite an irritation from the low quality.