Speical Operations Equiptment

#2
Re: Speical Operations Equiptment

Im running a bunch of John's gear in Iraq right now. His attention to detail and the overall quality is unmatched. His gear is overbuilt and meant to really be used hard. I would never hestitate to reccoment any piece of OSOE gear.
 
#6
Re: Speical Operations Equiptment

I ran his gear for over 6 years when he was still in CA. I put his stuff through the ringer and when I did rip it I just took it in and they repaired it.
 
#8
Re: Speical Operations Equiptment

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: LRAS19D</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I got a Callahan P.C. on the way, another SO Tech first timer. All I hear is good things.</div></div>

SO Tech <span style="font-weight: bold">is not</span> SOE
 
#9
Re: Speical Operations Equiptment

I didn’t have a lot of real-estate left on the ole vest so need to make some moves for the GPS but still keep the same number of mags onboard. Gunna move all the top pistol mags to behind the cumberbun. Should help out alot.

18080_1388736477588_1207372949_3115.jpg
 
#14
Re: Speical Operations Equiptment

I'd be careful dealing with him. I paid John Willis for an order worth $500 in June 2006 and have yet to see anything I bought. He hasn’t replied to a single email for over 2 years now. I've tried multiple email addresses of mine, all referring to the original address I placed the order with. I've verified his email address through his website and with people that say he is easy to get in touch with. I've tried to get him to send a phone number so I can call him. I’ve sent him my phone number to call me. I've tried sending instant messages through various forums.

I was fine with waiting as I’m not in the military, but I think nearing 4 years is a little excessive, especially when there isn’t bad costumer service, but zero customer service.
 
#15
Re: Speical Operations Equiptment

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BrianTN</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I'd be careful dealing with him. I paid John Willis for an order worth $500 in June 2006 and have yet to see anything I bought. He hasn’t replied to a single email for over 2 years now. I've tried multiple email addresses of mine, all referring to the original address I placed the order with. I've verified his email address through his website and with people that say he is easy to get in touch with. I've tried to get him to send a phone number so I can call him. I’ve sent him my phone number to call me. I've tried sending instant messages through various forums.

I was fine with waiting as I’m not in the military, but I think nearing 4 years is a little excessive, especially when there isn’t bad costumer service, but zero customer service. </div></div>

First time I've ever heard of a bad deal with John.
4 yrs ago he was just getting restarted from some VERY bad experience.

You sure you didn't order from BDS?
 
#16
Re: Speical Operations Equiptment

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BAMCIS</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
First time I've ever heard of a bad deal with John.
4 yrs ago he was just getting restarted from some VERY bad experience.

You sure you didn't order from BDS? </div></div> Positive I ordered through John Willis. I had ordered something from him just before I placed this much larger order.

I regret the order now, as it doesn't seem I will receive what I paid for or a refund. For whatever reason he is choosing to ignore my emails.

When I was about to place this order, I read about others that had the same problem that I am currently having, but it seemed most reviews were positive so I proceeded with it. Most of the complaints were on getoffthex, but they were always quickly deleted.
 
#17
Re: Speical Operations Equiptment

Try CSM gear. Mike's a prev operator, and his stuff is all real world tested. I've used it both in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's always great at shipping stuff to me at home or in theater. Probably shipped it faster in theater now that I think of it.
 
#18
Re: Speical Operations Equiptment

It took quite awhile to get my order, as well. Just an M6 Guardian pouch and a couple battery wallets. Good stuff, but too long to get. This was a couple years ago.
 
#19
IMHO is a company that will charge you a premium price for cheap crap.

I came across them on facebook and saw that they offered some cool looking cobra dog collars, at $55-$65 a piece. At this price I expected a premium product.

I got two of them yesterday. Honestly I felt like I had been ripped off when I received the collars. While the cobra buckle is obviously high quality, the material the collar is made feels cheap and it uses a plastic (not polymer) adjustment piece. I bought these for two boxers. I seriously doubt the collar would survive 6 weeks on these dogs.

I emailed the company asking for a refund and was basically told to screw off.

I don't have any experience with their tactical stuff, but I'd think long and hard before buying it.

To top that off, I was charged $12 for shipping and received it in a $5 flat rate box. :/ I realize this is small beans, but I feel like I was ripped off and this just tops it off.
 
#23
corym468 said:
IMHO is a company that will charge you a premium price for cheap crap.

I came across them on facebook and saw that they offered some cool looking cobra dog collars, at $55-$65 a piece. At this price I expected a premium product.

I got two of them yesterday. Honestly I felt like I had been ripped off when I received the collars. While the cobra buckle is obviously high quality, the material the collar is made feels cheap and it uses a plastic (not polymer) adjustment piece. I bought these for two boxers. I seriously doubt the collar would survive 6 weeks on these dogs.

I emailed the company asking for a refund and was basically told to screw off.

I don't have any experience with their tactical stuff, but I'd think long and hard before buying it.

To top that off, I was charged $12 for shipping and received it in a $5 flat rate box. :/ I realize this is small beans, but I feel like I was ripped off and this just tops it off.
Click to expand...


John is a straight forward and often blunt guy but he is a good guy and he makes solid gear. He posted your complaint on his FB page. You left out the part where these were custom made collars and were therefore non returnable. Which is what he stated to you in your email exchange from what I read. It also says you didn't use the collars on your dogs, which I can understand seeing how you want to return them , but how can you gauge their durability if you haven't even given them a try? I could see your point if you had used them for a week or more and had issues with them but as it stands, you didn't even attempt to use them. I own several pieces of custom made gear from SOE that have survived some serious use over seas, SOE has also built horizontal weapons mount harnesses used for HALO operations for my unit for testing and none of them had any issues.

The weight capacity on the cobra buckle is printed on it and I doubt your dogs will break it,likewise, I'm confident that John used a suitable material that has a known strength rating that will also exceed what a dog could be expected to generate, even if it feels cheap to you. I am also sure he used similar plastic adjustment hardware as he used on the weapons harnesses I mentioned above and they withstood the extremes of the cold and abuse of jumping from 25 thousand feet. My advise is use the collars and then determine if they do or don't live up to your expectations and what could reasonably be expected from a dog collar.
 
#24
All of John's gear that I own, or have used, is good to go. Top notch materials and workmanship. I wouldn't hesitate to use any of his gear in a life threatening situation.

Give the collars a try, you have nothing to loose. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised.
 
#25
I've purchased a few things here and there from OSOE over the years and never had any kind of quality issues with any of it.
Digging up a 4 year old thread to vent isn't going to change much.
 
#27
So what is the skinny ?
You look on the internet search and there are 2 web-sites .
One say's .. ( Special Operations Equipment ) . & . The other site under it says .. ( the Original SOE gear )

So was this some SewShop partnership that took a split or what ? . The Gear (by picture) looks to be ' very well ' thought out in design and quality .
.
 
#29
Custom? It's a dog collar as listed on their site with ~+-5" of adjustment.

I don't mind blunt, I like blunt. He could have bluntly said I will not refund it but I'll stand behind it if they tear it up. He didn't. All I got was a no refund for you.

I didn't want to ask for a refund on a product he couldn't resale. I kept them in the original packaging. After he refused refund I put them on my dogs. We'll see how well they hold up.

I don't doubt the cobra buckles will hold up. However, that's the only part I don't doubt.

I emailed him about the overcharge in shipping asking for a refund on it. I was told I could talk to his lawyer about it. Really???
 
#31
corym468 said:
IMHO is a company that will charge you a premium price for cheap crap.

I came across them on facebook and saw that they offered some cool looking cobra dog collars, at $55-$65 a piece. At this price I expected a premium product.

I got two of them yesterday. Honestly I felt like I had been ripped off when I received the collars. While the cobra buckle is obviously high quality, the material the collar is made feels cheap and it uses a plastic (not polymer) adjustment piece. I bought these for two boxers. I seriously doubt the collar would survive 6 weeks on these dogs.

I emailed the company asking for a refund and was basically told to screw off.

I don't have any experience with their tactical stuff, but I'd think long and hard before buying it.

To top that off, I was charged $12 for shipping and received it in a $5 flat rate box. :/ I realize this is small beans, but I feel like I was ripped off and this just tops it off.
Click to expand...

My suggestion would have been to use them, and if you had issues with the product failing to perform as it was designed, make use of the customer service.

I have made a couple of dog collars. I used "plastic" hardware on both. This "plastic" hardware has much higher dynamic load ratings than a dog will be able to achieve. It is also much friendlier to dog teeth than metal. My dogs like to drag each other around by the collars.

ALSO: From reading the page, it looks like the collars are sewn to length for each customer. That means that the company would probably have to strip the hardware and eat the material loss because you didn't like the product you special ordered. It's one thing for a company to take a loss when their product fails. Its another to take a loss because a customer has buyers remorse.
 
#33
I wear SOE gear every day and my 3 Malinois wear SOE gear as well. No problems with any item and I have a ton of his stuff. As far as the shipping goes, keep in mind that he has to pay someone to box, label, stack, move, etc every item. I've been to the shop and it is a true small business. No automated anything, just hard workers doing their thing.

Chris
 
#34
corym468 said:
IMHO is a company that will charge you a premium price for cheap crap.

I came across them on facebook and saw that they offered some cool looking cobra dog collars, at $55-$65 a piece. At this price I expected a premium product.

I got two of them yesterday. Honestly I felt like I had been ripped off when I received the collars. While the cobra buckle is obviously high quality, the material the collar is made feels cheap and it uses a plastic (not polymer) adjustment piece. I bought these for two boxers. I seriously doubt the collar would survive 6 weeks on these dogs.

I emailed the company asking for a refund and was basically told to screw off.

I don't have any experience with their tactical stuff, but I'd think long and hard before buying it.

To top that off, I was charged $12 for shipping and received it in a $5 flat rate box. :/ I realize this is small beans, but I feel like I was ripped off and this just tops it off.
Click to expand...



Seriously ??? Wow. John Willis is a straight up dude, no bull shit, pulls no punches, over builds some extremely durable and well thought out gear. I can assure you, acting like a little girl and trying to bad mouth him on the 'net ain't gonna hurt him or his business one tiny bit. His reputation stands on its own.
 
#36
I used OSOE in Afghanistan every, single, fucking, day. I continue to use it state side. I gave some away to people going over seas. It is over-built, which, when your life is on the line is exactly what you want. John has made shit for me that wasn't available at the time and answered every one of my emails promptly and honestly. The bottom line it this: If you have a bad experience, it's your fault. If you wanted some cool-guy shit and didn't know exactly what you were buying, it's your fault. I do enjoy listening to people complain about it though, because it's just more publicity for a great American that takes care of the front-line folks.

BTW, I don't care what your argument is against this, it is invalid.
 
#37
Gentleman4561 said:
My Malinois has worn a SOE dog collar for 8 months now. The buckle is scratched up but the webbing shows little to no wear.

John makes too notch stuff. I own a ton of his products and have zero complaints.
Click to expand...

I've got a german shepherd that's 75lbs of solid muscle. He's got at least a 3-4ft vertical and regularly chases our ATVs at 25mph. He's got free run of 175 wooded acres which he shares with 4 other family dogs. I personally have never seen a dog like him-pure athletic beast crashing through the woods with crazy speed and agility. And too stupid to avoid tussling with neighbor dogs twice his size...he's been in a few scuffles. He's outside in snow, rain, mud, swimming in ponds, and 90 degree heat.

He's worn an SOE collar for a full year now. My description of it is exactly as the one above...buckle is scratched to piss, but the webbing looks almost brand new. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to recommend the collars John makes or any of his other gear. Not always the sexiest looking stuff, but durability is not even a momentary concern. Besides, guaranteed for life, no questions asked.

Your problem was your approach, no offense.
 
#39
I have a rescued mini poodle named Baby that is 16.3 lbs of pure pride and would wear a SOE collar from an unhappy owner.

During the summer after I let his hair grow all winter, I shave his face and give him a Hulk Hogan mustache and Mohawk him. His alias then is Warrior so watch out when you see us rolling down the street. He will be on my left prancing at a strong heal position, off leash of course :)
 
#40
I've run SOE gear for awhile now, and it is completely bomb proof. As said above, its not all about frills and putting PALS webbing on every millimeter of space, its about being durable and tough as hell and working exactly as designed. My micro rig has survived many classes, and is better than of the half broken shit we got issued from CIF. Why don't you try putting the collars on the dogs, I would be amazed if those dogs managed to fuck that thing up.

Tapatalk ate my spelling
 
#41
Here it is 2 months later and I'm here to eat my words as I said I would. I'm happily surprised at how well these collars are holding up. Not so much as a torn thread at this point. Initially handling the material and inspecting the stitching I never would have thought they'd still be intact.

Even with this being so, I won't do business with the company again, due to business practices.
 
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