AR500 Armor (Armored Republic) Veritas Plate Carrier Review

Why do I have to stay quiet, Mama? Hey everyone, welcome back to the range. I've got a gear introduction and overview to go over today. AR500 Armor contacted me and asked me to check out a couple of their new plate carriers that they'll be releasing soon. Say hello to the Veritas Carrier. With an MSRP of the base carrier of around $65, this in my opinion is packing a lot of bang for the buck. I'll give you a 360 here. There are a lot of features and modularity offered in this carrier compared to some of the other more budget-friendly carriers. Made from 500D Cordura, it's designed in Arizona and made in Vietnam. The Veritas fits 10x12 plates only, and the base carrier weighs 1 pound and 14 ounces. If you're an 11x14 guy, this carrier is probably not for you. We have 3D mesh padding on the body side of the carrier, along with the shoulder straps. We have 2-inch webbing with our ITW Nexus buckles. Shoulder straps are hook-and-loop with padding. The widest distance on your shoulder straps assembled is approximately 8 inches. 7 inches or thereabouts at the base here. They come out at an angle. We have good stitching throughout the entire carrier. We have reinforcement stitching in high-stress areas and some seams. We have some good extra stitching right here, and then along where the shoulder straps meet. Definitely can tell this is a good quality piece of equipment. On the top, we have a pouch here. I guess you would call this the admin pouch, maybe. There's some looping inside to add stuff. We have a kangaroo pouch down here. I do have a kangaroo 3-mag holder inserted in there right now. The Vertos also does incorporate a drag handle right here. It's a little on the tight side, especially once you get your plates in there. If you had a pair of gloves, you're definitely not going to be able to easily get your hand in there. The Vertos does support a cummerbund system that was sold separately if preferred. Since the side buckles are modular, they can be removed if desired. Literally, you just pull this Velcro here and here, and you can pull the side straps out needed. We use standard AR-500 armor, level 3+, advanced shooter cuts, plates, and 10x12 for demoing the carrier. They fit great in the carrier. The carrier does have an internal loop panel, front and rear, for inserting a plate pocket insert. For when you're wearing, say, soft armor with this, and you want to add a 6x6 or 6x8 trauma pad for added protection. Essentially, it's the same as most carriers. Peel the bottom off here. Take your flap up. Grab your body armor panel. Stick it in there. Make sure it's flush. Fold it over. Boom, there you go. Here's that small plate panel insert I talked about. Here's the hook and loop panel that you can secure inside the carrier. And there's little straps in here to place that panel right here where you would need it. We did have a set of level 4 plates on site as well, and they fit just fine in this plate carrier. While demoing the carrier, I wanted to come up with a basic test of how it performed in a variety of situations to see overall mobility and usability of the carrier in what I considered my normal daily routines. I came up with body armor mobility standards, or BAMs for short. My wife and I each ran one mile. I practiced a few presentation drills with a rifle and pistols without issue. I sat, squatted, lifted overhead, and did other basic movements in the Veritas. I drove a car, got in and out of said car. I did everyone's favorite, push-ups and pull-ups. I even had my wife drag me across the lawn. Of those six tests, my only real limited mobility was any reaching across the body. In this case, trying to grab my seatbelt for the car test. Otherwise, the carrier did a great job moving with me and not hindering my mobility. Granted, for anyone that's actually worn body armor before, it's no cakewalk, especially when it comes to comfort with steel plates and additional loadouts. It's going to get heavy, hot, and give your body an extra workout, especially on the shoulders and back. I definitely like the price point and modularity of the Veritas, especially with the wide variety of pouches and accessories that AR500 Armor is going to offer. As far as some of the accessories you can buy for these carriers, here's a pistol mag pouch. Got a Glock 19 mag in there. Here's your rifle mag pouch. Got the AR mag in here. You got some loops for some extra rounds down here. Like I said, I have the Kangaroo 3 mag pouch in the Kangaroo pouch for AR mags. Definitely probably want some Ranger plates on these to get them out. They're a little tight. Here's a pistol pouch. Got a Glock 19 in there that you can mount up here somewhere if you had to. My only area of concern on this carrier right now without a long-term test is this top pouch. Side straps and the drag handle. With the Armor inserted and if you run this Kangaroo pouch with mags in it, this pouch is really hard to get into and really hard to actually put anything in there that you might need to get out. As I mentioned earlier in the video, there's not a lot of room on this particular drag handle. I don't have the largest hands in the world, but I can barely get my hand in there. So if you had gloves on, probably going to have to rip that glove off. Not sure if these were supposed to be stitched right there or not, but it may make it hard for you to carry your buddy out of something. I must not have a lot of mobility to bend around, but I found tightening the side straps to be a chore. I did end up switching them around to have the adjustment section in the front and that helped a ton. But since this does have the ability to have a cummerbund added, I could have just went to that as well. The cummerbund will also offer a little more flexibility in breathing room. My wife, for example, doesn't like the straps on the side compared to some other carriers she used because she likes to be able to feel like she can breathe, and she feels a little claustrophobic with the straps that are locked in with no flexibility. I'd like to thank AR-500 Armor for the opportunity to test the Veritas and you all for watching. Until next time, catch you at the range.