I’ve carried with a Wilderness 5 stitch and 5.11’s 3 stitch version of the instructor belt for over 5yr. They’re great but the velcro and buckle are noisy enough that I sometimes wake my wife when going to bed and I thought a Cobra buckle would be easier to use daily. I bought a cheap slim cobra belt on amazon to see if I’d like that style for EDC. I did, BUT I knew I wanted something that fit through my jean and fishing/hiking short belt loops easily.
A few months later, I decided to get something nicer quality and landed on the Blue Alpha Gear Hybrid EDC belt. They’re not cheap but not terribly expensive at $70. Well worth it, and that’s from a guy who is always looking for the best “bang for the buck”.
The Hybrid EDC is very well made, as you would expect from them, but what really makes it work so well is the use of a 1.5” male buckle and 1” female, hence the “Hybrid”. You can easily feed the female buckle through your pant belt loops. I usually wear normal jeans or hiking/fishing shorts, no issues with any of my belt loops being too tight/small. The Amazon belt I had was a task to get the buckle in and out of my belt loops. I don’t even think about it now.
Sizing is a little large. I wear a 34 or 36 waist pant depending on brand/fit, and since BAG sizes their belts by pant size, I ordered a 36. I couldn’t get it tight enough, it was too big. Thankfully they have a simple, no questions asked sizing exchange policy. I now have a 34 and the end of the belt is right at the end of the ~12” velcro area. It’s also worth noticing that the end of this velcro area is behind my 9 o’clock, probably about 8 o’clock. I find this significant because certain spare mag carriers struggle to fit over 3 layers of webbing plus velcro. Thankfully that’s not an issue for me so this makes placing my spare mag easy. If the end of your belt happens to fall right where you want your spare mag you may have to choose to either move it slightly forward or slightly rearward. So I like that the tail of their belt is pretty long.
Because of the long tail and large sizing, I would recommend going down a size of you’re in between pant sizes, and don’t include your gun/holster when thinking about your pant size. I also think it’s safe to go down 1 size regardless. There is plenty of room to go up. Not that I plan on it, but if I were to drop another couple inches I would consider sizing down again.
I’ve had the belt for about 5mo now and really have no complaints. If you’re considering a Cobra EDC belt, I’d highly recommend this one.
https://www.bluealphabelts.com/product/hybrid-edc-belt/
A few months later, I decided to get something nicer quality and landed on the Blue Alpha Gear Hybrid EDC belt. They’re not cheap but not terribly expensive at $70. Well worth it, and that’s from a guy who is always looking for the best “bang for the buck”.
The Hybrid EDC is very well made, as you would expect from them, but what really makes it work so well is the use of a 1.5” male buckle and 1” female, hence the “Hybrid”. You can easily feed the female buckle through your pant belt loops. I usually wear normal jeans or hiking/fishing shorts, no issues with any of my belt loops being too tight/small. The Amazon belt I had was a task to get the buckle in and out of my belt loops. I don’t even think about it now.
Sizing is a little large. I wear a 34 or 36 waist pant depending on brand/fit, and since BAG sizes their belts by pant size, I ordered a 36. I couldn’t get it tight enough, it was too big. Thankfully they have a simple, no questions asked sizing exchange policy. I now have a 34 and the end of the belt is right at the end of the ~12” velcro area. It’s also worth noticing that the end of this velcro area is behind my 9 o’clock, probably about 8 o’clock. I find this significant because certain spare mag carriers struggle to fit over 3 layers of webbing plus velcro. Thankfully that’s not an issue for me so this makes placing my spare mag easy. If the end of your belt happens to fall right where you want your spare mag you may have to choose to either move it slightly forward or slightly rearward. So I like that the tail of their belt is pretty long.
Because of the long tail and large sizing, I would recommend going down a size of you’re in between pant sizes, and don’t include your gun/holster when thinking about your pant size. I also think it’s safe to go down 1 size regardless. There is plenty of room to go up. Not that I plan on it, but if I were to drop another couple inches I would consider sizing down again.
I’ve had the belt for about 5mo now and really have no complaints. If you’re considering a Cobra EDC belt, I’d highly recommend this one.
https://www.bluealphabelts.com/product/hybrid-edc-belt/
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