really nice set. i had my eye on this for a while and now that im back in the trades had an excuse to buy it. here is my initial review (after a week of hvac use, will update after a longer period) Comfort - i feel this belt is ridged and supportive enough to be fine on its own but i bought the hip buddies which i feel are a good choice, they really distribute the weight to your hips like a good backpack. combine with suspenders its a very comfortsble package. durability - I do coustom leather work as a side job and id say the leather is good quality and apropreate weights for the purpose, and the craftsmanship is good / functional. the fit and finish isnt perfect but nothing to detract from the function. I believe it will be fairly durable. most seams are single stitched which isnt ideal, id have expected double everywhere and triple in some areas, but most seams are also riveted at the ends and i believe the single stitch is probably to optomize pouch space due to the design. two potential durabiliy issues i see is the slot for the speed square has it rubbing against two seams, and i believe will wear thrugh eventually, although its just the seam for the turned over portion of the puch mouths, and the small hammer loop being leather will probably wear out esp if you use your hammer alot. leather - the pouch leather is a chrome tanned top grain leather of two thicknesses possibly with a bit of oil although considering how thirsty it was when i oiled it i dont think it had any oil to begin with. i would have preffered a more heavily oiled leather for this use and would suggest treating it when you get it atleast. obenauffs heavy duty lp or their lighter oil is good. it has a dark russet surface finish, i would have preffered a drum dyed / through finish for this application. if you oil it from inside the pouches you can see it eventually come through under the surface finish, making it significantly darker. the finish prevents oil from penitrating from the outside. the belt leather is a firm probably veg tan and seems to be oiled a bit and also of two thicknesses. leather thickenss are as follows: 3" portion of the belt - 16oz, .25", 6.4mm 2" portion of belt, hammer loop and tape holder- 12-13oz, 5mm, .20" main pouches that connect to the belt, tool sleeves - 8-9oz, .12-.14", 3.3mm outermost pouches that attach to the main pouches and secondary pouches - 5-6oz, .08-.09". 2mm functionality - wow, this is where these bags really shine. very well thought out and i can only see a few changes you might make for different trades and preferances. every tool specific pouch is where it should be and erogonomic / efficiant, i love the tape measure pouch (yes it fits a fatmax 35') i am an hvac carpenter so i do a variety of stuff and need a variety of tools. the pouches stay out of the way enough for a fair amount of manouverability, but inevitibly with bags this big itll be hard to squeeze through some places. i find the most dificulty climbing through scuttle holes into attics. In the right main pouch i have my 16oz or 24oz hammer and often i hook my impact driver to the hammer loop as well when i need it on ladders, beater chisel, utility knife, pencil, marker, trim pry bar, 35' tape, screwdriver, snips and chanel lock. the outer two pouches get gloves, ear plugs, parts or fastners for what im working on, my block plane or drywall rasp. left pouch gets cats paw, speed square, combination square, chalk box, torpedo level, driver bits nail set, and a variety of the common fastners i use. in my case i could actualy use two or three smaller outer pouches instead of the one larger one, and definatly more driver bit holders. i use drywall screws, construction screws, sheetmetal screws, tapcon screws, framing and finish nails all on a regular bases. on the back i bought the high mount hammer loop for my framing hammer when i need it, and the drill holster for my 1/2" drill, which works great. I would also highly recomend the padded suspenders. the only modification ive made to the belt is to put a chicago screw through the hip buddy belt loop through the loop so the right pouch dosent slide off when i take the belt off.
