The 215 Gear Operator's GPS Pouch is designed to hold and protect your Garmin 401 and/or 601 wristband GPS. Although the 401 and 601 already have wristbands included for immediate use right out of the box, the 215 Gear pouch functions the same way except it includes a soft case with a transparent vinyl window for you to be able to see the GPS screen while navigating the country and can be mounted to your AR15 stock if you choose to do so. While you have the vinyl screen the whole pouch is still prone to getting soaked and it will fog up. Unless you have a watertight wrist pouch for a GPS this will be a common issue for aftermarket ones of this type.
(Below two: Images taken directly from 215 Gear product page)
Made with Berry compliant materials, this GPS pouch may be what you need to look cool or simply just protect your Garmin from the elements while maintaining the wrist mount capability.
In Use
Right out of the package you will receive the GPS pouch with the elastic band sewn onto it which loops through a plastic rectangular buckle and is secured by velcro. The GPS pouch also comes with a screen cover in case you need to maintain concealment and hide the reflection of the screen but also serves as added impact protection of some degree. The backing is made of a rubbery helium whisper-like material you you would see on Blue Force Gear pouches and the sides are just milspec Ny/Co webbing.
I ran into a few problems. The elastic band was too easy to stretch. There was not enough tension to keep the pouch from flopping around and the band was not stitched the full length of the pouch itself, leaving part of it to dangle and flop around instead of being pressed onto your wrist. The velcro was also pretty weak in my opinion or there just wasn't enough velcro to be secure. I knew changes needed to be made.
(Below: You can see the original factory stitching that only secures the elastic band partway from one side to the middle. I added the webbing and stitched it to both sides of the backing so it wouldn't flop around)
In the heat of the moment I took out a length of 1.5 inch milspec ranger green webbing and and sewed it directly onto the elastic because I was being too lazy to cut it all apart. Then I took some 3/4 inch double sided "one-wrap" velcro and replaced the velcro closures where you insert the GPS. Now I don't have to worry about the pouch flopping on my wrist nor my GPS falling out of the pouch. (My hasty sewing job)
So what do I have in the end? Well now I've got a GPS pouch that's almost perfect but the wristband is thicker than they need to be because I sewed extra webbing directly onto the original band. The overall construction of the pouch is durable. You can see they stitched the hell out of everything but only to be held back by the cheap crappy elastic band and not being stitched the full length of the pouch. On the bright side it still protects my Garmin 401 from getting additional scratches on the screen as well as keeping most dust out, but primarily keeping my screen safe.
I've taken this entire package out on all occasions I go out of town for field work or just hiking. The only real issue I had is getting snagged to the shoulder straps of my pack when I am taking it off, and the minor extra weight of the webbing I added to the band. Without the upgrades it would have guaranteed to fail on the strap because of how weak it is, and the GPS sooner or later would have fallen out if I hadn't changed out the closure flaps of the pouch for the one-wrap velcro strips.
For $32 I would expect just a little more and would highly insist on some changes. Maybe even double up on the elastic band or use a stronger one or ditch the elastic band idea and just use milspec webbing which can never go wrong. I would also use different velcro. The type of velcro hook and loop we all know and love is just too bulky and weak for a small pouch like this which needs all the surface area it can get to interface the hook and loop, hence why I used the one-wrap velcro which is slimmer and has more density to work with, if you get what I mean. In honesty I would look elsewhere for a GPS wrist pouch or get one custom made with good materials for the whole construction
(Below: I fold the detachable cover and stuff it underneath the GPS. Also fills up any extra space but I'll always have the cover if I ever need it. Notice the one-wrap velcro used to close the pouch where the top flap folds first and the bottom flap with the pull tab goes over it)
(Above: You can see the cover just barely hanging onto one side. This is the issue I had with the original pouch closure not having enough surface area to hook onto, hence why I replaced it with the one-wrap velcro)
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