Well, I had put off buying a vest for the longest time, I kept telling myself I could get away without one. In the end though, I realized that with all the stuff I wanted to hump out into the field, I needed one. I had been looking at the various cheap knock off brands you can find from Asia, but I eventually decided on a BHI. Originally I had wanted a crossdraw, but realized that the crossdraw models severely limit your rifle mag carrying capacity. In the end I chose the base model Omega tactical vest.

This vest has the following pockets/pouches:
6 Magazine pouches - can hold a variety of sizes, holds my AUG mags with ease.
1 radio pocket
1 Map pocket
1 loose round pocket
2 inside zippered pockets
1 Hydrastorm hydration system pocket (inside the back panel)

Magazine Pouches:
The 6 large magazine pouches on this vest are quite large enough for MOST magazines. My AUG mags fit them just fine, The only other mags I actually got to try are the AK shorty mags, which fit fine. I am positive that the M16, MP5, Sig mags will fit as well, P90 mags are too long though, that much I am sure of.

The coolest use I have found for the mag pouches came about at the last game I played in, which I was forced to go pistols only due to some technical difficulties with my AUG battery. The Magazine pouches can double as Pistol holsters. I easily fit my Western Arms Xcelerator 5 inch in the pouches, but I am also sure that any of the Western Arms 6 inch 1911 pistols will fit just fine as well. At one point, I was carrying 3 pistols in the mag pouches comfortably. One in each underarm mag pouches and one in the front like a cross draw. That leaves 3 more pouches which you can carry your pistol mags in, 2-3 mags per pouch.

Hydrastorm Hydration System Pocket: Of course you don't HAVE to use the Hydrastorm brand hydration packs with the vest, but I have developed somewhat of a brand loyalty for BHI. The pocket that is inside the mesh back panel of the vest can hold up to a 100 ounce hydration reservoir such as This One.

Map pocket, loose round pocket and inside pockets: These 3 pockets really can be used for many different items, I use the map pocket to carry my wallet in the field (I don't like carrying my wallet in my BDU pockets) and the wallet JUST fits. The loose round pocket (that's what I call it) is designed to hold loose individual real steel rounds, I have not yet found a specific use for this pocket for Airsoft. The dual inside pockets are quite spacious. I'm guessing they can be used for keeping papers or maybe even some MRE packaged food. The pockets are in the front though, so you would want an MRE individual package that wasn't to thick.

Radio Pocket: The radio pocket is my only gripe about this vest, but I think my issue with it may be the same across the whole Omega line of vests. I have a Motorola T5630 Talkabout. Its pretty small, but it BARELY fits inside the pocket with the flap open. You cannot close the flap with the radio in place. Partially because there is no slot for the antenna to fit, but even if you cut an antenna hole, it still would not be able to close over the volume knob. So what I'm saying is, buy your radios AFTER you buy a vest. Measure the fit before you buy a radio. Or just keep your radio elsewhere.

Size Adjustment: I'm a pretty small guy, OK... I'm skinny. I was able to adjust the vest down to my size easily, but it's at it's smallest size. The only fit problem I had was when adding a web belt to the belt loops at the bottom of the vest. Because of the short distance from my shoulders to my waist, the belt hung very low on my HIPs instead of my waist. There are no shoulder height adjustments on this vest, so this made adjustment of my Drop Leg holster tricky, but I got it to fit.

This vest is made with the same material as the majority of the Blackhawk Industries tactical line, Nytaneon. I have found this material to be very durable and strong. The Blackhawk manufacturing quality has also proven to be excellent in all the BHI products I have owned. I have heard however from an Airsoft Colleague that his Omega vest zipper has suffered a failure after less than 2 seasons use. After his description of the failure symptoms and the construction of his vest, I am convinced that the defect that caused his failure has been fixed in the currently available model.

I will update this review if I find out anything more on this issue.

The back of the Omega vest is covered with straps intended for use with Alice clips, allowing you to attach a multitude of expansion pouches. Also the Velcro and snap belt loops at the bottom edge of the vest allow the installation of a tactical web belt, to facilitate the use of drop down leg pouches for pistols, mags or even canteens.