Alien Gear Holster Review

Alien Gear started building a hybrid holster a couple of years ago. It’s almost the same as a Crossbreed Supertuck. It has a big leather piece and a smaller kydex piece. The kydex piece is screwed to the leather back with a thick washer that creates the tension to hold the gun.

Most other companies use a complete kydex shell that is molded completely to the gun and riveted to the leather back piece.

The kydex shell is different than most holsters and becomes even more different because the company sells the shells for different guns. All of them fit on the same backer so you don’t have to buy a completely new holster if you get a new gun.   Alien Gear makes it even easier because they will trade the shell out for free if you get a new gun.

Alien Gear offers the holsters starting at $30! It’s why I bought my first one. I heard them advertised on Gun Talk and had to get one. Then they came out with a 2.0 and I had to get one of those.

The Cloak Tuck 2.0 is the same holster only with a neoprene backer. They also upgraded the clips making them out of plastic instead of metal. I love this holster and have been wearing it any time I need to deeply conceal my gun.

Here’s what I love about this holster:

Concealment – With the adjustable height, I adjusted the holster so the gun fits as far down inside my belt as possible. It makes it possible for me to conceal the gun with any shirt that covers my belt. The holster pushes the butt of the gun against my body making it even easier to conceal the gun.

Comfort – The neoprene makes the holster even more comfortable. It doesn’t take a shape like leather so it conforms to my body and whatever clothing I’m wearing that day. I thought leather taking a shape was an advantage until I used one of these. I really like how it bends around whatever it’s against with ease.

Neoprene and Heat – The amount of sweat and water that accumulates around the neoprene is less than leather. It’s hot here in south Texas and I’ve taken holsters off before and could feel dampness in the leather as well as see the water on the holster. I know some of that is going through to the gun and it also starts to rub against my skin. The neoprene seems to do that less.

Easy Off – Some holsters seem like they need a tool to get them off at the end of the day. This one simply comes right out with the gun inside it once I pull up on the two clips. I love this option because after wearing it all day (especially if I did physical labor), I want to put it away in the safe and carry a smaller gun or put on another holster. I do like that I can take the entire thing off without removing the gun and lay it flat in the safe without any worries or problems. The more you handle your gun when you are tired, the more chance you will make a mistake.

A Flat Surface – I really like that the neoprene doesn’t take a shape so I can lay the entire holster with gun in it flat on a shelf in my safe and not worry about it. Other holsters that come bent or after they take a shape to your body don’t want to sit flat and will rock back and forth, I’ve even had them fall out of the safe when I set them down. It’s one less thing I worry about and really enjoy about this holster.

Extra Stuff – You can see by the picture that they sent tons of extra hardware with the holster. I haven’t used any of it on either of the holsters but it’s nice to have. If you have ever lost a screw out of a holster you know what I’m talking about. The only way I seem to be able to replace them is to steal a screw from another holster. Somehow the holster companies all use the same size screws on everything but I can’t find them locally to get one replaced. So, I love the fact that it comes with a bunch of extras.

Clips – I love plastic clips and hate metal ones. These are some of the best I’ve found on any holster. Their shape is one of the things that make them the best. Super slim in width but fat in their thickness. It makes them easier to hide on the belt if you tuck in a shirt around the holster but they are rigid enough so the clips don’t move on my belt. Other clips are longer and allow the gun to move by swinging on the pivots. This one swings enough to give a little when sitting or bending, but keeps the gun there so it doesn’t feel like it’s moving on you.

Here are some of the things I wish were better:

Draw Speed – With the holster adjusted all the way down to conceal it better, it’s not the fastest thing in the world. I’m not sure this can be fixed but am always looking for something that is totally concealable and super fast. On every holster I’ve ever had, these are mutually exclusive. The better it hides, the slower the draw. The faster the draw, the less the gun hides. It’s a whining complaint on my part that I can easily live with and do.

Leather/Neoprene Cut – I think Crossbreed perfected it when they called it a combat cut on the leather backer. Alien Gear backers are cut to fit a lot of different guns so the backer doesn’t follow the line of the gun perfectly. So during the draw, I either have to loosen my grip to let a little leather in there or dig between the gun and the holster to get the perfect grip to start. I generally loosen my grip a hair and pull the gun out and let the leather/neoprene slide through. I’m thinking of taking a Dremmel tool to it but there is a stitch that runs around the holster I’m sure has something to do with its design. It’s not there for looks.

Putting It On – Putting on the holster is a little of a chore. I have to take the gun out of the holster and loosen my pants up all the way. I can’t just shove it all in there and then adjust it. The clips I love so much don’t let the holstered gun move once it’s all in there so I have to loosen everything up, take out the gun and then move the holster back and forth to adjust it. It’s not that bad, just takes me an extra minute or two to put on compared to other holsters. But I’ve been getting spoiled wearing a paddle holster that I just leave the gun in and shove into my belt (but that holster doesn’t conceal at all).

The one truly bad thing about the holster:

Other Clips – I’ve had all their clip systems and the plastic ones are awesome but everything else is no good. Originally I got a holster with metal clips. The metal was sharp and would move around on my belt a little. And then I bent the crap out of one when I went to sit in my friend’s sports car. The metal caught on the seat (luckily through my shirt and didn’t damage his seat) and bent almost 180 degrees as a sat down. I tried bending the clip back, but gave up because it would never be the right shape again. I should send it back to them to see if they will really replace it, but haven’t yet. But it looks like on their web site they have gone to all plastic clips.

The loops they sell seemed like a good idea until I wore them for a while. The plastic spacer seems to dig into my side and scratched me. Really uncomfortable and I only wore the holster for a couple of hours like that before taking it off and switching back to the metal clips (before I bent one).

Conclusion:

The company is new and I hope they stick around. They really have something different and special in their Neoprene holsters and I’ll keep doing business with them. Their web site is one of the best out there with pictures and illustrations of what their product is and does. With most holster companies, you are lucky if there is more than one picture of the thing on there.

I’m going to try their Triple Guarantee (30 day trial, Free Shell Trades, and Forever Warranty) and send back that metal clip to see what happens. I’ll keep you up dated. But their warranty and guarantee seem to be better than anyone else in the business. Who ever thought of giving you a new holster if you buy a different carry gun? I wonder if anyone takes them up on the offer? I wouldn’t, I would just buy another of their holsters for my new gun. But it sounds really cool.

On top of that, everything is made in America. I know other countries make great stuff, too, and I buy things made overseas all the time, but it’s nice to have something made in the USA just because.

My buying experience was good with them. Their web site is easy and their prices are really good. The only thing I caution you about (because I did it) is don’t order everything with the holster. My $30 holster ended up being almost $60 after all the extra stuff I ordered. Still a good price for a holster, but it’s easy to get carried away. All you need at first is the holster. Go buy one and try it.

Stay Safe,

Ben

P.S. If you know anyone that works at Alien Gear I’m trying to find out more about their product, can you help me with an introduction? Thanks.

UPDATE:

Alien Gear contacted me and wanted to share a couple things.  First is a great video about how to draw a gun with your shirt tucked into their holster.  Practice and make sure the technique works for you.  I don’t wear mine tucked in but have been working on it just to learn the technique.