I'm touching on probably the most overlooked piece of equipment, at least in airsoft, footwear.
Figure a good topic would be where everyone can add what they use and their experiences.
The standard and most popular practice seems to be going out and purchasing a pair of new or old military issue boots.
Even worse is tennis shoes. But I've seen both at several games, of course the latter is very rare at the bigger games.
When I first started acquiring gear I spent probably $20 on a set of these.
Standard desert boots. they come in other colors as well.


After playing in them and realizing what a POS they are I did the typical doctoring; insoles, socks, moleskin.
Of course this was like polishing a turd so I did a little research on good kicks.
There's plenty of great boots out there and many can be used not just for airsoft but for hiking and everyday use.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a tight ass most of the time and I used my old boots close to 2 years.
But I'll spend the money where it matters and I got sick and tired of aching feet, knees and lower back.
All these issues I concluded to my footwear and I was right.
I eventually decided I wanted a set of Asolo FSN 95's. They had good reviews, I know guys that use them and I liked the way they looked. A bonus was that they were available locally, probably the BEST reason now that I look back.
I saved up some coin and finally went to buy them. REI carries them locally. A very important note, I wore the socks I would use with them. They had my size, laced them up and BUZZZZZZ, they didn't fit my feet "right". They had a couple pinch points. Oh well, every pair of feet are different. Now one of the guys I shoot plastic with recommended some different boots not but a couple weeks before so I tried a pair of those on. DING DING DING! Winner! I bought these.



Lowa Zephyr Desert Mid's. Probably THE MOST comfortable pair of footwear I have ever worn. I'm talking ALL shoes.
They're super light, supportive and have excellent grip. I highly recommend you try them. Worth every penny.
Now that I know the sizing I plan on getting a pair of the same in high GTX's.
Now that being said, don't get them because someone recommends them or sneaky special forces guys use them. Here's some important points on boot shopping.
1. Try them on. Don't guess on the internet. Many of these GOOD boots are made in Europe and the sizing is different.
2. Walk around in them for at least 10 minutes. The sales people will let you. Any fitment problems besides hardcore use should present themselves.
3. Wear the socks you are planning on using with them. I took a pair of desert socks which also let me plan for thicker ones when it's colder.

I'd like to hear what you guys are using, it's not about "Gucci" boots, unless of course that's what works for you.
Plus you can be tacticool and I'm a geardo.
For me, $200 for footwear is worth it in comfort, durability and looks. Some guys love issue boots.
Even some of the cross trainers are great. And no this is not a "anti tennis shoe" debate so let's not go that route.
Let's see what you got. Post up!

Recently I've been looking to get a pair of Peltor's Comtac II's. After looking at the usual channels e.g. Ebay, Tactical
equipment vendors and I even saw a set on craigslist I came to the conclusion that even a decent used set with the needed
PTT would set me back a pretty penny. The fact that I was going to use these strictly for airsoft weighed in heavily and I stuck
with the Bowman replica's I've been using for a while now. Well eventually the PTT on those gave up the ghost and I was looking
for a replacement and I came across these on Ebairsoft. Well they weren't too expensive and most of the stuff I get from them
has worked out OK so I thought what the heck…

They arrived a week and a half later, not too bad for shipping from HK. I know they're not in HK "We locate in mainland China" but
Guangzhou is less than 100 miles away so…

First impression.
They arrived in a bubblewrap shipping envelope along with the two other items I ordered.
They came in a plastic ziplock style back inside of the same kind of box that just about everything in
China comes in. The box was a little rough but hey, they all are. Otherwise they arrived undamaged.



I opened the box and inside was also a manual that is printed on what resembles recycled Chinese toilet paper.
I was actually surprised to see a manual even included and the "Engrish" is actually not too bad.
The headset itself looked very impressive! Now I've seen a lot of bad Chinese knock offs but these looked
really good out of the box. After unfolding them they seemed sturdy and are built pretty well.



Testing.
I installed 2 AA batteries, the compartments have a "weatherpack" style seal that holds them in.
I pressed both buttons to power up and it made an auditory buzz that they were on. They buzz at each sound level adjustment
which only has four levels. The "Buzz" is fairly loud as well. They have plenty of sound and I have them set at "2" out of 4.
The cut out feature works as well though I wouldn't trust my hearing to a gunshot. I plugged them into the PTT (which is separate)
and into my Icom and tested them away from the other radio. The broadcast came in clear, loud and static free on both ends of the
transmission. Wow, another plus. I'm pretty happy at this point.
Comfort wise they feel pretty good but until I spend some time with them on I'll hold my opinion on that. All the adjustment points are
really tight and don't slip one bit. The ear pads are pretty cushy and feel good too.
 Unsure if they would fit under a MICH I tested that as well. Now mine's a 2001 so unsure
about the other cut's but I imagine it should fit.


Now you have to buy a PTT separately and I purchased the TCI tactical style. I've had bad luck with the microswitches in the TCI U-94 style.
It's built good as well and looks a lot better then my previous ones from EBairsoft. The button has a nice positive feel when engaged and has good contact.
This came in some decent looking retail packaging too.


Now those of you familiar with the hooked clip on the back of the other PTT's (the one that won't let go of MOLLE)  will like this clip much better.
The hook and loop between the clip and the PTT has a strong grip too.


The last thing I purchased was Elements replica of the H-250 hand set.
Same retail packaging.


Nothing very special but it works really good, looks the part, is cheap and it's
built out of thick plastic.



After fielding and putting some time with them I'm still very impressed with them. Also no detrimental failures have come up as well. The cut off feature and headset function has worked flawlessly. You can really crank the ambient sound up and get "robo-hearing". It's also directional so your auditory perception is not thrown off. One drawback is that standard alkaline batteries don't last very long and if you're in the field without spares you're basically deaf with them one. However reception and transmission is powered by your radio so that still works. I've have worn these up to about 5 hours straight and not once did they become uncomfortable and not hotspots or pinch points came up.
I am extremely pleased with my purchase and if you're in the market for this kind of headset I would recommend them 100%.

For you OP Lionclaws vets, thought this was kind of interesting.
Off the l=Lionclaws site...

Troops,

LC IX will be held over the weekend of Apr. 9, 10, 11, 2010 in SoCal.

Unlike previous LC experience, this is a MOUT environment with barracks, jails, cafeteria, neighborhood streets, burnt cars, in addition to a maximum security prison structure for night op.

For obvious reasons, numbers will be limited (even less than IRENE). This is an unique ONE-OF type AO as it is being SOLD to developers as we speak (hence moving LC up from May to Apr. )

As we know, real estate deals could potentially fall through, but if we wait till May and the deal goes through, we would have missed an awesome opportunity. We were given the Apr. 9~11, opportunity so we took it.

More details to come........

Now being that Whittier is pretty small and the amount of maximum security type facilities would be pretty
sparce I think I know just were this might be held. Doesn't take much research and I'm not going to speculate. Quite different from the past AO's but pretty interesting none the less. This would be a one time only AO as well. Only bad thing I would imagine would be no camping and that's one of the best parts of the past events.

I recently picked up a WA P14-45 and need to pickup some part for it. However I've discovered this being my first Western that
part are hard to find besides over seas suppliers. Now I have no problems ordering from HK but would like to find someone
closer that is easier to communicate with. I'm interested in the Shooters Design loading nozzle and more importantly the
spring for it, which Evike sells on there website but didn't ship the correct one. Hand written bag, no SD label, but that's
a whole different story. Besides what pops up with the usual forum or website search does anyone know a good vendor?
I love the fit and finish of the pistol but damn parts are hard to find.