Feeling overheated from your body armor? Here’s a solution

Cops have had soft body armor for over 40 years, and it has saved thousands of lives.

Perhaps more cops would be alive today had they worn the body armor that was available to them, but they left it in their locker because wearing it made them too hot.

Uniform and equipment designers have been trying to solve the overheating problem with body armor for as long as there has been body armor. Undershirts composed of thick fishnet material just accumulated moisture, as did other undershirts with fabric tubes sewn on, both in an attempt to provide more air circulation between the vest and the wearer.

There are products on the market that can help, including the recently released TacVent. The American-made technology helps cops stay cool when wearing body armor.

The Search for a Solution
The TacVent is the invention of Jeff Shelton, a police officer and SWAT team member in Southern California. By his own admission, Jeff was one of those cops who frequently left his vest in his locker.

“I didn’t wear my vest most of the time because of the heat,” Shelton said. “Wearing body armor in that part of the world is particularly challenging, as it’s warm most of the year-round.”

When his SWAT team had a callout that involved a five-hour search for a shooting suspect, Shelton brought out the armor and was reminded why he didn’t usually wear it.

“Our SWAT team trained with full gear, as most did, but our exercises were usually 10-15 minutes long,” he said. “After five hours of a real deployment, I was overheated and dehydrated under all the gear.”

He began thinking of how to solve the problem.

How It Works
The TacVent is a corrugated panel that is perforated with vent holes, made of an injection-molded thermal plastic elastomer. The panel goes between the body armor carrier and an undershirt, which creates air channels between the armor carrier and the wearer’s body for ventilation and evaporation of sweat.

Real-world testing demonstrates that the TacVent can lower the temperature under the body armor by 7.2 to 14.6 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the company.

The panel can be trimmed to fit the wearer’s armor carrier with a knife or a pair of scissors. It will stay in place from the pressure of the armor carrier against the body, but users can also secure it with small plastic zip-ties.

Most purchasers buy only one panel for the front of their vest, but the panel also can be worn on the back.

Affordable and Easy to Maintain
Shelton cautions that a uniform shirt that is tightly fitted might not readily accommodate the additional bulk. Wearing one panel will increase chest circumference by about one-half-inch, with another half-inch added for a back panel.

The only maintenance required is an occasional wipe-down.

Ballistic testing with and without the TacVent shows that the panel adds slightly more protection to the body armor. Bullets fired into a vest mated with the TacVent and placed over a clay backing tore the carrier fabric and penetrated into the clay less than without the product.

TacVent panels cost $34.99. If two or more are ordered at one time, the price drops to $29.99 each. There is a 100 percent money back guarantee, no questions asked, on every sale.