A charging grizzly can cover ground very quickly. Pulling your handgun from a side holster has potential for many issues. You really don’t want to combine the two. A chest holster allows you to keep eyes on the target and draw your handgun with ease. The Alien Gear Cloak Chest Holster was brought to my attention as a possible addition to my hunts. For this review, I chose the holster fitting the Glock 20SF.
The Cloak Chest Holster is less bulky that others I have tried and it is quite comfortable to wear due to the soft padding at the rear. I was able to easily adjust it to my chest for a comfortable fit and for easy access to my handgun. It fits snug which allows me to wear my binocular harness over the top with no impediment.
One of the great features of the Cloak Holster is that removing four screws and having an Alien Gear front plate fitting a different handgun, you can use this holster with multiple handguns. This nice feature gave me the opportunity to let my good friend and fellow hunter, Ramon, borrow it last year on a hunt in bear country.
Ramon had an Alien Gear side holster for his handgun. We were able to swap out the outer shell so he could use the Cloak. Here’s what he had to say – ‘I used the [Alien Gear Cloak] chest holster on my 2019 elk hunt in Idaho. The holster hardware was adaptable so I could interchange an Alien Gear OWB [shell] onto it for my 10mm Springfield XDM. The holster was easy to put on and take off each day and provided a high level of comport with the soft backing that meets your chest when worn. Overall, I was pretty pleased with the form, fit and function of the holster and would recommend anyone in the market for a chest holder to consider this brand/model. ‘
For my summer scouting trips, I carried my Glock 20SF in the Cloak. It is super comfortable while hiking long distances. I did find the shell wasn’t molded perfectly. When I placed my handgun inside the holster, there was some obvious space around the trigger guard. I found that I had to adjust my handgun, almost shift it outward, in order to get it to lock into place. This happened when it is on my person or by itself. I contacted Alien Gear to see what the issue might be. The answer was very simple and made sense. ‘I was able to talk to our R&D team. The G20SF holster is made off of the G20, so it might be a little smaller due to the slim frame.’ With a minor outward adjustment or little pressure, I get my Glock 20SF to fit snug. Beyond that minor hitch, the holster works great!
The best feature of the Cloak Holster is ease of drawing your firearm. At the range, I opted to run some tests with some targets to simulate a charging bear. While it is not a high-intensity situation, I was merely seeing if I could draw the gun quickly and aim in a smooth, effective motion and fire the handgun. I found it far easier to draw from the Cloak holster than from a belt holster. In a life or death situation, I would opt to carry my handgun on my chest vs. on my side. On my chest there was nothing in the way of me drawing the handgun. The Cloak allowed me to draw with ease.
The Alien Gear Cloak Chest Holster retails for $89.88 which is reasonable when you compare it to others out there that are nearly double the price. Plus, there are the hidden benefits if you have more than one handgun and more than one Alien Gear holster. Swapping out the shells to allow more chest carries is well thought out. For the comfort, price and ease of use in the field I would recommend this holster to anyone needing to carry a handgun in the outdoors.
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