Where do you buy your equipment?

[KnuckleHead08]

I am going to be going through the 40-hour Prebasic Course in a few weeks and need to purchase my equipment. I am wondering if there are places to purchase it around the Muncie area or North Indy? Places that sale used equipment would be great as well.

I found some good prices on duty belts on ebay, all items on belt for $29 + shipping. I am wondering if local shops can compete with this price? Not sure what to look for in boots except comfortability. Any particular brand I should look into?

Price wise, after going through Galls website, I would be spending about $240 for the belt and belt items, as well as the actual equipment. Does this sound correct?

Any help would be appreciated.

Stay Safe.

[Wiz11]

Anything you find on the web will be cheaper than in stores, period. The in-store prices are crazy but at least you get to see it, touch it, and try it on before you get it. Just a holster at most supply stores is $150.

Make sure you talk to your department or whoever you work for/are training with and see if they are going to issue anything and if they have certain uniform requirements such as color, cut, or pattern or any items that you must or may not have.

[KnuckleHead08]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I was told they only supply one uniform and we have to buy the rest. $150 for just a holster seems like a lot but from what I have looked at so far it is about right.

I'll keep looking on the web for now and see what I can come up with.

Thanks again for the time.

[55-502]

There are a couple of places here in Indy, the largest being Steven R. Jenkins Co. You can't beat their LE pricing on weapons, but the rest of the equipment is probably a little cheaper at Galls. I have been known to handle something at Jenkins, then buy it from Galls. The big draw for me at Jenkins is their closeout and used equipment room in the back. I've found holsters, duty belts, etc dirt cheap. Might be worth the trip down.

502

[KnuckleHead08]

Thanks for the heads up 502. I have a Galls magazine and it gave me my base price for everything. I'll check out the company you mentioned after graduation. I was told this morning that they are going to provide the training equipment and after graduation they will give us time to purchase our own. So that will give me a few weeks to look around.

[Westville831]

I found some good prices on duty belts on ebay, all items on belt for $29 + shipping.
Stay Safe.

Watch what you buy on ebay...some of the belts aren't very sturdy. I did buy all my duty belt equipment off ebay, but in pieces. I bought all Bianchi Patroltek and think I spent about $130 or so. Hope this helps!

[jerhendr2203]

Try the "Trading Post" threads, always something there

[Dwntwn317]

Price wise, after going through Galls website, I would be spending about $240 for the belt and belt items, as well as the actual equipment. Does this sound correct?

Any help would be appreciated.

Stay Safe.

It depends on _what_ style you _have_ to have. I have some nylon stuff that is sold nationwide, but it is priced pretty decently at Indianapolis Army/Navy located on East 21st St.. It may not be the best, but I saw that The Uniform House carries the same brand, though I price compare.

Other than that, I buy basically everything on-line. I don't get paid enough to really be buying my own stuff. The few things I do buy are for me personally (safety, comfort, etc), and not stuff for the benefit of my department. Since I don't get any sort of reimbursement, price is very important to me.

Currently I can tell you the following:
If you are looking for a police sweater, look for on-line departments that may or may not have a brick and mortar store located in the north. For my nice winter sweater, with a wind breaker, I was looking at $120+ at all the stores I know of in Indy. I found a Buffalo, NY police store that has a nice on-line website that was selling it for $80.00.

Flashlights, handcuffs, etc....just do a Google search. I just got a bunch of holsters from NY Ironworks. They have a store near NYPD headquarters. They had the best prices around, plus since I spent over $100, it was free S&H. Their turnaround time as awesome. I place the order on a weekend if I recall, left a message about great prices and loved the free S&H and a worker actually wrote me back within an hour and had tracking numbers for me. To give you an idea, their holsters were $5 to $10 cheaper than what I would have paid at a store here.

[KnuckleHead08]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I didn't think to look in the Trading Post and will later today.

PCResv - I am hoping the duty belt I looked at was new. It was part of an online store - here is the link to it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/TACTICAL-POLICE-...#ht_4395wt_940

My apologies if the link didn't work. But I understand what you're saying, I will try to go as cheap in cost as I can but have safety in mind as well. Thank you for the heads up.

Dwntwn317 - thank you for the great info. I think I would like to go nylon as well (image on link is what I am wanting). For some reason I like that look better than the basket weave.

I am with you on price being everything. This department only supplies one uniform so I am going to be comparing prices and getting the cheapest (without compromising safety if possible) equipment I can.

I'll check out NY Ironworks and see what I can find. Sounds like they have great customer service, hard to find these days.

Thanks again for the info. Stay safe.

[IPDBrad]

As far as saving money buying on the net, good idea, however, don't skimp either, get good quality gear, even if it means dropping $100 more than something lesser. All gear isn't equal, you will notice the difference immediately and over time you will spend more money on the cheap stuff.

[The Fed]

Try Quartermaster also, they have a lot of good stuff

www.qmuniforms.com

[straycat62]

Don't forget Galls adds tax and their shipping and "Handling" charges are always a little high. That can add $10-15-20 more to an order. Do shop around but buy quality equipment.
Boots- Buy Danner Acaidia. Best boots out there. $200 plus but your feet never hurt at end of shift and I get 2+ years out of a resole. That adds up. Expensive but worth it. Will outlast cheap boots X4.
Good Luck

[straycat62]

Local-Steven R Jenkins. Used to shop U.S. Uniform downtown exclusively but they kinda lost an pre-paid order of mine and haven't made it right.

[stunna1bg]

Well I wouldn't recommend U.S. Uniform anyhow. I price them often and have found that they are anywhere from $10-$50 dollars more for many items.
I have found that 1 way to rip the Police off is to open a uniform shop.