Haley Strategic D3CRX Chest Rig Long Term Review

We have been using the Haley Strategic D3CRX chest rig since we purchased it November 2017 and it has served us faithfully for almost eight years. It has been our go-to chest rig for milsim and range days and has accumulated dirt and duff from all of our adventures. Having put it through the wringer we feel that we are well positioned to offer a detailed review about its design philosophy, features and limitations.

Features

The D3CRX was designed to carry essential equipment for patrol and reconnaissance applications. The chest rig also is designed to be unobstructive in vehicles or confined spaces. It does that very well namely due to the slick backing.

Notably, the features of the chest rig but are not limited to:

Four primary magazine pouches with magazine insert compatibility.
Four center mounted “utility” pouches for things like multitools, pistol magazines and 40mm grenades.
Two side administrative pouches for things like rangefinders and compasses.
X harness with relevant keepers and limited MOLLE for cable management.
Velcro back panel for expansion and other accessory support.

We will discuss each of these areas in turn and provide our observations.

(@CanadianAirsoftLeague‘s Dave with D3CRX attached to plate carrier – Photo Credit: Image 1 and 2 @aureusmedialab)

The Primary Magazine Pouches

The primary magazine pouches are designed to accommodate STANAG, 5.45×39, and similar platforms. The magazine pouches come with removable shock cord and are designed to work with Haley Strategic MP-2 inserts for improved indexing and quicker magazine administration. Initially, we made our own kydex inserts which functioned well, but we have since moved onto using proper inserts. This chest rig can carry four primary magazines. The rig is not designed to carry a conventional GWOT combat load of 6-7 magazines all by itself, as the designer had intended it to be used with alongside other gear like a battle belt and assault pack.

For our applications and for reasons that we will get into later, we typically place three magazines in these pouches and leave one for a small radio similar in size to a UV5R or we add a radio pouch on using an expander.

The Utility Pouches

The utility pouches are positioned at the front of the chest rig and feature elastics sides to form fit various small items like pistol magazines, multitools and 40mm grenades. The location and accessibility of these pouches provide ready access to these critical items.

For our applications, we generally keep the shock cords on these utility pouches as we keep items in there that could easily be lost without it. For reference, we usually keep a multitool with built in pruning shears and tourniquets in these pouches. Milsims are rarely so dramatic for us that we would need a sidearm, but in the limited instances that we do bring one, we typically would bring one or two pistol magazines on the offhand side. These pouches are convenient enough that we do not feel too bothered to reach for our multitool and put it away.

The Administrative Pouches

The two administrative pouches are roughly the size of three decks of cards stacked on top of each other. The pouches are secured by velcro. The inside of the pouch features drain holes and tie off loops. It could fit some pyrotechnics that are smaller than fist size. There is also velco patch panels on the front of the flap for identification purposes.

The administrative pouches are too small to be general purpose pouches and we wish they were slightly larger and taller so they could accommodate a water bottle or a small radio. We usually keep a compass and a ranger finder in each tethered to tie down loops included. The tie down loops are a great design item as they will help dummy cord kit.

We feel that it is important to note that despite our hard use, we have not had any equipment fall out of these pouches despite crawling and bush whacking regularly.

The X Harness

The X Harness is comfortable and form fitting. We have not experienced discomfort from the straps rubbing on our neck or collar even when wearing just a t-shirt. The straps are low profile and are not a hinderance when wearing a small or large ruck. This is not a novel design by any means as many chest rigs have low profile straps, but this makes the D3CRX our favourite rig when we are wearing a rucksack. The X Harness works well and does not interfere with any modern ghillies we have worn but not great for crawling around though.

(Author at an airsoft event using the D3CRX and homemade ghillie. The small utility pouches are great for placing foldable gardening shears to veg up ghillie suits quickly – Photo Credit: IYKYK)

The harness also has MOLLE straps where it connects to the placard. These MOLLE straps are convenient for managing radio antennas and cables. The placement of the MOLLE on the straps close to the left and right primary magazine pouch makes the right primary magazine pouch a logical location for a small radio (right handed shooter). This is important to us as there is no other place to put a radio on this rig in its stock configuration.

Velcro Back Panel

The D3CRX chest rig has a back panel velcro to allow for expansion. In our opinion, this is one of the best forward thinking design features in this chest rig. Be mindful that this rig has been in existence for close to 10 years now. Over the years we have avoided retiring this rig because we were able to expand its capabilities by adding/removing the following features:

Danglers/Sacks from most brands can fit the footprint of the velcro backing. This allows the chest rig to have a general purpose pouch dangling at the bottom. Typically we have some hand sanitizer, elastic bands for securing vegetation, snacks, and bandages.
Attaching to a plate carrier, may need to purchase clips to secure to plate carrier MOLLE. Velocity system offers a great one.
Various soft elastic magazine pouches with velcro can be sandwiched between the velcro backing and the cover. This allows the chest rig to be “plus’ed up” for primary magazines.
Small holsters for pistols can be outfitted with velcro tape to allow for a chest mounted sidearm behind the primary magazines. We have personally used this for some airsoft events featuring vehicles (OP Green Mile).
Side saddles for attaching primary magazine sized MOLLE pouches. These were released well after the D3CRX was released and sometime after others in the industry started expanding chest rigs by width. This allowed us to add pouches for either water bottles, extra magazines, or radios.
Using the chest rig as a placard for a plate carrier. We have used this with an LBT 6094 and a Ferro Concepts FCPC V2 without issues.
The velcro and the backing allows for a pocket to tuck in wires and cables for management.

(Our D3CRX with Wise Men Company Secondaries Expansion Wings attaching a radio pouch and extra magazine pouch. Also attached is a dangler. Extra magazine inserts between placard and panel – Photo Credit: The Kit Kobold)

(D3CRX back panel with Wise Men Company Secondaries Expansion Wings, Extra Magazine Inserts Omitted – Photo Credit: The Kit Kobold)

Other accessories

The D3CRX chest rig is also designed to function with one of their flat packs. I do not have one as I generally prefer to have my back slick to accommodate larger sustainment options. It is nice to know that this is an option.

Limitations & Philosophy of Use

In its stock configuration, this chest rig has some limitations for all purpose use. Although their website does not mention it, we remember hearing about the designer’s philosophy of use being that a radio and water should/could be on first line gear (like a belt). As a result, the rig does not inherently accommodate these items, which required us to modify our loadout accordingly.

We think the lack of areas for water and a radio was meant to be a feature to keep the chest rig low profile but we also think it is a design compromise. Kind of like how some product’s lack of a feature, can be a feature. We are not so sure about that in all instances, but we will give it to Mr. Haley and his design team the forward thinking of the expandability of this rig gives us options to address our needs. Having this be optional also allows it to have a lower profile when needed.

The forward thinking of the velcro backing and its footprint allowing for expansion allowed us to address the limitations we had by having the option to have a water bottle/extra magazines/radio in a side saddle configuration. Not all chest rigs have such a generous and compatible velcro footprint. Notably, chest rigs like the UW rig, only feature a small square of velcro and other smaller footprints that would not be able to accommodate a wide range of side saddles. Although to be fair, the UW Rig already holds a lot more in its stock configuration.

(Mayflower UW Chest Rig back panel, note the placement of the velcro may not fit expanders and danglers from a wide range of brands – Photo Credit Varusteleka)

(D3CRX velcro panel, note the cable management that has been tucked inside to avoid snag hazards. See also forest duff and dirt that always follows us home – Photo Credit: The Kit Kobold)

It is important to note that we were not able to find the side saddles from Haley Strategic locally and were able to make the “Secondaries Expansion Wings” from Wise Men Company work on our D3CRX. This significantly improved our capacity allowing us to choose if we wanted to plus up on magazines, have room for radio and/or water.

Instances where we would use the D3CRX:

When we are wearing a long or large rucksack as the chest rig leaves the back open.
When we need something light with quick, intuitive magazine management.
When we are operating with at least a day pack to have sufficient water.
When we need something we have lots of use with good muscle memory.

Instances where we would not use the D3CRX:

When sustainment is a priority, and especially in humid environments. In those instances a patrol belt kit would be preferable for us.
When it is likely we have to constantly add and remove layers. The chest rig is easy to don and take off, but there are quicker options like a patrol belt kit.
When we will be spending a lot of time in the prone position as having the front slick would be more comfortable for prolonged periods.

(@CanadianAirsoftLeague‘s Dave with D3CRX attached to plate carrier – Photo Credit: @baconfotography)

Conclusion

Regardless of when we use and do not use this chest rig, this is our most used chest rig over the years and we do not feel like it is anywhere close to retirement. We expect it to continue to serve in our loadouts and come with us on many more adventures until we find something that makes us make the leap over.

It is still for sale on Amazon. As an Amazon Affiliate, we earn for qualifying purchases.

You can also find it for sale at DS Tactical.