{"id":1141,"date":"2012-04-18T13:38:29","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T18:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/?p=1141"},"modified":"2012-04-18T13:38:29","modified_gmt":"2012-04-18T18:38:29","slug":"review-5-11-covert-khaki-vs-covert-khaki-2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/?p=1141","title":{"rendered":"Review: 5.11 Covert Khaki vs Covert Khaki 2.0"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years ago I bought a couple pair of 5.11 Tactical’s Covert Khakis. I really liked them, to the point where I wore each pair twice a week for almost two years. Just recently I lost a button on one of them, about 5 years after I bought them. Mrs wizardpc kindly repaired that last night.<\/p>\n

So, really durable, then. Virtually no signs of wear.<\/p>\n

My only complaint is that they shrank about a half inch in inseam the first time I ran them through the dryer on high heat. Learned my lesson on that one. So they’ve been a little highwater-ish.<\/p>\n

A couple of years ago, 5.11 discontinued the Covert Khakis<\/a>. By the time I heard about it, my size was sold out everywhere<\/i>. It made me sad. <\/p>\n

When I was writing the post on the Columbia ROC pants<\/a> I discovered that 5.11 had come out with a Covert Khaki 2.0<\/a>\"\". I was thrilled! I ordered a pair a size larger than last time to hopefully prevent the shrinking issue. That ended up being a mistake, for reasons I’ll explain in a minute.<\/p>\n


\nWhen the pants came in, the first thing I noticed was that unlike the originals, v2.0 doesn’t have the zippered pockets inside the front pockets. Those were neat, and had the bonus feature of built-in magazine holders which I admittedly don’t use. The good news is that the pockets they do have are gigantic, just like the old ones. My Glock 23, with taclight, will fit:
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Originals<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Covert Khaki 2.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nYou probably also noticed that the pockets in the originals are made out of 5.11 branded cloth, while the v2.0 uses standard white cloth for the pockets.<\/p>\n

The next thing is that the material is thinner. A lot thinner. The originals are about as thick as canvas. The new ones are more like summer pants. I doubt I would wear them in Tennessee winters, much less New England winters. They probably will be a whole lot more comfortable in the summers, though.
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Originals<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Covert Khaki 2.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nIt’s really hard to capture the difference in pictures, but the old ones are at least twice as thick. This is why it was a mistake for me to buy a size up. The material is completely different and didn’t shrink at all in the wash. So, hemming it is!<\/p>\n

A subtle–but important–missing feature from the 2.0 pants is the gusset. The originals had a gusset, which made the pants a whole lot more comfortable than your average khakis.
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Originals<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Covert Khaki 2.0 - No Gusset!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

At this point, there really isn’t any difference between the Covert Khaki 2.0<\/a>\"\" and, say, regular old Dockers that cost a whole lot less<\/a>\"\".<\/p>\n

But wait! What about the side zippered pocket?
\nThe new pants have a leg up on the originals here. The two hidden side pockets are significantly larger, twice as large I would guess, in the new version. Length wise they are the same, but they are twice as deep.
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Originals, Closed<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Originals, Open<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"\"<\/a>
Covert Khaki 2.0 Open<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

It’s a neat feature. I used to carry an epipen in one, and have occasionally used them to hold a cellphone.<\/p>\n

But guess what? Dockers makes khaki’s with a similar pocket for $20 less.<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

I feel like the old version was just made a whole lot better than these new ones. Add to that the fact that the Dockers mobile khakis<\/a>\"\" are basically the same pants, with one fewer side pocket, for 40% less, and I’m going to have a hard time buying a second pair.<\/p>\n

I’ve heard stories where gun shops stopped carrying 5.11 gear because the quality is starting to take a hit. I can’t say they’re wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years ago I bought a couple pair of 5.11 Tactical’s Covert Khakis. I really liked them, to the point where I wore each pair twice a week for almost two years. Just recently I lost a button on one of them, about 5 years after I bought them. Mrs wizardpc kindly repaired that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}