Let's be honest: some of us who wear a gun everyday think that IRONING our 511 Tactical pants is the height of "dressing up". Sure, I know it's not, but it's comfortable and lets me carry all my kit and if there's a crease then anyone who doesn't like them should cut me some slack, right? Recently though, I was attending an event that was a little more formal than I'd normally enjoy and I HAD to wear dress pants. I was stuck. Enter the 511 Tactical Covert pants - which proved themselves both subjectively and objectively in a single afternoon.
Now, pardon the potentially unprofessional (depending on your outlook and mindset) photo of my crotch, but in the top photo you can see that these pants don't look "tactical". Although they obviously are in need of being ironed (hey, it was an early morning photo shoot) what matters is that they DON'T look like your typical 511 Tactical "Royal Robbins" pants. What you can't see is just as important.
Carried in the hidden pockets that are concealed within the "normal" pockets were a folding knife and two magazines. In this case the knife is an Emerson SpecWar model and the magazines are 8-shot single stack mags for a Beretta Model 84 .380ACP pistol.
The pockets that hold such gear are set at an angle INSIDE the regular pockets and have a thin zipped closure. In the bottom picture here I'm holding back both the normal pocket and the section of the hidden pocket that would zip closed. It would look pretty silly - and would entirely defeat the purpose of concealing your kit - if the ends of the magazines stuck out or the knife clip was showing. When you put the mags or knife into the hidden pockets and zip the interior closure shut it's very easy to miss. The pockets are set at an angle so that when you sit down they don't dig sideways into anything you'd rather not have dug into.
Now, we have a challenge that the pants can meet, but I want to identify it. Obviously you're going to want to carry more than just two mags and a knife. What about a flashlight? Small canister of OC? What if you need to conceal a digital camera or your cell phone? That's okay... 511 Tactical built in a solution for this too.
This SureFire 6p LED flashlight rode in my right side thigh slash pocket throughout the day when I attended that semi-formal event. The kicker is that the flashlight was in that pocket when I went through the metal detector to enter the building. The guard at the door had me remove my jacket and looked at me fairly critically. He didn't pat me down or he'd have found the light. He didn't have a metal detector or he'd have been asking me about the metal in my thigh. As it was he checked my jacket, looked at me pretty close, and then told me I could go on in. Had I known it would be that easy I wouldn't have GIVEN UP my folding knife that was in the other slash pocket. (To be perfectly honest, I FORGOT about the light and realized after the fact that I'd walked in with it).
So, objectively these pants worked as they are designed to do.
- The don't LOOK tactical.
- They allow carrying "tactical" gear
- They conceal said gear in ways that LOOK normal
Subjectively they also worked well. I wore them for the entire day which included:
- An hour and a half drive to the subway station
- A forty minute subway ride into DC
- The approximately four hour long event
- The same travel times back out of the city
That's a nine+ hour day in them and I was never uncomfortable. Since 511 Tactical wanted to avoid the "bunched up" look that is common on their tactical pants (to allow waist expansion and comfort), they changed the design for the Covert Pants. Instead of that bunched up look there is a sliding panel on both sides of the wasteband that maintains a neat appearance without sacrificing comfort. The front has a two-button closure - one inside and one outside. All of the zippers (the usuall one plus the one in either pocket plus the one on each thigh) all worked smoothly. The pulls on the hidden pocket and thigh pocket zippers are small and color matched to the fabric around them. They didn't stand out at all.
Now admittedly, having to unzip zippers to get to your kit may slow you down, but realistically speaking, How much? If you were wearing "tactical" pants you'd have to pull a flap or two anyway. I don't think the Covert Pants design will slow you down in any appreciative manner. At the same time, they look much better when you're attending a semi-formal event as part of your work - or while protecting your principal.
So, in my book, they did well. They were comfortable; performed as advertised; and offered a neat appearance (they were ironed that day). The 511 Tactical website has them listed for $49.99 per pair. Available currently only in khaki (which works well for most of us. Goes well with light blue, white and navy blue). A quick Google search for "511 tactical covert pants" found me several sites offering them for less than $40 per pair.
Check them out. I think you'll like them!
Stay Safe!
