Bristol gear

[HUDSON54]

Hello Everyone. My Dept is looking to purchase new turnout gear. We are looking at the Bristol Line. This gear is the lightest gear I have ever put on. I know Boston Fd uses this gear I was wondering if any other dept also uses it and what they think of this line??? How is the Thermal Protection compared to other lines?? Is this a line your dept with go with again or would you switch to another line??? Right now our dept is using Chieftain,Firdex, and Lion turnout. I want to Thank you all for your info.

[FyredUp]

I have used Brstol for almost 10 years and I love the stuff. It is light. comfortable, and i have not noticed any lacking in thermal protection. We bought Boston Spec gear.

I say buy it.

[Capt387]

I have used Brstol for almost 10 years and I love the stuff. It is light. comfortable, and i have not noticed any lacking in thermal protection. We bought Boston Spec gear.

I say buy it.

What He Said!!!

I live fairly close to the plant. My VFD is going to it. Just ordered the other day

[tms122]

Boston's not buying from Bristol anymore. Lately it's been InnoTex and prior to that Viking.

[WD6956]

It's always been hard to even get any info on it. Google searches turn up little to nothing and it seems as though only a handful of departments even use it. And as it's been mentioned, Boston does not even use it anymore.

[GTRider245]

I have never even heard of Bristol until now...

[WD6956]

I have never even heard of Bristol until now...

It's pretty obscure gear. My philosophy is if it is indeed so fantastic, why does virtually nobody use it? It's not like it's new to the market. It's been around for a LONG time.

I am not knocking it having never used it. But again, if it's such a great product, you would think everyone would be talking about and you would hear about all the major departments wanting to use it. Seems to me some of the busiest departments in the nation would be all over it.

[WD6956]

Here is a link if anyone is interested:

http://www.bristoluniforms.com/index_fire.asp

And the US site. Some of the links on the page just give you contact info despite the title.

http://www.bristolfireapparel.com/index.cfm

[FyredUp]

It's pretty obscure gear. My philosophy is if it is indeed so fantastic, why does virtually nobody use it? It's not like it's new to the market. It's been around for a LONG time.

I am not knocking it having never used it. But again, if it's such a great product, you would think everyone would be talking about and you would hear about all the major departments wanting to use it. Seems to me some of the busiest departments in the nation would be all over it.

YOU have never used it? How can you give any meaningful opinion of it then?

It is great gear very light and comfortable. I absolutely beat the snot out of my gear and it has held up very well. I use it for instructing live fire training as well as for fire response.

Frankly, just because some of the biggest FD's in the country use something doesn't mean it is the best. It may mean nothing more than it is low bid.

[BryanLoader]

The photo of the turnout gear I posted we used in Iran was Bristol. It was very hard used almost daily on a pretty rigorous training program with absolutely no problems. Definitely lighter than a lot of Mfgs. Pants are not much more than lined trousers with reinforced knee. I wasn't even aware they were available in North America.

[BryanLoader]

The photo of the turnout gear I posted we used in Iran was Bristol. It was very hard used almost daily on a pretty rigorous training program with absolutely no problems. Definitely lighter than a lot of Mfgs. Pants are not much more than lined trousers with reinforced knee. I wasn't even aware they were available in North America.

Heres a photo of the Bristol gear we used. I'd definitely recommend it.

[Capt387]

Heres a photo of the Bristol gear we used. I'd definitely recommend it.

try again friend

[BryanLoader]

try again friend

Forum won't let me load photo as I posted it on another thread. If you're interested its on the thread re wool pants

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

Forum won't let me load photo as I posted it on another thread. If you're interested its on the thread re wool pants

Load it in photobucket, then copy and paste here.. that will work.

[ChiefKN]

We trialed the gear over 18 months. It was amazingly light weight. I loved it.

However, we found the stitching started letting go and it wasn't holding up as well as the heavier gear. Go figure.

So, while I personally enjoyed wearing it and found it find for thermal protection, I couldn't endorse it.

.

[FHJ718]

It may mean nothing more than it is low bid.

Or if it's not the low bid, specs are written in which only certain manufacturers (one) can meet the specs.
The Bristol coats that we were issued and which I still wear, are comfortable, fit well and I have never had any problems with it. The pants(which made me feel like we were oompah-loompahs) I never liked but I think they were the bottom of the barrel. Brookline Fire had Bristol and I remember thinking the pants they had "looked" better than the ones we had.
Now, I wear a Bristol coat with Viking Pants.