Slim ankle IFAK carrier.

MrMurphy

Regular Member
I carry a Triage, so i skip both. My ryker stayed firmly in place during a 5 minute long 6v1 pig pile the other night.
 

tmoore

Member
I recently picked up a ryker aifak and it has been an awesome piece of kit so far. i've been hiking through the snow in the woods with it for multiple miles. the other week was my daughters 2nd birthday, we went to an indoor play place and I went pretty damn hard in the gerbil tunnels and bouncy houses. ive been outside building snow forts and in my office at work with it on. at no point has it gotten in the way or even needed to be adjusted. the tie downs give me peace of mind as far as retention of my gear goes. for me it disappears after i put it around my ankle and i think no more about it until take it off at the end of the day, the weight hasn't been an issue for me although i carry relatively light in that department. CAT tourniquet, gloves, shears, one ABD pad, one flat compressed gauze, one sharpie.
 

MojoNixon

Established
Is there a video of your product. I have some concerns.
I do as well, though, without a sample in my hands or around my ankle to T&E I’m not sure I could articulate what they are in any specific manner.
I do like the design of their rescue hook, however, and the price point is outstanding.
 

Slim

Jerk Ingredients Off
Staff member
Moderator
Swap the shears for a Benchmade 7 Rescue Hook and you'll have an even more streamlined Ryker AFAK
I assume you're ditching the nylon sheath for the rescue hook?
I put mine in the same velcro retention strap portion as where the shears go.

Don't recall where Jim specifically places his but know he's posted pictures on his LLC page and possible the P&S medical page.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

David Mayeur

Regular Member
What do you want to see? I can try and get some video for you to address what ever it is you would specifically like to see. There are a couple of videos on YouTube from a review done by spotterup but they aren’t super in depth.

Specifically the pockets themselves. Are they pockets or sleeves? How are contents held in? Are they held in by elastic tension only or is it a pocket where the items cannot fall out?
 

David Mayeur

Regular Member
They are sleeves. The LVAK comes with self adhesive velcro coins that attach to the packaging of the medical items you would like to carry. In the example pictures on the website the velcoins are attached to the Combat Gauze, compressed gauze and the chest seals. The TQ and decomp needle, or marker, are held in by tension. On my personal kit the Talon Rescue Hook is held in by tension in the same cell as the combat gauze. The entire body of the LVAK is an elastic loop material and the Velcro hook coins are effective at retaining the items in their cells. Also once you put on the LVAK the tension aids in retaining the items. The question always comes up about heat loosening the adhesive but in over 5 years of wearing an LVAK almost daily I have yet to have that happen, nor have I had a customer tell me it has happened to them. We have govy customers over seas in some fairly hot climates and I have yet to hear it being an issue from them. The original prototype had pockets and not sleeves. When the prototype was worn it could cause items to work out of their pocket because it created a funnel facing up with tension on the item causing the item to work its way up and out of the pocket. I added adhesive Velcro to address that issue and it worked. So the next prototype I simply sewed sleeves so I could access the item no matter how the LVAK was oriented, and it didn’t reduce the elasticity of the LVAK. It made wearing the LVAK more comfortable and allowed the LVAK to maintain shape longer since the entire band was being stretched instead of just the top. I hope this answered some of your questions and I’m sure you still have concerns. If you still have questions don’t hesitate to reach out. There are also a couple of reviews up on the product page, and on Facebook. In the end my view is totally biased but the reviews are honest feed back from customers. Sorry for posting a book but I wanted to address the issues brought up, tertiary issues that are related and reasoning for the design.

I appreciate the lengthy reply. I still have my concerns, but I have not put hands on the product, so they may be unwarranted. If you can, please provide the links to the videos. I'm genuinely interested.
 

Ben H

Member
The pouches stretch to accommodate. Bungee pull tabs if you want to use them. Have a CAT, gauze, pressure dressing, chest seal and set of gloves pictured in mine. Room for a little more. 8F2C7EAB-02D2-453F-9342-8F77DB1471F3.jpeg
 

MojoNixon

Established
I wish I could say we manufacture the rescue hook, but we don’t. It was designed specifically to fit in the LVAK but it isn’t our product, if that makes any sense. Obviously when it comes to the LVAK I am biased, but I’d be happy to address any concerns you might have. If you have any questions feel free to message me. That offer is open for anyone.
I’m very satisfied with my SFD Responder and will not be changing it anytime soon. Your response did alleviate some of my concerns. How do the Velcro tabs hold up to sub freezing weather. I’ve been at 10 deg F the past few mornings with daytime highs right around 32 F. So that is a concern for me.
I did purchase a Talon Rescue Hook yesterday.
 

krax

Regular Member
I've got both a Ryker and an Aptus LVAK. Both are good products, and though they mostly accomplish the same thing, they're very different.
I've also had a Ricci at one point. It sort of sucked.

The Ryker is probably the best ankle kit of its type due to it's capacity and construction. I like to use mine as both an ankle IFAK and an IFAK insert in bags. I like the pocket layout because I can shift it around my leg to find the sweet spot where it conceals the best.

I've got significantly less time using the Aptus LVAK, but it's pretty good. It's also got good capacity since the sleeves are pretty wide. I don't like using it as an insert in a bag because the contents are more exposed and therefore more prone to catch on things or come into contact with a sharp corner and also because the contents are only held by velcro when you're not wearing the kit. A big advantage of the Aptus platform though is the generic layout. I could see using one to carry a variety of other-than-medical items using bits of velcro or BFG Dapper pouches. Actual loadout would vary by profession, but it could be a good option for anyone trying to carry all the things in street clothes. Worth the $30 price of admission for sure.
 

tuckerj

Newbie
Sorry I'm so late to the discussion.
Between February and July of 2018 I tried two rigs made by Wilderness Tactical, one by Tuff, the Ryker, and finally settled on the LVAK. To this day it remains my favorite. H&H gauze and combat gauze ride on the front, a flashlight between them, a SOFTT-W on the side, and Hyfin compacts in the back, used as a pocket for an NPA, Talon rescue hook, gloves and alcohol wipes.
Switching between the 5 kits i noticed that space is more efficiently used vertically than horizontally as in the Ryker - the length of the chest seals ends up being that much more girth; and the less rigid, shorter kit (LVAK's 3" vs the standard 5" height) is more comfortable as it conforms to the body better, like spandex.
After some pilling of the extremely soft loop the LVAK is made from i wrapped some Velcro laptop cable organizers on the area that sticks to the hook end every day (3rd pic).
To secure interventions in the sleeves i prefer strips of Velcro stuck to the top inside of the sleeve, go underneath (and double as the bottom of the pocket) and up the back of the intervention, and secure to the front of the sleeve acting as pull tabs that lift the interventions up and out too. On the back side of the strip i put the velcoin to keep the height consistent.
Velcro makes the LVAK extremely versatile, as does its design. It's not limited to being specifically an ankle kit. It's also the only kit of the 5 I can comfortably wear on a bare foot.
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As previously mentioned before, Ryker Nylon Gear makes a very slick set up. I’ve had mine for a couple of years and it’s holding up great.
 

LukeNCMX

Member
I've had the Ryker on my ankle over a Danner Acadia boot for about a year of uniformed patrol work. I filled it with an H&H mini compression bandage, two Halo compact Chest seals, and a pack of quick clot. It is comfortable enough that I can barely even feel it and it has not lost any contents while running or fighting. I was running a North American Rescue 4" ETD flat bandage before the H&H. The NAR fit ok but it caused the kit to swell out enough that the ankle cuff of my tapered uniform pants would get caught above the kit, exposing it. Switching to the H&H fixed that issue entirely.
 

JamesH

Amateur
I forgot to take my Ryker AFAK off for a domestic flight recently, got pulled aside had to answer a whole bunch of questions relating to what I was carrying before I remembered I had it on me, it's dangerously comfortable.
 
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