REVIEW: Tardigrade Tactical Higgs-Boson Weight Vest

No danger to life in the box. Plate carrier is therefore not necessary equipment - unless you want to train heavily. Especially CrossFitters cannot avoid the correct and full load in a Hero WOD. Here it is: the Tardigrade Tactical Higgs-Boson Weight Vest comes to us from Denmark. And pushes us to our limits...

From the outside, it looks like a classic slick with a lot of Velcro. We now know that CrossFit trainers also like patches. The plate carrier here is in Coyote color. For those with different tastes: the Higgs Plate Carrier is also available in Black, Gray, and Multicam.

"Higgs" is not a sign of hiccups that you would get when you put on the good part, but has a special meaning. Our friends at Tardigrade Tactical are particularly creative with names and demand a high level of general knowledge from their customers. Professor Higgs invented the Higgs field for physics, particles that reside in this field acquire mass. And in this field, the boson, the elementary particle, acts on mass work, coupling the element and somehow adding more mass. All very complicated: HERE describes the beneficial effects of the original Higgs-Boson in more detail.

If you're looking for the mysterious boson, here's a visually simple answer. The Higgs Carrier opens at the bottom with Velcro, we see a plate and a foam element that is precisely cut and pads the plate against the body. For your comfortable sacks...

This is the much sung about boson, the Danish one. Well, well, we imagined it smaller. A solid plate with triangular holes, so you don't confuse it with a ballistic plate. It has no protective function, but it's supposed to make your life harder and ultimately help you gain more mass. As a promise, that looks promising...

The secret of the Danish training plate lies in its rather elaborate shaping. Other sports plates that we have introduced use straight or slightly curved plates. The boson here has the shape of a Swimmer Cut SAPI plate and is therefore ergonomically shaped. Seen from the side...

...and then also the view from below. This looks really impressive. And not just because of its steel thickness, but because of its comfortable-to-wear shape. To be honest: it doesn't get any better.

The top of the plate makes it look quite airy and light. But it's a real heavyweight. The boson plate weighs 4.25 kilos each. Always remember: one Higgs takes two Bosons.

Here we simply document the small print. Also note: if you use the plate for ballistic protection, you have a good chance of winning the Darwin Award. Save yourself that. But there is nothing good unless you do it: Higgs is loaded with Bosons. Then we go to training. The carrier on the sporty man. The sight is classic, looks like a real plate carrier. Can also be used with real ballistic plates if necessary.

Here again for comparison: the man, the plate. The shape makes the difference.

The test subject recognizes it immediately. The Boson Swimmer Cut plates are narrower at the top than all others. "Swimmer" does indeed come from "swimming" and refers to the greater range of motion with specially cut protective plates. Swimmer Cut plates are used by the Navy SEALs, the maritime Special Forces of the USA.

View from the back, also a great fit here. The Boson plate in the Higgs Carrier is clearly visible. Be careful