Imminent Threat Solutions (ITS Tactical) Skeleton Bottle Holder

Saved up and slowly added some coin to my PayPal and recently got two of these ITS Tactical Skeleton Bottle Holders

I wanted to free up some molle/pals columns and rows on my Load Bearing Rig.....my current set up (SAW POUCH) takes up 4 columns. The ITS Skeleton takes up 1 column (although with a GI or Nalgene Tritan GI Canteen it takes up a little more space.



now, not to try and claim i designed this, but a number of years ago i made something similar with 1" wide and various lengths of Velcro tie wraps.....as a quick and dirty bear spray canister holder on my belt

This is a much more highly refined , much stiffer (the vertical piece with the Molle/Pals strap).







There are 3 shock cord slots to adjust where the retainer shock cord loop sits on whatever bottle you decide to use. And thats the beauty of this piece of kit.....you put almost any bottle into it. The shock cord retainer has a rubberized tab that is very easy to grip even with wet hands.

the shock cord is in the MIDDLE slot.



small bottle



fatter / taller bottle (32oz Kleen Kanteen)



my setup Nalgene Tritan GI Canteen on right side of my rig



same on the left, plus the stainless GI cup




so far its a pretty neat bit of nylon kit. WELL MADE, excellent stitching, lifetime warranty, fully adjustable to suit a variety of bottles, not a bad price (i actually only paid a $1.50 more in Canada than the US retail price. Normally this would about $40 CDN after exchange rate. I paid $31 CDN for each.

stitching is flawless



so far so good, i'm liking the simplicity and adjust-ability. Its really easy to access your canteen and slip it back in with out looking. Retention seems to be good, i jumped up and down doing jumping jacks with the load bearing rig on, didn't lose any bottles.

Great Company all round!



CONS:

I find that if you bump the bottom of the holder (like when you go over a log or obstacle , the bottle rises up and can potentially drop out if it gets pushed high enough up.

does it retain as well as my HSGI SOFT TACO? no. BUT, the SOFT TACO also will not hold a GI Canteen, not with out physically fighting to shove it in. And the Soft Taco is a bit of different design, and heavier.



I think this Skeleton is a GREAT design, HOWEVER I think it needs a minor tweak.....

the BOTTOM strap should be LONGER, ie it should come up at LEAST halfway up the bottle, to where i'm holding it now.



the horizontal adjustable bottle size straps should be MOVED UP to match the bottom strap height as above , 1 or two Molle/Pals rows (to where my INDEX finger is. This would allow much more SECURE retention and would prevent the bottle from lifting out when bumped or pushed from the bottom.



only other major concern, esp here in the dense woods of BC Canada, is the constant potential for a errant branch to SNAG the horizontal Velcro retainer and pull it open....I would have personally made the horizontal straps go the other way, so they face backwards and would not SNAG on any branch. Its fine if you mount the pouch on the left side of your pack or load bearing rig, but on the right it snags and opens.



Other than that.......i like this gear.!

I give it a Bushman5 Rating of 8.5 out 10. Some minor issues corrected would get this kit a Bushman5 rating of 10 out of 10

 

I think so. I think the Heavy is the same size as the GI canteen. Same with the cup.

 

Have you checked out the HPG bottle holders? Simple and very secure. Won't fit a canteen cup, tho.

 

yea saw those a while back......kinda need my gi cup to go along with the canteen. Its my water boiler.

 

Good review, Bushy.

 

I like that a lot. I have a couple of the bottles you used in the pics so it's good to know it has versatility and takes up only a single row of webbing. I've also been looking for a canteen pouch that will hold a Nalgene GI canteen with a cup. Thanks for reviewing these Bushy.

 

^ just remember that while the holster only takes up a SINGLE column, whatever water bottle you choose to throw in there will take take up some width

 

modded with 5COL EPDM Ranger Bands (smallest ones) to prevent velcro snag/opening. This only works if you have enough overlap velcro to work with. 1" Gorilla Tape would work fine too

 

Update

This is how the ITS bottle holster should have been made.....

This is the Condor version, i feel its the better designed one, and its $20 cheaper . This is NOT a dig at ITS at all......I have 2 of their bottle holders and i use them a lot. Rather its my own opinion , based on my woods testing and micro analysis of gear, in the pursuit of gear perfection

 

Any info on the Condor version? Cant seem to find it.

 

I found it as Rothco.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B013CRIC7A/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&smid=APC8JD32JCPLZ&th=1