I quite fancy a POC VPD 2.0 jacket to replace my 661 pressure suit. Looks good, offers lots of protection and is much less bulky than my current armour. Its expensive but I suppose its money well spent.

Has anyone got one? Are there any alternatives?

I was looking a lot at the Oneal Bulletproof jacket too which looks similar but a bit lighter and cheaper. I want something for DH so I would want spine, chest and shoulder protection ideally. Any suggestions?

Scott Recruit Pro? It doesn’t have chest protection but has D3o back, elbow and shoulder protection. Wore mine for first time at the weekend for an uplift and its comfy, relatively light and worked well. Thankfully didn’t have to test the spine protection but the elbow pads worked well!

Dirt 100 2014 – Scott Recruit Pro Compression Gear Body Armour

That looks interesting. Very much like the oneal armour minus the chest protection. Does everything stay where it should?

Yes. The d3o stuff is great – its malleable enough to feel comfortable and not slip around and also seems to mould to you once it gets some body heat into it. My only minor criticism is that the shoulder pads don’t quite sit on top of my shoulders but the elbow and back pads sit fine, so I assume the position of the shoulder ones is correct / as they should be.

The only other time I’ve worn armour was in the alps and it was (rented) rigid plastic stuff, so I don’t have much of a basis for comparison but, I have to say, so far so good.

The other option I was considering was a core saver / TLD vest + elbow pads but there wasn’t a massive amount in it, cost wise, plus I was able to try on the Scott.

Another option (that I didn’t try, but looks good) is Knox Trooper stuff.