It’s supposed to be comforting, not comfortable! How many times have we heard that in the gun world? I get the idea behind the phrase, but I want it to be comfy too.
What’s the main reason we carry small guns these days? Modern , well-designed holsters have made it fairly easy to conceal larger guns, but comfort is still a big factor. Bigger guns have bigger holsters, especially if you add accessories like lights. These holsters tend to poke, prod, and rub.
It’s bearable most of the time, but when you hit the 13th hour on your feet, anything can become uncomfortable. With that in mind, when I ran across the Gunzee, I was cautiously curious.
The Gunzee offers a simple solution to your comfort problems. It’s a soft, foam-like pad that attaches a holster you already own with hook and loop patches. Once attached, it provides a pad between the holster and you. The goal is prove that a holster can be comfy regardless of the gun, accessories, position carried, or the amount of time you carry it. It’s a design you’d think someone would have come up with by now. Gunzee sent me several models to test and review.
I installed the standard Gunzee pad on my Alien Gear Photon and have been carrying around a GLOCK 19 equipped with a 550XL light. I’ve been waking up and getting strapped as soon as I put my pants on and carrying them around all day, every day until the pants come off.
What Exactly is the Gunzee?
According to Gunzee, the pad is a 3-layer industrial-grade memory foam cushion. It’s certainly nice and thick. The pads come in various sizes that correspond to typical firearm sizes.
The Gunzee Mini is for micro and subcompacts, the Gunzee Original is for compacts, and the Gunzee Max is for the full-size guns some carry.
I’m using the original on my Photon with the GLOCK 19. The pads are soft foam and can be cut and trimmed to better fit your particular gun and holster if you choose. I didn’t see a need to do so, so I left it as is.
Attaching the Gunzee to your holster involves using some strong, very sticky velcro. Make sure you get it where you want it because moving the hook side isn’t going to be easy once it’s in place.
The Velcro hook and loop attachments stay put nicely. It grips and locks itself in place without much difficulty. The Gunzee pad attached with ease to my holster, and I had no problems with the pad shifting or moving during the many, many hours I’ve carried the gun and holster combination.
Carrying With The Gunzee
With the Gunzee attached to my holster and my holster on my belt, I went about my day. At first, I had some concerns about printing. The Gunzee adds a roughly half-inch pad between you and your rig.
It pressed everything outward a fair bit and caused some printing issues at first. However, after being carried around for the day, the problem disappeared. The pad compressed a little, conformed to my body, and the printing problem disappeared. I’m not sure when or how long it took exactly, but it was within the first eight hours of wearing the holster and Gunzee.
Did the Gunzee make the holster more comfortable? You bet your bum it did. Most of the time, I have no comfort issues when carrying appendix until it comes to sitting for long periods of time. Sure, it pokes and rubs a little, but it doesn’t drive me crazy.
With the Gunzee pad, the poking and rubbing disappeared. In fact, several times, I realized, “Oh yeah, I’m carrying a Polymer 80 GLOCK 19 with a weapon light.” I had totally forgotten about it.
When it comes to sitting, the same thing occurs. I can sit and drive for long periods without having to adjust my holster or position. The Gunzee helps erase those feelings of discomfort entirely. I can’t quite forget I’m packing appendix when it comes to sitting, but I’m not uncomfortable. I’m sitting right now and wearing my gun and holster, and I have no inclination to move, wiggle, or adjust the gun.
Throwing Lead
Okay, so comfort is great. We love being comfortable. However, the Gunzee could be a dealbreaker if it negatively affects your draw. If it gets in the way or somehow prevents me from achieving a good grip on the gun, that would be a non-starter for me.
Luckily, I had zero problems with the Gunzee getting in the way of my draw. The fact you can trim it (a utility knife does the trick) to fit ensures this shouldn’t be an issue with any holster.
Looking online, I’ve seen the Gunzee cut to fit a wide variety of holsters. This includes sidecar holsters, minimalist designs, and standard Kydex rigs.
Is It For You?
The Gunzee costs between $30 and $40, depending on size. That seem pricey to me for what it is, but I don’t know what memory foam costs.. That said, the comfort it adds is well worth the cost.
The Gunzee stays out of the way, and for over a week and at least twelve hours a day, I’ve carried my gun with the Gunzee. It hasn’t failed me yet. It hasn’t moved or sagged. It hasn’t flaked or torn in any way. Other than being slightly more compressed (a good thing), it hasn’t changed.
I think it’s a great way to make IWB carry a bit comfier. If you carry appendix, it’s most certainly an excellent investment to make your life just a little bit better. It’s too hot out here to deal with both the heat and the rub and prod of a holster. Check it out here.
In hot summer weather, carrying a handgun on your belt and inside your t-shirt has a significant downside: part of your handgun contacts your skin while it is in your holster. Aside from concerns about comfort, I am deeply concerned about my skin perspiring and contacting my handgun. This pad could fit the bill if it creates a perspiration barrier between your skin and your handgun.
Friendly suggestion to the manufacturer of the gunzee: make a similar item which is ONLY a perspiration barrier without any padding. While that would not improve comfort, it would ensure that your handgun is FAR less likely to develop problems from your perspiration–without adding any thickness. (Note: I carry my handgun “inside the belt, outside the waistband” without any comfort problems at all, other than my psychological concern about perspiration as I outlined above.)
The star in my profile pic got that red and black tiger stripe cerakote after I sweated all over it one summer and it rusted. Since switching to Alien Gear I have not had that problem again.
I use a Sticky Holster soft holster, plus a thin t-shirt underneath any main shirt I wear. Gun never comes into direct contact with my skin, and the soft holster is really comfortable. I previously used a hard holster, but switched to the Sticky upon recommendation from a fellow TTAG’er (MLee?).
What it the point of adding velcro (additional thickness). Just adhesive strip on the pad.
Memory foam – perhaps the next market for My Pillows guy! But he progs might then hate him (morer).
Clear to me.
I’m in Texas, hot as hell and I still wear Under Armour compression wife beaters under every t-shirt in the summer. Don’t have sweat problems, plus I can get a hold on the gun a heck of a lot better with a slicky slick shirt behind the grip. Started doing this after a training class one hot June, made a world of difference.
What the hell are you talking about? Please rewrite your statement in English.
Clear to me. Maybe study english.
Gungoddess, I think it was, had something like that years ago. Tried them before discovering Alien Gear. They were OK, but never quite perfect. Then tried Alien Gear and those velcro shields went into the old holster box with all the previous holsters.
I thought I saw something similar sometime back not sure. I still like my OWB leather holsters the best.
Don’t need it, and here in Texas it’s just too hot. My stealth gear holster IWB has a ventilated paddle that helps massively with preventing overheating where the holster is. And despite being texas, I wear an undershirt for comfort that is high wiking.
My Stealth Gear IWB is the best hot weather holster I’ve owned, and I’ve gone through a stupid number of holsters.
I tried a holster from a brand I can’t remember that had a kydex outside and a soft back that was a neoprene pad sandwiched between thin leather layers. Seemed like a great idea. It was sweatproof thanks to the neoprene, but made a bad hot spot on me in summer. I imagine this Gunzee would do the same.
Have the holster mfg not heard of “Moisture barrier” membranes? Let the sweat/heat OUT. Don’t trap it. As Gore (NOT moron former VP or the well known brand of moisture barrier) or Stedair (the market leader)?
Neoprene is a horrible material choice. Zero on permeability (THL). However there are several good options in the FD Turnout gear business for “padding” that would be breathable (As Glide ICE 2L).
TEXAS in the summer is for crazy people!
GOT LEATHER OWB HOLSTER TO USE FOR IN POCKET CARRY , CHANGED PANTS STYLE TO DOCKERS .
Or you can buy a 24″ x 72″ x .50″ sheet of memory foam on Amazon for $20 and have enough to cover a few dozen holsters.
Yea….this product actually sucks.
Get a roll of the good 3m double sided tape and there ya go
Printing is such a non issue. Nobody notices anything ever (if they do I don’t care) and I’m sure I print all the time carrying more than full size at 4.5” and 20+1. In the first few months of carrying you think it matters but people are oblivious. With mesh shorts I’ll sometimes have the entire butt of my J-frame sticking out, you think the dolts see or understand, nope.
He holstein’s I like are made out of Texas Longhorns. Their hides are thick and tuff and when you get real hungry they make better beef jerky.
Well shit fire and save the matches, some how I’ve fcked up my left arm and the only way I can cycle the 18lb springed slide is by cocking the hammer, it thinks it my shoulder, anyway I move my arm it hurts.
You rednecks putting dually’s on them F150’s are real spme real sunsabicheechingsonsabeetches.
I’ll be watching for you, I can still hit the slide release.
Glocksuckers ! ! !
Don’t write when you’re this drunk.
I use a foam heel lift wedge that starts at the beltline and works up to about 5/8″ at the muzzle and then wraps around to pad and slightly lengthen the holster which adds to the “keel principle” and helps keep the grip tucked in on top. As others have noted adding velcro is adding 1/8″-3/16″ of wasted bulk. Double-sided tape holds my wedge in place until wraps of hockey tape secure it placed completely around the holster. The hockey tape adds added comfort and also keeps the package from moving so well that I could almost leave the belt clip off of the holster and it would stay in place 99% of the time. Cost is $9.99 for a pair of heel lifts and the hockey tape is $5 for a lifetime supply. You can buy special “Goon Tape” for twice as much for a roll but it the exact same stuff
What’s the main reason we carry small guns these days?
To compensate for an overly large penis.
My last pay check was $12000 working 12 hours a week online. my sisters friend has been averaging 15k for months now and she works about 20 hours a week. i can’t believe how easy it was once i tried it out. this is what i do. https://www.richepay.com/