GORUCK Weight Vest vs Plate Carrier – Our Review

Sometimes you just wanna look cool when you work out.

Doing a bunch of unbroken muscle-ups or hitting a 300-plus pound clean is impressive and running around with a lot of weight in your bag is nice…but nothing is cool as a vest (or plate carrier).

These aren’t my rules. I don’t make the rules. I don’t even think that vest are that cool…it just is what it is.

Maybe we have all of the “tactical athletes” or Memorial Day Murph warriors to blame for making the weighted vest/plate carrier the “coolest” fitness accessory, but the reality is, there are definitely times and places where it can definitely come in handy. Thankfully, the nice folks at GORUCK have provided us with a couple of options for when those times occur.

I wouldn’t advise making either of these bad boys your first gear purchase (especially from a company with enough legit options to go around), but you may find that you have a niche need or desire that one (or both!) is the perfect tool for the job.

I’m a bit higher on the GORUCK Plate Carrier than I am on the GORUCK Weight Vest, but don’t let my biases influence you (too much), especially if you really want to load some weight into your vest…

Before we get started, check out our definitive guide to GORUCK backpacks, bags, and vests. If neither of these options turns out not to be the bag for you, maybe one of the other 8 in our review will work out for you!

Also, if you’re interested in GORUCK footwear offerings, check out our definitive guides on the GORUCK boots and GORUCK shoe lines!

GORUCK Weight Vest vs GORUCK Plate Carrier

GORUCK is never one to mince words when describing their products. While some many find their language to be a bit bombastic, I can appreciate the degree of confidence they exude in regards to their gear.

The first portion of their weight vest’s description is a pretty good example of this:

“The world is full of weighted vests with minimal to no padding on your shoulders — instead of padding, it’s nylon straps digging fighting positions into your shoulders, deeper with every movement. Even though the workout is supposed to suck, the straps don’t have to. To fix this problem, we took our shoulder straps from the Rucker which are the most comfortable on the planet under load, and we sized and contoured them to make the world’s best Training Weight Vest. And now we’ve curved the top corners of the front plate pocket, right where the shoulders and chest meet, to make it even more comfortable while you workout. Problem solved.”

Meanwhile, their plate carrier’s description is a little more subtle, albeit just as confident:

“The Ruck Plate Carrier™ (aka RPC) houses a Ruck Plate and is worn high and tight on your back for natural stability. Your chest stays open so you can breathe better to push harder. Your intensity during workouts should be the reason you feel like you’re suffocating — not your equipment.

The RPC includes a padded top handle, padding on the top of the plate pocket, ergonomic lumbar support padding, and non-abrasive fabric used on the back panel and underside of the shoulder straps — you can even wear it shirtless with no friction burn.

Those intros aside…

Rucking

Truth be told, I am much more likely to opt for an actual bag to ruck with as opposed to a weighted vest. I’m not against rucking in a weighted vest, but due to the general lack of storage space, they tend to put a hard “deadline” on how long my session can go for (I get hungry! I get thirsty!)

Anyways, the good news with both of these GORUCK options is that they both provide a rucking experience that is as close to bag rucking as you could ask for, mainly due to both designs including large plate pocket(s).

I prefer these big pockets to a large number of small pockets (which are filled with tiny, 1-pound weights) and like the feeling of a single, heavy plate against my back (not as much against my chest, though…).

The GORUCK Plate Carrier’s design is minimalist, but does the job pretty well. I find that I have to keep the chest strap pretty tight in order for the plate to ride higher on my back so I generally opt for it to be a little looser with the plate being cinched in between my lower back and the small of my back. This is a little lower than I would it in my ruck, but I haven’t noticed any serious side effects as a result of this.

In contrast, I am able to keep the weight riding high in the GORUCK Weight Vest, with the added support from the waist belt really helping to stabilize the plate while also absorbing some of the load. The downside to this system is that when I have a plate in front, the combination of the waist belt and the plate on my chest can be a bit overwhelming. It is really not a setup I would advise for a ruck outing of any significant length or distance.

In theory, you could load up more weight (up to 60 pounds) with the weight vest or you could hide some snacks in the front plate pocket, but if you’re seriously contemplating doing either of these things (especially the latter), I would say just…buy a bag.

I know some people like to go pretty heavy when rucking, but most stay under 50 pounds. If you think you’d regularly exceed 30 pounds, but would rarely go over 50, the “long” version of the plate carrier would have you covered (it can easily accommodate a 45-pound ruck plate).

…speaking of the plates themselves, both of these are quite…particular with the types of plates they will accommodate. Most off-brand “long” plates will fit the “long” plate carrier option pretty well, but if you pick up the GORUCK Weight Vest or “standard” Plate Carrier, you pretty much have to have GORUCK Plates (metal or sand) to make it work. There really isn’t any room for error with this (you do not want a smaller-size plate bouncing around in these).

One last thing to keep in mind is that although both options have nice, heavily padded shoulder straps (which are really helpful, particularly during longer activities), neither has a frame sheet. As such, if you’re used to that extra layer of support on your back/a piece of hard, but comfortable plastic that keeps the plate off you directly, rucking in either of these would take some getting used to.

While neither of these options is ideal for “pure” rucking, the GORUCK Plate Carrier is a bit more practical and is a better option for most people. However, if rucking is the primary activity you have in mind for your vest/plate carrier, I would suggest you give a bag like the Rucker 4.0 a look before buying; it will probably much better meet your needs than either of these options.

Winner: Plate Carrier

Dynamic Rucking

This is the area I assume most people are most concerned with. Rucking in a weighted vest/other type of non-ruck weighted equipment is growing in popularity, but it’s got nothing on the array of exercises you can do in a vest.

…and for the most part, either of these two option is going to give you exactly what you want for these purposes. It’s honestly going to come down to 3 main factors in determining which is most likely to best accommodate your needs and preferences:

• How much weight you are actually going to work with
• If you’re okay with unbalanced weight
• How you feel about a plate against your chest

To the first point, I know that a lot of training days call for weighted pull-ups, in many cases for max loads. In these cases, being able to use a good amount of weight to gut out between 1 and 5 reps is certainly appreciated.

I recently had a workout that called for alternating sets of 6 weighted pull-ups and 6 weighted dips. I don’t have a “long” GORUCK Plate Carrier so I was going to be limited to 30 pounds…not quite enough to hit the 8 RPE stimulus. In contrast, being able to load plates to either side of the GORUCK Weight Vest made the workout for me (although, as you’ll see, I needed to throw on the Plate Carrier as well to get enough weight!)

To continue on this, I was fine doing strict pull-ups and dips in the vest, but for most other movements, specifically running, I’d prefer the plate carrier.

For me, the unbalanced weight of the GORUCK Plate Carrier (I only have a single plate pressed tight against my mid-to-lower back) doesn’t bother me (I was actually concerned about this on during my first workout with the plate carrier…which happened to be Memorial Day Murph!)

..but what does bother me is running with a solid plate pressed against my chest.

Don’t get me wrong; I can handle it, but, depending on how tight I have the vest cinched up, breathing during longer runs can get…difficult. Of course, I could loosen the waist belt, but, as mentioned in the previous section, this is one of the unique positive elements of the GORUCK vest. When you loosen it up, you lose a lot of its weight-transferring ability.

There is obviously no plate against my chest when I’m running in the plate carrier and, despite not having a similarly-effective waist belt, I’m able to get it to fit exactly as I want it to.

The plate carrier has a couple of additional advantages to include allowing for a more natural ascent and descent during push-ups (due to the absence of a front plate) and having less excessive material to contend with when performing exercises like “vest swings” or farmer’s carries.

The weight vest’s excess material can be mitigated by tightly velcroing it to itself, but is still a little awkward.

One last thing I’ll mention in this area: although it may not be directly related to “dynamic” rucking, getting your plate in and out of your plate pocket are the starting and ending points for most workouts. While it isn’t hard to accomplish this task with either piece of equipment, it is much easier to do with the plate carrier.

Flip up one piece of velcro and you’re all set:

In contrast, the weight vest requires you to get a bit more…invasive.

This may not seem like a big deal…until you’re peeling your vest or plate carrier off after your last rep or run, gasping for breath, and don’t want to be bothered with an unnecessarily difficult “plate release” system!

Overall, the weight vest provides a higher load-bearing ceiling which can come in handy during more “pure” strength training endeavors. However, the plate carrier provides much more universal utility, especially for your “average” (and I consider myself “average”) user.

Winner: Plate Carrier

Load Capacity

This one is pretty cut and dry; the GORUCK Weight Vest wins here…

…or does it…?

Looking at the raw specs of the two pieces, the Weight Vest has a max carrying capacity of 60 pounds (a 30-pound ruck plate on either side) while the Plate Carrier maxes out at either 30 pounds (for the “standard” size) or 45 pounds (for the “long” size).

60 > 45

However, for those who are primarily focused on loading up only one size, the Plate Carrier has the greater potential (assuming you opt for the long plate version). Granted, if this were the case and you only wanted to load plates on one side of your body, you’d probably just…opt for a plate carrier in the first place.

Maybe I’m just trying to over dramatize this showdown!

Anyways, we’re still definitively saying that the Weight Vest wins this category…but the Plate Carrier wins in regard to sheer back-loading potential.

Winner: Weight Vest

Customer Reviews

If you went out of your way to consider these specific items, I think it’s safe to say that you have some sort of appreciation for GORUCK or are, at least “GORUCK-curious”. Either way, the reviews of both items are encouraging and, despite there likely being some personal biases (like my own), these bad boys are evenly matched.

Although not perfect, the GORUCK Weight Vest and Plate Carrier would both pass with A’s if this were a school assignment (they would actually both receive a 94 grade from a large conglomeration of reviewers).

Interestingly enough, if you check out the reviews on Rogue, the audience is a little more critical.

Of course, the sample size is much smaller (even if you add these reviews in with the GORUCK main site reviews, they don’t move the needle), but it’s possible that people feel a little more, I don’t know, “free” to be candid on the third-party site (for whatever reason).

Even taking some of the less-than-stellar Rogue comments into consideration, these two still score quite high in the eyes of verified customers.

No separation here!

Winner: Tie

Price

Despite all of that mumbo jumbo you just waded through (thank you, by the way!), at the end of the day, we know it always comes down to price.

Nothing wrong with being honest!

The fun part here though is that this is one of those occasions where you get to the end and the better option is actually the less expensive option.

Although certain color options for both of these entries are on sale from time to time, in most cases you’re going to find the that the GORUCK Weight Vest clocks in at just under $200 while the Plate Carrier will run you just over $100.

Maybe it’s just me, but that is actually a pretty significant difference.

Another thing that should be noted is that, as stated near the beginning of this post, I am only comparing these items against each other and, to a degree, in the greater relative context of other “weighted vest-like” accessories. To that latter point, the GORUCK Plate Carrier is competitive even against non-GORUCK plate carriers (the Weight Vest is about average or slightly more expensive than most competitors).

(tldr to the point above: the Plate Carrier wins against the Weight Vest and against most other similar items in its market)

This isn’t to say that there isn’t decent value in the GORUCK Weight Vest, considering the additional material and overall engineering that goes into it when compared to the Plate Carrier. However, from a purely price standpoint, there really is no contest.

Winner: Plate Carrier

Overall Winner

According to our metrics, the GORUCK Plate Carrier is your winner!

When I first started putting together these “versus” reviews, most of the matchups were actually pretty close, being decided in the final category. However, the last few have pretty much been beatdowns.

The interesting thing is that none of these have involved “bad” products; it’s just that one of the competitors has been head-and-shoulders better than the other.

If you take out overall load capacity, the GORUCK Plate Carrier is a winner (or is as good) in every metric. Even in its “weak” area, if you opt for the “long” plate carrier option, it actually has a superior single-side load capacity.

Keep in mind that these criteria are largely objective (I know both of the “rucking” scores above are mainly subjective, but you get the point). If you take into consideration that most people would simply opt for something like the Rucker 4.0 or even the less expensive Bullet for rucking before they grabbed a ~$200 weight…well…it’s like when they say “the final score was 35 to 7 and the game wasn’t even that close.”

The GORUCK Weight Vest is certainly a good option, but it is best suited for more niche purposes. The company’s plate carrier is pretty much the undisputed victor.

Our Testing Process

I was lucky enough to have a cycle of training that included a lot of weighted pull-ups and some weighted running in it when I finally got around to putting these to regular use. In addition to switching these out during these endeavors, I had previously used the Plate Carrier for my Memorial Day Murph workout (actually, it was the very first time I used it!)

I have also put in some miles with both during less intense ruck outings, exchanging my usual bags out for one of these bad boys. I can’t say that this was my favorite part of the testing process (if you couldn’t tell by now, I pretty much always prefer rucking with a bag), but these outings did allow me, (in some cases, rather quickly) to put this important quality to the test.

Frequently Asked Questions

For some reason, I don’t get nearly as many “weight vest vs. plate carrier” questions as I do “ruck vs. weighted vest” questions. Regardless, let’s answer a few that are specific to these two:

One is great for max load; one is great for everything else…

GORUCK’s alternatives to carrying loads in something other than rucks are both top-of-their class options. While I think you can do a bit better for the price if you’re thinking about their weight vest, otherwise, there are a lot more positives than negatives with both of these pieces.

Looking at things from an “everyday garage gym athlete’s” perspective, though, there are very few instances where the weight vest is going to be the better option than the GORUCK Plate Carrier. Unless you really need a vest that lets you pack on more than 45 pounds of additional weight and don’t feel right unless you have some weight in the front, it’s a no-brainer decision.

To be fair, putting anything up against GORUCK’s plate carrier is a little unfair; I have mentioned before how out of all of the GORUCK gear I have reviewed so far, it has the highest overall score. Now all they have to do is make “plate carrier rucking” a thing!

No worries if, even after reading this breakdown, you’re intuitively thinking about going with the GORUCK Weight Vest; you might be in that ~10 percent where it might actually be the better option.