Gear Review: Alien Gear Cloak Slide OWB holster

The Alien Gear Cloak Slide OWB holster is available for dozens of pistols. It retails for $29.88. (Photo: Joshua Gillem)

The Alien Gear Cloak Slide outside the waistband holster is one of the best holsters available for those who like to switch out their carry gun. Combining a low profile and excellent versatility makes it easy to even carry concealed, while minimizing (though not eliminating) the dreaded “print” that many OWB holsters reveal.

The Cloak Slide holster is one of the best on the market because it has features many other holsters lack. For example, a lot of us own more than one pistol that we’d like to carry, but don’t want to buy a totally different holster for. Alien Gear’s unique shell system allows the gun owner to easily swap out the molded shell for a completely different one. Thus, allowing you to have the option of choosing which sidearm to carry on any given day.

Alien Gear sweetens the deal by making it available for just under $35. For that price, you get one plastic shell (for a gun of your choice), the leather base, an Allen wrench and some extra parts. For another $12.88, you can choose another shell that you can swap out, allowing you to carry a totally different gun.

If you find that you’re trading and upgrading your guns almost as much as you change your socks, they’ve got you covered. The company says that for as long as you own your holster, you can trade in your shells for new ones. So if I decide to trade a Glock in for a Smith & Wesson Shield, I can do so without having to worry about spending an excessive amount of money on another holster.

Speaking of swapping out the shell, doing so is easy and only takes a few minutes. To carry a different firearm, simply loosen four screws (with the provided Allen wrench) and reverse that process with the new shell. Voila! You’re now ready to carry a different gun.

The Cloak Slide comes with plenty of hardware to get you going and some left over just in case. (Photo: Joshua Gillem)

If I had to come up with a complaint, it would be that though my receipt said it passed quality control, one of the screws was loose, and would not tighten down without having to change the spacer underneath it. This wasn’t that big of a deal, because I had 10 extra spacers of different height to choose from.

Now, even if you believe that the insides of your trousers are reserved for more precious items, sometimes you have no choice but to carry inside, for one reason or another. All of the semi-auto shells work with both IWB and OWB systems. So if you’re feeling froggy, for the price of about 20 bucks (plus or minus depending on material), you can buy the Cloak Tuck 2.0 IWB base and use the shells from your other holster.

Finally, this is the perfect holster for someone with more than one gun, because there is almost no break in period. I literally strapped this thing to my belt and forgot it was even there. Even with a full size pistol on my side, the only time I remembered it was there was when I sat down in a chair with armrests, or when I had to buckle my seatbelt.

The Alien Gear Cloak Slide is one of the most comfortable outside of the waistband gun holsters on the market and is perfect if you like to change which gun you’re carrying on any given day. This comfortable holster comes at a great price with great conceal-ability, and a host of unique options.