Safariland makes rock-solid duty holsters. No one else comes close to the level of testing and performance and this is why the company holds the vast majority of law enforcement contracts. Despite this industry dominance, Safariland hasn’t been a go-to brand for those who carry concealed—until now thanks to the Incog X holster.
The Incog X, a collaboration between Safariland and Haley Strategic Partners, is an appendix carry IWB holster that is changing the way people think about Safariland’s approach to EDC.
Haley Strategic Partners and the Incog
The original Incog holsters were designed by Travis Haley. Like many innovations in this era, Haley’s design was a project meant to solve problems he was finding with other holsters. The early iterations were solid and were some of the first commercially available designs that offered the adaptability needed to really dial in a fit for both comfort and ergonomics.
Ten years later, the team at HSP wanted to revisit the design and take the concept into wider distribution. The original Incogs were pioneering designs. After a decade, there are many more Kydex options—hundreds more. What makes any one model better than another has been somewhat obfuscated.
But this is where HSP really shines. The company is dedicated to constant learning. Their innovations come from practical study in real-world conditions. The original Incog was groundbreaking, but the team had years of hands-on feedback to guide the changes they wanted to make for the holster.
Enter Safariland
I’m part of the team that’s working on the development of the Safariland Incog X. My role at Safariland allows me to bounce between sales and marketing, and to work closely with the engineers who are doing all of the complex fit work. I’m exceptionally proud of the work we’re doing, but it is really the vision of Travis Haley and the engineering expertise of Safariland’s Gary Grochowski that have made this new iteration possible.
What is the Safariland Incog X holster?
The body of the new Incog X holster is made of thermoformed Boltaron. The shells are thick, and covered with a micro-suede that gives the holster a slightly fuzzy feel. This tactile fuzz helps secure the holster against your skin.
The clips on the new Incog X are injection molded. The gap in the clip is wide enough to accommodate even thick carry belts, and have a slight angle that snaps over the belt to keep the clip from popping off, even during a violent adrenaline-fueled draw.
The position of the clips can be adjusted up and down, should you want to adjust the depth. The hole spacing here is also built to accommodate aftermarket clips, if you don’t want to use the ones that come with the Incog X.
The right-side clip pushes out against the belt and has three shims that provide different levels of push to angle the grip back into the body. This is one of the most useful tools for concealing the grip, which is often what prints most on an IWB hoslter.
Other Features
Inside the holster, molded into the design, is a passive retention detent. This provides a positive click when you slide the gun into the holster.
The mag caddy attaches to the left side of the holster, where the vertical clip connects to the holster body. These, too, are molded from Boltaron, and there’s just enough flex in this material to allow it to contour to the body.
The caddy itself is angled toward the support hand for an easy draw. The holsters are available with the caddy, or without, and the caddy itself is now available on its own in case you want to add it later.
All of the Incog X holsters are designed for use with optics. Even the SRO and RMR HD—two optics that lean well over the ejection port—will fit with no obstruction. This adaptability is a design element that should be standard on all holsters now but still isn’t.
Underneath the muzzle of many carry guns, now, are lights. The Incog X is available with or without light accommodation, and the pocket is sized for the most common of the sub-compact lights built for those specific guns. The Streamlight TLR-7 family has been the guide, so far, for guns with Picatinny rails.
Designing the Holster
From a design perspective, working with a single light model is optimal. These are built to work—in most cases—with any of the lights in the appropriate size range. This gets harder with the smaller versions of the guns, as the rails are proprietary and it forces light makers to make specific light designs or adapters for these designs. The P365s, for example, as opposed to the P365 Macro which has a standard pic rail and is therefore much more adaptable.
The first few fits focused on the largest demand—the GLOCK 19, G43, and G48, and the Sig P365 family. The list of fits in development is long, and the resulting success of the first launches has been solid, so the teams at HSP and Safariland are working on building out the next rounds.
In addition to new gun fits, there are left-handed models in the works. There’s been a strong demand for large light fits for the larger gun models, too. We’ve had folks ask for large lights for the G19 and even for the Macro
What the Incog X represents for a company known for its duty holsters
Safariland’s IWB line blew up last year with the Schema and Species lines. Both Schema and Species are fit-specific holsters—single clip designs that upped the game substantially.
These followed holsters like the 575, which is a rock-solid holster, but one that is designed to be a multi-fit (meaning each of the sizes can be adjusted to fit a wide range of handguns).
The Incog X comes with dual clips, more adjustability, a magazine caddy, and both light and optic capability. For many of us at Safariland who train regularly and carry every day, Incog X has replaced our EDC holsters. If for no other reason than the ability to carry a light, we’ve had to look outward for holsters, but not anymore.
This push toward advanced EDC holsters is a sign of the commitment that Safariland makes to its customers. We want everyone who chooses to carry to have the most capable, most secure holsters available, and Incog X is getting that reach.
Working with Haley Strategic Partners has been an incredible opportunity for Safariland. At every step of the process, from the inception of the concepts to the design of the clips to the revisions we’re making to existing designs as issues arise, the HSP team is there, providing direction.
What’s next for the Incog X line?
The initial design of the Safariland/HSP collaboration stretched out for more than a year. During that time, we scrutinized everything we could. There were many false starts and elements—like the clips—that required revision. Now, though, we’ve made the complex decisions and set the aesthetic principles that will make future fit additions much faster.
New fits will be coming more regularly. While the initial launch focused on GLOCK and Sig, other guns are coming—soon—possibly even by the time this is published. And we’re working with new guns that are coming, so we’ll be able to have holsters ready at the time of launch. Stay tuned.
