A Practical and Tactical Alternative to the Diaper Bag

The tactical daddy diaper vest by the Melnick Conglomerate is a new kind of diaper "bag" for dads. This product puts the utility of a diaper bag into an official looking vest format.  Noodad got the vest and said to me “foodad, this thing is way too big for Reviewdad (our quick witted, sharp-as-a-tack, yet size ‘Petite’ review editor), we’re going to need you to take this one.”  We opened it and pulled it out of the box.  I tried it on and suddenly something strange happened: (be sure to read on after checking out the video…)

Noodad:
Foodad where are you going?
Foodad: I don't know.
Noodad: You get a
second medal of honor for this.
[Foodad looks over at the rescued POWs]
Foodad: You should
give it to them. They deserve it more.
Noodad: You don't
belong here why don't you come back with me?
Foodad: Back to what?
My friends died here, let me die here.
Noodad: The war, the
whole conflict may have been wrong but damn it don't hate your country for it.
Foodad: Hate? I'd die
for it.
Noodad: Then what is
it you want?
Foodad: I want, what
they want, and every other guy who came over here and spilled his guts and gave
everything he had, wants! To try out the tactical daddy vest from the Melnick
Conglomerate available at www.tacticaldaddy.com!
Noodad: How will you
live, Foo?
Foodad: Day by day.

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The first thing you notice about the tactical daddy is that
it is absolutely loaded with kick ass pocketry. 
You can easily fit enough gear for an extended day out with one kid in
this vest.  There are pockets for 2-3
pre-made bottles, formula, diapers, changing pads, creams, toys, car keys,
iPods, cell phones. The works! It is made from heavy fabrics and has very solid
construction.

{mosnooad}

What I did not initially notice when I gave it a test drive,
was that there are two pocket linings on the inside that Velcro, giving you a
superior amount of space for diapers and a changing pad.

In order to put the vest through the paces, I decided to
take it to a little Mexican joint we frequent. This time the outlaws were
coming along so I knew that I would be able to get some painfully honest,
critical commentary about the vest. My mother-in-law thought it was weird,
while my father-in-law commented that it was “really cool”.  The first thing my wife said was “what is
that? Are you wearing that in public?”. 
I’m usually a polar fleece or leather jacket kind of guy, so the police
look kind of threw her off.

I unpacked her Vera Bradley diaper bag and proceeded to put
2 diapers, 2 juice boxes, my keys, my cellphone, a changing pad and some small toys
in to the Tactical Daddy, in its pockets. 
It was a little chilly outside, about 40 degrees, so I put the Tactical
Daddy on over my Patagonia, polar tech 300
fleece, medium thickness fleece.  It was
a pretty comfortable fit for me until I got into the car.  I made the mistake of putting the changing
pad in the back, where Melnick likes to put a bottle warmer.  I had to crumple it a bit to get it to fit,
so it was jabbing me in the back. Again, I did not notice the monster pockets
in the side.  The vest doesn’t have a lot
of give when it is stuffed, so there wasn’t much I could do besides beg my wife
to take the changing pad out.  It was at
this very moment that I decided that it was best not to wear the Tactical Daddy
while operating a giant excavator, tow motor or a Subaru.  The Velcro pockets are the most convenient
things in the vest and I could see an urge to start stuffing things in there if
kids got out of line.

The person in diapers in my house is a toddler now, so he is
wearing size 6 diapers.  In Melnick’s
instructional videos, he clearly has room for small diapers in the front of the
vest. I suppose I could have done this too, but I would have had to really jam
them in there and it would have given me a very unpleasant and bulky look. I am
not really into that sort of thing so I put them in the inside, left pocket of
the vest.  I like to carry my wipes in
one of those hard plastic, reusable containers so this really left me no option
for the diapers. I ended up with the wipes in the pocket and the diapers in the
inside back pocket.  When my son dropped
the deuce, I ended up having to take the vest off to get to everything that I
needed.  This was not a huge deal, but I do
not think it was what the creator intended. In fact, the problem is that I missed
that there is a secret pocket on the left side of the vest where you can fit a
full sized changing pad.  Simply
un-velcro the side and you can slip that and a couple of diapers for super fast
access. It pays to watch the videos on the website BEFORE you use this sucker.
I waited until after like a noob.

Pros about the Tactical Daddy

1. Quality construction.
2. Military/Police/Orvis look and feel.
3. Maximum utility.
4. Secret, quick access, side compartments for diapers and
   changing pad.
5. I got serious value out of it even when “misusing”. I cannot
   wait to use it properly.

Cons about the Tactical Daddy

1. Military/Police/Orvis look and feel.
2. A little bulky.
3. You probably are not going to want to put a jacket on over
   the vest unless it is a large shell.
4. You might feel a little like stuffing everything into those
   super convenient and deep side pockets and defeat the purpose of the vest.

Overall I enjoyed the Tactical Daddy diaper vest from tacticaldaddy.com.  I would recommend it especially for dads who love gadgets and need a place to carry them all along with their kid necessities.  I give it 4/5 noos. 

For more, check out my review on youtube.