i cant stand that when i use my galco king tuk it makes so much noise because its not broken in yet which stops me from wearing it to break it in, its a vicious cycle
what are the benefits of the raven and what kind of price are you looking st compared to other holsters? why do you prefer AIWB as well?
IMO all your paying for is the name. ... but when it comes to kydex and boltaron, there really isn't much that sets there stuff apart from the other small companies. There are a lot of smaller, local people that make just as nice products for much, much less.
This is so far from the truth, and as you mentioned, you are biased. I have used kydex/Boltaron/plastic holsters from probably 15 manufacturers and if I covered any markings and gave them to experienced shooters to try, they would probably be able to put them in order by price without knowing anything about who made them. The quality is different in the higher end companies. The time and resources they spend to perfect their work shows up in their cost.
I had a OWB holster by another manufacturer that did not have adjustable retention (usually how I prefer my holsters) but somehow the retention was different on each draw. If you canted the gun even the tiniest bit it would change the feel of the draw. This holster looked great and had nice clean lines and finished edges and good belt loops, but the design was not perfected. Experience (in both making and using holsters) helps manufacturers perfect their craft. A perfected product costs more to recoup the expense. Other companies (usually with less experience) need to keep their prices down so they can take a small portion of the market share.
Use some of the highest quality holsters out there and compare them to the less expensive ones and there is absolutely more innovation and quality in the higher end brands.
Side note: I have not used a holster by hpclayto, I am not in any way saying that his holsters fall into any particular category. I purposefully left names out of this post.
fourguysguns recently made a video that said almost the same thing hpclayto said and I know for a fact that there were some holster companies that took great offense to that statement because they take pride in working hard to use new technology to develop new and innovative holsters.
They aren't local, but i have a Phlster Acces for my FS M&P and a Zorn Skinny Rig for my shield. I'm very impressed with both holsters. I have Aliengears for both as well, but just prefer AIWB now.