Chest Rig Hydration: can IMS Pro be used instead of ICEPLATE EXO®-CRH?

We recently had one of our active duty customers ask us if we had ever tried to rig IMS Pro up to a Crye Airlite Chest Rig as a less expensive alternative to our purpose-built ICEPLATE EXO®-CRH. We had never tried this ourselves, but here is what he reported back, all unedited:

"It fits alright, flares out at the bottom a little bit, going to try it with a issues Medium Ruck this week.

I have no doubt the CRH would perform better but in this case it should meet my needs.

A little bit of lateral shift due to the only contact points being vertical but it is a viable option.

The EXO-CRH as a purpose built option would undoubtedly perform better though."

Content and photo credit: @the_random_oh

 Above: outside view of MultiCam IMS Pro with a DIY mount to a Crye Precision AirLite Chest Rig

 Above: body-face view of MultiCam IMS Pro with a DIY mount to a Crye Precision AirLite Chest Rig. Note: unlike ICEPLATE EXO®-CRH, this improvised setup does not provide any conductive thermoregulation benefit.