Part of our Cop Gear Guide: how to spend your uniform allowance.
We ran a simple roll call on Instagram: “Best purchase you’ve ever made for the job?” The comments filled up fast — no sponsors, no affiliate links, just officers telling other officers what’s actually worth the money. Here’s what came up most, grouped by category. Nothing below is sponsored; it’s what your peers said they’d buy again.
1. A real earpiece
The single most-repeated theme. Officers were done shoving the old acoustic tube in their ear all shift. The names that kept coming up: N-Ear (the Kevlar earpieces got called “goated”) and Sheepdog (the Aware and HDLO earpieces — described as “life changing”). If one piece of gear had a consensus, it was this.
2. A dependable flashlight
Another near-universal answer. The picks officers named: SureFire (the Fury dual-fuel 1600-lumen specifically), Modlite (the HOG — “my favorite flashlight”), and Olight (Warrior X4). Weapon light or hand light, nobody wanted to be caught with a dying battery.
3. Vortex binoculars
More than one officer independently called Vortex Diamondback binoculars their best purchase — “easy and cheap,” “best purchase I’ve made and I use it every shift.” The unbeatable warranty came up too. A cheap pair of binos punching above their price was a clear crowd favorite.
4. A duty belt that saves your back
Officers who’d fixed their belt setup wouldn’t shut up about it — in a good way. The Wilder Tactical Hitman belt got credit for solving one officer’s sciatic pain; the MB3 belt was called “the best duty belt I’ve ever worn.” Load-bearing done right is a body-longevity purchase, not a gear flex.
5. Vehicle and property organization
The little fixes that make a shift smoother: a dump pouch / GWS “bum bag” on the headrest so property and prisoner items stop sliding around the car; a jump box / air pump (DeWalt got named) for the inevitable dead battery or flat; rear cage and trunk lights so you can see your arrestee and your gear totes hands-free; and milk crates to corral trunk gear. The Good Dudes BRB tool got multiple shout-outs too.
6. Staying human across a shift
Officers swore by the un-glamorous stuff: a full uniform change kept in the car (“needed it at least twice now”), a mid-shift shower, real hydration (electrolytes, an insulated Yeti bottle rigged with a hose to sip all shift), and comfortable, waterproof footwear — Vans MTE Gore-Tex got a specific nod, and more than one officer summed it up as simply, “police work is all about comfortable footwear.”
The best purchases weren’t gear at all
This is the part worth reading twice. Several of the most experienced officers said the best money they ever spent had nothing to do with the belt:
- Search-and-seizure training. “Any and all” of it. The one that got named by multiple people was Blue to Gold — “stays on play,” “solid.” Knowing the law cold is the purchase that keeps your cases (and you) out of trouble.
- Promotional / study material. One officer called their 2C books and promotional course “the best two grand I ever spent.”
- Term life insurance to supplement the department’s — “peace of mind knowing my family will be provided for.”
- Physical therapy early in your career. Your body is the gear you can’t re-buy.
That last group is the whole point of this list. The gear makes the shift easier; the training and the health decisions make the career survivable.
Frequently asked questions
What gear do police officers say is worth buying?
When we asked officers for the best purchase they’d ever made, the most-repeated answers were a quality earpiece (N-Ear and Sheepdog led), a reliable flashlight (SureFire, Modlite, Olight), Vortex binoculars, and a duty belt that saves your back. Several also said their best ‘purchase’ was training or insurance, not gear.
Is this list sponsored?
No. Nothing here is sponsored or an endorsement. These are products real officers volunteered in the comments of our Instagram roll call. Do your own research and follow your agency’s approved-equipment policy before buying or carrying anything.
Where StreetSense fits. A few officers put knowing the law at the top of their list — and that’s exactly why we built StreetSense: plain-English statutes, source-verified case law, and field guides in your pocket, offline, so the search-and-seizure knowledge is there when you need it. Start the free trial — and follow @streetsense.app for the next roll call.
Not sponsored and not an endorsement. Every product above was named by a working officer in the comments of our Instagram roll call, shared here as peer recommendations only. Links open on the makers’ sites in a new tab; prices, availability, and models change — do your own research, and always follow your agency’s approved-equipment policy before buying or carrying anything.