Blackhawk Omnivore - ONE Holster to Fit them All

The blackhawk omnivore is an excellent universal holster that will work with most railed pistols so long as they are equipped with a Streamlight TLR-1, like the HL model we reviewed last week, or a Surefire X300. Notably the omnivore also comes in a universal option without weapon mounted light although I don't have familiarity with that configuration.Show more

Our holster today is compatible with the streamlight TLR-1. I really like this holster, in fact it is my highest usage holster because it is cross compatible with most pistols out there, and obviously, that comes in handly being a gun and gear review channel.

The holster is inexpensive, oftentimes selling on amazon for around $50. It features level 2 retention, which means that it has two forms of retention. It has passive retention holding the firearm in place via pressure with interchangeable inserts for different size pistols. It also has active retention being equipped with a thumb lever release that grips the TLR-1 flashlight.

Compatibility is excellent. So far, it has been compatible with almost every railed semi automatic pistol I've tried to use it with. The only pistol I've found that it isn't compatible with is the Taurus TX22 competition model, because the competition model mounts the red dot optic to the barrel, but it was clear from the get go that that pistol needed its own custom holster.

The holster comes with two mounting options, a belt loop version with slots for adjustment to fit different size belts up to 2 1/4", and a paddle version for every day OWB carry.

Functionally the holster works great for its intended purpose. The thumb push retention works well and its easy to use once you get the hang of it. Once you're used to it, it shouldn't affect your competition times very much, so its great to have this in the inventory as if you want to shoot a practice match with a random pistol in the collection, this holster allows you to do so.

Regarding safety, blackhawk as a company does have some controversial history. Because of the notoriety of one of Blackhawk's previous holster offerings, the Blackhawk SERPA holster, which features a push button release system from your trigger finger, many people have a stigma against blackhawk holsters. The omnivore does not have that problem being a thumb push design. So as far as safety goes, the Omnivore is definitely a better option.

Notably, this holster was used in many older Tom Clancy video games. So you might think of the Ghosts use it, than its good enough for you.

However, the omnivore does have a bit of space around the trigger guard and you need to be aware of that. You can actually get a finger in there and still pull the trigger depending on your hand size and depending on the weapon. I can actually engage the glock 34 trigger with my index finger still. Youre mileage may vary depending on your hands and your firearm.

It is for this reason that you need to make sure you are training with this holster with dryfire regularly before taking it out to the live fire range to make sure that you are used to the holster and able to operate it safely. Indeed, the holster is safe and it is hard to get it to fire without very intentionally slipping your finger in there, but accidents do happen so safety is ultimately your responsibility.

For duty use, I would go with a different holster, one that is made specifically for your firearm and light combination. I don't think this replaces safariland holsters for Law Enforcement usage, and that isn't the point of this holster. However, if you aren't likely to get into physical altercations while carrying this holster, this one will probably suit your needs just fine.

Another disadvantage is that this holster has its own mounting pattern, meaning that it isn't compatible with popular mounting systems like Safariland's Quick Locking System out of box. Next week, I'm going to show a video of how to adapt this holster to work with the QLS system via a mounting plate from Cross Machine and Tooling. If you own this holster, you're going to want to check that video out to get max capability from the Omnivore.

So with all that said, for training, competition, and general range usage in controlled environments, which is generally speaking my context, this holster is great. I would definitely recommend you consider the Blackhawk Omnivore if you're a collector looking for a holster solution that will work across a variety of pistols.