Man this thing is light and comfortable, even with stuff all hanging off of it. I was going to go with the 1.5" buckle at first but everyone was saying the 1" is really the best here, so I went with that one. And I see why now. The lock up is so great that the buckle kinda works more as a belly pillar. I prefer the male end to be the old school adjustable method because I just look at a cookie and I go up a pant size. But,if you're a person that pretty much always wears a size 34 I could see how the "fire and forget method" could be a little better.