The product I received was not new. I wiped mine with alcohol because I noticed grease stains on the vest. I actually ended up rubbing out some pretty decent scratches and dents with a marker or black marker, exposing the bare metal. Looks like they tried to cover it up with permanent marker and pass it off as new. Some of the plastic buckles were scratched and frayed. The lever works pretty well and stabilizes and holds my 10.5 lb rig well, I have blue springs a few turns of max. I am very disappointed that I received a used product that they wanted to pass off as new but you get what you pay for for something so cheap.