Ok, I'll go first!
At the moment I have a Chinese rear wire belt. It has a 'buckle lock' ie not padlock. It had a secondary shield but as the rear wire is attached to the secondary shield, it was silly to have a padlock there. So with Tobbes advice, I removed that second padlock, cut the front plate so it's really a custom fit and replaced silly screws with permanent rivets....Thanks for helping keep me secure Tobbe
I quickly found that the full liner in the crotch plate was NOT a good idea. One day after a shower, liquid squelched out that liner and dribbled down my leg!! Was it wee, shower water?! I ripped that liner out straight away. I must say, the belt minus the crotch plate liner is ok. I can run, excercise etc.
I have had this particular belt since last nov, so 5 months now. But it's only been full time since jan 1st. The wire is really tight on my belt. And for I would say, the first 6 weeks ( continuos wear), I could only sleep 5 hrs before the wire hurt me. It's strange, the wire doesn't hurt when you stand but lying down, trying to get into a drivers seat of a car. Oh it gets you!!
So for me, 5 hrs sleep max for many weeks. But now it's great. No pain, discomfort ever. Heck I even didn't think about my belt going through the security scanner?!
With regards to tips to keep clean and no sores.....
Well I use a water squirty bottle after every pee. Dry the outside of the belt with tissue, wipe inside my belt with a baby wipe. Then dry inside my belt with a 'dried baby wipe' .
Baby wipes are very strong and absorbent. So dried wipes( ie pull them out the pack and dry) are fantastic!
After shower, I use the dried baby wipes to drag inside my hip band too....
I find that I get very few sores etc. If I do have any problem, it is the digs into my skin from the buckle lock. So if I feel I'm going to get hurt,from exercise etc, I push some folded tissue, napkin etc between me and the buckle.
Oh, and anyone taking my advice....NO flushing of baby wipes down the toilet. You may get away with a a few times but haha, as I say, they will come back and bite you on the bum