I posted the following in another thread regarding a question about the #1 Professional/Avenger style...
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/shield-and-j-frame-owb-holsters.839605/
They work well for a lot of folks, but I look at them as the "jack of all trades, master of none" holsters.
I'll use the Lobo line-up as an example because they cover the three OWB styles I'll reference.
Their Combat Classic (
http://lobogunleather.com/owb-outside-the-waist-band/combat-classic/ ) is the old style OWB holster. It has a single tunnel loop on the back side of the holster. It has a mouth that stays open for easy access for draw and reholstering, is straight drop and allows for easily grasping the grip, but concealment isn't very good as the grip tends to stick out a bit and the straight drop doesn't help concealment.
To improve concealment, the Nelson #1 Professional/Avenger style was developed. The Lobo Enhanced Avenger is an example of this style (
http://lobogunleather.com/owb-outside-the-waist-band/enhanced-avenger/ ). It retained much of the easy access of the Combat Classic style, but to improve concealment, a trailing loop was added to rotate the grip closer to the body. For concealment, this is an improvement over the Combat Classic, but many are still straight drop, though there are many canted version (admittedly not that big a deal with little guns), and the leading edge of the holster still sticks out a bit.
Next came the pancake design as represented by the Enhanced Pancake (
http://lobogunleather.com/owb-outside-the-waist-band/enhanced-pancake/ ). It kept the trailing loop of the #1 Professional/Avenger, but added the leading loop to bring the holster even closer to the body, and with the classic pancake it increased retention just by the simple shape of the design. The pancake downside is they often close up when the gun is drawn sometimes making reholstering difficult.
In a nutshell (limited to my opinion of course)
- the Combat Classic is a great range/competition holster where concealment isn't needed, but lots of drawing and reholstering is required.
- the #1 Professional/Avenger keeps some ease of access features, but adds some concealment.
- the pancake gives the best concealment, but gives up some access.