bought the most inexpensive Level IIIA vest with side protection I could find and that was at Gall's, part of the Lite line, the panels were actually made by Safariland. I wear my vest at the range, the only place I know of where loaded guns have been pointed at me. I have had the vest for over a year. With shipping and the extra carrier, it cost me a little over $400. Knowing what I know now, I should have gotten the most lightweight vest I could find. That would be from Second Chance and the model would have cost me about $1500. That being said, it would have been less than 1/2 as thick and only weigh about 1/3 of what mine weighs.
Somebody suggest Level IIA of protection. I would suggest that the IIA is too low. In fact, it is the second lowest you can get. Somebody else suggested getting a vest that will stop whatever round YOU are carrying. While you may shoot yourself and that would suck, don't count on other people who want to shoot you will do so with guns comparable or less that what you carry. I would get the best coverage you can afford and can carry. This is similar to the rules of guns where you should carry the largest caliber you can shoot well, is reliable, and that you can afford. Here is a brief overview of ratings:
Level 1 protects against .22 lr and 38 Special
Level 2a protects against low velocity .357 mag and 9 mm
Level 2 protects against higher velocity .357 mag, 9mm
Level 3a protects against 44 mag and submachine gun 9 mm
Level 3 protects against high powered rifle such as 7.62 fmj, 5.56 fmj, and .223 Remington
Level 4 protects against armor piercing ammo because the vests include ceramic or metal plates.
Level IIIA protects against pretty much any handgun caliber and is the highest level of easily buyable vest for civilians. Some companies, if they offer higher protection, tend to restrict its distribution to primarily LEOs. As I recall, Second Chance is one of those companies.
As for Rich Davis of Second Chance shooting himself 200 times while wearing one of his vests, I am not impressed. It can be done with his vests or any other brands. Davis also provides additional protection to himself by using materials such as phone books under the vest. While the vest will preclude penetration by bullets, the phone book prevents secondary injury that can occur when wearing vests and being shot. That is, blunt force trauma. If you read the Second Chance "Saves" book and see the pictures of officers, usually without a shirt on and holding a vest to the side, you will see that they have some pretty substantial bruising. Such blunt force trauma can render the wearer incapacitated and if in the right place, can stop the heart, collapse lungs, rupture a spleen, etc. In some cases, officers never knew they were shot, but after calm was restored, noticed they were in pain. In other cases, officers have been completely incapacitated and unconscious after being shot, their fellow officers fearing the downed officer was dead. Of course they weren't dead, but they would have been without the vest. My point to all this is that while Rich has shot himself a bunch of times, he is ONLY demonstrating the ballistic penetration protection of the vests, not the blunt force trauma aspect. Blunt force trauma can be very serious and can kill.
Do buy the second carrier. It will be worth it.