seeking chest harness recommendation (1 Viewer)

[Razorback]

Hi all, my wife has a pair of Vortex Razor UHD bins that she really likes, however they are hefty and on her Vortex chest harness the weight of the bins stretches the harness straps and the bins end up hanging lower than she would prefer. She realized this in a real way when we attended the Biggest Week in American Birding up in Ohio recently. Does anybody know of a chest harness that is less stretchy and would keep her bins in place better? I'm considering ordering her a Nyack harness? Thank you!

 

[mwhogue]

Hi all, my wife has a pair of Vortex Razor UHD bins that she really likes, however they are hefty and on her Vortex chest harness the weight of the bins stretches the harness straps and the bins end up hanging lower than she would prefer. She realized this in a real way when we attended the Biggest Week in American Birding up in Ohio recently. Does anybody know of a chest harness that is less stretchy and would keep her bins in place better? I'm considering ordering her a Nyack harness? Thank you!

I regularly use the Nyack harness with larger binoculars and it works very well eliminating the too much stretch problem you mentioned. There are also some models where the shoulder webbing Is not elastic which solve this problem but they are better for lighter binoculars. Let us know how it goes.

Mike

 

[PhilR.]

Op/tech makes an entire system of harnesses and straps, including ones that do not stretch and that can hold a great amount of weight. I use them for heavy binoculars, and also my Canon dslr w/large telephoto which is too much weight to hang from my neck. They all use the same connectors, so you can easily switch your harness to more than one model. They have a website.....

 

[GrampaTom]

For a very long time I have used cross chest/bandolier style carry binocs, with whatever strap the maker supplied. Seemed fine to me. I confess though I'd been thinking of something perhaps more comfortable, more stable AND more protective of my binos. This latter being maybe the more important. There was a thread several months back where someone setup a survey asking how members carried. Somehow, that inspired me to act and I ordered a Kuiu chest pack system. Youtube videos of it looked good. The "to front" opening and closing top lid, with simple pull loop, and the enclosed sides, promised a bit of ease getting binos in and out, along with better protection from the elements as I hike about.

There seems a problem, not anticipated by any of the conversations here or promotional videos. Looking at the Nyack website it seems potentially the same issue may exist with those. These various harnesses and packs appear (in marketing literature), to be very well designed to offer lots of weight distribution away from the neck. As well they all seem to position binos up on chest, close to face, for fast deployment. The problem I experience is that the whole thing depends on strap adjustment, thats tight around chest/toros. Even so, the binos in pack, as you hike, want to sag to the front. the lower bottom edge of the whole rides against the lower chest, while the top outer edge sags outward away from chest. Part of this is do to chest size, and conformation. I get it. It would seem the solution is to shorten the straps falling over shoulders to the front to position the harness/bino higher on the chest. Problem is that depends on the strapping across the back to be stable, stay in place. It doesnt. When shortening frontal straps all looks good at home. You go walk about, breathe, move, stretch and the back harness rides up allowing the binos to droop down again. If Im doing something wrong, help please? It seems though a better, more stable system really requires some sort of attachment down to a belt loop or belt at the back.

 

[PhilR.]

If Im doing something wrong, help please? It seems though a better, more stable system really requires some sort of attachment down to a belt loop or belt at the back.

I doubt that you are doing anything wrong. I think that the easiest thing to do would be to attach a leash from the bottom part of the back of your harness to the top of the back of your pants (or belt, if wearing one - I will just assume you are wearing pants....). Something like a hat leash, which has clips at the ends of a short string, and that clips to the back of your hat and the back of your collar. You would just have to make sure that the string/cable/strap you use does not stretch.

 

[chill6x6]

I hate to sound like a broken record....BUT.... Try a Rick Young Ultra-light harness. It will prob cost you $30 to your house. It kinda holds the binocular against your chest and you just lift the binocular to your eyes when ready. No flopping and it's super easily adjust for length. It IS elastic cord. I've used it for years with every binocular from 8X25s to 10X56s. I was skeptical when I bought it. I've tried so many different straps and harnesses and I didn't like any of them. For me it's the single best binocular accessory I've every bought.

BTW....I was at Magee Marsh too! Did you get to see the Kirtland's warbler?

 

[Razorback]

I hate to sound like a broken record....BUT.... Try a Rick Young Ultra-light harness. It will prob cost you $30 to your house. It kinda holds the binocular against your chest and you just lift the binocular to your eyes when ready. No flopping and it's super easily adjust for length. It IS elastic cord. I've used it for years with every binocular from 8X25s to 10X56s. I was skeptical when I bought it. I've tried so many different straps and harnesses and I didn't like any of them. For me it's the single best binocular accessory I've every bought.

BTW....I was at Magee Marsh too! Did you get to see the Kirtland's warbler?

I ordered her a Nyack, but if that doesn’t work out I’ll claim that and get her a Rick Young. We heard from a few others at BWIAB that RY’s are good.

We did see the Kirtland’s over on the estuary trail west of the Magee Boardwalk. I don’t live up there anymore but I grew up an hour from Magee Marsh. That place is amazing!

 

[mwhogue]

For a very long time I have used cross chest/bandolier style carry binocs, with whatever strap the maker supplied. Seemed fine to me. I confess though I'd been thinking of something perhaps more comfortable, more stable AND more protective of my binos. This latter being maybe the more important. There was a thread several months back where someone setup a survey asking how members carried. Somehow, that inspired me to act and I ordered a Kuiu chest pack system. Youtube videos of it looked good. The "to front" opening and closing top lid, with simple pull loop, and the enclosed sides, promised a bit of ease getting binos in and out, along with better protection from the elements as I hike about.

There seems a problem, not anticipated by any of the conversations here or promotional videos. Looking at the Nyack website it seems potentially the same issue may exist with those. These various harnesses and packs appear (in marketing literature), to be very well designed to offer lots of weight distribution away from the neck. As well they all seem to position binos up on chest, close to face, for fast deployment. The problem I experience is that the whole thing depends on strap adjustment, thats tight around chest/toros. Even so, the binos in pack, as you hike, want to sag to the front. the lower bottom edge of the whole rides against the lower chest, while the top outer edge sags outward away from chest. Part of this is do to chest size, and conformation. I get it. It would seem the solution is to shorten the straps falling over shoulders to the front to position the harness/bino higher on the chest. Problem is that depends on the strapping across the back to be stable, stay in place. It doesnt. When shortening frontal straps all looks good at home. You go walk about, breathe, move, stretch and the back harness rides up allowing the binos to droop down again. If Im doing something wrong, help please? It seems though a better, more stable system really requires some sort of attachment down to a belt loop or belt at the back.

GT,

Yes even with a good and well adjusted harness, in actual use there is still some sag. As PhilR mentions in post #5 above a "leash" or tether attached from shoulder strap to pants or belt helps. Or if the harness torso strap wraps all the way around the body a leash from shoulder to torso strap helps as well. The Leica adventure strap included a non elastic torso strap which is attached to the shoulder part for a somewhat similar solution which helps a bit. It wasn't a big hit apparently but I like mine.

Mike

 

[GrampaTom]

I hate to sound like a broken record....BUT.... Try a Rick Young Ultra-light harness. It will prob cost you $30 to your house. It kinda holds the binocular against your chest and you just lift the binocular to your eyes when ready. No flopping and it's super easily adjust for length. It IS elastic cord. I've used it for years with every binocular from 8X25s to 10X56s. I was skeptical when I bought it. I've tried so many different straps and harnesses and I didn't like any of them. For me it's the single best binocular accessory I've every bought.

BTW....I was at Magee Marsh too! Did you get to see the Kirtland's warbler?

You don't Chuck. I went pouch for the protection potential, hoping to minimize lens cleaning. Not such a big bennie after all. Do you experience the sag/tip I report with the chest pouch?

 

[Ignatius]

I get along fine with the BinoBros made by Oregon Packworks. Otherwise I use AGC and FHF products. All depending on which binos and what I am doing.

 

[chill6x6]

You don't Chuck. I went pouch for the protection potential, hoping to minimize lens cleaning. Not such a big bennie after all. Do you experience the sag/tip I report with the chest pouch?

So let's say you hook up a 56mm binocular to your RYUL harness. The harness IS elastic cord. So a big 56mm is long and will lower and stretch the cord more than say your 25mm binocular did. There is only one adjustment on the harness and that's all that necessary. For binoculars of different weight or more or less clothing(the two main reasons to adjust), just reach around and tighten or loosen the adjustment which is reachable just below your neck. There is no tipping, ever. The binocular is held in the perfect place exactly where you want it.

 

[Ratal]

So let's say you hook up a 56mm binocular to your RYUL harness. The harness IS elastic cord. So a big 56mm is long to hand lower and stretch the cord more than say you 25mm binocular did. There is only one adjustment on the harness and that's all that necessary. For binoculars of different weight or more or less clothing(the two main reasons to adjust), just reach around and tighten or loosen the adjustment which is reachable just below your neck. There is no tipping, ever. The binocular is held in the perfect place exactly where you want it.

I had a RY harness shipped to me after Chill6x6 recommended it in a previous thread. Stellar piece of kit and in the desert, travelling as light weight as possible? An absolute godsend.

 

[Foss]

Hi all, my wife has a pair of Vortex Razor UHD bins that she really likes, however they are hefty and on her Vortex chest harness the weight of the bins stretches the harness straps and the bins end up hanging lower than she would prefer. She realized this in a real way when we attended the Biggest Week in American Birding up in Ohio recently. Does anybody know of a chest harness that is less stretchy and would keep her bins in place better? I'm considering ordering her a Nyack harness? Thank you!

I use Vortex harnesses and have noticed they they're fine at first but tend to stretch out over time. The Zeiss harness is less stretchy. It's in the $30 range.

 

[mwhogue]

I use Vortex harnesses and have noticed they they're fine at first but tend to stretch out over time. The Zeiss harness is less stretchy. It's in the $30 range.

My experience with a Vortex harness is the same as yours. For heavier bins the Zeiss harness does a little better. Next step up is the Crooked Horn Magnum and then the Nyak. Highly dependent on anatomy and careful experimenting with what may seem at first slight adjustments to the fit. So YMMV.

Mike

 

[Razorback]

I gave my wife the Nyack harness this morning and she is very happy with it. I’m impressed with the quality of it. Thanks for the input everybody!

 

[Foss]

Good work Razorback. Does it seem less stretchy than the Vortex?

 

[Razorback]

Hey there Foss- yes it seems a lot less stretchy than the vortex harness. The bins despite being heavy rest at a much more agreeable position with the Nyack.