Ridge Ghost
Active member
I have used FHF, Kuiu and Marsupial. Marsupial is my favorite- I really like the whole layout, and the direction that the lid opens. The Outdoor Vision looks nice, too.
binocular harness/pouch
- Thread starter BrentD
- Start date
jblenker
New member
I've been following this post as well and appreciate everyone's input. It's been very helpful in my decision on what to buy for my next harness.
bls8433
New member
One more input: I recently spent several weeks investigating all binocular harnesses for my own purposes. I only have direct experience with a harness-only and my priorities were:
*protect my binoculars
*one handed use(without looking) as I would have a bow/rifle in my other hand
* low as possible profile
* easy to put on
However with no stores close that carried these I relied on online forums, video evaluations and watching hunting videos of some in use. If it was online, I found it. So an extensive search of many many opinions, reviews, and watching them in use. Price was a minimal factor.
I ended up choosing the Marsupial and just returned from a week of elk hunting so I can offer my review. I am very pleased with my selection and it met all my expectations. I used my ranging Leica's more often because they were so easy to access.
Pro's:
No need to look at what I was doing to access binoculars.
Opening to the front made for easy access and I liked the magnet that holds the flap even further out of the way.
New cell phone pocket was nice as I used OnX maps a lot to navigate.
Quiet: There are those who say magnets can be loud. With light gloves on, I closed the flap without myself hearing it, I felt the magnets engage though which I like for a tactile feedback.
Small side pocket for wind indicator and zippered front for elk calls. I didn't desire more added bulk.
I quickly almost forgot I had this on.
Cons:
Magnets would interfere with a compass if I used one.
Cell phone pocket was a little hard to insure my phone went in with one hand-generally a two handed operation to re insert.
Overall very happy with my selection and even though I didn't use other models, I made a informed decision by wading through way too much information.
Lastly, Jim the owner provided quick and responses to my questions without sales 'push' and then quickly shipped my unit so I would have it for this hunt.
*protect my binoculars
*one handed use(without looking) as I would have a bow/rifle in my other hand
* low as possible profile
* easy to put on
However with no stores close that carried these I relied on online forums, video evaluations and watching hunting videos of some in use. If it was online, I found it. So an extensive search of many many opinions, reviews, and watching them in use. Price was a minimal factor.
I ended up choosing the Marsupial and just returned from a week of elk hunting so I can offer my review. I am very pleased with my selection and it met all my expectations. I used my ranging Leica's more often because they were so easy to access.
Pro's:
No need to look at what I was doing to access binoculars.
Opening to the front made for easy access and I liked the magnet that holds the flap even further out of the way.
New cell phone pocket was nice as I used OnX maps a lot to navigate.
Quiet: There are those who say magnets can be loud. With light gloves on, I closed the flap without myself hearing it, I felt the magnets engage though which I like for a tactile feedback.
Small side pocket for wind indicator and zippered front for elk calls. I didn't desire more added bulk.
I quickly almost forgot I had this on.
Cons:
Magnets would interfere with a compass if I used one.
Cell phone pocket was a little hard to insure my phone went in with one hand-generally a two handed operation to re insert.
Overall very happy with my selection and even though I didn't use other models, I made a informed decision by wading through way too much information.
Lastly, Jim the owner provided quick and responses to my questions without sales 'push' and then quickly shipped my unit so I would have it for this hunt.
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
As I mentioned before I currently use a marsupial but ran across deals on a Eberlestock Nosegunner and a Badlands bino X to compare head to head.
Here are all 3.
As you can see the Eberlestock and Badlands are huge compared to the medium Marsupial. The marsupial fits my maven b-2's perfectly with almost no wiggle room. They also fit in the eberlestock with a little room to spare. The lid of the eberlestock is a pain and only has one position, the whole thing being open, you can't just flip the top over to access the binos. This one also had no pocket on the front,, but does have 2 on the sides. Unfortunately those pockets are nearly useless as the way they are sewn and the support prevents anything more than about 3/4 of an inch thick from fitting, even my GPS would not fit. Neither would the rangefinder. Might work for a wind checker but its shape is not going to fit much. IT does have a pocket on the back designed for a gun, which is works great for. Had they put a zipper on the bottom of that pocket it would be so much more useful as then you could put your phone in there, keep it warm by your body. But they missed that. Overall it's nice, works ok, matches my other eberlestock stuff, but I would never use it.
The Badlands is huge would probably hold a pair of 56 or even 60 mm binoculars as there is a lot of space, but unfortunately the way they designed the wrap around on the lid my 9x45's were a struggle to get in and out as they go caught on every thing from the front objectives to the focus knob. Immediate disqualification as it was extremely annoying trying to get the bnos in and out. There were also a couple of mesh pockets inside the bino pouch but I doubt you would want to put much in there as it would also get caught every time you put the binos back in, but it's tempting as there is so much room in there and the binos bounce around. There are 2 positions for the lid, just the first section which folds over and holds with magnets or all the way open. Would be much better if you could open it half way and have magnets hold that position for most glassing situations. On the bright side it had the best handles for opening the top pouch, it opens the correct way (not backwards like the FHF)Now for the bad, inspite of being huge this has no storage capability. No pocket on front. There is a pocket on the back side, but for some reason it is sewn all the way around except the top corners so you can't use it. The people at Badlands must be complete idiots as this had so many problems I can't see how anyone would like it and it simply lacks features that any hunter would expect. I dont' see how this one got past R&D without someone saying "maybe we should put a pocket on the front and make that back pocket usable for things like phones" and obviously nobody tried using this in the field or the issue with getting binos back in it would have been noticed immediately. Sad that a bunch of guys got paid to develop such a terrible product that had so much potential.
After all that I still think the Marspial is the best hands down for me. I wish I had the new model with a pouch on the back for a phone and one more rangefinder case for my rangefinder as I use the one I have for my GPS. IT fits my binos, is not bulky, easy to use as I do not even look when I put by binos up, the lid flips out of the way when in use. I Also like this it's not bulky like the others and the harness is easy to wear under a backpack.
Final score on a scale of 1-10
Old Style Marsupial = 8
Eberlestock = 5
Badlands = 2
I was planning to keep one of them for my wife but in the end they just aren't going to work for us, If anyone want's the Eberlestock or Badlands I'll take $75 for each including shipping.
Here are all 3.
As you can see the Eberlestock and Badlands are huge compared to the medium Marsupial. The marsupial fits my maven b-2's perfectly with almost no wiggle room. They also fit in the eberlestock with a little room to spare. The lid of the eberlestock is a pain and only has one position, the whole thing being open, you can't just flip the top over to access the binos. This one also had no pocket on the front,, but does have 2 on the sides. Unfortunately those pockets are nearly useless as the way they are sewn and the support prevents anything more than about 3/4 of an inch thick from fitting, even my GPS would not fit. Neither would the rangefinder. Might work for a wind checker but its shape is not going to fit much. IT does have a pocket on the back designed for a gun, which is works great for. Had they put a zipper on the bottom of that pocket it would be so much more useful as then you could put your phone in there, keep it warm by your body. But they missed that. Overall it's nice, works ok, matches my other eberlestock stuff, but I would never use it.
The Badlands is huge would probably hold a pair of 56 or even 60 mm binoculars as there is a lot of space, but unfortunately the way they designed the wrap around on the lid my 9x45's were a struggle to get in and out as they go caught on every thing from the front objectives to the focus knob. Immediate disqualification as it was extremely annoying trying to get the bnos in and out. There were also a couple of mesh pockets inside the bino pouch but I doubt you would want to put much in there as it would also get caught every time you put the binos back in, but it's tempting as there is so much room in there and the binos bounce around. There are 2 positions for the lid, just the first section which folds over and holds with magnets or all the way open. Would be much better if you could open it half way and have magnets hold that position for most glassing situations. On the bright side it had the best handles for opening the top pouch, it opens the correct way (not backwards like the FHF)Now for the bad, inspite of being huge this has no storage capability. No pocket on front. There is a pocket on the back side, but for some reason it is sewn all the way around except the top corners so you can't use it. The people at Badlands must be complete idiots as this had so many problems I can't see how anyone would like it and it simply lacks features that any hunter would expect. I dont' see how this one got past R&D without someone saying "maybe we should put a pocket on the front and make that back pocket usable for things like phones" and obviously nobody tried using this in the field or the issue with getting binos back in it would have been noticed immediately. Sad that a bunch of guys got paid to develop such a terrible product that had so much potential.
After all that I still think the Marspial is the best hands down for me. I wish I had the new model with a pouch on the back for a phone and one more rangefinder case for my rangefinder as I use the one I have for my GPS. IT fits my binos, is not bulky, easy to use as I do not even look when I put by binos up, the lid flips out of the way when in use. I Also like this it's not bulky like the others and the harness is easy to wear under a backpack.
Final score on a scale of 1-10
Old Style Marsupial = 8
Eberlestock = 5
Badlands = 2
I was planning to keep one of them for my wife but in the end they just aren't going to work for us, If anyone want's the Eberlestock or Badlands I'll take $75 for each including shipping.
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
Makes you wonder how they go about that as if you gave a few of those to hunters to try for a weekend they could tell you exactly what worked and what didn't. Amazing that it took until 2018 for one to realize they should put a pouch for a phone on the back, and that's only 1 manufacturer. Duh
I'm with you thought, it would be quite easy to make improvements to many of these.
BrentD
Well-known member
PrairieHunter,
Your review is solid gold. I wish I could have seen it before I bought the system I did, but I would have ended up buying what I bought. I just got lucky.
Your review is solid gold. I wish I could have seen it before I bought the system I did, but I would have ended up buying what I bought. I just got lucky.
bls8433
New member
I am surprised with this as well. While my priorities may be a little different, I expect they would be very similar to others. With that, I am even more surprised that the Marsupial is not more popular.
I use the kuiu. I hate stuff on my chest but with expensive binos I needed better protection than my waist pouch. Fits a lens pen, lens cloth and extra bullets if I’m hunting. My preference would still be to have nothing on my body. Also any harness gets in the way when you’re belly crawling or shooting. Wish my waist pouch was as good of protection
BrentD
Well-known member
wyoboypt
Surprisingly, i did NOT find the Marsupial harness to get in the way of my shooting. Not even in Schuetzen offhand position. That surprised me a lot.
I don't like being strapped into the harness, but it beats the alternatives of which I have tried most if not all of them.
Surprisingly, i did NOT find the Marsupial harness to get in the way of my shooting. Not even in Schuetzen offhand position. That surprised me a lot.
I don't like being strapped into the harness, but it beats the alternatives of which I have tried most if not all of them.
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
Figured I should include the other 2 harnesses my family uses.
The Allen (black harness) is 100% the best value there is for bino harnesses. They sell for around $10 including shipping. They open the correct way but do use a loop and hook to fasten shut. They are super simple and have one interesting feature is the upper straps stay attached to the binos when viewing and the lower straps hold the harness to your chest. Most harnesses keep all 4 straps to hold the harness and have small secondary straps for the binos to attach to. If you are on a budget this is the one for you. And it actually works pretty good. I would still choose it over the Badlands Bino X. My wife uses this one.
The other is a 15 year old blacks creek bino holder that has the best storage of all these units. I don't know if they still sell these as they are old school with a zipper on top but they certainly do the job and have more though out storage than the others. My daughter uses this one.
I decide to look at their website and they have a new harness that looks pretty nice.
http://blacks-creek.com/raptor/
They finally figured it out.
THE MOST INNOVATIVE MULTI-PURPOSE OPTIC SYSTEM ON THE MARKET. CARRIES YOUR BINOS, SIDE ARM, RANGE FINDER, PHONE OR GPS, AND LICENSE AND IN ONE COMPACT CASE WITH AN AMAZING HARNESS SYSTEM THAT WON'T CRAWL!
I may have to track one of those down and check it out.
The Allen (black harness) is 100% the best value there is for bino harnesses. They sell for around $10 including shipping. They open the correct way but do use a loop and hook to fasten shut. They are super simple and have one interesting feature is the upper straps stay attached to the binos when viewing and the lower straps hold the harness to your chest. Most harnesses keep all 4 straps to hold the harness and have small secondary straps for the binos to attach to. If you are on a budget this is the one for you. And it actually works pretty good. I would still choose it over the Badlands Bino X. My wife uses this one.
The other is a 15 year old blacks creek bino holder that has the best storage of all these units. I don't know if they still sell these as they are old school with a zipper on top but they certainly do the job and have more though out storage than the others. My daughter uses this one.
I decide to look at their website and they have a new harness that looks pretty nice.
http://blacks-creek.com/raptor/
They finally figured it out.
THE MOST INNOVATIVE MULTI-PURPOSE OPTIC SYSTEM ON THE MARKET. CARRIES YOUR BINOS, SIDE ARM, RANGE FINDER, PHONE OR GPS, AND LICENSE AND IN ONE COMPACT CASE WITH AN AMAZING HARNESS SYSTEM THAT WON'T CRAWL!
I may have to track one of those down and check it out.
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Prariehunter's collection is pretty impressive.
I have a different model Badlands.
Both sides have holding straps that, for sake of the picture, I placed a grunt/bleat deer call and a hoochi cow call on the other.
This houses my 10x50 binoculars.
This presents the additional slotted locations to hold misc items. My tags, a few spare rounds wrapped w/ electrical tape, meds. The top thin pouch holds my Google Pixel 2 XL.
This pic is of the mesh water bladder pouch on the backside.
I have a different model Badlands.
Both sides have holding straps that, for sake of the picture, I placed a grunt/bleat deer call and a hoochi cow call on the other.
This houses my 10x50 binoculars.
This presents the additional slotted locations to hold misc items. My tags, a few spare rounds wrapped w/ electrical tape, meds. The top thin pouch holds my Google Pixel 2 XL.
This pic is of the mesh water bladder pouch on the backside.
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
I like that model Badlands much better ^^^. Nice tight fit and some storage. Would be nice if that back part was a storage pouch of some sort as that is a great spot for a phone to keep the battery warm.
Does the water bladder pouch on the harness ever give you any grief under you pack?
The collection is getting trimmed back down to 3 and oddly the most expensive ones are getting sold.
Does the water bladder pouch on the harness ever give you any grief under you pack?
The collection is getting trimmed back down to 3 and oddly the most expensive ones are getting sold.
This year was the first I tried out the mesh bladder harness. It worked well though I don't think it was really too practical. Basically, I was always a bit paranoid about sitting at the base of a tree and leaning against such.
I'm pretty sure it would not work with a backpack however, for a day hunt or maybe one night, I typically use a shoulder strap hip pack (Kelty Elkhorn) and it worked out great. I thought it would interfere with the back strap intersection of the Kelty though it cleared. Nice to have the water bladder from a bino harness!
My Badlands Summit and 2800 packs have water bladders within so no need to use the bino water pouch. I actually think it would serve a better purpose to hold an some hunter orange to flag my back.
In the end though, I like to camouflage in while glassing by leaning my back against downed log(s) or against a tree trunk. Thinking how easily it might puncture or tear while doing such... not sure how much use it has for my activity.
Outside of that, I really like the harness for my bino, mouth reeds, spare rounds, meds, electrical tape, hunting /fishing license/tags and really valuable is the easily accessible phone pouch. The magnet is nice and silent.
Kelty elkhorn
I'm pretty sure it would not work with a backpack however, for a day hunt or maybe one night, I typically use a shoulder strap hip pack (Kelty Elkhorn) and it worked out great. I thought it would interfere with the back strap intersection of the Kelty though it cleared. Nice to have the water bladder from a bino harness!
My Badlands Summit and 2800 packs have water bladders within so no need to use the bino water pouch. I actually think it would serve a better purpose to hold an some hunter orange to flag my back.
In the end though, I like to camouflage in while glassing by leaning my back against downed log(s) or against a tree trunk. Thinking how easily it might puncture or tear while doing such... not sure how much use it has for my activity.
Outside of that, I really like the harness for my bino, mouth reeds, spare rounds, meds, electrical tape, hunting /fishing license/tags and really valuable is the easily accessible phone pouch. The magnet is nice and silent.
Kelty elkhorn
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N
ntodwild
Guest
My chest harness setup.
My Current setup that work really well. I am a fan of the FHF gear. In the end it's all about preference and your personal choice. Ive had a few different setups over the years. Having a chest rig is just one more way to organize your gear. I would highly recommend one.
My Current setup that work really well. I am a fan of the FHF gear. In the end it's all about preference and your personal choice. Ive had a few different setups over the years. Having a chest rig is just one more way to organize your gear. I would highly recommend one.
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Threedognight
Well-known member
After somehow scratching the lens on my binoculars I ordered up the Marsupial harness. Thx for all the info.
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