Someone on another thread said something recently about harnesses not working for them so it made me wonder how others carry their binoculars. When I got my first binocular I went with the original neck strap. I I found myself carrying it more often off one shoulder safari style. I quickly switched to a shoulder harness and used that for several years. It was far better than the neck strap, but the problem I had was that the binoculars were not very well protected and got dirty. Plus they kind of still flop around back and forth at times if I had to lean down to pass a low branch or something. While I was out once, I saw a guy with a bino harness/chest pack that had a magnetic flap that opened for easy access to the binoculars. I was like whoa that is so cool. So shortly afterwards I purchased chest pack harness made by Browning. That worked well for the compact binoculars I had at the time but when I upgraded my optics to a larger pair, the new pair no longer fit in the browning pack. So I gave that bino pack and binocular to my wife and it is what she still uses. The upgraded binocular came with a case and I fashioned a makeshift chest pack out of it with a harness and an extra strap. That worked pretty well for a little while, but I felt like I had too many straps around me with that set up. When I could afford it, I got a badlands chest pack. It has offered me easy access, comfortable carrying, protection for the binoculars and it has kept my binoculars clean as well. I have to clean my lenses far less with the chest pack. It has pockets and so I include a lens pen and a cloth for cleaning. I don't get fatigued at all with my chest pack even with all day use. The one draw back of my badlands model is the connectors were such that they were not easily removed from the binoculars, so sharing my binoculars with someone else or putting them on a tripod was not possible. Sharing is important to me because I have young kids who always want to look but don't have their own binoculars yet. I solved this by attaching some small plastic clips to the binocular that lets me easily disconnect them. The other drawback was that when I was wearing a backpack in addition to the chest harness, it feels like I am doubled up on straps. Badlands solved this by adding a binoconnect systems for their backpacks wherein I can clip the harness directly to the shoulder straps of their back pack. So I had to get a badlands backpack to use it. It is a nice idea but I have not used it much in practice. It is sort of inconvenient to have to disconnect your binoculars every time you want to take your backpack off. On the other hand, the times when I did use it, the binoculars counterbalance the backpack and I hardly notice them. I highly recommend a chest pack and especially the badlands models with the magnetic doors. They are just so great. Here is another method I found recently, something they call the pirate method (see picture below). I have a friend who connects the case his binoculars came with to a belt and carries them that way. Anyway, I look forward to your responses. Tell me how you carry your binoculars, what you have tried and what worked the best for you?
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