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Bino harness: Marsupial vs. Kuiu Pro vs. FHF vs_____?

L

littlefish

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2020
Messages
59
Location
Hudson Valley, NY
I just ordered a new pair of binos and I want to upgrade my harness from the Cabelas system I've been using.

Originally I always thought I wanted an FHF setup, but after looking at the others I think I'm going to keep looking. I don't like how it opens from the front and it looks like getting the binos back in with one hand could be a challenge. I think I've narrowed it down to one of the Marsupial options, or the Kuiu Pro. Does anyone have any experience with either of these they could share? Anything else I should consider?
 
Love the marsupial system. I've ordered lots from them. Enclosed bino pack, several sets of pack straps to hook to packs, rangefinder pouch,holsters, phone pouch, radio pouch, joey pack, and other small stuff. I like the opening out feature instead of opening towards you. Lots of ways to customize.
 
Edhead35 said:
Love the marsupial system. I've ordered lots from them. Enclosed bino pack, several sets of pack straps to hook to packs, rangefinder pouch,holsters, phone pouch, radio pouch, joey pack, and other small stuff. I like the opening out feature instead of opening towards you. Lots of ways to customize.
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Thanks. I am reading mostly good things about the system. I would definitely go with the enclosed, that's another thing I didn't realize I didn't like about the FHF until I looked at the other options. Do you have the version with the magnets or the elastic cord? I've heard some people say the magnets interfere with their compass. I run a small pin on compass on my pack shoulder straps so I can watch my bearing without having to take out a handheld compass. Also, how does it do from a saddle? Is it too big/bulky to fit in between the bridge nicely?
 
littlefish said:
Thanks. I am reading mostly good things about the system. I would definitely go with the enclosed, that's another thing I didn't realize I didn't like about the FHF until I looked at the other options. Do you have the version with the magnets or the elastic cord? I've heard some people say the magnets interfere with their compass. I run a small pin on compass on my pack shoulder straps so I can watch my bearing without having to take out a handheld compass. Also, how does it do from a saddle? Is it too big/bulky to fit in between the bridge nicely?
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I am a heavy guy so I can't wear the whole system in the saddle. I bought an extra set of bino tethers and attach to my suspenders, so i remove binos and hang from suspenders in saddle and I put rangefinder in my side bag when I take my tether out.
 
I have the kuiu pro and love that thing. My only other expense was the vortex one that came free with binos. This is night and day different.
 
I have a Horn Hunters, which I love cause it opens out instead of flipping up into your face and came with a range finder pouch. But I was starting to find it in the way recently, so I just switched to a Rick Young. It keeps everything out of the way pretty good.

I did use my Horn Hunters harness for also keeping some extra stuff in, so now I just keep those things in my pack. I still plan on using the HH for out west hunts and turkey hunting since I don't need to worry about stuff getting in the way then.
 
After a similar internal debate, I got an FHF pro-m and I’m really pleased, but I think it’s hard to go wrong with any of these options. The FHF front flap is effortlessly one handed with a little practice and a non-issue for me. It seems like it would be annoying, but it’s second nature and totally by feel for me at least
 
Marsupial is the best I've ever used. I couldn't imagine using anything other than the forward open design
 
Marsupial gets a lot of votes. If you don’t need it to carry a bunch of stuff I highly recommend the Rick Young Outdoors harness. I think the most functional option for saddle hunting. Pair mine with the neoprene cover.
 
littlefish said:
Thanks. I am reading mostly good things about the system. I would definitely go with the enclosed, that's another thing I didn't realize I didn't like about the FHF until I looked at the other options. Do you have the version with the magnets or the elastic cord? I've heard some people say the magnets interfere with their compass. I run a small pin on compass on my pack shoulder straps so I can watch my bearing without having to take out a handheld compass. Also, how does it do from a saddle? Is it too big/bulky to fit in between the bridge nicely?
Click to expand...
littlefish said:
Thanks. I am reading mostly good things about the system. I would definitely go with the enclosed, that's another thing I didn't realize I didn't like about the FHF until I looked at the other options. Do you have the version with the magnets or the elastic cord? I've heard some people say the magnets interfere with their compass. I run a small pin on compass on my pack shoulder straps so I can watch my bearing without having to take out a handheld compass. Also, how does it do from a saddle? Is it too big/bulky to fit in between the bridge nicely?
Click to expand...
I do the exact same thing, pin on ball compass on my backpack straps, and I have the Marsupial Gear with magnets, and to be honest I haven’t used that harness much and zero idea if it will screw up my compass I wondered the exact same thing, I also have an AGC harness cub max or something, I like them both, the way the Marsupial opens is superior, it also is super quiet when pulling your binos out, my AGC is noisier and a much larger pack, tonight I used my AGC and was on a hot meadow and doing a ton of glassing and came to the conclusion I’m going back to the Marsupial for whitetail hunts, I like my AGC also and if I ever go elk hunting again it’s going with me but for me the Marsupial and the way it opens is going to be my covered whitetail bino harness from here on out, I always carry a second silvia compass anyways so I will check the compass thing soon.
 
I’ve used the RY w a cover as I am a minimalist but went to a marsupial thjs yr after playing around with the cheap vortex one. I love this thing. Have a rangefinder pouch, milkweed pouch. As my buddy joked it’s become a straight guys Fanny pack.


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Thanks everyone. I ended up ordering the Marsupial no-mag harness. Wanted the full enclosure and don't want the magnets to interfere with my compass. I watched the video of how it operates and it looks fine, plus I figure when I'm in the saddle unless it's raining I'll be leaving the lid open anyway so at that point how it opens isn't a huge deal.

It should be here next week, along with the new binos I ordered.
 
I tried a bunch of the high end models and ended up with the badlands as my favorite.
 
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