Marsupial vs Kuiu bino harness?

[rye_a]

I’m planning to replace an ancient badlands binocular harness and have narrowed my choices to the Marsupial enclosed and the Kuiu Pro bino harness. I will be using this for a set of Leica Noctivid 10x42 glasses, and plan to attach a rangefinder pouch and lanyard as well as a pouch to the bottom to carry a few items like an energy bar, a Life Straw, and a fire starting kit for when I drop my ruck while stalking elk.

The Marsupial is considerably more expensive for this set up (including rangefinder and bottom pouch and a tether) at $215 compared to Kuiu at $151, and while the Marsupial gets rave reviews there seem to be a lot of hunters that really like the Kuiu. I have also looked at the Mystery Ranch harness, but for my use it seems a little less refined than the other two options.

Which would you choose? Is the Marsupial worth 45% more than the Kuiu? Would you choose something completely different?

 

[emfavro]

I mean…I’d stick with FHF over either of those options. Not helpful, I know! That said, the marsupial is the slimmest option, so I’d go with that.

 

[emfavro]

Also..where are you seeing that price for the marsupial?? I’m seeing it for $130 direct from their website.


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[rye_a]

Also..where are you seeing that price for the marsupial?? I’m seeing it for $130 direct from their website.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That includes the rangefinder case, tether, and bottom pouch

 

[emfavro]

That includes the rangefinder case, tether, and bottom pouch

Gotcha! My bad! I’d still lean toward the slimmer option


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[nobody]

My opinion is: it depends.

I run the Kuiu XL, have since last year. Purchased it when I got my Razor UHD 10x50's, and those big binos need a large harness. At the time, the only 2 I could find that opened away from me (a definite MUST for one handed use) were the Marsupial and the Kuiu. I actually purchased the Marsupial, and liked it until the Magnet screwed with my phone and caused me to walk into a new waypoint in a new area in circles in the dark for an hour. I sold the marsupial after that to a coworker, told him about my issues, and he didn't care. He actually didn't fight it with his Samsung (I run an iPhone), so it was a non-issue for him.

My plan was to get the elastic marsupial, but they were out of stock and I had a Kuiu coupon code and it was in stock and ready to ship. So I ordered the Kuiu. But if I ran anything but the UHD's or a similar shaped/sized bino (Maven B.2's, for example), I wouldn't run it. But I swear the XL Kuiu harness was designed SPECIFICALLY to fit those large, abbe-koenig prism based binos. IMO, there's no other harness to even entertain for them. But your Leica's aren't large OR strange shaped, so even the large Kuiu will be too big. The shim system is chincy and cheap. But like I said, it was made for the big binos so I don't run the spacers, and it's totally perfect!

If I was you, I would find the Marsupial no-mag harness. Also, not sure where in the heck you're seeing either of those harnesses for those prices, but the Kuiu is $110 and the Marsupial no-mag is $130. May wanna double check your maths...

But hey, I'm just some random guy on the internet...

 

[Hnthrdr]

My opinion is: it depends.

I run the Kuiu XL, have since last year. Purchased it when I got my Razor UHD 10x50's, and those big binos need a large harness. At the time, the only 2 I could find that opened away from me (a definite MUST for one handed use) were the Marsupial and the Kuiu. I actually purchased the Marsupial, and liked it until the Magnet screwed with my phone and caused me to walk into a new waypoint in a new area in circles in the dark for an hour. I sold the marsupial after that to a coworker, told him about my issues, and he didn't care. He actually didn't fight it with his Samsung (I run an iPhone), so it was a non-issue for him.

My plan was to get the elastic marsupial, but they were out of stock and I had a Kuiu coupon code and it was in stock and ready to ship. So I ordered the Kuiu. But if I ran anything but the UHD's or a similar shaped/sized bino (Maven B.2's, for example), I wouldn't run it. But I swear the XL Kuiu harness was designed SPECIFICALLY to fit those large, abbe-koenig prism based binos. IMO, there's no other harness to even entertain for them. But your Leica's aren't large OR strange shaped, so even the large Kuiu will be too big. The shim system is chincy and cheap. But like I said, it was made for the big binos so I don't run the spacers, and it's totally perfect!

If I was you, I would find the Marsupial no-mag harness. Also, not sure where in the heck you're seeing either of those harnesses for those prices, but the Kuiu is $110 and the Marsupial no-mag is $130. May wanna double check your maths...

But hey, I'm just some random guy on the internet...

Were you holding your phone close to the bino case? Or were you leaving your phone in the case that caused the malfunctioning issue? Just wondering I recently purchased a marsupial myself

 

[nobody]

Were you holding your phone close to the bino case? Or were you leaving your phone in the case that caused the malfunctioning issue? Just wondering I recently purchased a marsupial myself

Phone in my left front pants pocket, pulled out of my pocket to check periodically. When I realized what was going on, I had to hold my phone at arm's length at minimum and I could literally watch as my OnX compass rotated away from the harness and towards North, but it wouldn't completely stop affecting it until I handed my phone to my wife. She ended up navigating us in after I realized what was going on.

It really sucks because I LOVED the harness. It was so well made, an obvious upgrade in quality and materials over the Kuiu. But the magnets just killed it for me, there was no way I could ignore what was happening. That's why I recommend their no-mag harness, because it's all the same build quality and fabrics and such but no magnets. My plan is to upgrade to the Marsupial eventually, but other things are taking priority this year, so I'll keep running the Kuiu.

 

[TheTone]

I had a kuiu for less than a day before I decided it was going back. The front zipper pocket is tiny and with the way the case is made it won’t fit much of anything. Additionally the one I got had a faulty zipper so you could only open that pocket about 1/4 of the way. I also didn’t care for how rigid the case was.

I’m sticking with my fhf for another fall. I really want to try the marsupial but the magnet interference talk kinda scares me

 

[grantonean]

I’ve used both and prefer the Marsupial. I think it’s worth the price difference over the long haul.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Phone in my left front pants pocket, pulled out of my pocket to check periodically. When I realized what was going on, I had to hold my phone at arm's length at minimum and I could literally watch as my OnX compass rotated away from the harness and towards North, but it wouldn't completely stop affecting it until I handed my phone to my wife. She ended up navigating us in after I realized what was going on.

It really sucks because I LOVED the harness. It was so well made, an obvious upgrade in quality and materials over the Kuiu. But the magnets just killed it for me, there was no way I could ignore what was happening. That's why I recommend their no-mag harness, because it's all the same build quality and fabrics and such but no magnets. My plan is to upgrade to the Marsupial eventually, but other things are taking priority this year, so I'll keep running the Kuiu.

Thanks for the heads up, we will see if It doesn’t mess me up too much. But I’m excited to get my hands on the new harness

 

[GunsAreFun]

I have had both. Got rid of the Marsupial because I didn’t want magnets anymore and I don’t like the design of their magnet free unit.

Just getting to learn the KUIU, but it seems like it will do the job. It’s a bit less smooth to open, but that is expected given the switch from magnets.

Marsupial is more versatile if you wanted to also carry a pistol or bear spray so that’s something to keep in mind.

KUIU is a couple ounces lighter if you’re an extreme ounce counter.

 

[RADunfee]

Anyone tried the Stone Glacier or Mystery Ranch new ones? Both seem to copy the Marsupial. I'm a Marsupial guy though.

 

[TheViking]

I've used a few over the years - FHF, Kuiu (original version), then upgraded to Kuiu latest version. The Kuiu was hard to beat until I played with a Marsupial...it wins hands down for me.

 

[BBob]

Anyone tried the Stone Glacier

I tried one out for a bit and liked it. I'll probably buy one. I like the non-magnetic pull forward cover like the Kuiu. It's a fair bit lighter than Kuiu, has thumb cutouts on the rear panel that helps a lot grabbing and pulling the binoculars out of the pouch.

 

[Honyock]

I've been happy with the Kuiu Pro. If I need a storage pocket, I attach the bottom pouch.

 

[Venom One]

I've had both - Kuiu Pro and the Marsupial Non-Mag fully enclosed.

The Kuiu isn't a bad harness - it's comfortable and does the job. But, there's a few shortcomings that make it less than the best choice IMO.
1. The front pocket is useless (as mentioned above).
2. It doesn't have a rear pocket (not a huge issue, but the Marsupial has one)
3. The lid doesn't OPEN/CLOSE easily - it's finicky (watch Kuiu's own video and you'll see what I mean). This is my biggest gripe with the Kuiu.

The Marsupial is just made better.
1. The lid functionality is MONEY - it OPENS/CLOSES very easily, yet securely - no fiddling, no tugging, no BS. I was amazed at how perfectly they nailed the lid operation.
2. The front pocket is usable - small and limited, but more useable than Kuiu's (you'd be lucky to get a credit card in it.)
3. Back pocket is available
4. The quality is readily apparent


Any time I'm using mouth reeds, the FHF is my choice. The little tabs on the front are priceless to me for tucking multiple reeds into quickly and repeatedly. I'll give up the forward-opening lid to have those little tabs. If you don't care about the FHF tabs - the Marsupial wins easily IMO.

I didn't get the Marsupial RF pouch though as I'm not a fan of the way the lid opens. The Kuiu RF pouch was the winner for me.

 

[WildBoose]

Marsupial gets my vote. I'm a large man, called them up and they made me a larger harness. I have been nothing but satisfied with it thus far.

 

[Toofarsouth]

I love my Kuiu but I will be purchasing a Marsupial in hopes that I actually like having the firearm attached to the harness vs having the weight of the firearm loosening the waist belt on my pack every 30 minutes or so.

 

[arlenmyles]

Id go Marsupial or T&K. USA made everyday. The other harnesses could be better and cheaper and I would still choose to put my money into the hands of people that create jobs here and bring manufacturing back to the states.