Finally got the kiddos to bed and opened up my Marsupial box. After adjusting the straps and dropping in my 8x32 ELs, here is my take:
1) This is a very well made product. Every stitch is tight. All buckets are quality. The foliage color is consistent from the webbing to the buckets to the codura. I have a few items from Hill People Gear, and I consider HPG to be some of the highest quality, USA made gear. What Marsupial is offering is an HPG equivalent. Well done. Very good quality control.
2) If you want light, tight, just right - this is your bino harness. It does not look like a chest rig capable of carrying 3 AR mags, a radio, maps, etc. It has 1 job - to hold and protect your binos without adding weight and bulk. And it does that job well. With 2 small side pouches, a chest facing pouch, and a forward facing zipper pouch, there isn't much room to store "stuff", and thats what I wanted.
3) The chest facing pouch is a nice spot to slip the iPhone. I didn't find the front facing zipper pouch to be roomy enough to hold a phone. This is the iPhone XS. Maybe that front zipper pocket will break in some, but as I currently see it - thats a place to hold an ID, license, some orange flagging, pair of ear plugs - something small and flat-ish.
4) I've seen the thread where people are ditching the chest buckles for wave lock G-hooks. I'm not 100% sure yet if I'm sold on that customization. I pulled those upper buckles all the way snug - right up to the tab where the safety straps connect. With no slack in the line, I experienced no twisting. More testing will tell the tale, but right now I'm sticking with the factory configuration.
5) Safety tethers....jury is still out. Not sure if I'll use these at all. It would be nice if the upper portion of the tether was adjustable. As they currently sit with my set-up, the tethers are too long. When I drop my ELs down, they nearly hang below the pouch. Part of this is me having the harness snugged up to get the pouch high and tight. I'll be considering ways to alter the tethers if I choose to use them. My gut is to leave them behind, have one less set of lines running across my chest.
Thats about all I can say for the first 15 min with the pouch. Its always nice to feel like you got your monies worth. I feel like I did, and supported an American company along the way.
As a side note - I splurged and bought myself one of their belts. This will result in a few of my other webbing belts finding the trash can. This is a great, comfortable belt and I really like the G-hook design.