Sitka Mountain Optics Harness

[Josh Boyd]

Sitka Gear is set to launch their new bino harness (named Mountain Optics Harness) on May 4th. I've had the good fortune to use it for the past 6 months and will provide a couple of my thoughts on it and how I configure it for my personal preferences.
@Tony Trietch has had one for a while too and will be providing a written review on it very soon and will be available on Sitka's website May 4th.

***Edit 4/27/2020*** Tony's review, Sitka Mountain Optics Harness is live!

This harness has the ability to use pouches one either side of the main optic pouch via molle straps. I stored a range finder in one and a Kestrel wind meter in the other for my rifle hunts. In archery season I clipped a range finder to the molle webbing and stored calls in one of the pouches. Its very easy to customize. Here are a few images snapped last fall. Thanks to Jordan Gill Photography for allowing me to share.






That's it for now, but I'll add more thoughts to this thread soon. Also I imagine Tony will chime in at some point and offer his experiences with the harness.
-Josh

 

[Tony Trietch]

My review is written and will be up soon.

***Edit 4/27/2020*** Sitka Mountain Optics Harness Review is live.

As Josh mentioned this harness is easily and quickly customizable to however you want to run it, there was a lot of thought and testing in this product.

 

[MidGAHunter]

I love my Sitka gear (and I have a LOT of it). That being said, based on the pictures alone I do not see myself giving up my Outdoor Vision harness for this one. I much prefer the harness open away from me. I do look forward to the final reviews though as well as more pictures. I'm trying to keep an open mind but opening towards me makes that tough...

 

[JonC]

I've tried them all and never been super happy with any of them. Sitka Bino Bivy (zippers? come on), Marsupial (didn't like the open sides, I kept getting debris in there), Kuiu (didn't like the shoulder strap interface where they terminated on the binos on the old one), Outdoor Vision...

I was a longtime Outdoor Vision user, and it was almost my perfect harness. The features were good, the design is very clean, and the construction and materials are second-to-none (Schoeller Tweave, etc.). I used military equipment made by the same guys in there other ventures and have been friends with them for years.

I had two gripes: The poly stiffener is loud as hell below freezing when you open the flap, and the magnet wasn't strong enough to keep the whole harness from slapping when I'm on my horse.

Sitka was kind enough to give me a Mountain Optics Harness last year, and it's become by go-to. I like the "chest rig" functionality the most. I almost switched to a small military harness I used for parachute stuff in the Army and had a bino pouch made so I could have some modularity, and the Mountain Optics Harness solved that for me. I like the ability to put a rangefinder, calls, chap-stik, wind check, license/tags, GPS, etc. all in the same rig as my binos rather than rig whatever pouches onto a small bino harness or dumping crap into my pockets. I like all of the stuff I constantly access on top of my layers, rather than have to take off or unzip something to get to an item. I'm toying with rigging a holster onto one side for bear country.

This one checks all my blocks. Very happy with it so far after a fair amount of use. Scouting season will fire up here soon as the snow melts and I'll get a lot more miles on it.

 

[Donk]

I’ve been waiting for this to drop.

Is there anyway to integrate a holster like the FHF?

How does the closure work on the range finder pouches?

If all this is covered in the write up I can wait to read it there, just curious.
Thank you

 

[JonC]

Probably, I am going to try to rig one up with a PALS compatible 5.56 mag pouch.

There is a small molded hook on the rear of the pouch and an elastic loop with a pull tab holds the lid closed.

 

[ChrisAU]

Would like to see a weight and a video of the opening, looks like it locks open out of the way somehow?

 

[JonC]

Would like to see a weight and a video of the opening, looks like it locks open out of the way somehow?

About the only way to keep it open is to tuck the flap

 

[Justin Crossley]

Tony's review just went live guys. This looks like a really well thought out bino harness!

Sitka Mountain Optics Harness Review

 

[Boxerboxer]

How quiet is the fabric compared to the AGC harnesses?

Are any of the smaller pouches included in the $149 price?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[Tony Trietch]

About the only way to keep it open is to tuck the flap
View attachment 175842
View attachment 175843

The test model you had JonC had bad magnets. The first batch of test harnesses all had bad magnets. You can feel them in the shoulder strap but the don't work. This was fixed in the production model. The lid sticks to the shoulder harness when opened and stays there.

How quiet is the fabric compared to the AGC harnesses?

Are any of the smaller pouches included in the $149 price?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

It is much softer and more quiet than AGC exterior material and the side pouches are included.

 

[MidGAHunter]

I like what I'm seeing so far in these reviews. I will definitely have to check this harness out in person, although it will be difficult to unseat my Outdoor Vision. I'm assuming that Swaro EL 8.5/10 x 42 size binos would fit, correct? Thanks for the reviews!

 

[Trial153]

Tony what holds the lid open and out of the way? Check that i see it now.

 

[Roebuck]

Could anybody provide the inner dimensions (height x width x depth) of the main and side compartments please?

TIA

Tom

 

[Tony Trietch]

I like what I'm seeing so far in these reviews. I will definitely have to check this harness out in person, although it will be difficult to unseat my Outdoor Vision. I'm assuming that Swaro EL 8.5/10 x 42 size binos would fit, correct? Thanks for the reviews!

Perfect fit with standard 10/12x42

Tony what holds the lid open and out of the way? Check that i see it now.

Small magnets in lid and opposing magnets in shoulder strap.

Could anybody provide the inner dimensions (height x width x depth) of the main and side compartments please?

TIA

Tom

7.5"-8" tall, 6" wide, 3" deep.

 

[Tony Trietch]

Could anybody provide the inner dimensions (height x width x depth) of the main and side compartments please?

TIA

Tom

Just noticed you asked for side pouches too, they are 6" tall, 3.25" wide and 1.75" deep

 

[Josh Boyd]

For many, the upward opening top has been identified as a feature they can't deal with. Up to the introduction of this harness, all I've ever used is downward opening styles. It took 2 days of use to erase years worth of habit of accessing my binos with that motion and find this style a non-issue.

What this harness really does for me is solve the problem of keeping a rangefinder, a wind meter quickly accessible in rifle season, and have the ability to pare it down in archery season and clip a rangefinder to the molle loops. This shed season I dropped both pockets and added bear spray to the right side. I really like how versatile it is.

 

[ChrisAU]

For many, the upward opening top has been identified as a feature they can't deal with. Up to the introduction of this harness, all I've ever used is downward opening styles. It took 2 days of use to erase years worth of habit of accessing my binos with that motion and find this style a non-issue.

What this harness really does for me is solve the problem of keeping a rangefinder, a wind meter quickly accessible in rifle season, and have the ability to pare it down in archery season and clip a rangefinder to the molle loops. This shed season I dropped both pockets and added bear spray to the right side. I really like how versatile it is.

View attachment 176305
View attachment 176306

So the pockets forward open, that’s nice.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Opens the wrong way for me.

 

[bojangles808]

looks great except for those wings. probably make things too hot and sweaty for hot weather/early season archery