Stone Glacier Sentinel Bino Harness Experience?

[lifeisgoodsteve]

Hi All,

Did anyone run the Sentinel harness for a full season last year? Impressions, likes, dislikes?

Thx

s

 

[atmat]

It’s the best system I’ve tried.

The only thing I don’t love is that sometimes the little plastic cable tightener on the bottom can rub. I push it out of the way and it seems to be fine, so not a massive deal.

 

[ahansel]

I ran it and like it a lot. Had a Marsupial before. The only con of the Sentinel system is the velcro attach points on both sides of the main pouch. Sometimes I don't want to run a side pocket, so when you don't you have an exposed velcro attachment point. But most of the time I have a rangefinder on one side and the side pocket on the other (which is large enough to hold my cell phone and other small gear).

 

[Team4LongGun]

Steve-I did. hands down nothing comes close. Super light, the material is excellent, quiet and true one hand opening.

 

[mariodpu17]

I’m considering buying and switching from my badlands harness. My only concern is the velcro noise

 

[Bluumoon]

I started w a Kuiu pro, then enclosed Marsupial, now SG

Kuiu wasn’t comfortable for me by the end of the day, but worked ok, no where to put extra magazines

Marsupial magnets sent me blundering through a blowdown hell hole by messing w OnX, never again will I have magnets.

I used the Stone Glacier all last summer and through the fall seasons, it is excellent. The wings keep accessory add ons high and tight, zero issue w Velcro noice. The magazine sleeve keeps extra mag and kestrel exactly where I need them. It carries weight well, in fact it is easy to make it too heavy.

I have two issues w the SG. First, the Velcro on the body side of the harness has pointy tips right on my nips. I have taped over these w foot tape and it is more or less a non issue now.

Second issue is I use an arca device that secures to the bell of my binoculars, this is a problem. The arca piece prevents the binoculars from being lifted straight out of the harness, I have to twist the binos to get it out from under the rear piece that adjusts the flap height. I could likely solve this by using a thin piece of plastic sewed over the height adjustment, or just find a different Arca adapter

 

[ahansel]

I’m considering buying and switching from my badlands harness. My only concern is the velcro noise

The Velcro makes no noise once you've attached accessories. Very quiet.

 

[mariodpu17]

The Velcro makes no noise once you've attached accessories. Very quiet.

Thanks for the insight on this, that was really my only concern

 

[Speaks]

I would order one right now if they came in blaze. Instead likely will be stuck with a FOB

 

[WDO]

Not to hijack the thread, but has anyone had experience with holster attachments or mods with the SG sentinel?

I'm in the same boat and want to go with the SG, but on my previous bino harness I made a holster that went behind the Alaska guide bino harness. It worked well, but the velcro wings appear like that wouldn't be an option with the Sentinel.

 

[white swan]

I use the one from Eberlestock, it's great. I especially like that the main flap opens forward and stays open

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

My favorite harness out of the ones I’ve tried by a lot. I’ve tried marsupial, fhf, kifaru, and SG gen 1.

 

[Marshfly]

Not to hijack the thread, but has anyone had experience with holster attachments or mods with the SG sentinel?

I'm in the same boat and want to go with the SG, but on my previous bino harness I made a holster that went behind the Alaska guide bino harness. It worked well, but the velcro wings appear like that wouldn't be an option with the Sentinel.

Call Venandi holsters. I bet they have a solution.

 

[IBen]

Almost all the promotional photos of the sentinel show the pack should straps rubbing against or overlapping with the wings/side pockets unless it is worn really low. Can any of you confirm or deny this?

 

[Kenny Hart]

Almost all the promotional photos of the sentinel show the pack should straps rubbing against or overlapping with the wings/side pockets unless it is worn really low. Can any of you confirm or deny this?

It definitely does, but I didn't notice it until the morning of the 6th day of my backpack hunt...which ended up being the last day, so I cannot say whether it can become painful. I wear mine as high as I can adjust it, and have an Exo K4. Wearing for a full day or two has been a non-issue.

What's nice is that the buckles are relatively small. Many of the other companies have gone to the extended side buckle setup for attachments as well, but they use the giant duraflex buckles that would definitely be more noticeable.

The expanding attachment loops for those buckles to the side wings is also nice, as it expands with your chest as you breathe and move. I found that I had to wear other harnesses looser than desired because my lats would quickly become sore from the static webbing. I had the same experience years ago with the Rick Young and Sitka minimalist/bikini(?)-style bino harnesses versus every one I tried. Both provided all-day comfort due to the stretchy material that wraps around your torso, with the Sitka being superior with the static webbing over the shoulders that didn't allow the binos to bounce...similar to this setup.

The biggest downside is that the whole harness just seems to wear rather quickly. Mine hasn't fallen apart or had stitching come undone, but it's essentially hardshell/softshell layered material and gets pretty dingy looking. The bungee-type areas also wear how you'd expect, with the rubber runners wearing out and poking through the straps...similar to a well-worn pair of boxers or pants with a stretchy waistband.

I bought mine used, so I have no clue of the timeline. I can tell you that my Marsupial looked almost new after years of use. It's just big, heavy, cand I didn't really like the attachments as much.

Another personal gripe that some may consider a plus is that the harness opens too far IMO. The pocket actually expands forward slightly, and if you bend over to pick something up off the ground with the harness open, your binos WILL fall out. So don't forget to connect the tether. After testing, I'm actually going to sew the corner pleats flat so this no longer occurs, as I can still easily get my binos in/out.

 

[MakAttack]

I started w a Kuiu pro, then enclosed Marsupial, now SG

Kuiu wasn’t comfortable for me by the end of the day, but worked ok, no where to put extra magazines

Marsupial magnets sent me blundering through a blowdown hell hole by messing w OnX, never again will I have magnets.

I used the Stone Glacier all last summer and through the fall seasons, it is excellent. The wings keep accessory add ons high and tight, zero issue w Velcro noice. The magazine sleeve keeps extra mag and kestrel exactly where I need them. It carries weight well, in fact it is easy to make it too heavy.

I have two issues w the SG. First, the Velcro on the body side of the harness has pointy tips right on my nips. I have taped over these w foot tape and it is more or less a non issue now.

Second issue is I use an arca device that secures to the bell of my binoculars, this is a problem. The arca piece prevents the binoculars from being lifted straight out of the harness, I have to twist the binos to get it out from under the rear piece that adjusts the flap height. I could likely solve this by using a thin piece of plastic sewed over the height adjustment, or just find a different Arca adapter

I trimmed the hook portion of the Velcro flaps to have a big rounded shape that doesn't stick out past the softer loop side of the Velcro at any point. It took care of the pokey issue for me.

 

[MakAttack]

I like to run the harness higher up on my chest and not down below my pecs, which for me can't be achieved with the factory strap length, so I cut the factory stitching out of the center shoulder blade connection, removed each piece of webbing and trimmed both pieces, and re-sewed the thing. Fits way better.