AR-395a Harness Men's

I bought this harness based off of two aspects initially. 1) Versatility 2) Compact size when folded up into the provided bag. I use this harness for rock climbing and mountaineering so I needed a harness that could pack very small when travelling long distances but also a harness that would perform well in the gym. When the harness is properly folded up, it is basically the size of a water bottle (or smaller) and is extremely light while including plenty of gear loops and adjustable leg and waist straps. The buckles feel very solid and the excess adjustable straps tuck away very nicely. Although the harness does not contain padding, the comfort while free hanging is extremely surprising. Combined with my Arc'teryx Alpha AR pants, the harness is hardly noticeable while hiking. Yes the harness is a bit pricey but I don't have any negative comments about this harness because it has over exceeded my expectations. It's light, comfortable, durable, and versatile. What more could you ask for in a harness!

Having been excited to get hold of one for a long time, since the scoops came out in the summer. I am pleasantly pleased yet quietly dubious about this harness. As a purely ice and alpine climber I loved the x350a, but was devastated when the absolutely abysmal i340a came out as its replacement. Not wanting to suffer with a god awful ornithological-diarrhoea-coloured version of the LEAF 350, I waited with my tatty old faithful for this. Whilst this can essentially be a wider swami version of the old x350 there are still some flaws that appear inherent. I took a size large to my 33" waist, to get a good leg fit (same as I had with the x350). I'll moan first: Why still are the ice clipper loops at the front Arc'teryx? I value my thighs and the positioning is completely unusable for screws, these would have been much better at the back on either side of the 5th loop instead, where a couple of 22's could hang quite happily prior to their use and not fill up space on the usable ice clippers. The other minor gripe is the positioning of the gear loops relative to the tail of the waist adjustment. Not only does it require threading through an ice clipper, if you so have one there it also interferes with the gear loops, requiring a faff to thread or adjust if you are lazy and don't de-rack first. Unlike the x350 the internals are not mesh and are much less padded (in favour of a wider belt). This works fine, its not sweaty but a wider waist leaves your muffin tops open for a good reminding pinch, should you so desire to fall awkwardly on this wearing not so much. No problems with thicker layers. Alas, it must just be me, I guess I have phat thighs but the leg loops do come in small. Idea to the wizards in Arc'teryx, let us buy the waist belt and leg loops in separate sizes yea. As with the size I have I can barely tighten the leg loops, making the retainers redundant and extra weight (I only say this cause I know how much of a fan your designers are at making everything uberlight or whatever). Finally laminated in elastic on the leg loops, I can hear it starting to un-stick at a marginal pull, so be wary of snagging the rear elastic, I may get a tailor to reinforce this cause I am sceptical about the durability here. Now some good things: Durability wise, burly is tried tested and proven, I love it, it worked well on the x350, and I have no qualms about its durability here. Comfort is fantastic, all day wear is perfectly ok and a couple of hanging belays proved its worth for long routes (I actually preferred to hang cause it was very comfortable) The rear webbing loop is a much needed upgrade, fantastic for stashing the random odds'n'sods that are rarely pulled on a climb without filling up the gear loops... Knife, tat, etc you know what I mean. On the gear loops, they are bigger! Which is super, almost too big but I'm pretty happy with that! Also the return to 'proper' ice clipper slots is fantastic, probably the only bad thing about the i340 but I wouldn't know cause I avoided it like a plague purely for this reason (someone has some serious explaining to do for that brainfart). Other than that its a harness, not much to go wrong really. Try it and see if you like it. I do overall. Also the poseidon blue is a wicked colour.