I'm the ship's photographer for Sea Shepherd in Antarctica. I spend a lot of time on icy decks, in a helicopter, and aboard Zodiacs taking photos of our efforts to stop whalers from slaughtering whales. I must keep my hands free and cameras secure when things get rough. No system I've tried, and I've tried them all, works like the Cotton Carrier G3 Harness. It's a blessing. It's made tough. It works so well. Bravo and thanks to the Cotton designers!

Bought this because of great reviews.

Are people who use this contortionists? The shoulder straps work like any backpack. Pull straps forward to tighten or loosen buckle to relax. Tuck extra strap behind the holder. Easy.

Chest straps are terrible. Why does the right side have the buckle/adjuster at the rear instead of the front? And why isn't there any holder to tuck all the excess strap into? Left side is worse as there are two buckles/adjusters (front & rear). You can tighten by pulling the rear strap forward or the front strap rearward. Why not just have a single buckle/adjuster like the shoulder straps placed at the front for easy access? And again, no holder for excess strap.

I had my wife help me fit this as I couldn't do it alone. After it's adjusted the fit is great and it works great. Took it off and put it on later and it didn't fit anymore. Why? Because the chest straps can easily change position in the buckles when you set it down and become loose when you put it back on. Strap holders would go a long way with this.

Haven't decided if I'm going to return it yet as I want to like this. I just find the chest straps infuriating. Not sure if I'm stupid, got a fake Cotton Carrier (it was from Amazon) or something else.

Awesome awesome product – stood for four hours on a whale watch with a 600 mm lens and a 15 pound kit and felt no fatigue or back pain whatsoever. Everything was easily within reach and quick to access. This thing is a total game changer – wish I’d had it for the last 20 years. Plus Customer service rocked!

I'm very pleased with the purchase. It was certainly easy to put together. The camera slides in and out of the holder in the vest very easily. The vest is quite comfortable. I really like the fact that the weight of the camera is completely evenly distributed and that my hands are free. The two other nice features are the tether strap and the rain protector. By the way, I used the camera on a tripod afterwards with no problem.

Visited Shenandoah NPS in VA and did a couple of hiking trails with steep rocky trails, the harness and camera was solid, very conformable and easy to get to my Nikon for some picture taking. Great buy!