For years I've been using a Lowepro Toploader camera bag for my binocular case. Simply replace the neck strap with a chest harness. The small Toploader bag is very well made, well padded, rugged, has lots of space and pockets, it's waterproof and inexpensive. BTW great upload Mindful Hunter.
Excellent review. Well done. I prefer the agc primarily because I like to have that little bit of extra gear along if and when I ditch my pack. In mine I carry; calls, wind checker, Inreach, small battery and charging cords for both phone and Inreach, fire starter kit, hunting license, headband, neck gaiter.
Incredibly good review. As are your others. I thought for sure I wanted a Marsupial, watched this and realized the AGC was actually everything I was looking for all in one, with no accessories, cheaper, and better. Just picked up the hybrid which is like this but the sides are elastic mesh opposed to zips. This thing is solid. Great call.
A new thing that has come up is with the RF binos that project pins (Swaro El Range TA and Leica Geovid Pro). The magnets inside bino harnesses can throw off the internal compass and would need to be re-calibrated often. Just a thought as this a new issue.
@@MindfulHunter i found out the hard way with my Geovid Pros and couldnt figure out why It wouldnt work consistently and learned about this. I have both an Outdoor vision and Alaska guide Ravus and both have magnets but will probably resort to which one like best and not use that feature on the binos; still not sure though. Thanks for your time and reviews!
Very good review. I've always used marsupial but recently bought a used pair of NL's that came with an AGC Ravus. The Ravus doesn't have all the pockets that the cub does but it is modular and they can be added. I agree that the marsupial is more streamlined, has less storage and is less of a 'system' and is purely a bino harness. One thing that I do really like about the marsupial is the front opening lid that attaches to the bottom in the open position leaving the front upper half of the glasses exposed. I don't like the rearward opening lid on the cub at all. The Ravus has a front opening magnetic lid but it just sort of hangs there. It doesn't secure down out of the way. I'm thinking I might just hang on to both. Maybe use the marsupial for warm weather archery and the ACG for colder weather hunting since it accommodates more layers. Anyway great review as always.
Great review Jay! Lots of work put in. I’ve used the marsupial harness for a couple of years now and love it. Only complaint is that it’s a little tight for my Mavens.
I wonder, since both harnesses have MOLLE strips on the bottom to attach the accesories if you could attach the bear spray holder or the pistol holster from Marsupial on the Alaska Guide Creations bino pouch?
Excellent review...One thing you didn't cover is the magnet interference. As far as compasses and phones with GPS compasses. Any thoughts? thank you in advance....
Definitely an issue with the Marsupial, I think if you hold those devices out at arms length, as is proper compass technique anyways, you'll be fine. But held close to your chest will definitely produce interference.
Solid work as always Jay. I have an Alaska guide creations myself, this year I carried my Sony a7c with tamron 28-200 on the side of the bino harness using a peak design capture clip. It worked awesome, and for me much preferred than on the shoulder strap.
Great review. The Marsupial has a new no-magnet bino harness that I just received. The problem is that - for some reason - they didn't simultaneously design a no-magnet rangefinder pouch, which really limits the use of the no-magnet bino harness. Finding another brand of rangefinder pouch that will attach in an ideal way to the Marsupial isn't easy (as you know, it's intended to be attached to the loop that holds the female buckle to the bino harness). For this reason I'm now ordering the AGC as it provides an all-in-one solution with a built in rangefinder pocket on the front. In your experience, is the front pocket on most models (e.g., Kodiak Cub that I'm looking at) large enough to hold most rangefinders? I'm new to big game hunting and haven't yet purchased a rangefinder.
The marsupials have that stupid zipper on the front like what can you even stick in there lol. The other ones look cool but who wants a backpack on there chest. just buy Kuiu harness enough said.great review though 🤙🏼
Thanks for taking the time and making such a thorough comparison. I'm just now getting into western hunting in the states, and these 2 harnesses are what I've converged on. Awesome stuff!
Great review. I'm 6'5" 265 lbs and the AGC (Alaska Guide Creations) is the only one that adjusts to me, the others I've used have needed extensions. The AGC is the best I've found after using the Badlands, Kuiu, Marsupial and Eberlestock over the years. What I didn't like about the Marsupial and others is that when you open them up to get out the binoculars the lid stays open to freely collect snow and rain, the AGC allows gravity to keep it closed. The AGC is compact but I still have my Swarovski Binos, Sig Rangefinder, Garmin GPS, Spartan bipod, extra rifle ammo, lightweight knife, tags/licenses, Streamlight, Wind meter, cell phone, batteries all in the chest pack. Alongside to the right I have the AGC holster and on the left I have their rangefinder small pouch I use for an extra pistol mag and a Boefang VHS radio. On the bottom of the main pack I have a soft sided Camelback collapsible insulated water bottle held on using the molle webbing. I have packed the AGC and others in on hunts with a pretty substantial backpack, so for me the AGC means if I see something from where I am using my spotting scope and day pack, decide to put a lightweight fast hunt on it, I can leave my backpack behind and go after it and still have the essentials to make a short or long range shot, deal with the animal, get it tagged and then get back to my pack even in the dark.
Really appreciate the quality of the review. I’m curious if the buckles from the marsupial gear buckle into the AGC. I have been running the AGC for a long time now and I’m still pleased with it. However, I have the same complaint about it working it’s way up. I would love to purchase the marsupial shoulder strap and use it with the AGC. Anyone with both that can test this I would greatly appreciate it
The marsupial rangefinder pouch and bino harness lids will fold all the way down and there is a magnet down there to hold them open. Just thought that may help as that was one of your complaints with the rangefinder pouch especially. Great review and insight as always!
My slight issue with magnetic closures is, does anyone use a compass any more? Something I would check if I was being old school, does the bag effect readings? I had a disagrement with my brother on the magnetic bearing to an object as we got different reading with a hand bearing compass. Untill I asked him what material his glasses frames were. (steel will effect a compass close up)
@@frosty3693 you’re 100% right. As an engineer, I was trained and still do use my compass with a completely outstretched arm so that it’s far away from my chest as physically possible because there will always be some type of metal or magnets in the gear, you are wearing as an engineer. and I’ve watched lots of people use compasses, who don’t adhere to this practice, and they hold it kind of down in front of their chest right below their face, and look down into the compass, as opposed to straight out in a line of sight at the compass. I was working with someone and we were getting conflicting readings all day until I realized she was wearing those flip top wall mitts that had magnets on the back to keep them open so she was literally holding onto her compass, with a magnet in her hand lol.
@@MindfulHunter I also thought of another issue. The magnets might effect credit/debit and hotel key cards if you, for some reason put them in your harness or laid the bag on top of your wallet if it was on the seat seat of your truck/car. Not really against magnets just have to remember they are there.
Hell ya Jay great detailed review, proud to be a member! I ran marsupial this season and for me it worked great but definitely can see points made on both sides in your review and that's how you know you did your job bringing facts forward and keeping an open mind on your end! definitely could see both systems working great for different applications 👌
A bit late to the party! Great review Jay. Thank you. This is exactly what I have found being highly critical of my own gear was the AGC just lends its self better to my style of hunting. 2 things I would recommend you try that I have found to improve my whole bino system. The first is using the Marsupial shoulder straps on the AGC bag. This really cuts down on the wider and bulkier straps. Not a be all end all but I found I liked it more. The second is (might not be feasible since you run outdoorsmans) the Aziak bino adapter for Arca heads. Don’t have to worry about losing or storing your post. 👍🏻
Great tips. I recently decided I need to swap all my optics over to arca and I actually have the Aziak components already, glad to see they're being so well received.
@@MindfulHunter I like the Really Right Stuff Cinch. Works very well when I swap out my binos once you get the right “slack” in the strap. Placing inside a bigger/larger bino harness is not an issue. A smaller pack will have fitment issues..
Easily the best review out there on these two products. To include the functionality and real world application/issues, is just EXACTLY what we all want. I never knew the AGC was a brushed tricot material, and while I do like that, I know over time it’s gunna start to get whispy and fuzzy. (I have a jacket with this material finish.) CLUTCH. I have the Mystery Ranch 10x and AGC Kodiak Cub in the mail right now to test drive, and I’m regretful I ordered the AGC in the Realtree pattern. I woulda went with another pattern had I known about the material difference. Thanks man.
Jay, maybe I missed it, but did you note how big the side pockets are? I like to keep my LRF and my 66i and sometimes my phone in my harness (looking at the messenger eventually but that won’t save me space as I really prefer a dedicated gps unit to using my phone for gps/mapping)
Guess I should specify I’m looking at the AGC. I currently use a separate pocket for my LRF and an FHF pocket for my Garmin, my phone, and a stylus (folks, put a stylus on a dummy cord, leave it in your pouch, saves time and cold fingers on hunts when you must access the cellular umbilical cord lol)
The side pockets are not big enough for that on this model AGC. More like the height of a Bic lighter but with more volume, like 3-4 lighters in each side pocket.
Pro tip, the buckles on the new alaska guide creations match the ones on the newer fhf harness. I swapped mine and love it, added the fhf wings too so I could add modularity to the alaska guide creations.
@@Kstephens07 if you like AGC, then it’s a game changer in my opinion. it allows you to hike the Bino pack up higher on your chest. I have a dad belly so I don’t like the harnesses that hang too low. It also offers some modularity.
@@Nick-im3ym I have a marsupial in medium and like it, but figured the ACG would be a nice change and wouldn’t have to get a range finder pouch, and separate accessory bags. I also have different size binos and wanted to get a pack that would accommodate the larger objective lens of some of my other binos. Thanks for the suggestions, I think I’ll be purchasing the ACG with the FHF harness.
Great in-depth review. As most have said the honest and not so PC nature is greatly appreciated. How bout that new AGC Ravus? I’m a AGC fan and have had my pack for about years and aside from some stains is still inprimo condition but I’m ordering their new one, looks really good.
I have the Kodiak and the Ravus. I hate the top lid closure on the Ravus. It needs a larger much stronger magnet or needs to ditch the magnet all together and use a hook and bungee closure like the Kodiak. It doesn’t stay closed and having my cell phone on the top elastic space of the lid (nice space/cubby btw) makes it flop open easier.
