Remington Climbing Vest Harness

[retiredsailor]

Recently bought one of these (model 241) at Wal-Kart for $50.00 Of course it was inside a sealed plastic display package and I couldn't get a hands-on look at it, but the picture and description on the package looked very inviting.
I've gotten tired of fighting straps and buckles in the dark with other harnesses and have been thinking about a vest-type, since it looks easier to climb into.
Well......to sum it up, I've now used this Remington vest twice and in my opinion it is junk.
The 'vest' is really just a little thin piece of cheap camo material covering a harness. It has large (I mean really large) metal rings on each side and I have yet to figure out exactly what they are for. Maybe to be used with the lineman's belt that comes with it. But, since there are no instructions in the package, one can only guess. There is a useless page in the package that cautions about the safe use of this item (no doubt written by some company lawyer) but no instructions for using this particular item. The page does refer one to the provided DVD, which turns out to be the same DVD provided with all climbers and it hardly mentions harnesses and certainly not this specific one.
So, although I've used it twice and the plastic package it came in has been severly cut and torn, this baby is going back to Wal-Mart immediately.
I guess the lesson here is that if you buy a 'cheap' climbing vest, you are most likely going to get a 'cheap' climbing vest.
Time to head to Gander Mountain and get 'real' climbing vest.
Anyone else tried the item?

[Michigander]

Do you ever hear good old dad's voice in the back of your head saying "you get what you pay for son"? lol
Took me a long while to figure that one out. On that particular peice of gear, I'd pay the extra dollars and go with a high quality manufacturer. You can usually find reveiws for products on line that will help point you in the right direction if you have any doubts.
Hope it works out for you in the long run and good luck.

[retiredsailor]

Well.......you are right...Dad's voice was ringing in my ears. This item went back to
Wal-Mart, no questions asked. You are also correct about this being an important
peice of gear - not something you want as 'second best'.
Sort of like the Navy pilot preparing to land his jet on a postage-stamp size flight deck and realizing that his plane was built by the lowest bidder.

[Jslotter]

ORIGINAL: retiredsailor

Recently bought one of these (model 241) at Wal-Kart for $50.00 Of course it was inside a sealed plastic display package and I couldn't get a hands-on look at it, but the picture and description on the package looked very inviting.
I've gotten tired of fighting straps and buckles in the dark with other harnesses and have been thinking about a vest-type, since it looks easier to climb into.
Well......to sum it up, I've now used this Remington vest twice and in my opinion it is junk.
The 'vest' is really just a little thin piece of cheap camo material covering a harness. It has large (I mean really large) metal rings on each side and I have yet to figure out exactly what they are for. Maybe to be used with the lineman's belt that comes with it. But, since there are no instructions in the package, one can only guess. There is a useless page in the package that cautions about the safe use of this item (no doubt written by some company lawyer) but no instructions for using this particular item. The page does refer one to the provided DVD, which turns out to be the same DVD provided with all climbers and it hardly mentions harnesses and certainly not this specific one.
So, although I've used it twice and the plastic package it came in has been severly cut and torn, this baby is going back to Wal-Mart immediately.
I guess the lesson here is that if you buy a 'cheap' climbing vest, you are most likely going to get a 'cheap' climbing vest.
Time to head to Gander Mountain and get 'real' climbing vest.
Anyone else tried the item?

This is the first year I am using a safety harness and the first one I bought I thought I was getting a good deal on some $30 bondage looking thing and It sucked. There were a million straps and couldn't figure out how it went on and I got pissed and thru it away and went out and bought a Hunter safety Systems harness and never regretted it. Its a vest type harness and all you have to do is put it on, buckel two leg straps, snap in a buckle going across your waist, thats it. So easy. It came with an instruction DVD and it comes with tether straps that have labels on the that says what they are used for. Pretty easy and the HSS harness is said to be the safest harness on the market.