Hello everyone,
I'm always looking for ways to make my fullsized bins less cumbersome around my neck. Trouble is, I don't want to wear a bino harness because it's kind of a fuzz to put your coat on and off.
The functionality of broad neckstraps is overrated IMO; I've tried dozens and they don't work for me. My FL's still feel too heavy.
So I invented the counterweight on my neckstrap. To begin with, I hung the binocase on the neck end of the strap, with some weight in it. This worked well, but it looked like I'd grown a hump and it got in the way on my back while carrying a rucksack.
Then I came up with a buckle tied to the neck end of the strap, this was definitely an improvement as a counterweight. I used a so called karabiner, a buckle used by mountain climbers, available in every outdoors sportshop.
See the attached thumbnail: BUCKLE
Though reasonably comfortable ( the buckle of 125 grams on the neckstrap made my 740 grams FL's feel like 615 grams ) this bino carrier needed further improvement, and I came up with something else: the bino yoke.
See the attached thumbnail: BIN YOKE
I know it looks ridiculous, and one will have to face the more traditionally thinking birding mob, but guess what: it immediately worked! An old wooden coathanger and two pieces of strap attached made my bins virtually weightless; I noticed they were there, on my chest, but with my DIY yoke the weight is effectively distributed where it should be: round the shoulders.
Next weekend I will be visiting a binocular festival with Zeiss, Swaro and Leica stands, and I'm gonna wear this yoke thing. Can't think of the reactions, but I will post again after the festival and let you all know.
Greetings, Ronald
Hi Ronald.
A very inventive idea and you have obviously spent a lot of time on this project and if it works for you, then great. Who knows, it could be the greatest invention since the "Finnstick" method of relieving the weight of bino´s.
On a lighter note (sic). Why not leave the hook in the coathanger. Then when you go into a birdhide, you can hang yourself on a convenient point and take the weight off your feet, as well as your shoulders.
Sounds good. The finer binoculars weigh too much. I think this is because people want to get something for 1000 dollars, not just plastic.