Most useless piece of gear

In 15 years, all the young punks will probably be wearing harness-shorts and laughing at the crusty old geezers that still use separate harnesses. They'll also climb 5.17 that are as hard as the 5.14 being done today.....which would be a 5.6 in the gunks.

Wow, I had no idea those harness/shorts existed. Honestly if they were, say, $80 or less, I would consider picking them up. But $200? Are you shitting me?

There's a pretty recent review of them here: mountainenthusiast.com/2012…

The overall tone ends up being pretty positive, but some of the flaws he points out are:
1) Pockets are essentially useless.
2) Not a fan of the drawstring/cinch belt system.
3) Not enough gear loops.
4) He'd feel weird wearing it in a non-climbing situation.

So they kinda seem like shitty shorts (useless pockets, too ugly to wear in public) combined with a shitty harness (not enough gear loops), all for the low price of $200...yet he loves them! I guess you'd have to love them to make yourself feel better for spending $200 on them?

ian watson wrote: x2 I always carry 7-10 a ton lighter then double 2-3 bd's

I too carry a few larger curved hexes for this reason. Cheaper for bailing and lighter for doubling up.

Jake Jones wrote:I had a pair of hand jammies shred after about five pitches on granite. The rubber tore like wet cardboard. Even if your jamming sucks, which mine is admittedly questionable, those things should be more durable than that. I've never come down from a crack with my tape all chewed up to shreds. I'm no math genius, but five pitches at 35 bucks vs. about 10-15 per roll of 4 dollar tape seems like a useless piece of gear. They saw me coming. Hand jammies get my vote.

Yours have got to be defective. I've got a lot more pitches of granite jam cracks than that on mine, and they still look almost new.

psssh large hexes rock faces in Sierra Granite (Tahoe in particular).

Suprised nobody mentioned this

Smarty Ports/Shants wrote:I know a real estate twit in Vegas who spent his thousands on a treadwall. Still not a very impressive climber. Word is he had to pay people for belays at one point. Proud moments in our lives.

I know a guy in Florida who also spent thousands on a treadwall. He has offered to pay for belays on occasion. But he is very much an impressive climber.

Ian Stewart wrote:Wow, I had no idea those harness/shorts existed. Honestly if they were, say, $80 or less, I would consider picking them up. But $200? Are you shitting me? There's a pretty recent review of them here: mountainenthusiast.com/2012… The overall tone ends up being pretty positive, but some of the flaws he points out are: 1) Pockets are essentially useless. 2) Not a fan of the drawstring/cinch belt system. 3) Not enough gear loops. 4) He'd feel weird wearing it in a non-climbing situation. So they kinda seem like shitty shorts (useless pockets, too ugly to wear in public) combined with a shitty harness (not enough gear loops), all for the low price of $200...yet he loves them! I guess you'd have to love them to make yourself feel better for spending $200 on them?

Appreciate the shout out to my review of the Mammut Shorts, Ian. $200 is a bit steep, in my opinion, but it makes sense. $140 for the harness and $60 (about) for really high-quality shorts. I kind of wish I just had a pair of shorts, they're bomber.

Really though, I do love them. If I don't like a certain piece of gear, I'm not going to use it. Simple as that.

Also, I chatted with the product developer about the problems with the harness and he assured me that the problems would be fixed for next years model.
---
Steve

Steve W. Weiss wrote: Appreciate the shout out to my review of the Mammut Shorts, Ian. $200 is a bit steep, in my opinion, but it makes sense. $140 for the harness and $60 (about) for really high-quality shorts. I kind of wish I just had a pair of shorts, they're bomber. Really though, I do love them. If I don't like a certain piece of gear, I'm not going to use it. Simple as that. Also, I chatted with the product developer about the problems with the harness and he assured me that the problems would be fixed for next years model. --- Steve

I don't doubt that they're comfortable and convenient once you have them, but it's just plopping down the $200 that's the problem. $60 for shorts seems reasonable, but there are plenty of harnesses for well under $140. Not to mention that when you buy any other harness, you can use it with any other clothing that you want to wear it with.

One thing I don't think you mentioned in the review is whether you paid for the shorts or if they were a gift/sponsored/etc. That's usually worth pointing out in reviews to help clear up any bias.

Nice review though. I always like when I can be lazy and watch a video instead of reading. =)

Not gonna lie, put four real gear loops and a better waist closure on those shorts and I'd be interested.

Ian Stewart wrote: I don't doubt that they're comfortable and convenient once you have them, but it's just plopping down the $200 that's the problem. $60 for shorts seems reasonable, but there are plenty of harnesses for well under $140. Not to mention that when you buy any other harness, you can use it with any other clothing that you want to wear it with. One thing I don't think you mentioned in the review is whether you paid for the shorts or if they were a gift/sponsored/etc. That's usually worth pointing out in reviews to help clear up any bias. Nice review though. I always like when I can be lazy and watch a video instead of reading. =)

Hmmm maybe I should re-think my product review disclosure link that is located at the bottom of the site. ( mountainenthusiast.com/p/pr…) Sorry about not adding that in, but I did receive them as a donation. I really don't think it would of swayed me one way or another though on the review. I've gotten free gear before, and just simply didn't write a review because I hated it.

...I do my best to make everyone else's lives easier. Glad you liked the video!

Ray Pinpillage wrote:Not gonna lie, put four real gear loops and a better waist closure on those shorts and I'd be interested.

4 gear loops would be sooooo much better, for sure. The cinch system is being changed too for next year's model.

Some Dude wrote:Suprised nobody mentioned this

My favorite response so far!

This

Fehim Hasecic wrote:

This

Did you mean to bring back a decade old thread to share that? Hilarious that they thing anyone's carrying that into the alpine though.