Review of a Black Diamond Momentum SA Harness
Things to keep in mind:
I have a 29” waist, which is small, but I also have pretty thin legs. Its always a toss up if I find a harness that fits my waist and thighs. BD claims the medium harness is for 30”-33” waists, but I went with the medium anyways, because the small just didn't feel quite right. Plus I tend to climb in whatever pants I'm wearing, so having a little room to open the waist up has helped.
My previous harness was a Mammut, and I also tried to own a different version of the BD Momentum. I loved my Mammut, and I HATED the Momentum. I was skeptical when I first saw this in the store, but decided to try it on.
I climb about 75% sport, and 25% traditional. No aid climbing, and no big wall yet.
From the BD website:
An all-around harness for everyone from the first-time climber to the seasoned hardman, the Black Diamond Momentum SA features our Dual Core Construction to provide an expert balance of comfort, ventilation and durability. Dual Core Construction uses two slim bands of high-tensile webbing on the outer edges of the waistbelt and a venting OpenAir foam insert in the center to balance comfort and breathability without pressure points. Our trakFIT leg loop adjustment system uses a simple, secure slide adjuster to quickly and easily adjust the diameter of the leg loop and provide a wide range of fit.
- Pre-threaded SpeedAdjust buckle on waistbelt
- Bullhorn-shaped OpenAir waistbelt built using Dual Core Construction
- Patent-pending trakFIT leg adjustment for easy, worry-free adjustability of OpenAir leg loops
- Adjustable releasable rear elastic riser
- 4 pressure-molded gear loops
- 12 kN-rated haul loop
My point of view:
The stitching around all seams is very clean, almost invisible. I really like the waistbelt. The “OpenAir” foam breathes nicely, and for added measure BD puts “holes” in the foam as seen here:
I wore this harness a bunch of times before I decided to review it at all. At first the waistbelt seemed kind of stiff, but after I wore it a few times it sort of molded to me and feels much better now. This makes for a very comfortable waist to hang in, especially for a harness that wasn't really meant for aid/big wall kind of usage. This is an “all around harness”
The gear loops are pretty decent. My Mammut had hard plastic shaped loops, but the BD are flexible, which has taken some getting used to. I also don't like how close the loops are together. I would prefer just a bit of space between the loops. On lead sometimes I've noticed that I have a hard time feeling where one loops starts, and the other stops. I'm probably just being picky.
The “trakFIT” leg loops sold the harness to me. They open and close in about a half second just by sliding the little adjuster. The loops themselves are very comfy, too. There is NO pinch point at all, like I had felt on other harnesses. Very comfortable.
The belay loop seems skinny to me. Its very beefy with 5 bar tacks and tripled over at the tacks, but just not very wide material. This seems weird as the attachment points themselves are quite wide, but its probably not a big deal at all. See the difference in width:
The speed buckle is well made, and does not slip. Its hard to loosen it up, since the front buckle is slightly smaller than the rear, so you can't just get a grip on it and move it to the side. I think this also protects it from accidental loosening... less likely anything will accidentally pull it open. I'm very confident pullin this closed – its going to stay closed lol
All in all this harness suits my needs very well, and will be my staple harness for the climbing I do. Its comfortable enough to wear all day long, and if you don't want to wear it anymore it slides off pretty quick. The loops hold ample amounts of trad gear, but are easy to clip/unclip biners from them quickly.
I wouldn't want to hang out in this harness forever though as it is still pretty “minimalistic”
The price of the harness is great, coming in at around $55, I feel like its money very well spent. It feels like a harness they could have easily slapped a much higher price on. Find it 10-20% off at REI or elsewhere and this harness really steals itself out the door...
For the people who care the red color is pretty awesome, and the yellowish one looks sick too. I don't care about that stuff.
Happy climbing folks!
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