Some thoughts on the Arcteryx AR-395a harness

I've enjoyed my AR-395a harness for several years now. Have used it mostly for trad climbing, backcountry rock, and ice climbing. It has worked very well for of these  - the "AR" in the name fits. I noticed that they seem to have changed the color (which I like) without, at least as far as I can tell from the pictures, updating the design (which I think deserves some improvements).

Strengths:

• Great construction - thin, distributes load very comfortably without bulky (any!) padding. Don't know if they invented this approach but it seems widely applied (imitated?) in recent years. Works great.
• Fits and moves well for me (although the minimum waist belt measurement is very precise so when I get down to my fighting trim in summer garb I seem to shrink down to the next size, which I haven’t tried.
• Packs small and weight is (or was a few years ago when I looked) on par with other full featured high end harnesses.
• Adjustable, fits well, for me, over a range of clothing/seasons/activities
• Low profile design.
• Angled and shaped gear loops work well for me racking full trad gear (but see below)
• Basically, I've been very happy with this harness and I'd buy it again, all else being equal. Unless someone can point me to something better, of course :) 

Some weaknesses, generally minor and mostly fixable, but I think worth calling out: given the top dollar this harness commands, I would expect these details to work better, and I'm surprised they have not been tweaked in the recent revision:

• The soft plastic covers on the gear loops are held in place by little rubber gaskets. They frequently peel off the thin structural 0 Kn webbing - I taped them and it's not an issue any longer, but really shouldn't have to.  
  
  
  
• The rear leg loop connector straps (what's the name for these?) are flimsy. Petzl has designed a lighter harness with stouter and seemingly well functioning straps - Arc'teryx take notice.
• The metal hook connecting the rear leg loop straps to the back of the waist belt has basically never stayed in place for an entire route for me - it invariably fell out and the flimsy straps ended up flopping around behind my knees. Taped it shut and it's no problem but again a redesign could make this unnecessary.

• The leg loop connector straps are bonded to the leg loops in an aesthetic way, but have torn through the leg loop fabric on both harnesses I've had. Arcterryx replaced the harness (would not repair it) on the first of these I had for this reason, but here it is again so I'm calling this a weak point in the design. The main body of the harness itself is very durable and stood up super well to plenty of granite abuse. 

• The blue color scheme, which thankfully they have done away with. It appears grey is the new blue... 

Pictures are the current harness, which was sent as replacement in fall of 2017 IIRC.

Curious if anyone else has experienced these issues - I looked at some reviews when buying the thing but don't recall any mention of this type of thing. Is it just me? Anyhow, good harness, some room for improvement IMO - would snap up a newer version of this in a heartbeat.

Hey I've had this harness now for about a year now and definitely agree with all the positives, it is a great harness overall

My gear loops also suffered the same issue and I had to tape them to fix it. A stupid problem that's easily avoidable and have never heard of on any other harness. As for the other issues you mentioned, haven't happened to me so far (knock on wood). Maybe I'm luck/you're unlucky or maybe it'll still happen in time, who knows. 

You're the only person I've heard of having any of these issues.  Mine has held up for a couple years now with pretty significant use (gym, long trad, ice, some aid) and I know my brother has the same harness and it has also not had any of these problems.  I love this harness!

I have never had issues with the gear loop plastic -- the only time it came loose was when I hung a stick clip on a gear loop (rappel in, hike out) on a climb.

The only downsides for me:
- the adjustable leg loops are less comfortable than the fixed loops on the sport version (R-300) of the harness
- the overlap of waist ranges between sizes is too small.  I'm borderline too small for the XL, and just slightly too big for the L taking into account seasonal clothing and waistline fluctuations.

I definitely had the gear loop issues with my AR395 harness. But other than that, I enjoyed the harness. I've been wearing the petzl sitta for about a year now, mostly trad climbing and ice climbing and I've loved it. I haven't had any issues with it yet, other than aesthetics (the white color of the harness changes to a somewhat dirty white color.) I've found that I really enjoy the gear loops on the sitta and the harness in general.  Cheers!

You all say you love the harness, but based on all the issues listed above, I would not buy that harness. I have had Petzl, BD, CAMP and MM harnesses, and by far the most comfortable burly harness I have owned is the Misty Mountain. You can special order it any way you want, too, which is nice for people with big/small legs.

Tomko wrote: You're the only person I've heard of having any of these issues. 

You haven't read many reviews of this harness, then.

I love my 395a. I'll but another when it dies. And then another when that one dies. No issues after two years of trad, sport and ice in mine.

the gasket or whatever on the gear loops is so you can flip the gear loop direction.  I know it's weird and picky, but I figured out I like the front left gear loop flipped so that my bigger cams drop back instead of forwards and my front right gear loop I like facing the way it is when you buy it (low end forward).  it's actually a really nice feature, granted my dead bird is 8 years old and I've all but retired it.  I do wish I had just continued to buy them instead of switching to petzl, but the price point was so different (even with a deal) that the petzl harness will be with me until it dies and I'll go back to arcteryx. 

Rob D. wrote: the gasket or whatever on the gear loops is so you can flip the gear loop direction.  I know it's weird and picky, but I figured out I like the front left gear loop flipped so that my bigger cams drop back instead of forwards and my front right gear loop I like facing the way it is when you buy it (low end forward).  it's actually a really nice feature, granted my dead bird is 8 years old and I've all but retired it.  I do wish I had just continued to buy them instead of switching to petzl, but the price point was so different (even with a deal) that the petzl harness will be with me until it dies and I'll go back to arcteryx. 

Intersting idea. I can see that.

However, they shouldn't fall off, adjustable or not. 

Rockin the FL365. Best harness I've owned by a long shot . 

i've had my ar-395 since early 2015 and i think i do quite a bit of climbing in it, I'm looking to replace it now as webbing that goes through the buckles is getting freyed from tightening and rubbing in OW climbs.  I've had no durability issues, (i think my girlfriend has gone through 3 black diamond harnesses since i got my arc teryx)  I wish the gear loops where stronger, i get worried when i hang shoes or a water bottle on em and cant hang anything heavy like a pack or a drill or whatever.

My gear loop plastic doo dads have lasted but i never removed them exept 1 of them 1 time the day I bought it and i realized how crappy they where so i never touched them again and they never fell off so...

Seriously my belay loop is getting fuzzy and my leg adjusters are worn but everything else is totally fine, and I climb on granite with a couple trips to moab and the RRG in there as well.

I'm gonna buy another one to replace it next time i get a coupon

Zacks wrote:  I wish the gear loops where stronger, i get worried when i hang shoes or a water bottle on em and cant hang anything heavy like a pack or a drill or whatever.

You hang a pack on your gear loops, sometimes?

Getting back into climbing last October after a multi-year layoff, I purchased the AR 395a and I just LOVE it.  Climbing at least twice a week on it and it is great, no complaints.  

But I've only been using it for 4 months so time will tell.

I've struggled with sizing with the Arcteryx harnesses.  I first bought a men's small (non-adjustable leg loops) because the waistband of the women's small was too small for me, and the leg loops of the women's medium were too big.  When I eventually decided it was time to replace the harness I ended up getting the women's medium with adjustable leg loops.  I have gotten used to it, but the difference in the ways the men's small and women's medium fit are significant - the rise on the men's small was borderline too small for me, but the rise on the women's medium is a little too big (but I put up with it).  

However my biggest gripe is that the buckles on the leg loops DO NOT STAY TIGHT.  They loosen up every single time I tighten them.