Solution guide

Whats everyone's opinions on the solution guide harness?  Kind of been eyeing it for a bit.  Also been eyeing one of the midrange Misty mountain harnesses.  No spots to hang in either harness where I live unfortunately. 

I like it. Simple, durable, and comfortable. Gear loops are a bit on the small side.

Jason Zevenbergen wrote:

I like it. Simple, durable, and comfortable. Gear loops are a bit on the small side.

Smaller than the momentum do you think?

It's my current harness and I like it. Haven't been able to use it on gear-intense trad routes so far though, but it took a dozen draws, two sets of nuts, a single rack of cams and some other stuff with no problems. Gear loops are not smaller than the momentum ones IIRC. Someone posted a side-by-side pic of both a year ago I think. Fifth gear loop feels flimsy but works.

Fits my body type alright, comfortable for belaying and climbing, I like the touch of the fabric, I enjoy the simplicity of the leg loops.

I like it.  Simple, fits well, abrasion resistant.  Probably the best BD harness I've owned so far and one of the best overall.

If you're racking a lot of cams or climb with a bunch of shit on your harness the loops get crowded quick.

Loops too smol. Might be just because I started climbing a good amount of wide stuff but mine seems to be getting worn relatively quick compared to the Petzl harness I had for 6 years.

Are the gear loops smaller than the more basic BD harnesses then it sounds like?  I'm comming from a BD momentum. 

It would be nice to have an objective measurement of gear loops, since that's a real sticking point for me yet the 'kind of small' comments on many reviews are subjective.

Would be nicer to just have gear loops like I used to on other harnesses. Seems they've gotten smaller.

Petzl Adjama for me carries a double rack much better than my prev BD and Misty Cadillac harnesses. Gear loops definitely bigger than solution guide

I wore a Cadillac ragged and love them, but the solution guide is more comfortable so far and the reduced gear racking space only bothered me for about 1 multipitch. Thing is very durable too and I have done a good number of granite wide pitches in it.

Edit: I wear a small, which has even smaller loops than the ones in the ads. I probably have 600+ pitches on it outside too and it is only showing the slightest signs of wear on the tie-in points. 

John Clark wrote:

I wore a Cadillac ragged and love them, but the solution guide is more comfortable so far and the reduced gear racking space only bothered me for about 1 multipitch. Thing is very durable too and I have done a good number of granite wide pitches in it.

That's been my  experience as well.  Am I the only one that racks doubles or triples on the racking carabiners of another cam to save space on the loop so everything isn't all crammed in?  I don't often have to/need to do this, but it is an option.

Gear loops are too small. The abrasion resistant leg loops and waist don't mean shit when the tie in points wear out in < 1 year

Jeremy Bultman wrote:

Whats everyone's opinions on the solution guide harness?  Kind of been eyeing it for a bit.  Also been eyeing one of the midrange Misty mountain harnesses.  No spots to hang in either harness where I live unfortunately. 

I love it. I’m on my third. Climb in it 3-5 days a week, mix of trad/sport/gym. I’ve not had issue with the size of gear gear loops, and can easily carry a full double rack with 12 runners. On my first it seemed like the tie in points were wearing, but it was just a thin piece of fabric wrapped around the structural webbing. Its fairly comfortable to hang in, and is as durable as any other harness I’ve used. When my current harness wears out, I’ll almost certainly get another solution guide.

Only complaint is that it doesn’t have the pockets for ice clippers, so for that I use a BD technician.

Blake M wrote:

Gear loops are too small. The abrasion resistant leg loops and waist don't mean shit when the tie in points wear out in < 1 year

I've had two, and the tie in points have started looking super ragged after about 300 pitches on both of them. What's the deal? I emailed BD pictures of my first harness, and they sent me a new harness but never acknowledged anything. The second harness did the exact same thing.

Why have the thin layer of fabric around the structural webbing if it's going to wear immediately and look super sketchy?!

Thanks for all the comments guys!  Im comming off of a momentum and its just not super comfy for hanging belays and long awkward raps.  I did sit in an adjama today and it was somewhat comfortable but the padding is very very soft.  The webbing belts are certainly felt through the padding but even so it still felt comfortable.  The flat nature of the rear two gear loops wasn't super great but probably easy to get over.   I also sat in a solution as the guide was not available.   The leg loop size fits me still the waistbelt wasn't super comfortable over the adjama though due to how narrow it gets toward the ends but I know the guide is a bit different.  Leaning towards the guide still a bit. But the adjama did get my attention too now

I messed up on the size of the Adjama, and returned it. But I was really disappointed in the gear loops. Should have 5 but it's really like two small front gear loops, two half rear loops, and then one nice long storage loop across the back.

Back loops are the same size as the momentum. Front loops are ~20-25% wider. I can squeeze 11 cams using narrower oz carabiners and an oval for passives on each front loop but it's tight. The back loop helps a ton to hold webbing, shoes, etc. 

Overall it's a fantastic harness for sport (fairly light and comfy) and all day trad multipitch but prob too small for big wall

One advantage the solution guide may have over the adjama is the loops are stiffer and easier to clip

I had an adjama. I highly do not recommend it. 

I haven't tried the Solution in particular, but my experience with BD harnesses is that the gear loop size depends strongly on the harness size. For a size Small or Extra Small harness they are basically useless, while they may be just fine on a size Large.

Leon Jackson wrote:

I'm curious about what you disliked about it?

It would leave bruises on my hips on anything longer than a couple pitches, which was the main reason I shelled out for my first Cadillac. I did like the racking space for a 4 loop harness, but that is pretty much the only thing I liked on it besides the price. I think if you were doing single pitch only, it would be fine. Given the choice between Adjama and normal Solution though, having owned and abused both, I would use the Solution every time.