First created 8th March 2024
My own personal thoughts on the Cotton Carrier Skout G2 Sling Style Harness and G3 Body Harness.
Last update: 30th March 2024
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Cotton Carrier. All of the products mentioned in this review were purchased by myself for my own private use.
A little bit of info about myself: Photography has been a hobby of mine for many years. I also do a lot of walking/hiking and skiing in the mountains and like to carry a camera with me on my trips. My camera of choice is the Canon 5D MK4 with a Canon EF 16-35mm F4 lens attached – camera and lens weigh in at around 1750g.
Sadly, I am getting on in years and carrying significant weights on my shoulders or around my neck for any length of time is no longer as easy as it once was!!
For the past couple of years, I have been using the Peak Design Camera Clip V3. Although I have been very impressed by the build quality of the PD Clip, I have always found it uncomfortable in use, even with a fairly light camera such as my little Canon M50 ( 660g with 11-22mm lens ). I have mostly been using the Camera Clips on the shoulder straps of my various backpacks. I find that the weight of the camera causes the strap and camera to annoyingly flap about far too much. Also, the weight of the camera causes the strap taking the weight of the camera to become uncomfortable after a short period of time. The weight of the camera on the strap gives a feeling of lopsidedness.
After a recent hike with the PD Camera Clip and my D5 MK4 hanging from my backpack strap, I decided that it was time to look for a more comfortable system for carrying a camera while walking/hiking – after spending a fair bit of time sifting through product reviews, I decided to give the Cotton Carrier Skout a try….
The Peak Design Camera Clip - V3 ... Lovely engineering
After receiving my Skout G2, I was pleased with the quality of materials and the manufactured product.
After trying the Skout on a few hikes with the Canon 5D Mk 4 + EF 16-35mm f4 lens, I found that the weight on the shoulder strap was more uncomfortable than I had hoped for. Testing the harness with the Canon M50 ( 660g with 11-22mm lens ) proved to be a pleasure as with the lighter camera, the harness proved to be very comfortable.
In operation, removing the camera for use and returning it to the harness is a very simple process. I also feel that the cameras are perfectly safe and secure while locked into the harness holder mechanism ( see Note #1 below ).
Due to the discomfort while carrying my favourite 5D4 camera and lens, and as I am pleased with the quality of the Skout product, I decided to take the plunge and ordered the G3 Boddy Harness version – keeping the Skout for use with my smaller ( and lighter ) cameras.
The Cotton Carrier Skout G2 Sling Style Harness in Grey
Soooo, the G3 harness arrived and on inspection, the quality of the materials and manufacturing is similar to the Skout G2 – good.
After testing the G3 on several hikes, I have decided that it is as good as I am ever going to get. Bottom line, carrying almost 2kg of camera in a position where it is ready for instant use is never going to be a comfortable exercise!! The G3 works well, spreading the load evenly across the chest and both shoulders while presenting the camera to hand for rapid deployment when needed.
A further word on the G3, in warm/hot weather, it causes the wearer to sweat in the body areas covered by the harness ( predominantly under the back and front panels ). The rear of the harness is partially breathable but no matter how breathable it is, like a backpack, it is going to cause hot sweaty areas – I don’t believe there is any way this can be avoided and is not a design fault, just an outcome from covering areas of the body with extra material!!
+++ One thing I would like to see on both products is a small zipped pocket for storing the allen key in – this wouldn’t be too difficult a feature to add. +++
I haven’t had a need to test the rain covers but have no reason to believe that they wouldn’t be of help in protecting the camera in a shower.
I tested both products while wearing a small 12 litre Osprey backpack and didn’t experience any interference problems between the harness and pack.
So, in summary, I am happy to recommend the Skout G2 for lighter cameras and the G3 for heavier devices. I haven’t tested the G3 with larger and heavier lenses but I’m sure it would be fine, just extra weight on the shoulders and chest.
During the process of ordering the two separate products, I had occasion to interact with Cotton Carrier a few times via email - they proved to be very prompt in responding and also very helpful - 10/10 for customer service.
Both products were purchased directly from CottonCarrier.fr and arrived promptly and well packaged.
I am happy to own both products and I’m sure I will be giving both of them a lot of use in the future 😊
The Cotton Carrier G3 Body Harness in Grey
The Skout G2 plus Canon M50
The G3 Harness with Canon 5D MK4 + 16-35mm f4
NOTE #1 - 25th March 2024: I have now used the Skout on a number of ski trips and have found it mostly very useful and reliable apart from an incident this morning when my Canon M50 fell out of the carrier and landed in the snow ( yes, the camera was tethered to the Skout ). I was bending over to tighten my ski boot bindings when the camera came out of the carrier and hit the snow, no damage done but the lens cap came off and the front of the lens UV filter was covered in snow. Even though I had the camera tethered to the carrier, because I was bent almost double, the tether was long enough for the camera to reach the ground. +++ It would be very useful if the mounting mechanism included a release button similar to the Peak Design clip so that the camera can't come out unless the button is depressed first +++. Had the accident happened with my 5D mk iv, due to the camera weight, there could have been some unfortunate damage to the camera. Still, all in all, I am still happy with the Skout but I will be more careful in future when bending right over while it is loaded with a camera!!
NOTE #2 - 30th March 2024:
A further update and a conclusion.
I am finding that for general wandering around with my heavy (1750g) 5D mk 4 and 16-35mm f/4, I am comfortable enough with just my fairly cheap 6cm wide neoprene shoulder strap, I can easily walk for a couple of hours without too much shoulder discomfort.
Where the CC harnesses come into their own is when I am wearing a backpack/rucksack or skiing – basically, activities where it is not possible to comfortably or safely carry my cameras on a neck/shoulder strap. I always find that the most comfortable shoulder strap position for my camera is with the camera to the rear of my hip which isn’t possible when wearing a backpack and certainly not possible while skiing.
Sooo, I am finding that I definitely have a use for both CC harnesses and am glad that I have them but there are times when I am just simply wandering around that they are overkill for my needs and the wide neck strap is more than sufficient.
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NOTE: Some of the images above have been copied from the Cotton Carrier web site and remain copyright Cotton Carrier