CAMP Quartz CR3 Review

Likes

The waist belt is among the most comfortable we tested if not the most. It has a special rounded top that keeps it from digging into your side and feels nice even with your shirt off. While not totally intuitive (we had to read the manual to figure it out), there is a cool adjustable waist belt. When most harnesses get bigger or smaller around the waist the position of the gear loops on the buckle side changes. But this harness, once you figure it out, allows you to center the harness where you want it. Brilliant.

Another feature we finally figured out after reading the manual was the cool belay device feature where you can slide the belay device into a special slot in the belay loop. This makes it hard to cross load the biner or for pear-shaped biners to flip into an awkward position. It does take a little extra effort to set up the belay device this way and we seldom used this feature. But someone who is extra safety conscious or really wants to make sure their belay device is positioned right will appreciate it.

The adjustment for the rear leg loops was one of the best we tested. It is easy to adjust the leg loops while the harness is on. In comparison, the Black Diamond leg loop attachments on their high end harnesses were in a similar spot but much harder to get on and off. The haul loop is just where we like it: below the harness so that the biner does not press into you in chimneys.

We generally prefer harnesses without adjustable leg loops. However, at least with these adjustable leg loops the extra webbing tucked away cleanly and the buckles were low profile. Ironically, the version without the adjustable leg loops costs $5 more, not less.

Dislikes

The gear loops were not our favorites. They don't have much stiffness, which makes them harder to clip and means that the gear clumps up. It's not a big deal, but we definitely preferred other gear loops.

There is no padding between the waist buckle and your skin so if you climb with your shirt off you will feel the metal buckle. It never irritated our skin, but we noticed it. There is a space between the front and rear gear loops for a special biner for ice climbing. While this is great if you are an ice climber, for rock climbing it pushes the rear gear loop further back than it needs to be.

On a minor note, the leg loops are not as comfortable as the waist belt. They are good, but the waist belt stands out while the legs are just good.

Best Application

This is an all-around harness designed for everything from the gym to El Cap. It is one of the few non "big wall specific harnesses" we would take on El Capitan. It excels at multi-pitch climbing where you are hanging around a lot.

Value