Outdoor Gear Lab

This is the least expensive harness with self-locking leg buckles and waist belt. It is a capable harness that performed well in all our tests. The buckles were smooth and easy to adjust. The haul loop is one of the easiest to find, and there is a good amount of padding for legs and waist. Overall, it is one of the best entry level harnesses we tested.go to full review

The Camp Air is one of the lightest and most compact full-featured harnesses we have ever seen. You can actually scrunch it up in your hand and put it in your chalk bag. Not surprisingly, its not that comfy to hang around in for hours. But if you are obsessed with traveling light in the mountains, it is hard to find a lighter harness.go to full review

The Black Diamond Aspect is a comfortable, four-season, all-purpose climbing harness designed to tackle everything from tough bolted lines to tricky pin-scarred routes, and even winter ice. A wide and thick swami belt and equally large leg loops make this one of the more comfortable free climbing harnesses we've tested. It's more comfortable than the company's Chaos, but less comfortable than the Big Gun. Downsides: a one-inch gap between the two gear loops makes it harder to..." go to full review

This is a great all-around harness to use when teaching because it will fit a wide variety of students. The small size fits most kids and adults; the bigger size fits most medium to large adults. To make things even easier, Black Diamond offer the Momentum DS Package that comes with everything you need to get started climbing: belay device, carabiner, and chalk bag.go to full review

One tester, Chris Van Leuven, used this on a number of El Capitan ascents. While it is generally not recommended for big walls, CVL found the advantages of such a skinny harness: it is light, gives a big range of movement for free climbing and is comfortable to sleep in because of the soft gear loops. That said, Chris vows to take a more comfortable harness on future big wall routes, a harness with more padding such as the Petzl Sama.go to full review

The Black Diamond Momentum SA is the speed adjust buckle version of the popular Black Diamond Momentum AL. If you like adjustable legs loops and self locking (aka speed adjust) buckles, this is a great value and a great first climbing harness. It is comfortable, has great gear loops, tons of features and costs $60. You have to spend a LOT more money to get just minor improvements in weight, comfort or features.go to full review

The Petzl Adjama harness is very similar to the highly-rated Petzl Sama climbing harness with the difference being that it has adjustable leg loops. If you like buckles on the legs, then this is a great harness that is light, comfortable, highly breathable and very adjustable.

The Adjama is a great all-around climbing harness if you climb everything from sport to mountaineering. It is one of the lightest harnesses with leg buckles. The downside is that it is more expensive than the..." go to full review

This harness is very comfortable considering how light and compact it is. Surprisingly, a few testers found the women's version, the Aura, more comfortable than the Black Diamond Chaos, which is beefier, more expensive and is supposed to be more comfortable. It could be that our testers (all men) fit better in women's harnesses. Who knew? At any rate, we were pleasantly surprised at how well it fit. Despite having only two gear loops, it was possible to fit a ton of draws because..." go to full review

While it may not be the best at any one thing, this harness has a decent mix of features and is a good pick if you want an inexpensive harness. The offset gear loops, plastic cover on the lower hard point, and indicator warning strips are great features that might be exactly what you're looking for. If you want a breathable harness that doesn't break the bank, this is a good pick...." go to full review

For a good harness at a great price, this harness is tough to beat. It has the features you need to take you up a lap at the gym or the umpteenth pitch on long multi-pitch climbs. Some of our reviewers complained that the gear loops are too small and are uncomfortable with a pack. Other reviewers liked how easy they were to clip and didn't mind the size...." go to full review