What is the most comfortable harness to go under your jacket or bibs. Any opinions welcome. I usually don't put my heavier stuff on until well after I'm up and settled.
I've really not had issues with comfort with several so much as ease of putting it on. Seat of the Pants has a light weight vest that takes the grief out of that completely. I've got several options when I go but for the last couple of years SOP is the one I reach for all the time now - hot or cold. Wear it under the jacket if it's cold.
I mostly use a saddle now but I was previously using a Black Diamond rock climbing harness too. Like it much better than the purpose made hunting harnesses. I added some webbing and rings for hooking up to a linemans rope as well.
With the correct knots, you don't need a linemans belt. I can tie off and hang in the harness all day with every little risk of suspension trauma. Suspension trauma is still possible in a rock climbing harness, but with the ability to adjust your hanging angle (e.g. horizontal position) you can easily return blood flow to your heart from your legs.. A harness like mine allows blood to flow whereas a traditional vest style harness will cut off circulation to the lower extremities. If you are not physically capable of pulling yourself back into a treestand, you need to have a sharp knife available to cut the harness and take the pressure off. A lot of harnesses come with a rope/belt to be clipped into the lineman anchor points and will allow you to "stand" up. I will never go back to a vest harness.
Edit: in a rock climbing harness, you can actually hang upside down if you need to find an alternative method to getting back in a stand/different tree in an emergency situation. I do not recommend trying that in a vest style harness.
Switched from a spider to rock climbing harness several years ago.
I misplaced my rock climbing harness and have been using Spider
again this week. Its clanky and cumbersome. I sure miss my
blackrock!!!!
Another vote for rock climbing harness. Did a lot of online research, watch multiple videos, frequented a couple diff sites and finally made the switch this season. Should have done it years ago.