I've used the S4 Lockdowns for two or three seasons and give them a positive but mixed review. Like others I've gone through the Crooked Horn etc.

The S4 is bulky, comfortable and mine does have a bit of tension when binos are raised to eyes. That tension may be because I kept tightening and adjusting various tension points/straps to keep the top of the binos against chest and not tipped out. That took me several hunts to finally get adjusted so that the binos ride closer to chest at their top.

The S 4 top flap covers the binos but not enough to keep the lens really dry in Olympic Peninsula/Vancouver Island rain forest conditions. I have added a wider flap with cupped sides to my S 4. It is duct taped ugly and a little more bulky but keeps the eyepieces dry. I like the quick and secure surround flap idea but it needs to be wider at the top. A slightly down cupped edge on the wider top flap would improve it even more (if S4 makers are reading here.)

I use the S 4 often with a daypack and have used it with a loaded full size pack. Lot of stuff on chest and upper body but it works.

Edit added: In a gratuitous display of vanity here is a photo of the S 4 in field use on a pleasant spring day last week. I had just ripped off my wider rain flap covering mentioned above, and you can see the duct tape adhesive remnant on the top flap, as well as the gap which allows side blowing rain into the eyepiece lenses. Good unit not yet perfected IMO.

[Linked Image]






Last edited by Okanagan; 05/14/14.