Reviews You Can Rely On

Edelrid Zack Review

This harness is worth checking out if you want adjustability and a low price
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Edelrid Zack Review
Credit: Edelrid
Price:  $50 List
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Manufacturer:   Elderid
By Andy Wellman ⋅ Senior Review Editor  ⋅  Nov 12, 2019
55
OVERALL
SCORE
  • Hanging Comfort - 35% 5.0
  • Standing Comfort and Mobility - 20% 6.0
  • Features - 20% 6.0
  • Belaying Comfort - 15% 5.0
  • Versatility - 10% 6.0

Our Verdict

The Edelrid Zack is a very affordable and serviceable harness for all types of rock climbing. It features an extremely adjustable waist belt that always stays centered because you can slide the padding around as needed. While its movable padding and low cost are noteworthy features, it is also the lowest-scoring harness in our comparative review. This low score is due mostly to the fact that it just isn't as comfortable for hanging in or belaying, two critical aspects of performance. We encourage you to check it out if high adjustability and low price are attributes that matter in your search. It would make a good harness for a beginner climber, and works well enough for all styles of single pitch rock climbing, whether that's in a gym or out on the cliff, but isn't our first recommendation for multi-pitch or winter climbing.
REASONS TO BUY
Sliding waist belt is highly adjustable and always centered
Very affordable
REASONS TO AVOID
Heavy
Bulky
Not super comfortable

Our Analysis and Test Results

The Edelrid Zack is most notable for its incredible adjustability. It has auto-locking buckles on its adjustable leg loops and pairs them with a single auto-locking buckle on the waist. The waist belt on this harness is made up of a single piece of very long webbing that allows for an extensive size range per harness. This is accompanied by a single bit of foam padding that can slide around freely on the webbing, back and forth, so that you can center it wherever you like. This feature makes adjusting the Zack to a very wide range of sizes simpler and more straightforward than comparable options that use double waist belt buckles, and yet this harness is also less comfortable, so more difficult for us to recommend. While this isn't a bad option, especially for a new climber or the budget-conscious, it just isn't our first choice after having worn and climbed in so many other excellent harnesses.

Performance Comparison


edelrid zack - pulling through the low steep moves on a popular climb at the...
Pulling through the low steep moves on a popular climb at the Motherlode, a beautiful crag high in the San Juan Mountains.
Credit: Andy Wellman

Hanging Comfort


When considering hanging comfort, the Zack ranks at the bottom of the pile. When hanging for long periods of time, roughly 50% of the pressure of a person's body weight will be felt in the leg loops, while the other 50% will be dispersed around the hips and lower back by the waist belt. Unlike some of the advanced technology used to evenly disperse weight on the most comfortable harnesses for sport climbing, the Zack employs a simple design of foam padding over a strap of webbing. The problem is, the foam padding is very rigid, not very soft, and not very comfortable. We could feel the webbing through the foam while hanging, and this wasn't a very comfortable feeling.

edelrid zack - while hanging, you can see how the leg loops of this harness ride...
While hanging, you can see how the leg loops of this harness ride straight up after wrapping the inside of the legs. This design not only bit into our crotch more than others, but didn't leave a ton of space.

Standing Comfort and Mobility


The Zack is super comfortable for standing around, in comparison to the competition. Put this harness on in isolation, and you may not notice the differences that we comment on here, but when worn side-by-side with a far more comfortable harness, the differences are quickly evident.

edelrid zack - the waist belt on the edelrid zack has the ability to be slid from...
The waist belt on the Edelrid Zack has the ability to be slid from side to side, so no matter what size you are, you can center the harness on your body.

Much of our complaints have to do with the very stiff, almost cardboard-esque, feel of the slideable waist belt that limits the comfort we feel when wearing a massive rack, or when trying to fit the hip belt of a pack comfortably over the top of the harness. That said, due to the adjustability of the leg loops, we feel like this is a reasonably mobile harness.

edelrid zack - the waist belt on the zack slid all the way to one side, and then...
The waist belt on the Zack slid all the way to one side, and then completely to the other side in the next photo. While we loved this adjustability, you can also see how this harness is essentially a stiff grey pad over a wide black strap of webbing, which was less comfortable than others.

Features


Led by its adjustable and movable waist belt, the Zack has some nice features and some that could certainly use some improvement. We like how all three buckles found on this harness use a sliding bar in the middle that cinches very tight automatically and stays snug effectively. This system is different but seemed to work a bit better than the auto-locking buckles found on most other models. We also like how heavily reinforced the tie-in points are, and how each of the four gear loops is rigid for easier clipping and unclipping. That said, we found that the huge gap between gear loops is not only unnecessary, but also a bit annoying, and also complain that the rated haul loop is so laughably small as to be unusable. We found it impossible to clip a carabiner through this tiny piece of webbing at all, let alone with the harness on, and don't understand why any company would include an unusable feature like this.

edelrid zack - we liked how stiff and spacious the gear loops on the zack were...
We liked how stiff and spacious the gear loops on the Zack were, ensuring that they held a lot of gear and were also easy to clip and unclip. We didn't like this huge gap shown on the right between gear loops that put the rear one far back behind us.

We also found that for our skinnier frame, the super long tail on the waist belt is far too long even to be tucked away nicely, and dangled in the way of the right side gear loops.

edelrid zack - as you can see, the rated haul loop on the edelrid zack was too...
As you can see, the rated haul loop on the Edelrid Zack was too small to even get a keylock biner to slide through, and was essentially unusable. We have no idea why a harness maker would choose to include an unusable feature.

Belaying Comfort


The hard and rigid feeling of the padding on the leg loops, in conjunction with the webbing that connects them to the belay loop, makes this feel like one of the least comfortable harnesses for an extended belay session. While the leg loops don't dig into our crotch creases quite as powerfully as the worst offenders, they do still gouge us a bit, especially while wearing shorts, and this discomfort is more pronounced than we felt while belaying in nearly any other harness.

edelrid zack - not lacking for views! here we're testing comfort while belaying.
Not lacking for views! Here we're testing comfort while belaying.

Versatility


There is no doubt that the adjustability of this harness contributes to its versatility, but unfortunately, its other features don't help it out all that much. While its gear loops are large enough and work well for sport or gym climbing, and even for a bit of trad cragging, we think that its lack of haul loop and slightly smaller than average rear gear loops would limit it for long free routes or alpine rock routes. Combine that with its weight, bulkiness, and lack of ice clipper slots, and we also wouldn't choose it for alpine or ice climbing, or mountaineering.

edelrid zack - you can see how much tail is left over after tightening up the waist...
You can see how much tail is left over after tightening up the waist buckle on this harness, meaning that it has a very large range of adjustability. For this reason it is a good choice for larger climbers or those who might often share their harness with a friend.

Value


This harness is incredibly wallet-friendly. For climbers who don't need the highest performance or most versatile harness, it presents a pretty good value. That said, it is easy to get a far more comfortable harness for not very much more money.

edelrid zack - climbing steep pockets on welded tuff, high above the ground at a...
Climbing steep pockets on welded tuff, high above the ground at a local crag near Ouray, CO. The Zack is a good harness for the budget conscious who still want to hit the crags.

Conclusion


The Edelrid Zack is a very affordable and easily adjustable harness that will serve beginner climbers or the very money conscious climber well. Despite being the least comfortable harness in our side-by-side testing, it isn't nearly so uncomfortable as to be considered unusable, not by a long shot. As the lowest scorer in our review, it's not our first recommendation, but despite that, it's a decent harness that is worth checking out if our Best Bang for the Buck winner isn't immediately inspiring to you.

edelrid zack - while it may not be as high tech (or as expensive) as some of the...
While it may not be as high tech (or as expensive) as some of the other harnesses we tested, when it comes to keeping you safe as you ascend the cliffs, there is no doubt the Zack has got your back.

Andy Wellman