2015 Dakine Reflex vs Dakine XT Seat Harness

[Sailor09]

I am looking for a seat harness but my local store has only the 2015 Dakine Reflex in stock. I read many good things about Dakine XT Seat but I cannot try one. Can you please share your experience with these two harnesses?
Thank you!

[Brian.bigfella@gmail.com]

The Reflex sits low, down around your hips. Not as low as a race, but pretty low, sort of old school. The XT Seat is almost a waist harness with straps to keep it from riding up, and is more accepting of a "modern" more upright stance. You can still "sit" in the XT, but you can also lean against it with your back. The Reflex has very little back support, so you're using your butt most of the time.

I like my XT seat. Like I said, the hook is only slightly lower than a waist harness, but it doesn't ride up which is an issue with my body shape (roundish). You need to ask yourself whether you're more comfortable with the hook down around you pelvis or up around your belly button.

[tramontana00]

XT legs straps get little tight and back support is little stiff and restricting to the movement of the body.
Reflex is very nice, true seat harness. I have no complaints for Reflex.

[isobars]

SEARCH the forum on XTSEAT. It and many others have been discussed at great length; you'll learn a lot. Bottom Line: The only harness I'd even consider for years was the XTSEAT, but I blew it off when they contracted its design out to Lazy Boy and its construction out to Ford.

i.e., it now feels like this would feel

if built by the guys who make this:

Hyperbole? Sure. But it gets the point across. What were they THINKING?

[swchandler]

I bought a XT seat when they first came out in the earlier 90s, and I found that I didn't like it very much at all. Way too much structure, and I found the high back and sides very restrictive. I've found the best DaKine seat harness for me was the Speedseat, which is no longer made. Like the Reflex, it has a real low back and a very minimal structure. While I used to get low back pain from my first chest harness back in the mid 80s, all that disappeared once I started using a low seat harness very similar to the later Speedseat.

I'm of the opinion that there is little reason to have the high back and sides of the XL. Even at 66, I get absolutely no back pain or discomfort with the Speedseat. I've got 3 of them, and I will try to keep them alive into the future. If I ever had to replace them, it would definitely be a low back design like the Reflex.

[Sailor09]

I have been using a waist harness Dakine NRG in the last five years and I am somewhat satisfied. Of course the harness moved up at times and I had to re-adjust its position but I got used to it. However, last year I noticed some back pain. After reading a few posts related to this subject I decided to try a seat harness in order to avoid the escalation of this problem.

Will both harnesses (Reflex and XT) take care of the back pain?

As one who never used a seat harness, the Dakine XT makes more sense as it has a higher hook and provides more back support. I may be wrong though.

Another thing is that the Reflex does not have any kind of padding behind the spreader bar. The bar sits directly on the wetsuit. Is this OK?

[swchandler]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't need any back support while using a harness. Really, with a low back style seat harness, it's your pelvis that carries the load. I should also emphasize that I don't use a sitting or squatting technique when using a seat harness. The classic "7" stance is easily maintained. Also, I like the lower hook position, because it reenforces the load to the pelvic area rather than the back.

For clarification, I've never used a waist harness, so I can't comment on the differences between using a seat harness and a waist harness. Yet, like I pointed out earlier, a chest harness was bad for me, so the idea of again depending on my back to control the stresses of sailing just doesn't make sense.

Lastly, getting catapulted or thrown while hooked in happens, even if rarely. All you have to do is hit something like a log, a turtle or a sizable knot of kelp. I would much rather get pitched by the seat of my pants than ragdolled from my middle to lower back.

[GURGLETROUSERS]

Agree with Chandler about there being no need for back support for us lower back sufferers when using a seat harness, which carries the load on our pelvis. There is little load on the lower back PROVIDED you are hooked in to the harness. Out of the harness support there is a load, especially when pulling and twisting.

That is precisely why I always try to sail hooked in to the harness whenever possible, even when non-planing and out of the straps, with as little time out of it as possible (surf etc) as can be tolerated, before those warning twinges start to make themselves felt.

Needs mustwhen lower back issues call the tune for us 'well worn' oldies,and to hell with nonsense about it being a bad habit! Bad backs are no joke to those of us who have no choice but to manage (successfully in a seat harness) them!

[isobars]

Every back is different, and core conditioning (NOT those useless and harmful sit-ups or crunches!) will improve almost any back, so one man's harness preference means very little to the next man. Borrowing a bud's harness for a demo may tell you a lot.

I'ver never found a use for spreader bar pads. The bar is pulled away from, not pressed into, the wetsuit when in use, and is smooth anyway, so abrasion is not an issue, and I haven't noticed any stabilization benefit. HOWEVER, my bar holds down (so is held up by) my rib armor, so MAYBE a wide pad MAY keep the bar in place better when unhooked IF your strap is adjusted very tightly.

[Sailor09]

I got the Dakine Reflex. This is my first seat harness, hopefully I will enjoy it. I intend to use it in "flatter" water conditions with 6.5 & 7.5 sails and keep using the NRG waist harness for 5.5 conditions.