Cotton Carrier Steady Rest

Hey,

Being nearly 62 years of age I'm always looking for some better ways of shooting BIF. I normally use a Nikon D300s with a 300 2.8 VRII and sometimes add a 1.4 to get a little additional length. Last eagle season I used a Bushwacker and felt I got some help with BIF and smoother, more stable support. I recently order a Cotton Carrier Steady Rest with vest and it came in yesterday. I put it together and this morning and spend about 30 minutes adjusting the straps to get a good tight fit. I added a RRS Pro Clamp and adjusted all the levers to get a comfortable eye position with the camera and made the necessary adjustments to enable easy tracking of BIF. To may initial surprise the support the unit did provide with the 300 VRII was very encourgeing. It really helped on the stability of the camera and gave me a feeling that it can really help with BIF or other sports related photography. I intend to do some field test tomorrow with some water birds and will have a better feeling of the actual in the field help following this session. The only question in my mind is the durability of the Cotton Carrier vest and attachment device. It doesn't give me a warm fuzzy at this time so will be certain to have the Lens strap over my neck in the event of breakage. I hope to eventually use the unit for my 500 VR but are taking it one step at a time. I would love to hear any of your thoughts on this device or other similar devices.

Thanks,
Randy