ariel777 - I'll let you know how I like it if I get the cotton carrier. I'm seriously leaning that way (no pun intended) in an effort to try to balance the weight a little better. I'm thinking that I can tote the camera and my 24-70 with the carrier and carry the 80-400 and tripod in a small back pack that I have. I got the idea of trying out the cotton carrier last March after we went to Rickets Glen to shoot waterfalls. I was carrying a D800, 24-70, 17-35 (didn't need it), 80-200 (really didn't need it), and my tripod and the backpack got pretty heavy pretty fast. Once I put the camera on the strap and carried it around my neck, the weight was distributed a little better and the hike got more tolerable. The downside was that the camera kind of flopped around with the lens sticking out while I negotiated the trails. I think that the carrier would take care of that issue. Since my surgery is at the end of March I probably won't have anything to report until some time in June or early July.