Well, I fixed the rattling hardware on the sling on mine, otherwise I haven't had a complaint with it. I recently ordered a 6 drop lanyard from fw707 here on the forum, and the next day kicked myself for not ordering a matching sling for my E-caller. I had few special twists I wanted in mine, so I told Jeff what I was up to and had him throw in a little extra paracord when he packed it. (Lanyard and the strap are both great!! Beautiful workmanship on both. If any of you are looking, give Jeff a shout.)
Back to the strap... First, I wanted a plastic buckle in the main cord. Down here in Florida I hang it over tree branches occasionally that are too big to slide the handle over, or tie it around tree trunks to get it up off the ground. I also wanted a drop on it with a buckle. Since I want to attach the remote to my lanyard in the field, and don't want the lanyard tied to the remote all the time, a buckle on the lanyard and the remote was a given anyhow. The drop on the strap ties the remote to the strap, so that should the release button get bumped somewhere in the field, my remote isn't lost along the trail.
The remote was truly a pain in the @$$! The hole in the remote is not designed to tie anything through, as best I could tell. I finally wound up using a rather large stainless interlocking snap out of the tackle box to hook that up. Configuration on the hole in the remote leaves a little to be desired. It is not open straight through, you kinda hafta go around the corner with it. Had to straighten the little lock tab on the end of the loop out, and bend the loop a little bassackwards, to feed it through. Once I got it hooked up I bent the locking tabs on the end of the wire closed to secure it.
Since my mission was to eliminate hardware, and the rattling associated with it. Once I got the hangman's noose tied up on the remote drop, I simply slipped it down over the snap.
Rear attachment on the call was made using a simple hangman's noose. This allows 2 - 3 inches adjustment in length of strap, (or more if you tie it longer.) I moved the buckle on the main strap, to the front of the call because when I tied it up short like I wanted it, on the rear of the call, it landed right in the middle of the handle. Since we're after quiet in this mission, I was trying to get the buckle away from the call body.
I then slipped the loop on one drop on my lanyard down through a female buckle end, fed the buckle back through it, and cinched it down. I kept the female end on my lanyard and on the strap for several reasons...
1.) If I toss the strap over a tree branch and get hit in the eye with the buckle, the female end will probably do less damage than the male end with it's 3 little pointy prongs.
2.) The female end of the buckle looks much cleaner hanging from your lanyard when not attached.
3.) The male end will always be protected this way to prevent damage to the prongs. It's not being carried around out in the open, waiting to be damaged.
My drop on the remote is probably 3 - 4 inches long; I may shorten it a little, or tie a not in it, or something. It works great to get it out arms length away, (you old guys will understand that; not sure about the youngsters), but I'm afraid it may be too long when sitting. It'll definitely keep the remote attached to you, but it may allow it to fall far enough to clank and rattle on a seat or stand when you drop it.
Overall length was a little long when I first tried it, so I shortened my round ends up. And, of course then the overall length came out a little short of where I wanted it to be.
It rides a couple inches higher on my hip than what I wanted, but it isn't bad. I can gain about half of what I need simply by slipping the noose on the back connection, and if need be I can always retie the front connection to the call and lengthen it up. Where it sits now, just above my belt, with an over the head/under the arm carry, it tucks it up under my arm a little better while hiking and should keep it from bouncing around as much as down on my hip, where I had originally planned it.
Overall assessment: I think it'll work just like I wanted it too!
I ordered my buckles out of
White Moose Trading Company They offered the most reasonable prices on small lots, in the size I wanted. I used a 3/8" simple buckle. If I had it to do over again... I'd try to find someone that had a 1/2" simple buckle, or order the 5/8" buckles too. The 3/8" buckles are great in respect to not being overly large, so they don't bang and clatter when they're unhooked and flopping around. Likewise, they don't stick out like a sore thumb, and don't look out of place on the paracord. They are however just a wee bit small in design for old fat fingered guys. I think in time I'll get used to it and it'll all be OK, in fact in a few days when I get the feeling back in my fingertips, after playing with paracord for 4 hours, it'll probably be OK.
I do know however that when I opened the package and looked at them, my first thought was, "Dammmmm that's a little bitty buckle!"
I checked specs on these buckles on another site when looking for them, and there's only 3 - 4 pounds difference in the rating on the 3/8" and 5/8", and the 3/8" is rated for about 30 lbs. more than the ER1 weighs. I was pulling and tugging on them pretty good while tying this up, deliberately, and they're plenty tough, they just don't look like they would be.
All in all I think it's going to be really sweet, and it is a grand improvement over the metal buckles clanking about!!
