I have never quite been satisfied with my Frog rig. I was in the middle of switching over to a Mitchell System, I ran across Coffee Creek Gear, out of Denton, MT. Rick, owns and sews, you may have seen his Friday Projects in the equipment forum. What initially intrigued me about the Arbee was the greater support that it would give to the upper body; additionally, I felt that it could be easily and quickly converted to work with chest rollers. I contacted Rick about the possibility of modifying it to that end and he was very accommodating. I will be reviewing that usage in another review. But, for the purpose of this review I will be looking at it from a Frogger's perspective.
I am barrel chested and top heavy. I enjoy lifting weights and that has given me a physique that is not conductive to frogging. When hanging from my croll, I am almost horizontal. The PMI H-harness I was using didn't do much to support me even at it's tightest setting. I used the Arbee in its' frog version in the Warm -Up Pit in Ellison's Cave and throughout the cave that day(we didn't drop Fantastic that day), I've also used it at various permutations at various pits throughout TAG. This is not an exhaustive, multi-month review, but I feel that it was enough to give me an impression of it's abilities. I will update this review after I have more experience with it.
In cave, I didn't really notice it. It didn't catch on anything and hugged my closely. There was no chafing, but that could have been my cave suit. However, if I were wearing it over a t-shirt I don't believe it would be a problem.
On rope, it did very well. I worried initially that having that a strap around my chest would lead to shortness of breath, there was nothing of the sort. I felt more supported in the upper body, and I arrived at the top significantly less tired. My core was not as wore out as it has been in the past when doing pits of the same length. I think this stems from the greater support of the upper body. It may have encouraged a change in my rest and drive positions. It was not a great enough change to prevent me from switching to a Mitchell. I do think that in a cave where a Frog Rig would be better suited, I will wear it.
One of the things I didn't like was the fiddleness of the whole apparatus. It took some doing to get it set at first. Probably about 30 minutes of fitting and jiggering around with straps. Another aspect of the fiddleness is getting on rope. It takes pulling 1" webbing through a few buckles to get it finally set-up and ready to go. However, these complaints are relatively minor.
Overall, for those of you dealing with Big Guy Frog Syndrome (BGFS) and committed to sticking with a Frog, I would recommend looking into the Arbee or something similar.
I bought and paid for this piece of gear. I have no business interest in Coffee Creek Gear.