I occasionally do gear reviews for various companies and when I do, I have a few rules:
1. I need to actually try the gear/product out and will test it when my schedule permits.
2. I will speak honestly about the gear. This means both good and bad. Ive learned to realize how important it is to offer suggestions to the company on how to improve what they are selling. This includes telling them things they may not want to hear.
3. I usually ask that if the gear or product is to my liking, that they agree to sponsor a contest or two by donating prizes.
Ive been using an R-Strap since they first came out. Compared to the strap that comes with the camera, it is so much more comfortable and easy to use, not pulling on my neck. Very strong and comfortable.
Carry Speed Strap ( I have many friends who swear by them) recently asked me to give their camera strap a test and I wanted to give them, as well as you guys some feedback and recommendations, as well as some notes on how it compares to an Black Rapid R-Strap. 
I like the feel of the FS-Slim Carry Strap, it is made out of a different material, more like neoprene with grip material on the inside. This prevents the strap from sliding around to the front like often happens with my single R-Strap, which is thicker and sturdier, but not necessarily more comfortable.
Because the main shoulder portion is made of neoprene, there is a little bouncy give with each step, which also added to comfort. In my opinion, the Carry Strap is much more comfortable to wear than an R-Strap. I put a 100-400mm lens on it and went walking for an hour, yes definitely more comfortable. 
The release buckles, webbing and stoppers on both systems are pretty much identical.
However, Carry Strap has a metal adjustment clip that was functionally sturdy & awesome, while the R-Strap does not have this quick way to tighten their system. This is a welcome improvement. 
Another key difference between the 2 systems was how the strap connects with the camera. R Strap features a screw in metal tab, which then clips to a light carabiner with a screw-down lock. Carry Speed features a extremely sturdy ball joint that needs to be screwed into your camera or lens mount. 
You then slide a joint onto this ball and thumb screw it down. 
This connection looks like it could support several hundred pounds of weight. Very sturdy and strong. 
Another note, is that when shooting outdoors, you might need to go from carrying your camera on a strap to mounting it on a tripod. Carry Speed makes a number of tripod mounts with built in ball joints. This is a very different approach which many shooters will appreciate.
In fact, side to side the Carry Strap seems to be a better system in all things but one: My style of shooting is not compatible with their ball attachments, and this is the reason:
I often shoot with a Canon 24-70 2.8L Lens, in this case, I usually have a manfrotto tripod shoe on my camera, so I just clip the R-Strap onto the shoe. If I need to put it on a tripod, I can quickly unclip it, and load it on the tripod. I also like to switch lenses, such as the Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6 L IS , which is very big and heavy. In those cases, I usually just have an extra shoe on the lens and clip it there. The main advantage the R-Strap still has, is how quick & easy it is to connect and disconnect from the camera.
When I switched lenses with the Carry Speed, I had to unscrew the lock, unscrew the ball head, re-screw the ball head, rescrew the lock. Too many steps and took too much time. Another note is I didn’t like how far the ball joint stuck out from the bottom of the camera. As much as I really liked so many features on the Carry Strap, I like the connection on the R Strap better. This quick changing of connections is the only reason I cannot give up the R Strap when compared to the Carry Speed.
I should also point out that many users will not have the issues I did with it. They may only have one lens, or no tripod and just want a great, comfortable strap to use. In those cases, I would say the Carry Strap is better.
I remember a few years ago when Go Pro was just coming out, they had a competitor called “Contour”. The contour camera was actually a little better because of it’s shape and video quality, but what Go Pro did was focus on “accessories” and they eventually won, because the company gave users many different ways to use their product.
My strong recommendation to Carry Strap would be to develop a “hook” type fastener system similar to R-Strap’s. It is just too dang easy to use, which makes it hard to give up.
Overall, I like Carry Strap, they make a fine system and with a faster connection system that doesn’t sacrifice on strength, they will have a champion of a product.
I have the R-Strap and enjoy it, aside from the slipping as you mentioned. When I saw the ball on the Carry Speed, I knew I would have issues with it. So sticking with my R-Strap 🙂 Nice review!
I love my Black-R Strap but hated having to disconnect it from the tripod plate…found this and it works great!!! A little pricey but worth it! http://i.ebayimg.com/t/CUSTOM-SLR-M-PLATE-PRO-INTEGRATED-MANFROTTO-RC2-AND-ARCA-SWISS-PLATES-USA-/00/s/NjAwWDYwMA==/z/rlYAAOxy9eVRJYB4/$(KGrHqR,!k4FDj-L3HKrBRJYB360g!~~60_3.JPG
When you clip your R Strap to the tripod shoe, does it ever loosen the tripod mount during the course of the day?
I agree totally. I wish the R strap had a non-slip gripping material. I bought a chest strap for it . . . which helps some. The quick release feature is tough to beat. I have several plates that I keep on my tripods etc.
Just got the R-Strap and love it. Perfect setup for the 70-200 lens and detaches from body quickly. Now I can carry two cameras at a time when I shoot events. People think you know what you are doing and say "Shhhh. Be quiet." He’s gonna take a picture. Right up there with "Wow, that’s a nice camera. It must take good pictures." I always agree and say it sure does.
Hi, Michael
Thanks a lot for such a great review.
I actually designed the Carry Speed strap system, which I try to solve a few problems I think it is necessary for sling strap.
1. We use offset hanging design, not connect to the center, which make the camera perfectly align to you hip duding use.
2. We make multiple tripod mounts available, which enable user to attach any kind of QR plate under our mounting plate, so people can access to any kind of tripod.
3. Compare with other brand name, you can keep the strap on the camera same time access to tripod, which I believe will add extra safety to this system.
4. The ball head connection is solid metal made without any hidden parts, which we tested up to 350 Lbs.
I sincerely appreciate your great review about our products, and we will continue add improvement to our design according to feedback from market.
Regards
Tim
I have the Carry Speed and love it I looked at the other straps and would not trust 3K plus worth of gear to a cheap clip the ball is extremely solid and sturdy.As for the tripod I just attached my tripod mounting plate to the CS plate and can put it on my tripod with the strap on the camera no issues.
At time of purchase I thought the Carry Speed strap was the best I had ever used, however 4 months later I watched in horror as my camera and lens came crashing to the ground, destroying an expensive Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 lens. The root cause of the problem was that the pin popped out of the connector. On investigation I found two problems. The first was the metal inside the connector was too soft, and after only 4 months of use had deformed to the point where the pin was able to pop out. In addition to this, on measuring a number of other pins in the store I purchased it from, there was a significant variation in the diameter. Thankfully my lens was insured, but the worst experience of all was the ignorance of Carry Speed. After some 6 months, their only response was that there is no design problem and they had received no other reports of this problem.
My advice is be careful with this product and all straps for that matter. We put so much faith in our cheap straps carrying expensive photographic equipment.
I am using the Black Rapid. I also use RRS plates for my gear. I did not like having to remove plates to use the Black Rapid strap. The solution though was very simple and probably can work for Carry Speed straps as well. I use the Really Right Stuff B2-FAB-F 38mm clamp. I attached the Black Rapid strap to it. Then the clamp is used as needed attaching to either the camera body or the lens with a collar.
I had an R-Strap for 2 years and loved it except for 3 things. The R-Strap was always slipping on my shoulder so I had to reposition it a lot. It was hard adjust on the fly so I had to choose between the strap length set for shooting or carrying. Most of the time I chose the shooting length and I had to keep my hand on the camera to keep it from bouncing while I walked. The last thing about the R-Strap that bothered me was having to unclip it to use my tripod.
I switched to the Carry Speed and found it to be the most comfortable strap I have every used. It stays put on my shoulder and has a slight bounce from the neoprene shoulder pad. I wore it for 6 hours with a heavy Tokina 11-16 lens in Cologne and it was great; the offset attachment plate pulls the camera snug against your hip. Using a tripod with the built in Arca Swiss plate is a snap and the folding ball allows the plate it sit flat on a table. The quick release buckle has a safety button that requires 2 hands to open.
The best thing about the Carry Speed is the quick cinch strap. Pulling the cinch tight for walking brings the camera close in to your hip and remove most of the bounce I got from my R-Strap. When you pull the camera up to shoot the strap will automatically lengthen. I got caught in a downpour at the Cologne Cathedral and the quick cinch allowed me pull the camera up under my rain jacket so it was completely protected. Recently I watched a press reporter using an R-Strap with a Canon 70-200 2.8 L lens wade into a rocky river almost up to his knees. He held the camera up and could not use his strap because the lens would have been right at river level. Holding the camera up changed his center of gravity and I cringed as he tried to balance camera and rock hop. After he got out I told him about the Carry Speed.
The Carry Speed is not prefect. The nylon shoulder pad on the R-Strap is stronger than the neoprene shoulder pad; heavy telephotos lens make me worry. If you switch to the Carry Speed between plates, the ball mount is much slower the the R-Strap clip.
For my current needs the Carry Speed is the one; I don’t miss my R-Strap.
I really liked the Carry Speed strap, actually so much that I have bought three of them. But then I had the same horrendous experience as Malcom above. Out on a walk I suddenly hear a big crash as my camera comes crashing down to the ground. The body and the lens sustained a lot of damage and had to be repaired at a high cost. The cause of it all was the pin unscrewing itself from the baseplate, so however comfortable the Carry Speed strap is (and it really is), I really do not dare to use it any more. Nowadays I am a just a little bit paranoid and uses Peak Design’s CapturePro combined with their leash and I feel totally secure.
Well this is somewhat academic as BR sued CarrySpeed out of business but I really like the Carry Eed much more. I replaced the ball and socket mount with the ball bearing mount from the SunSniper strap that I put on my BR strap. I use RSS L brackets and the RSS strap attachment.
The carry Speed unit is so much more comfortable.. And sturdier. Too bad it’s no longer available.
For the author of the article, you can easily attach a manfrotto plate on top of the base plate as I have done. As others have said, you don’t even need to take off the strap to attach to a tripod. Also, I have attached other ball heads to my heavy lens so I just need to unscrew from the camera then screw into the lens. Still pretty quick. For others that had problems with heavy lens being dropped, I always make sure that the hand strap that came with the neck strap is attached to the lens and the main connection is to the camera. So I have two ball joints connected. I have never had any issues with connections failing though.
What happened to Carry Speed? When you go to their website it redirects to a monopod site. Are they out of business?
I’m looking for a minimalist design. Has anyone looked at the Sling from http://www.dsptch.com or the not yet released Slide from http://www.peakdesign.com? I’m concerned that the anchor design from Peak Design would fray over time on Canon’s not so smooth camera strap mounts.
dude…I loved the Carry Speed until the ball bearing metal broke at a wedding and my camera crashed to the ground. It is no wonder they changed their website name and the product is pretty much MIA
Another Carry Speed hater here – thought their strap was great, till the ball bearing broke and slammed my D7000 and 18-200 to the ground. Lens was kaput, luckily the body survived. Black Rapid did everyone a favour by suing them and sparing other photographers their rubbish products.