Only just stopped using our Ergo on a daily basis and DS is 21 and a half months old I was using HAB until about 5 months, for the same reasons you cite (I was going out to paddocks, shopping, meetings etc and HAB becoming hindrance more than help), and never looked back after getting the Ergo. We still use it, just not every day, and I don't have to have conniptions in the car when I realise, half an hour after leaving home, that I haven't packed the Ergo (like I did when I'd forget it up to about 2 months ago!).
Well worth it. DS isn't small (not with a 6 foot 4 daddy) either, but we defintely find there is a time and a place for a sling, even now.