Hi all -
I'm new here to the forum and to hammock camping.
Just picked it up this summer after taking my kids out and a friend let me borrow his ENO DN.
I had planned on sleeping in our large family tent, but it was a warm night, and ended up sleeping in the hammock.
Enjoyed it so much that I thought I'd found a way simpler solution to tents, bags, pads, posts, etc.
Went again with just the ENO to a local trout stream so that I could start early. Got into the 50's and discovered CBS.
Looked at some of the ENO supplied systems but wanted something else. Found the Nube on Kickstarter and thought it looked like an ideal solution to hammock camping.
Keeping in mind, I am the perfect audience for this product. I am new to hammock camping. I favor simplicity over tweaking. I don't mind spending a bit more upfront, for a turn key solution that works for me as I am not the best DIY (as my UQ will attest).
Tried the Nube out myself a few weeks ago just to get familiar with it. No problems - set up quickly and provided good enclosure while not being too close / plenty of room. We had a long weekend and great weather in New England this weekend so I took my son down to a camping site next to the Connecticut River to try out the 'bunk' style hanging in the Nube.
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SMr (makers of Nube) - offer a shorter hammock called and Xplorer to hang above the main hammock. I would not suggest it be used by a large adult male, but for kids or lighter women, it should be fine. I kept my son's hammock pretty tight but he didn't mind. Kept it about 20" away from me, which was enough to not feel too intrusive.
It got down to about 40* at around 2AM. My son was warm in a 20* synth bag just laying in his sling. I think that the person above will be warmer since they are not exposed to as much convection and they have a warm body below.
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I was trying out a DIY UQ based on a Military Sleep System bag, but was only using 1 bag and had a hard time keeping it hanging below my (my fault).
What I found was this...
1. The Nube can comfortably fit 2 people, provided one of those people is on the small side.
2. Quick to set up and well protected environment, without being too small.
3. Customizable - we used a tent pole to extend one side as an awning to open up the view of the river. Bug Net was tied away so it worked like a standard tarp.
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4. Gear Storage will decrease with 2 people hanging - the lower you hang your main hammock, the less height you have for bulky items to be stored below.
5. I should use the Winter Enclosure, even if it is not winter. Got below 40* at around 2AM. Wish I had set up the Winter Barrier, even though it is fall.
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Summary:
Hammock Camping seems to be a something that more and more people are getting interested in.
When you have more new users, you need to have simple but viable solutions to help them get started.
After all, we don't know every knot, every rope, every tarp or every sling. Sometimes we don't want to.
Any "All in One" system is going to inherently be limited to what it was designed to do.
The Nube does a good job of providing a single package for both bug and rain protection, as well as gear storage.
It's not as flexible as other options, nor as cheap or maybe as light.
However, I've found the advantages to be that you don't need to be a hammock camping pro to get very good results.
My son told me in the morning that before we got set up, he was a little scared about sleeping outside in the woods (first time), when I set up the Nube he said he was excited because with the lights inside it looked like a UFO. When he got settled for bed, he said he loved it because it was the most comfortable he'd ever been.
Wish I could post pictures but this posting element says I'm not allowed to.
Night All
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