For clarification, Weighted = After the suspension has been pulled taught by a body in the hammock and since removed as opposed to just the hammock/insulation weight.
Pretty much across the board I consider that one must first unweight the hammock from the straps when readjusting buckles.
- Thanks for taking the time to write this. Probably the best review of these that I have seen.
- Current outdoor favorite: Ti-cinch buckles on 12' dyneema/poly w/adutchable. Fairly easy to adjust after having been weighted. I larks head cl's with spliced on double whoopie hook's.
- Cinch bugs. Received a pair just this week and used for the past couple of nights indoor only. Super easy to adjust while setting up and equally easy to readjust after having been weighted. This may have just become our go-to buckle. Will have to try on dyneema/poly next. Unlike the ti-cinch buckle, the cinch bug does not rely on a whoopie hook/cl to be a true easy/quick disconnect. Yes I know you can just pull the straps out, I choose not to.
- Spiders: Meh. In a nutshell, I find the minuscule weight savings to pale in comparison to the hassle factor in using these. Weighted, either the whoopie or cl squishes the strap and makes this thing a bear to readjust. It's just the nature of the beast. For hanging single where one may choose to be less fussy, these may be ok, but I still don't like them. Dealing with two of these side by side in the dark is simply more frustration then I'm willing to accept. In all fairness, I've tried these with both Dutch's early and newest poly straps, but not yet the dyneema/poly.
- I've never used Dutch Buckles so can't comment.
My wife and I hang indoors full time. While our outdoor experience is limited, we have used cinch bugs on poly, spiders on poly, ti-cinch buckles on poly and dyneema/poly, whoopie (hook) slings and loopie slings, 4' & 5' 3.3 kevlar huggers with Dutch clips, 12' 2.2 kevlar, poly and dyneema/poly straps w/adutchables, cogs on 7/64 and 1/8 amsteel, and finally hammock anchors on 7/64.
Outdoors, our intent has been to backpack but this year we seem to be doing mostly backyard and car camping (group hangs). We hang double under one tarp using a spreader bar, and this changes priorities/needs compared to hanging single or indoors.
For me, at the head end, speed and ease of adjustment become more important than saving every last gram. I prefer to keep the spreader bar level, which may mean several adjustments after the hammocks have been weighted. I often find that one strap slips on the tree more than the other, furthering my desire to readjust. At the foot end we can use almost anything, as I find the need to fine tune much less critical.
One other thing that influences our choices is our height. Being only 5' 4" presents issues that tall folks don't have to deal with, at least not on a regular basis. The adjustability features of adutchables vs dutch clips is not needed for buckle type suspension, but since I have a bunch of them I use them. I like the versatility. Only my kevlar huggers have sewn on clips.
For the foot end outdoors my current favorite is 12' 2.2 kevlar w/adutchables, using a jbend directly to the hammock cl. Generally, once I set the jbend, I fine tune with the adutchable if needed. I double up the strap loop in the jbend which makes it less likely for the soft kevlar to pull through and also keeps the strap off the ground.
Footnote on cinch bugs:
We got these primarily to reduce wear and tear by whoopie hooks on my wife's indoor cl's. Her hammock gets moved daily from it's hanging position. In the morning, she unhooks it from her whoopies and hooks it to mine. This process is reversed at night. The so frequent on/off of the whoopie hooks takes a toll on the cl's, eventually causing some fraying. I recently replaced her foot end after 8 months or so of this activity. While cl's are inexpensive and easy enough to replace, it looks to me like the cinch bug hooks will give the cl's a bit of an easier life. I could be mistaken. My primary concern here is not the cost of the cl's, but rather having my wife potentially hit the floor due to overlooked fraying or sheer laziness on my part to replace them at the first sign of distress. This is NOT a diss on whoopie hooks!
Originally Posted by sqidmark
For clarification, Weighted = After the suspension has been pulled taught by a body in the hammock and since removed as opposed to just the hammock/insulation weight.
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