Well folks. Got delivery of my new NA yesterday and spent the entire evening messing with it.

First impressions: Dang this thing is warm! Four-season shelter per the Clark website? I have NO idea how people use these things year round. Okay, I'm in southeast Texas...but still. I hung it with the netting and weathershield tucked away, got in, and was way too hot. No way I could use this thing to just relax in the backyard during the warm Texas summers. ENO DoubleNest maybe?

It was fairly cool late yesterday evening and I was burning up in the hammock. When the sun went down and the temps dropped a few more degrees...it was AWESOME! The weather is expected to dip into the mid-50s during the day and mid 40s at night here in the next couple of days. I'll give the hammock a test during this next week and will report back.

Realistically, we only get nice weather like that a few days during the year. The normal weather pattern here in Houston for 99.99% of the year is hot, humid, hot, hot, and humid. Did I mention hot and humid? That being the case, I can probably only use this hammock a few days out of the year.

I like how it packs up into the built-in sack (haven't actually tried it), I like the insulation pockets below, I love the bug netting and Weathershield (if I could ever get it adjusted correctly so that I could zip the @$#% things up once I get in the hammock!), I love how I can basically sleep in it however I want and move around without fear of tipping over, but what's up with that XL rain fly? Give me a break! Glad I didn't get the standard fly, but sheesh! That's the XL? If I keep the hammock, I'll end up getting a Kelty Noah tarp that's 12' x 12' and dumping that XL fly or using them together.

I still need LOTS of practice with how to hang the hammock correctly and more quickly. I need to figure out the best height from the ground in which to hang. I may end up dumping the XL fly attached to the hammock and run one long ridgeline across the top from which to suspend the netting and Weathershield. I understand those little plastic snaps break easily.

Please keep in mind that I am as novice as novice can get with hammocks. These are just my newbie observations and in no way reflect those of experienced users or someone well-versed in the use of a hammock system. I would do well to spend an afternoon with an experienced hammocker so I could get tips from a pro to help bypass my mistakes or misconceptions.

In order to speed up my learning curve, I have ordered Ed Speer's book "Hammock Camping" and will digest it from cover to cover as soon as it arrives.