Why all the tarp suspension gadgets?

[joehasbeard]

I love knots and use them whenever I can, but that's just me. If I had all the gizmos I'd use em but like you said, the knots work and that's good enough for me. I do use mini-biners to connect my tarp to my CRL through the use of prussik loops and the reason for that is because i don't want to have to tie two knots to my CRL through my tarp that is blowing in the breeze and fighting me every step of the way. There's definitely room for knots in this whole business but you might find that a few tiny pieces of hardware can save you a lot of strain (esp. in bad weather conditions).

So far as hammock suspension however, I think the whoopies are probably the height of knot-tying without any actual knots, but the rope is binding on itself and holding itself in place and to be fair that's what a knot does right? When I made my first set I couldn't tell you how amazed I was that they actually worked but I now hang from em every night.

[MrClean417]

I think the most simple and obvious answer has been overlooked...

Why not?

The incandescent light bulb works and has for years... Now we have LED, CF, sodium, mercury vapor etc.

Its not about a fear of knots, its about speeding up set-up and tear down of camp, IMO.

Not to mention new things are cool, especially one off, hand made right here in the US stuff. You are still free to tie knots if you so desire.

Wrong sir! It's not "Why Not?"

It's "Why Knot?"

Ehhh, spell checker I presume.