My wife and I have Handy Hammock stands and there's nothing so lightweight. But that comes at the price of fiddling.
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Mike
"Life is a Project!"
I bought and used a DD stand shortly after they took it over from Handy. Fantastically lightweight, really admired the truss engineering, having long been fascinated by tensegrity-ish structures. The anchors were heavier than the poles, alas, and proved not to hold reliably in a wide range of soils I tested. This got me thinking hard about the lightest possible free-standing (or nearly) design, with the carbon fiber tensahedron prototype being the result after months of dinking.
The aluminum Tensa4 is much heavier than the Handy/DD design, so not really in the same category. But the Tensa Solo variant/subset: that is competitive. Still heavier than the extraordinarily light DD/Handy, but close. Moreover, it's taller for decent sit height with an 11' hammock, more physically robust than the delicate trussed system, with taller tarp support, and packs shorter (20" instead of the >24" of DD/Handy). While no one anchor is best for all conditions, we haven't found a better all-around anchor than the Orange Screw. In fact the last time I used the DD stand (single sided), I brought 2 Orange Screws instead of the 6 nail type stakes included per side with the original: improved.
Last edited by Latherdome; 11-16-2018 at 19:09.
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Tensa Outdoor, LLC, maker of the Tensa4, Tensa Solo, and Tensa Trekking Treez hammock stands: http://tensaoutdoor.com/
I second that. The Orange Screws work great with the Handy Hammock Stand.
Omnia vincit lectulus pensilis.
I bought a HH stand for motorcycle camping and used it in places where there just weren't any trees I could use, often using one side of the HH stand when there was 1 tree or 1 pole that I could use. Then one of my poles failed after one of the tension lines broke. At that point I was able to buy a new stand from DD. I have never even put together the stand I got from DD because I ended up as a tester for the Tensa4 stand. I have recently purchased the new version of the Tensa4 stand which I will use from now on.
I found the Handy/DD stand to be a bit frustrating, just putting the poles together could take quite a few minutes with trying to get that ball thing through the loop. With the failed pole, I realised that it is rather fragile, this could be a big problem on a longer trip if I had a gear failure early into the trip. Yes, the Handy/DD stand is lighter, but if it fails then it is still too heavy considering it is useless weight.
Because I load my stand onto my motorcycle, the weight isn't particularly important. The Tensa4 stand has been working out great for motorcycle camping, letting me set up wherever all the tent campers set up - this is great for motorcycle rallies!
I don't see myself ever using my Handy/DD stand again, TBH.
Same as you KiwiMark. Bought a Handy Hammock so I could use the hammock motorcycle camping where there are no trees. Main problems are the number of lines and pegs needed to be used and the low height of the hang (particularly for a bottom entry Hennessy). Now have a Tensa stand and agree that it is so much better.
Bulkier and heavier, too. I agree on the low height of the hang though. It won't work with every hammock (+ underquilt). Works well with my 11' hammock with a 87% ridgeline.
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