Bit the bullet and bought a new hammock.

[Pithecanthropus]

I have been using the Hummingbird Single+ hammock. It's not a bad hammock. I put a structural ridge line on it, took me a lot of testing and a few weeks to finally get it dialed in correctly. I did as much as I could to get rid of the atrocious calf ridge, I got it to the point where it's actually not much of an issue, but it's still there no matter what. The deal breaker? The width. It's just too narrow, still.

My top quilt keeps slipping out of with the foot end going over the side some time during the night and then by morning it's pulling off me. I was thinking of trying to maybe do a DIY knotty mod on it, but laying in the hammock seeing where the best lay is, it's just not wide enough to make that a worthwhile project, I fear my feet will be popping out of the hammock in the middle of the night.

Checked out Colorado Outdoor Gear Supply, and I have to say I was sold on an idea of an XL wide hammock, and I got the Mt. Massive model, with the knotty mod! It'll be heavier than the Hummingbird hammock, but I think this is the point where I will put comfort over weight. I hope this gets rid of calf ridge altogether.

I'm also not a particularly tall person, I am 5' 9'' and the Hummingbird Single+ is a really nice hammock for the weight, and it can work as camping hammock, but I don't see myself being very happy long term with it as my winter hanger.

[W8lkinUSA]

Now, you can host a guest with your extra gear. Congrats on biting that tasty bullet.

[Andy "Bull" Bullock]

I have a hummingbird as well. (After I had bought a couple grand trunk hammocks). I too installed the ridge line. But I also installed knotty mods (pain in the butt), and got it dialed in without the calf ridge by raising that foot end really high. Still it’s just too narrow, and I had the same problem as you with stuff falling out.

Then I DIY’d an 11 footer with Dutch’s material, and I love that thing.

Then I bought a ridgerunner. Then I bought a Blackbird XLC.

I’ll probably never lay in the hummingbird again. I take it for my 9 year old on overnights, she can carry it with some other stuff easily. So it’s still getting use for now.


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[Pithecanthropus]

From what I've read it seems I'm guaranteed to love the 11 foot length of the hammock, and the extra width I feel is going to be amazing. I move a lot in my sleep, which is another problem with the Hummingbird. I couldn't really move around much without fear of falling out or pushing out my pillow/foot end of my quilt. I had to pretty much sleep as still as I could, which sometimes made for great sleeps, but also sometimes made for some sleepless nights. When I used a pad once, that was the most comfortable the humminbird was to sleep in, but the pad never stayed put and slipped out one side of the hammock.

[Andy "Bull" Bullock]

I too move back and forth in my sleep. I had hammock gear build me a custom underquilt (through Dutch) that would accommodate my tossing and turning. It’s great!


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[Pithecanthropus]

That's awesome on the custom underquilt! My Phoenix seems to stay put quite well for me. We'll see how that goes in the new hammock. The Hummingbird I always get in and phooey with my lay angle too much trying to get that calf ridge to disappear as much as possible and that's when the the UQ will slip out from my right side, but after I situate and pull it back over my shoulder, it stays really well. I end up resting my head on the primary and secondary suspension lines on that side, and I sue the lines to hold the pillow in place, too. With the new hammock, the pillow shouldn't be sticking out over the edge that much to get the right angle lay so I won't need to use the suspension to hold it in place anymore. I'm excited to get to play with the new hammock and re-dial in my UQ to it.

I forgot to mention in this topic that Chad at COGS is great to work with. He answered my emails in a very timely manner. He also told me right away they didn't have the original color I chose anymore and I had to choose a new one, and he was more than happy to make it that way for me. He also was great at explaining how the knotty mod works, since I didn't know much about them except what they are for, so I knew I wanted one. It made sense right away to me. My fear with that was maybe knotty mods are done on the head end and the foot end, not both on the foot end, and I didn't know if my lay direction would affect how he made it. Turns out I didn't have anything to worry about, both on the foot end. Great communicator, hope he makes hammocks just as well. In the end for the price, I seriously and fully doubt I'll be unhappy. I am not worried at all about this purchase. Just waiting as patiently as I can.