My first hammock!

[Atlas]

Ever since meeting the hammock people on the trail, I've been really trying to get a sense of what sleeping in a hammock is like. So, the other night I threw caution to the wind and picked up my first hammock: the Compact Camper's Hammock from Walmart for $10. After drilling a couple iholes into the ceiling it was ready for testing. I found sleeping in my new hammock wasn't a painful experience, but it wasn't life changing either.

What I'm trying to get at is whether sleeping in this particular $10 hammock wasn't great because of the quality of the hammock or whether I'm going to find the same sleeping experience in all hammocks...

[Ramblinrev]

oh my goodness... The good news is it wasn't painful. The bad news is it probably wasn't hung properly and now you have holes in your ceiling. Without knowing the hammock it is impossible to say whether you had too much sag.. not enough sag or eactly what was going on. If you can set it up and take some pics maybe we can help out. Is it a solid fabric hammock or net? I could not find it on the Wally World web site.

[GrizzlyAdams]

Ever since meeting the hammock people on the trail, I've been really trying to get a sense of what sleeping in a hammock is like. So, the other night I threw caution to the wind and picked up my first hammock: the Compact Camper's Hammock from Walmart for $10. After drilling a couple iholes into the ceiling it was ready for testing. I found sleeping in my new hammock wasn't a painful experience, but it wasn't life changing either.

What I'm trying to get at is whether sleeping in this particular $10 hammock wasn't great because of the quality of the hammock or whether I'm going to find the same sleeping experience in all hammocks...

-there is a learning curve to dialing in a hang to best effect.

-perhaps more importantly though, what are the dimensions of the hammock?

Finally, (and I risk my HF membership card for this I'm sure), it's all relative. I'm much more comfortable hanging in the wild than sleeping on the ground on a too-thin pad. I can get comfortable on the ground with a pad that is wide enough, long enough, and fat enough, but they weigh too much, and there's the whole business about site selection. Outdoors -> hammock for me.

But frankly (bye bye HF card...) I sleep best in my own bed at home.

Grizz

[fin]

Ever since meeting the hammock people on the trail, I've been really trying to get a sense of what sleeping in a hammock is like. So, the other night I threw caution to the wind and picked up my first hammock: the Compact Camper's Hammock from Walmart for $10. After drilling a couple iholes into the ceiling it was ready for testing. I found sleeping in my new hammock wasn't a painful experience, but it wasn't life changing either.

What I'm trying to get at is whether sleeping in this particular $10 hammock wasn't great because of the quality of the hammock or whether I'm going to find the same sleeping experience in all hammocks...

Have you ever heard the phrase "you get what you pay for?"

Lots of things could contribute to this, including poor angles for your support system, narrow hammock bed of the aforementioned hammock, even the fabric itself. I know you are in Columbus - you should PM Stormcrow and see if he has some time to give you a quick hanging lesson. He isn't that far from you, and he may even lend you one of his DIY hammocks for an overnighter if you are nice enough to him. I know he will be busy working on his next DIY hammock very shortly.

[Ramblinrev]

Doctari also lives near Columbus.. He should be able to provide some insight if not a loaner.

[pgibson]

Hey Atlas, I recently converted from a very nice tent setup over to hammocks in the past few months. My guess is that you have hit a bit on the age old truth "you get what you pay for." Wile I can see that jumping into a hole new type of camping can be costly and overwelming at first, it can also be very rewarding. You should also know that for many of us it takes a few nights sleep for your body to adjust to the change from your bed to the hammock. For me personlay now when ever I lay in my hammock it is very comfortable and relaxes me almost instantly. But sleeping in it at home I could not get comfortable enough to sleep deeply. But on the trail, with in seconds I am totaly out and get the best rest I have ever had in the woods, and I have never had a problem getting to sleep normaly in my tent. So the Hammock is just that much better. I first purchsed on of the popular brands, forked out some decent cash, and played with making it work, I asked tones of questions and had great deal of help from the members here. But in the end I just could not get that supper comfort level that everyone talked about. So I ended up taking that hammock back and purchased another to try. The diffrence in comfort was day and night better. I took a trip with some freinds a week ago, they were all in tents and said they had no complaints. I was in my hammock and slept so well that I felt so much better from a long hard day of hiking that I was ammazed at the diffrence it made. Of corse hammocks do not work for everyone and in that case hammocks that come up on the 4-sale section here often do not last more than a few hours. So I guess I am saying keep trying you may find that after a few hangs you are learing and improving on your hanging comfort, I did and still am every time I get out to the woods.

Good Luck

Paul

[Atlas]

At Ramblinrev's request I attached some pictures

[stormcrow]

I have not seen that particular one but it might not be so bad. Like many of the other members said, it is probably a combination of of a number of "newbie" things. We have all been there. I can remember thinking how much I loved to lay in my hammock after a good hike and then setting it up one day and wondering why it was not comfortable at all any more. Turns out I was accidentally hanging it right the first few times. I did not even KNOW that you COULD hang it wrong. We will get it dialed in for you man!

Stormcrow

(check your pm)

[Ramblinrev]

At Ramblinrev's request I attached some pictures

Thanks for those. Two thoughts right off the top... Net hammocks are not the most comfortable unless they are expensive from what I understand. The other thing I note are the spreader bars. It looks a lot like the patio hammock I bought for cheap a while back. Not wide enough to get a good diagonal lie to start with and not long enough to give you enough hammock to displace for a diagonal lie. So you are stuck lying down the middle of the hammock which does not do a good job of supporting your body. The sag levels on the suspension don't look too bad... but I don;t think there would be much to do to salvage that for a good nights sleep. Hanging around the campground for a lounge might be fine.

In point of fact... once you get a good comfortable hammock you'll have a nice gear hammock to use to keep your camping stuff in. So it is not a complete loss.

[Rug]

I do not have the expertise that most of the membership of this fine board have but I can say from personal experience that those mesh hammocks are fine for hanging in the back yard for 10 minutes and having a snooze or reading a book, but anything more then 30 minutes and they are painful.

I developed deteriorating disks (L4 & L5) when I was 13 years old, and have had constant back pain for the last 30+ years. The first time I slept in my hammock I woke without pain for the FIRST TIME in 32 years!!!!!!! As you will notice these bear tacos are more comfortable to sleep in for a lot of people, but not all. Your mileage may vary.

Return the fishing net, and either test-hang with some forum members, or jump into it; but either way the quality of your sleep will be an incredible improvement over what the mesh hammock can provide.