Just left my 5 star review.Originally Posted by ShortRound
Just left my 5 star review.
" The best pace is a suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die." ~ Steve Prefontaine
The early discussion on the few threads here at HF had me very interested in the Trailwinder. I had been meaning to DIY my own similar version for some time and just never got around to it. Mostly a lack of time, but I also hadn't figured out the precise placement and sizing of things so had never gotten around to prototyping something myself, let alone making a version with more expensive fabrics and risk a disaster or piece of gear that I'd be unhappy with.
I discussed and placed an order with Jared pretty early on, but I had a little bit of a wait. Jared agreed to make my version with some of Dutch's P2f fabrics, so the printing and delivering of this slowed my order down a little. I still received it in impressive timely fashion, but I was anxious after reading the reviews and comments from the rest of you that already had yours.
I went with a 10' version, 3.6 Climashield, all in Dutch's Cloakware printed Argon. I'm a little compulsive about patterns and colors in all of my gear, so I was happy he was willing to do it (with the added expense of the printed fabric of course).
I received it mid-last week and managed to set it up for a test hang yesterday afternoon, just to see the fit and how it'd function. I must say I'm impressed. The placement of size of the insulation was perfect. Even with it being around 30° and very windy when I was trying it out, I could still tell that this will function great.
I've worked with many of the thicknesses of climashield and wouldn't even think about trying to push 3.6 to 30°, but I was actually warm in my Chameleon with the topcover on and the Trail Winder snugged up. From past experience, I even usually don't like the typical warmth suggestions related to Climashield and their thickness and after a couple slightly poor experiences, thought that the temperature ratings that were commonly thrown around related to thickness were about 5-10° off. For me personally, I felt like 5oz was only good to 35-40°, not the typical 30° mark suggested (even with a proper winter tarp). I always knew fit played a large role in temp comfort, but this highlighted it even more for me. It really snugs up to you in the hammock and eliminates potential coverage gaps and cold spots.
As I said, I think the placement and sizing of the insulation and the general design Jared put into this really makes it a winner. It really is a no-hassle, no-fiddle design. This will easily become my go to warm weather UQ and as other's have mentioned, I won't rule it out in quilt stacking situations either.
My question to Jared was an abbreviated version of the following:
As this is the Trail Winder UQP with insulation added to make an UQ, why not take full advantage of the UQP properties and place the Climashield on the inside? I think it would also be a cleaner look.
I'll not put words in his mouth. I'll leave it to him to share his thinking...
I'm interested to see what he says. I think the main reason would be compression. As it hangs beneath, it is less likely to suffer from a set of 'cheeks' compressing it and losing its insulating properties. Also, since it is climashield, it's less likely to suffer from water, and it's still covered in a water resistant fabric. Just my .02.
Hammock Tourist / Hammock Fiend / Hammock Therapist
My question is: why would that be any worse that using the original Trail Winder UQP with a separate UQ?
Because a separate UQ would have it's own suspension holding it up tight against the hammock (without squishing the insulation), and the UQP wouldn't need to be tight against the outside of the insulation since it would only be a wind/moisture shield.
That makes some sense but it would seem the squishing would be negligible.
Last edited by TominMN; 02-26-2019 at 07:39.
I just ordered a 20 degree in Black ion. Should be arriving today! I'm super excited I've never bought anything from Jared.
So far I am very impressed! It is a bit less compressable than a down uq, but the ease of use and weight and cost are fantastic. I'm surprised these haven't created more commotion then what they have. I'll be going on a weekend trip next weekend, and will most likely be ordering a 50* after that!
I just ordered my 3rd trail winder but with Dutch print 2 fabric accents! can't wait
HAMmock po·lyg·a·mist
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