NX-150 in the rain!

[texashanger]

Over the past few months I've had the opportunity to camp in both a NA and NX-150 in the rain so I wanted to post my findings for everyone.

Let me begin by saying I'm a complete Clark fan! I have friends with HH's and WBBB's so I've pretty much seen all of them in action. What I like best about the Clark is the construction and the integrated Weathershield. I didn't know how important the weathershield would be until I spent three days in the woods with continuous rain.

So, let's get to the findings:

Clark North American:
- Setup: Clark NA with XL Rainfly
- Conditions: 40's - 50's and rained all night Saturday
- Comments: I'll be the first to admit, the NA was a bit tight for me (I'm only mid 5' so length wasn't an issue), and I found myself waking up at night feeling like my shoulders were being compressed by the hammock. Other than that the hammock was very comfy and I easily could sleep on my back and sides comfortably. About 1am I woke up to a clap of thunder followed by a gust of heavy winds and rain. About 30 minutes into the storm I almost gave in to the urge to bail and head to the car, but I decided to stick it out just to see how well it worked. After about an hour of waiting to see little rain drops come through the weathershield I finally fell asleep. The next morning I woke up around 8am and it was still raining. I unzipped my hammock and there were only a few drops on top of the weathershield, but other than that I WAS BONE DRY - so I decided to go back to sleep for another half hour.

Clark NX-150:
- Setup: Clark NX-150 with Vertex rainfly (what can I say - I like big tarps)
- Conditions: 50's and rained all weekend (we got 5 inches in 2 days)
- Comments: After my experience with the NA I was sold on Clark, but the shoulder thing was just killing me. So, I decided to return the hammock. I called the Clark folks and explained that I loved the NA, but it was just too tight for me. Well, either Clark has the best customer service or the best sales people in the world, because by the time I finished my conversation with them I had traded my NA for a NX-150 and was set to take to the woods again. On my next hang we were in the rain from the beginning. We set up in the rain Friday night, and broke camp in the rain Sunday morning and I don't think we had more than 30 minutes of dry weather the whole weekend. While I am not going to say this was the best of experiences - in fact it was miserable because we simply couldn't keep anything dry - it was a great test of the hammock's rain protection. After two days in the pouring rain I only had a few drops on top of the weathershield. In fact, when I broke down my hammock Sunday I only found a few drops of water inside the hammock and suspect I brought them in with me since I was soaked all weekend.

So, in general, if anyone wants to know how "waterproof" Clark hammocks I can personally tell you they are VERY waterproof. Between the two hammock experiences I spent 5 nights in downpours and the hammock and my sleeping gear stayed very dry.

I'm tired of the rain, but Clark hammocks rock!

[WWJ]

So how were your shoulders in the NX-150?

[tgreening]

I'm pretty sold on the clarks myself. I spent this past weekend in an old NA and the weather went from cold, windy, and rainy to freakin freezing. Literally. The last night bottomed out at 33 deg. I stayed quite dry and the last night quite warm, I'm sure due in part to the weather shield.

I'm finding the standard NA to be just a tad on the tight side but I've never really been uncomfortable on felt "squeezed" on my shoulders. With that said though I do intend to buy one of the NX-250s just to have enough space to pack in some extra gear along with me. The only real question for me is whether to keep the old NA or sell it to help fund the new one.

[Clark-O-Phile]

I tried mine too in hard falling rain and i'm simply amazed of how well it performed.

I'm sold too to clark Hammock and kind of fell in love with their customer service.
Spencer is the guy to talk to at Clark,very friendly and he will get you sorted out pretty fast too!
Heck,look at my psudo when i register here,i think it says it all!

[Miguel]

I have an NX 250 and can verify that the weathershield also keeps out blowing snow as well. In cold windy conditions you feel like you died and went to heaven after closing the shield. The 250 is very roomy, especially with the hoops which tend to spread everything out. I'm 6'2" and can easily sleep on the diagonal. IMHO the weathershield is what sets the Clark apart from the pack.

[texashanger]

My shoulders were perfect. In fact, the poles seem to make the hammock feel much wider.

[texashanger]

I think you're absolutely right on the weathershield. Not only does it provide protection, but I think it gives you warmth as well. During the last campout I had to unzip my hammock in the middle of the night (for obvious reasons), and was amazed at the temperature difference between inside and outside. The weathershield seems to make a microclimate that is much warmer than the outside temp.

[sir_n0thing]

+1 on that weathershield, especially in cold and windy conditions. I had a NX-200 and I loved the thing. I sold it because of weight/bulk and plus I needed some money.
Yes, I have seller's remorse now.

[Tuniq]

I just got my NA last night at like 11pm. I quickly set it up and layed around for a bit. I must have got the sag right because it felt roomy in there. (and i'm like 4 feet wide) I will be trying it tonight for real. We are having a nice day here in Thunder Bay, ON so i might not get to see it in action, as far as cold is concerned. Im very excited.