If it wasnt for hammock, Id probably sport a bivy and it would in all likelyhood be a bit lighter for a given price point... But the comfort is worth it and my tent equivalant (hammock and tarp) is about 2lbs. I like not having ridged poles to pack as well.
I look at it as shelter weight. I'm 49 and have a bad L5/S1. I can either sleep in a hammock or on a 2-3" thick thermarest-ish mat. And I hate getting up off the ground.
So, I have a choice of either a thick pad and a tent (plus rainfly, poles, and pegs), or a tarp, hammock (with net), underquilt, and a couple pegs. For me, it comes out about even, but the advantages of not having to get up off the ground, clear a site, etc, just outweigh any disadvantages.
If you have a young back and weight is important, go the tarp/foam pad route. that's going to be your lightest option.
My hammock set up is a lot more than my tent. Plus it is messy, I have not figured out a Functional way to have the set up look neat and tidy, I do not think it is going to happen just by the nature of the gear.
My tent is no frills, more than tarp camping but not a bunch of stuff. With my hammock I need a tarp, a under quilt, a drip line, something to hang my junk from. With my tent the junk goes next to my body, a pad I use in my tent or my hammock, the same with the top quilt.
Mainly with the hammock I like the motion and not getting up off the ground. However the tent is nice tidy and not a bunch of its and pieces here and there.
WHAT HE SAID!!! COMFORT TRUMPS EVERY TIME. As has been said before, "if your not having fun you are not doing it right."Originally Posted by JaxHiker
If you all want to put the Hammock and Tent weight thing to bed,
you need to evaluate this issue on slightly different criteria.
First, as some people have stated, you need to think about price
Second you need to think about level of gear, are you packing
comfortably, or are you packing ultralight?
Third, you need to think about similar weather.
What I'm suggesting is that you would compare the same
tent and hammock setup that you could get for 100 dollars
and that would work comfortably in warm weather
Then compare Ultralight hammock and tents that you could
get for 200 bucks, these being the bare essentials.
Also compare the different price ranges of tents and hammocks
for what you would need in the winter. How much would 200
dollars of hammock gear for winter camping weigh? How much
would the same tent gear weigh?
I do NOT know how the full breakdown would work, once you compare
everything between these two "cousins". I would wager that hammocks
would be cheaper and lighter at mild weather, and more expensive at
colder weather, just because of the price of top and bottom quilts.
You would also need to compare the lightest material hammocks to the
lightest material tent, and heaviest to heaviest. Budget tents are much
heavier than expensive "light" tents, and pack much larger. You also need
to compute a ground sheet into many of the tent loadouts.
Quite an intriguing conversation.... I know where my allegiances lie,
but I would also like to know how they tally up mathematically and fiscally.
Yup. The ultralight tenters can't be that comfortable...
I'll take an extra few ounces to be comfortable and happy.
Lighter? I don't know. There seem to be opinions all over the place. They are most definitely comparable. But for me, comfort and weather protection are worth a few ounce if indeed tenting is lighter.
For example: I switched to a top and underquilt. The two weigh the same and are the same size and rating as my cats meow sleeping bag used to be, and I don't have to carry a sleeping pad. You could say I use an air mattress that's guaranteed never to leak. It's two feet thick (the distance from my butt to the ground).
I use the large Hennessy tarp. On my last trip it rained, hard, all night. In the morning just about every tenter had some water somewhere. Granted these were noobs, and the one guy that did not have water was very experienced. But I stayed dry throughout. I got wetter taking the tarp down than I ever did in the hammock.
I'll be sticking to the trees, even if someone tells me "you could shave 3.4 ounces off your pack weight by switching to X".
I kind of look at comparing tents to hammocks as comparing race cars to airplanes...They really are quite different from each other..Both will get you from one place to another but in different ways, and both have their limits; but they really are two different methods for enjoying the outdoors. And if there is someone that can use both comfortably then that is awesome and I can understand the desire to compare the pros and cons but there are quite a few of us that must use one or the other because we simply can't get a good nights sleep in one of the two. So comparing them starts to become less significant for those who otherwise wouldn't be able to go camping if it weren't for hammocks. Basically my point is, for someone like me, even if hammocks were ten times heavier than a tent, I would still use a hammock because otherwise I wouldn't be able to go backpacking at all.
My HH Evader system and TQ and UQ weigh less that my tent did alone. It also takes up less room in my pack.
I think the whole discussion is moot. One must define the scope of the question to make an accurate comparison. There will be a "lightest" for any given set of parameters (though subject to change as new products become available). Even then, the issues of price, goal, usability and comfort will bias the reader to accept or reject the validity of the comparison. Ultimately, what you use comes down to personal preference. So use what you use, get out and enjoy the outdoors!
Last edited by BER; 07-21-2013 at 10:10.
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