Hi Freeballer, welcome from Toronto..

The original reason I started looking into hammocks was because I was never getting a good night's sleep on the ground. My shoulders and hips would ache and I'd always wake up still. Although I love the outdoors, it was getting to the point that I would dread bedding down for the night.

As soon as I discovered hammocks, I was sold! It takes a little time to get used to them, to find that "perfect" position or "lie", but once I did, ther was no going back. Add to that a pair of insulated down quilts and now I actually forward to crashing for the night. It's a real high point, particularly since I built most of my own gear.

There's a learning curve, but hammocks easily ranks up there with ultralight tenting in terms of portability and weight and in my opinion stands well apart in terms of comfort.

And it's all about comfort!