Rather than answer your questions directly, I'm going to pose a few questions and give examples that might help along the road. Sorry if this is long-winded, but I think it's the best thing I can do to help with gear choices. Feel free to skip it if desired.
Before you make your purchase, think about what you want to use your gear for. Is it primarily camping, where you don't go very far during the day and then spend time around camp with a fire, do day hikes from the base camp, fish, or, or, or...? Or is it primarily hiking (or biking or some other physical activity), where you spend the majority of your day in movement and then simply camp at the end of it in order to have a place to sleep before you get up and do it again? Or is it a mix?
This will inform your gear decisions. I
also recommend Shug's newbie video series, which is the one that Fishbait linked above.
That being said, here are
my personal gear choices and the reasons that I've made them:
I started out with an Hennessy Explorer Ultralight Zip with the
giant Hennessy Hex tarp. I did not spend on any under insulation at first (I made my purchase in June, in
Florida; you don't need any under insulation at those temperatures).
My reasons for making this purchase were fourfold: one, I wanted to lighten up over my (then-current) 5-lb pup t**t; two, I wanted to get off of the ground to avoid sitting in a lake when I went camping (the last time I spent a night in a t**t by myself, I was literally
floating, hoping that the bathtub floor didn't spring a leak); three, I wanted better ventilation during sweltering summer nights; and, four, I wanted an all-in-one shelter purchase. Since I was on a bike, primarily (and car camped the rest of the time), weight wasn't
that huge of a concern for me.
Bulk was, but while I was a pound-counter, I was not an ounce- or gram-counter.
During this period, I immediately changed out the suspension. The stock Hennessy suspension, while serviceable, is a pain to mess with multiple times when one has stopped for the evening. I went over to, first, the Jacks'R'Better Tri-Glide suspension (which was less of a pain but still not easy to manipulate when my fingers were cold) and then to a ring-and-strap suspension (the easiest one I've found yet).
I then started hiking. I learned quite a bit over the first winter I had that hammock and even more over the summer following. I decided to try and cut ounces where I could, as well as leaning towards an hammock that I could remove the netting from when it got cold enough to keep the mosquitoes home. Both of those meant DIY gear, since my funds are not as great as some folks'.
When I started cutting ounces, I decided upon an 11' long hammock, since that seemed to offer the greatest comfort (my Hennessy was 10'6", and I had a little trouble with knee hyperextension at my height), with a removable bug net (saving ounces when they mattered the most--during cooler months). After cutting and sewing, I started out with a ring-and-strap suspension for simplicity (later on, I went over to a whoopie sling suspension, mostly due to my backpack design: I use the straps to hold my shelter to a frame, and shorter straps are easier to work with there). I also went over to a tiny diamond asym tarp (one that's smaller than the ones designed for the Explorer line), coupled with an undercover/poncho to save weight. This shaved ~3 lbs off of my pack weight (I saved more elsewhere, but that's another story) and made me a lot happier on long hikes.
The tiny tarp and poncho/undercover offered perfectly serviceable rain protection; I tested it out in the edge of a tropical storm last fall. What it didn't offer was a place to hang out when the weather went sideways; it was difficult to cook under and made for an uncomfortable day if I was going to be forced to remain in place for longer than ~12 hours or so (about as long as I can sit still).
Once I had my hammock and rain protection down, I started looking at my under insulation. I started out with a poncho liner underquilt (PLUQ) that was cheap, but heavy (~2.5 lbs). During warm weather (~50*+) nowadays, I simply stuff a crumpled-up space blanket into the undercover as a semi-
Garlington Insulator. It more-or-less just prevents breezes from moving under me. It isn't really insulation as such, but it saves quite a bit of weight (the space blanket is ~1.6 oz, and I'm already carrying the poncho). For cooler weather, I tried out a DIY Insultex underquilt. I found that IX isn't a particularly good insulator for me: I put out way too much moisture for what's (essentially) a vapor barrier to keep me warm. Currently (and this is what's going to be replacing my PLUQ), I'm in the middle of finishing up a down underquilt that will come in somewhere around 18 oz finished. I'm hoping that will take me as low as ~20* F. We'll see.
Planned changes for the future: a larger tarp for days when I intend upon doing more than simply stopping for the night and a down top quilt that will save weight over my current ~1.5 lb poncho liner.
As you can see, it's been a journey for me to find out what works and what doesn't. And what works for one specific style of outdoors activity is not optimized for a different style of outdoors activity. So, let your gear decisions be informed by your needs rather than the other way 'round.
Hope it helps!
Originally Posted by FLRider
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