I've had the Vertex for about half a year and loved it, however, I got tired of the Cold Butt Syndrome (aka: CBS) that came from not having any form of under quilt. Clarke has its own Z-liners and frankly there was next to no information out there on them save for one person who owned them and was mostly happy. A handful of mixed reviews on them for other versions but not for the Vertex. I decided to take the plunge and see what would happen, after all, Clarke has their 100% satisfaction guarantee.
First impression of Clarke as a company:
I had some questions about the Vertex so I e-mailed them on a Tuesday. I got responses back to my questions within 5-10 minutes and shortly thereafter an invitation to call as it would be easier to clarify a few things. I went ahead and made the call where I found a few enthusiasts on the other end of the line who were happy to take the time to put me at ease over the few concerns I had. At that point they took my order over the phone and mentioned the liners should be in stock and definitely there in time for my trip on Sunday. So far so good.
Wednesday I get a message saying there had been an error in the inventory and they put a rush in to make the liners but I should still have them in time for my trip.
Thursday I get a tracking number with an apology that they were not able to get them done to their satisfaction until late on Wednesday, as in after shipping was gone. I honestly appreciate they would rather send them out right than to rush them!
The tracking number was for an early Saturday delivery from USPS. Again, my trip was on Sunday.
Saturday morning the liners arrive around 11am and the box was a bit smaller than I expected. More than that, I saw what their rush delivery charge was on the box. Keep in mind, they didn't charge me any extra on shipping. Guys, all I can say is thank you! They gave me a promise, a mistake happened, they lived up to your word and fixed it. That's respectable no matter who you are!
Contents:
I was being quite careful when cutting through the tape to make sure I didn't nick anything only they had taken the time to put a small cardboard insert in to protect the liners. Little details being what they are yet they leave an impression.
Simple instructions for care, cleaning, feeding, etc. but the main one is that there are tabs on one end of the z-liners that match up to the tabs on the Vertex. This really makes putting them on a whole lot easier! Make sure you watch the tabs.
They are a good bit larger than I thought! This is the set spread over my queen-sized bed.
I have yet to ever manage to get the Vertex to fold in on itself as cleanly as they show it but I get better as I go. The one with 3 straps is the hammock, the smooth stuff sack has both liners. Honestly, when I first pulled it out and stuffed the first one in I was looking for the 2nd bag. It really needs to be crammed but it DOES fit. I'm not sure a compression bag would make them much smaller. Keep in mind that the liners hardly weigh anything, they are a large volume item and that they WILL take up some space in your backpack.
Putting them on the hammock:
Since my trip was the following day I took the chance to skip across the water to a local park with some good Vertex-worthy practice trees (don't worry, I've only found 2 sites that the Vertex wouldn't work at in terms of trees out of dozens). This is from the quick test-fitting.
A bit of trepidation at trying to line up all that Velcro and I was worried over nothing. It's super simple as long as you line up a tab the first time. To keep them off the ground I simply tapped one side farther down to hold it up while I worked the section in place. It also helps if you already have your sleeping bag or something else inside to weigh down the hammock and give it shape for the liner to conform around. Time to install one side was around 2 minutes.
Left side has the sleeping bag in it, right side is empty.
The liner extends all the way to the very ends of the hammock where it loops over with simple Velcro. As the instructions point out this should NOT be wrapped around the rope but to the end of the hammock itself.
My first impressions were a little odd. It was windy out and I didn't use a sleeping bag or anything, strictly the liners. The first thing I noticed is that they did very little to cut the wind and that a significant breeze would suck out the heat, however, they did warm up very quickly. I was a bit concerned about this but once we went camping and put the rain fly in place it was a non-issue. If, however, you are planning a nice cold breezy spot to star-gaze you might want to keep it in mind.
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