£13 ebay hammocks, any good???

[sniper 55]

Got plenty of caribiners, I used to do a lot of climbing/caving, I'm torn now between giving the cheapy one a punt, or saving a few more notes for a good one.

[Jamesey1981]

If you already have decent caribiners then I think it’s worth a go, I think with a lot of these cheap things it all depends what they have in the factory that day, you never really know what you’re going to get until you get it so what you get may not be what my mate has, might be better, might be worse, but either way it’ll give you a chance to try out a hammock and if you like it and the cheap one wears out then you’ll know it’s worth dropping a bit more cash on your next one.

I bought mine with a very specific use in mind, I don’t really like hammocks but they get you off the ground and it’s very hilly where I live, so finding somewhere flat to sleep is hard work, and it usually isn’t all that flat either, so I dropped a few quid on one I know is fairly robust as I know I will get enough use out of it to be worth it, but I won’t get enough use out of it to justify the cash on a big name one.

[Briggs 2.0]

There seems to be a common theme here - start off with a cheapie to try then upgrade. I love my hammocks and won't sleep on the ground again. All I can add is if/when you try a hammock, plan to have some under-body insulation either an under-quilt or a sleep mat between the hammock and your sleeping bag. It will make it a lot more comfortable.

[sniper 55]

There seems to be a common theme here - start off with a cheapie to try then upgrade. I love my hammocks and won't sleep on the ground again. All I can add is if/when you try a hammock, plan to have some under-body insulation either an under-quilt or a sleep mat between the hammock and your sleeping bag. It will make it a lot more comfortable.

I have heard they seem to "suck up" the cold through the bottom, I gather the dearer ones often have a dula layer bottom to put a mat or quilt in to stop it moving round.
The only hammock I've actually tried was an old fashioned Royal Navy one, that seemed comfy enough but it was in a nice warm ship, and I was full of rum at the time.....

[pseudonym]

My set up for winter probably runs to £500.



That'll see me down to -25C.

[Briggs 2.0]

There seems to be a common theme here - start off with a cheapie to try then upgrade. I love my hammocks and won't sleep on the ground again. All I can add is if/when you try a hammock, plan to have some under-body insulation either an under-quilt or a sleep mat between the hammock and your sleeping bag. It will make it a lot more comfortable.

I have heard they seem to "suck up" the cold through the bottom, I gather the dearer ones often have a dula layer bottom to put a mat or quilt in to stop it moving round.
The only hammock I've actually tried was an old fashioned Royal Navy one, that seemed comfy enough but it was in a nice warm ship, and I was full of rum at the time.....

Yeah, you are right, the sleeping bag insulation compresses to next to nothing between you and the hammock and from my experience, I get cold spots on my butt, small of my back and shoulders. It's cold and uncomfortable enough to make sleep disturbed. I am currently using the pad from an old fishing chair bed as insulation. It's a good 25mm thick and comfortable down to recent overnight lows of minus two so far. Hennessey hammocks come with the dual skin for a pad to go into and so do DD. Snugpak do a quilt that goes outside the hammmock, I've not tried any of these setups so I can't comment.

[Jamesey1981]

Dave Canterbury did a video on winter hammocking where he used wool blankets as a under quilt, looked like it would work, you can also use a large sleeping bag and zip it up around the hammock so it isn’t between you and the hammock and you don’t flatten all the loft out of it, needs a very large bag though, mine aren’t big enough, but there are some that are made with that in mind.

[CraighR]

I always go along the lines that you get what you pay for.
I love my hammocks but they aren't cheap. I like the crab and sling method of hanging them so I go with those. However your looking at £70 for these and not everyone wants to shell out that much.

I guess it bows down to how much your prepared to spend on getting your gear. I feel the same on Bows and guns (only applicable in South Africa) but if your life depends on it do you want gear that will last a few rounds, or that will still be there at the end of whatever it is your doing.

Same as boots I guess, stoves, hex burners and lighters. DO you buy the cheapest you can find or spend a bit more. Got to say with the lighter option I am probably wrong as I can't see a BIC going down too often

[pseudonym]

Shugemery:

Whacky but knows his stuff:

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One of his videos has him down to minus 40

[Deeps]

Got to ask, how much more comfy is it kipping in a hammock ? Yet again I've had a crap kip when heading out, I've got a better (well more expensive) air mattress and I suspect its me getting older rather than anything else. It wouldn't always be feasible as I'm more often at places without loads of trees to hang one from but I'm looking for options.