ak08820

Check this out.
Amok - hammock innovations
Larger video here.
The Best Camping Accessory You Could Ever Hope For | REALfarmacy.com | Healthy News and Information


PS: I have no affiliation with the above product. I posted it because I thought that the use of an inflated pad as a rigid support and the cross-axis sleeping position was interesting. It may give ideas to DIY folks to improvise their own designs.

mdilthey

If I had a dollar for every kickstarter/startup that claims to revolutionize hammock camping, I'd have like 15 dollars.

Seriously, just get a Hennessy Hammock.

bikenh

Simpler method yet, take a piece of ripstop nylon, tie a know in both ends and hang it up. I've used that method in my house and while out backpacking for the past 6-7 years. Why pay a fortune when you don't have to.

jtgotsjets

You mean "most innovative solution to lightweight, comfortable camping on the planet"?

If we judged everything on its ridiculous ad copy, we'd be living like the Amish.

RoadTire 

They might be on to something here. Seems plausible enough, especially for those of us side or stomach sleepers the "banana curve" appears to be opposite of a conventional hammock. Curious to see how this pans out.

antokelly

i thought it was a great idea,as long as a fella had 2 trees to hang it hes away in a hack.

fietsbob

Norwegian (though they too may sub out the Sewing to China) ..

difference is You need that air mattress Too, and its tied up athwart-ships..

pamaguahiker 

I have used hammocks all my life. I am LMAO at some of the comments. Some are very true. I have an ENO hammock, and some slap straps ($50 maybe max). I use a standard mosquito net that cost about ($6-18). Put a nylon line (~10) over your head...drape it over and tuck it under, and nap. If you're worried about rain....oh wait. I just use a lightweight tarp (~$10) over the net and tack it down farther out some I don't get wet. It might not be pretty all the time but it is far cheaper than $379. And I am not against the Amok hammock in any way. If I had the funds, sure. I would throw caution and give many things a try. It does look neat and tidy, and usable, but I have always used hammocks and I guess my quick set up, inexpensive gear works fine for me. I do agree with the always 'innovative secret to hammock comfort'. I was looking at the pictures. It looks like in some photos in lacks in head/neck support but that could just be for the pics.

Walter S

I slept in my Hennessy Scout for the last two nights. Most of my sleeping is on my side. Not a problem. Love the Hennessy.

MassiveD

There are a variety of things that make hammocks uncomfortable for those for whom they are uncomfortable.

One of the harder ones to deal with is the hard line the hammock seems to settle into where the force of the load path becomes uncomfortable over time. Some people aren't bothered by it and can even sleep on essentially a 2 inch wide strap. This thing still seems to have the hard line, but they have altered the orientation, and added a mattress.

This hammock ads a new problem, lack of outbound support for head or feet, or for tall people.

Other than those problems this one has the usual old ones, like lack of correct position, position flexibility, and cold.

I'd still like to try one.

rifraf

Too many treeless areas over here in Aussie to take hammocks seriously unfortunately.
I'm sure they are fine for touring local area where you know there will be trees but for long distance touring over here, a tent or bivy bag set up (IMHO) is king.

staehpj1

For the majority of places that I tour or backpack I prefer either a tarp/bivy or a light tent. I find I can pack lighter with the tarp/bivy and as light with a tent compared to something like the Hennessy. I can see two main reasons that someone might prefer a hammock. The first is if they just find them more comfortable. The second is if they camp somewhere with plenty of trees but no flat spots to lay on. For me the former is not the case and the latter is rarely the case. YMMV though.

On the kickstarter thing... Is it just me being a crotchety old man or does almost everything on kickstarter suck.

shipwreck

I sleep in a Hammock every night. Its set up in my bedroom. I keep my house very cold in the winter, so have to deal with bottom insulation. So for the last three years the only time I have not slept in one has been when staying in hotels on business or, ironically, about half my nights on a bicycle tour( I carry a bivy as well). SO, I am maybe not an expert on hammocks, but certainly qualified to have an opinion on their use and tricks.
These are my first thoughts when indulging in critical thinking from a "am I willing to shell out that much money for something?" viewpoint.

The footbox thing looks like it could be a moisture trap, from perspiring feet. Its also a weak point from having stitched seams that have to deal with the bodies weight being shoved up into place.

If it does rely on an inflatable pad for support, it means that your pad better not leak. I have a bunch of Big Agnes aircores, the two they sent as a replacement for the first one that leaked, and two more that I was given as gifts. All of them go down overnight, some worse than others. A neo air holds air better, but would I have to get the full length one instead of the one I have now? If your pad does start to not hold air on a long trip, then its not like you can roll off and puff air into it, as its in a casing. The most reliable pad I have, my 20 year old thermarest, is probably to thin to give the support this hammock seems to call for.

When I set my hammock up in the pouring rain, I usually hang the tarp first, then string my hammock out in its water repellant snake skin(I made it out of Nysil). Once that's up, get everything under tarp, slip the snake skin down, and load my pad and bag into the hammock from the pannier. Not sure how fiddly it would be to try something like this with this hammock thing, in the mud and driving rain. It might be ok, but I doubt it cause having to inflate the pad and then stuff it into the slot did not look effortless in the video.

To many bells and whistles in all the adjusting straps, color coded loops, getting that bug net out and over you is a joke. Can you imagine getting into that, pulling out the net, zipping it all around you while being eaten up by blackflys, midges, skeeters? My personal favorite is an integrated net, with either a zippered side entrance(easier to load with your pad and bag) or a Hennesy style, wich is the best for insect avoidance, but a little more fussy getting your stuff into.

All in all, I can find a hang, and be in my hammock in less than four minutes if I am motivated. And I have hung from everything from piers, Underpass girders, Fences, pavilions. This does not look to have the flexibility, nor the ability to do a Tight hang, that's a sleep in a really short inadequate spot with not enough room to stretch it out.

In addition, I can make a bivy or sorts out of a hammock when there is no place to hang it, this does not look like it would lend itself to that. I carry a hammock and a bivy so don't have to do that, but it all about options.

However, like MassiveD, I would like to try it.

Oh, and Staehpj1, your right. everything on kickstarter does pretty much either suck, or solves problems we did not know we had at the expense of creating a lot of new ones.

Walter S

+1. Setting up in the rain is a breeze, especially if you plan for it and carefully and arrange for smooth unpacking in the right order. I have a large rain fly for my hammock that has enough room for the hammock, the bicycle (which is leaning against one of the supporting trees), and a kitchen/eating/hang out area where I put a tarp down.

I setup the rain fly first, and get as wet as necessary doing that. But then everything else happens under the fly including unpacking the rest of the gear, setting up the hammock, etc. My camping chair I consider essential too, since a tarp does little protect you from sitting in the water if there's much of a storm.

A big portion of my camping does not happen at a "camp site". Big pluses are not having to clear a site, and not caring about it being real level.

MassiveD

Hammocks are conceptually great, I just haven't found one I can sleep in, and I run into other people who are real gung ho about them but can't get comfortable either, which is a little weird. This makes it tough to get real comfortable with spending big bucks for whatever new thing comes along.

In Canada there are a lot of places where you could stealth with no problems if you could hang, sorta the opposite of Oz.

I think I could get into this design, if it was a little lighter.

Tentsile tree tents: floating treehouses mimic spider webs - YouTube

tmac100

A nice idea, but ...

I love my heavy built Hennessey. and have used it a lot for touring in Australia. However, because of a maybe 500 km stretch of road in the outback with NO trees I will take a tent. However, when I am doing an "up north to Cape York" trip there are lots of trees, and for that 1000 km trip in the "tropics" I will prefer to use the Hennessey.

I despise using the Hennessey where there are no trees, lamp posts, etc...

fietsbob

The Adventure cyclist Ian Hibell used a Hammock when he pushed/slogged thru the Darian Gap in southern Panama/Columbian Border
because it was a a swamp with small trees , and virtually no land that was not under water..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ylhWPCekdM

MassiveD

Thanks that was great to see video of Ian, but it kinda re-enforced the point that it isn't really a cycling thing, until the recent rush to the trees.

djb

I have only sat in regular old hammocks reading or whatever and never slept in one.
That said, I was impressed by the ingenious design of this thing.

revcp 

I'll stick with my warbonnet blackbird for solo and Clark vertex for my wife and me.

veganbikes

I will stick with my ENO hammock which holds more weight and I think depending on how you go can be much lighter or at least similar weight but more practical.

I am glad people are trying new stuff but there are plenty of folks doing it and doing it well already.

phughes

I have the Warbonnet Blackbird as well, it is a very comfortable hammock. I did a tour with it and met up with a man who was finishing a cross country trip. He actually had to wake me up at least once because he awoke promptly when the sun came up as I was still sleeping blissfully. I found I didn't wake as early as I did in a tent. I think it was because I was much more comfortable. I really love that hammock. I didn't wake sore and stiff like I do when I sleep in a tent.

pamaguahiker 

Amen Veganbikes! I love the lightweight options of my ENO

robow

+1, I really liked my WB BB far better than my Hennessy, as it was easier to enter and exit and to put/keep my pad in place.

shipwreck

Ok, hammock story. Years ago I found some cheap ripstop nylon at W-mart and sewed my own Hennesy copy. The bug netting was a purple mesh meant for womens undergarments. If it was daylight and I was reading in the hammock, everything was super black to my eyes when I got out of it. That was not really an issue though, cause it was mainly for sleeping.

After four years of hiking and cycling use, I slung it up by the Buffalo river, over some roots and muddy ground. Luckily it was late afternoon and still light, cause when I got into it to read my book, BAM! The material split and dumped me right into the rooty mud. The hammock was toast as a hammock, but I was able to improvise a Mosquito bivy out of the remains by hanging it from a tree. Woke up covered in ants, but it was just a weekend trip so was a days ride from home. The remains hit the dumpster at the campground.

I still miss that hammock, and would sew another, but its actually cheaper to buy one than pay for the materials. Particularly good materials that wont leave you in the mud!