Originally Posted by
alan s
It sure looks nice, but I count 4 poles, a tarp, a dozen lines and stakes, hammock, underquilt, and probably a pad in the hammock. For a week, it would be great, but setting that up every day would get old fast. My freestanding tent takes 5 minutes to set up, unless I'm in a hurry. I throw all my bags inside and that's it. Sure, you have to find a flat spot, but you need to find suitable trees for the hammock, so it's a wash. Suppose if there is no flat ground, a hammock would be much better, but I usually camp at a campground, and there aren't necessarily places to string up a hammock. And there is plenty of flat ground. Also, that tarp must flap around a bit in the wind.
I haven't bothered with anything as elaborate as what's in the photo. It seems overkill to me, but I see the attraction. Indeed I'm a hammock novice compared to most of the posters above. Setting up is very fast, packing away is even faster. The hammock never touches the ground, and tends to stay clean.
When I spend a night in a tent, I basically lie there trying not to toss and turn too much, waiting for morning, sometimes with a weird dream thrown in along the way to indicate I may have actually fallen asleep at some point. In a hammock, I actually sleep. If you can sleep in a tent, and get up in the morning well rested, you have found a system that works; may as well stick with it.