Hennessy Hammock - Jungle Explorer Zip XL

I recently purchased the Hennessy Explorer zip hammock. I grew up camping, I spent many a night on the ground in the Marine Corps and it never seemed to bother me. As I've gotten older I still love to get outdoors, but I find that it doesn't love me so much. Even with the deluxe camp version of the Thermarest I would wake up and feel like I'd gone ten rounds with George Foreman. My back, hips and shoulders would hurt, and I'd be tired.At a recent Order of the Arrow event I was introduced to the Hennessy hammocks. I bought one because I knew I could return it to Amazon if I didn't like it, but I was hoping for relief. When the hammock arrived, I was impressed with what appeared to be top notch construction and materials. I set it up in our yard for practice and just to try it out. Setup was easy and fairly straight forward.The first campout I took it on, I also took a tent just in case. There is a learning curve to sleeping in this hammock and I can't say that I got MORE sleep in the hammock than I get in a tent, but when I got out of bed in the morning there were no aches and pains!I've since spent 5 more nights in the hammock, and every one has been better than the last, and they ALL have been better than a night in a tent. I still sometimes feel a little claustrophobic, and I am primarily a side sleeper so I do sometimes wish I could comfortably sleep that way fully. I often sleep in kind of a half side/half back position which works for me almost as well. Stomach sleepers, other than those with Chinese acrobat-like flexibility, I don't think a hammock is for you...I use my Thermarest underneath for insulation and when paired with a Wiggy's Ultra Light sleeping bag, I have been warm and cozy even when the temperature dips into the low to mid 30's (Fahrenheit). The only complaint I have is that the thermarest isn't quite wide enough and I have sometimes woken up with a cold shoulder where I slip off of it, but of course that has nothing to do with the hammock... I think I'll buy the reflective insulation that Hennessy sells because it's wider at the shoulders than the Thermarest.I would definitely suggest purchasing the snake skins, and I also replaced the tie-out lines on the fly (these were cheap and seemed to snag everything) with some of the MSR reflective line.The only other things I don't like have nothing to do with THIS hammock, but seem to be a weakness of hammocks in general are the lack of storage space, and the lack of privacy. I deal with the storage space by bringing either a smallish tarp or a small one-man tent for my gear to keep the rain/dew off. Both of these solutions diminish the appeal of hammock camping by increasing the weight, size and the time it takes to setup camp. Privacy when you are in the hammock isn't the problem, trying to get dressed while laying in a hammock is NOT easy, but climbing out of the hammock to get dressed is not always advisable...The bottom line is that this is a great product with a learning curve that offers all the benefits and suffers most of the drawbacks of it's nature as a hammock. None of the drawbacks is a fatal flaw IMO, they just require that you adapt to deal with them. The benefits certainly outweigh the drawbacks for me.Update: 22 Aug 2013I have now spent an entire 8 days straight camping and a few more over nighters with this hammock and I've learned a few more things. I THINK I might like a bridge hammock like Jacks R Better sells but I'm not sure since I don't own one. I find that my knees sometimes hurt from being slightly over extended. Rather than buy one, I am seriously considering making my own. Hammockforums dot net has a TON of great information on hammock camping including DIY hammocks. I would HIGHLY recommend spending some time over there before pulling the trigger on a hammock.None of this has fundamentally altered my opinion of this hammock though. It's still a great product and for me it's vastly superior to sleeping in a tent. It's just not quite...ideal for me and I'm enough of a tinkerer to think that I may just be able to build my own hammock nirvana.

After reading the many reviews of the Hennessy and watching you tube videos I had come to the conclusion that this was the tent for me. I own 4 tents. 2 that leak when it rains and 2 that I spent a whole bunch of money for. I have camped on my own deep in the woods for months. I WISH I HAD ONE OF THESE YEARS AGO! Last night I took it out of the bag, set it up in what seemed to be 2 min. It was fast and simple. I put my cold weather bag in it and down came the rain. It rained all night. I am guessing the temp was in the low 40s F. The wind blew hard yet I was warm, dry and very comfortable. What a great product. I plan on buying 10 more( I have a lot of family and friends).As a survivalist this tent just makes sense. Its perfect for your Bug Out Bag. Its small, lite, bug repellent, easy to use, well made, and water resistant. I watched a video of a guy who hung his off the side of a rock face where there where no trees. I have seen them hung in between trucks, off of fences, rocks, hiking poles with guide wires and stakes. I even saw one hung in a hole with the rain fly covering the hole. Now that is inconspicuous camping.Oh yea. The whole cold weather thing I haven't tried yet BUT the pad they sell is a aluminum bubble wrap insulation that you can buy big rolls of at home depot for 20$s. I use this stuff all the time in my work and it is great insulation. One roll would make a 3 layer thick insulation pad 4ft by 6ft. Reflective insulation is far better then any other form of insulation. I will post my cold weather findings when I camp in the snow.On the other hand this thing will rock in hot weather.I am sold. I am a believer. Best night sleep I have ever had in a tent by far!

8.5 hours of comfortable, uninterrupted sleep the very first night. This is it, this is the hammock camping solution you are likely looking for. It does everything it says it does and does it very well. For the best experience I highly recommend 3 modifications to the default setup:1. Get two snakeskins. One for the hammock and another for the tarp. This way, you can easily deploy your rainfly at a moments notice in the case of inclement weather, then you can leisurely setup the hammock while remaining dry. The snakeskins make setup/teardown an absolute breeze.2. Grab the hex tarp. The asym is cool and functional for some scenarios but if you want that "all in one" hammock camping solution you are going to want the coverage the hex provides. Not to mention the rope pockets built in the tarp to keep everything tidy, VERY nice feature.3. Attach carabiners to the either end of the hammock, either directly to the loop (requires removal of the factory wrapping) or knot them to the existing rope. Then purchase an inexpensive set of tree straps with multiple loops for near unlimited configurations.I feel I have put together the ultimate "do it all" hammock camping solution and it wouldn't have been possible without the excellent products Hennessy has made here. This will radically change the way you think about camping, I guarantee it.