Honest Outfitters Double Backpacking Hammock

Backstory

Hammocks seem to be all the rage these days. It seems an entire subculture has popped up around the lightweight hammock whether it is used for a relaxing car camping trip or as part of  a sleep system for the experienced backpacker. I have to admit, I blatantly ignored the hammock fad thinking that is was in fact just a fad.

All that changed though a few months back though, when on a multi-day backpacking trip, one of my buddies pulled from his pack, a fabulous, expensive, top of the line, brand name backpacking hammock. The rest of us, sitting on the ground, sort of just stared at Dan and his hammock in amazement. "Where did he get that?" I wondered. "It's glorious!" somebody else yelled.

And just as you would expect, Dan laid in that fabulous, expensive, top of the line, brand name backpacking hammock and just stared at us like a dictator overlooking his peons with smug self satisfying knowledge that he had just become the envy of everyone else in camp.*

After Dan awoke from what I could only imagine was the greatest nap ever taken, he casually asked if  anyone else would like to give the ol' hammock a try. "MEEE!" I yelled as I ran towards twin ponderosa pines the hammock was strung between. I pushed Dan out of the way and jumped into the hammock. Well at least I did that in my mind...in reality, I nonchalantly said "Sure, I'll give it a whirl."

As I laid in that fabulous, expensive, top of the line, brand name backpacking hammock, I thought to myself, "Does Amazon deliver out here?" There was no question, I was getting myself a hammock.

I spent that Monday at work doing what all of us do, scouring the internet for the best deal I could find. Except there was one problem - I realized very quickly I did not want to pay for my own fabulous, expensive, top of the line, brand name backpacking hammock. Because they were in fact EXPENSIVE.

And it was then I started looking for other options, and I pretty quickly came across the Honest Outfitters Double Hammock on Amazon.com.

I read the specs and the reviews. Most of the reviews seemed to agree the Honest Outfitters Double Hammock was a quality product and for under $30.00, how could I pass it up? So in my cart it went.

About the hammock

The hammock arrived within a few days and after seeing it in person, I can honestly say I could not see one visible difference between it and the fabulous, expensive, top of the line, brand name backpacking hammock from my trip. If you told me they we made in the same factory, by the same people, I would have no reason to dismiss that notion.

And why the double over the single sized hammock? I'm a bigger guy - I can always use a little more room.

The Honest Outfitters Double Hammock is well constructed and packs down into it's self contained pocket. It is made from 210T parachute nylon and the double hammock can hold up to 500 pounds. Also included are high quality steel carabiners and two 10 foot multi-looped tree straps - no crazy knot tying required for setup! All of this will fit into the hammock's pouch when packed down. When everything is packed down, the hammock weighs just a smidge over 1.5 pounds. The double hammock measures 78 inches wide by 118 inches long. I settled on the orange color for two reasons. 1) Orange is the color of my beloved Phoenix Suns and 2) it was 5 dollars cheaper than the other colors. (at the time it was...not sure about now)

On my first field test on a recent car-camping trip, I took great joy in being the one to incite extreme jealousy in my camping compadres. Setup was clear, without the need for instructions, taking under 2 minutes and I can attest that beer spilled on the hammock will dry very, very quickly. My wife and I both fit in the hammock quite nicely and at no time did we feel that our combined weight ( about 370 pounds ) was too much for the hammock to handle. We spent the afternoon hanging out and napping in the cool pines of Flagstaff without a care in the world. Until the thunderstorms showed up...at which point taking it down was just as simple as setup.

Conclusion

I really have nothing but glowing things to say about the Honest Outfitters Double Hammock. I cannot imagine spending 3x the money for the fabulous, expensive, top of the line, brand name backpacking hammock when the Honest Outfitters version exists. While I have not yet decided to incorporate the hammock as part of my sleep system, it's minimal weight and size will make it a cinch to do so, if I venture down that trail. I will update this review if I decide to try it.

If you're looking to get into the hammock game, I cannot recommend this one enough. The $30.00 investment took an otherwise ordinary camping trip and upped the ante of relaxation and comfort. Not to mention you will be the envy of your fellow campers.

Additional photos courtesy of Honest Outfitters