Big Agnes Insulated Air Mattress

I chose to use an air mattress versus an underquilt to help the lay and widen the space. Originally I intended to convert my cheap Anortrek hammock.... about the price of a decent meal... to a cross lay by suspending it from loops of webbing sewn along the outer edges instead of from the gathered ends.. That didn't work.

Took my first hammock backpack trip...(in modern times).... actually the first time I've slept in a hammock since I was in my early teens when I spent 2 months of the summer of '68 in a hammock in the Mount Hood Natnl Forest on an NSF project. Everybody else slept in tents, I had a pocket size net hammock and mummy bag and tube tent (look it up) hung on a ridge line. I'd pull the tube over me if it rained....otherwise the stars.... It was wonderful!

The Big A wanted to pop out at the corners. where the hammock is gathered.... Of course this is partly because I like to sleep one end of the hammock, and hang it pretty tight to get a flat lay....Diagonal doesn't work on this. I slept very well the first night, the second I had the head elevated more than I should have, and wanted to slide down to the middle. The mattress gave a great lay, and pushed the sides out, eliminating the cocoon effect. I carried an ordinary fleece throw for a quilt, and it proved very nice and warm... heavier than ideal, but I didn't feel like taking my arctic class mummy bag. I'll be looking into a top quilt. The problem of course was the "interface" between the mattress and the quilt... keeping it properly tucked to prevent cold spots.

The price and weight of the Amock Draumr looks more and more attractive to me..... It'll give me that perfect "zero gravity" lay, which is how I sleep best anyway, and the stowage pockets in the corners would be priceless..... and my BigA should work well in it.

H.W.

Before making your decision it would be good to try a GE hammock with a good down underquilt.

UQs offer a totally different (and FAR better!) sleep experience than air mats in my opinion. I tried an air mat exactly once and if that was the only option I'd still be sleeping on the ground.

Eventually you might come to the conclusion that a bridge or 90° hammock and air mat are better for you. But it is good to have at least experienced sleeping in a good GE/UQ combination to find out if it works for you.

Have you tried a bridge hammock ? Lots of great options out there- warbonnet ridge runner, dutchware banyon, big guy bridge hammock etc. ( im a big / tall guy- gathered end hammocks have never worked for me. Ive had great luck with bridge hammocks!)

There's also crosshammock and hammocktent as 90° options.
Much lighter and was less gimmicky than the amock.
Birth high quality, handmade euro options with shipping overseas.