After tons and tons of digging, searching, and forum crawling I finally decided to get a Dutchware Argon Hammock! at $32, what could go wrong?
My first REAL post on the forums and I aim to make it a good one.
A bit of background, I am currently transitioning to the "lightweight" backpacking lifestyle. I will never be an UL backpacker because I value capability, comfort, and safety over the weight on my back and miles under my feet. That being said, I'm not a "gram weenie" by any stretch, but the idea of my hammock weighing it at ~ 10 oz would cut out ~3/4 lb pound from my kit. Nice!
Right now I, like most early hangers, had a commercially available Grand Trunk Double hammock. Similar to the ENO line, these things are marketed to hold two people, made from parachute nylon, have a 400lb capacity, and weigh a ton (comparatively speaking, that is). I wanted something lighter, and smaller.
Enter the Dutchware line of hammocks. Affordable at $32, and roomy at 11' long. Which one to pick?! My longtime friend and now ex roommate Deathstar 77 got the PolyD hammock and was impressed at the size/weight, but wasn't wild about the fabric. Looked pretty slippery to me. So I decided to go with the 1.6oz Argon Material.
IN SHORT, THIS HAMMOCK IS GREAT, GO AHEAD AND BUY IN NOW
Those who want a thorough review and comparison, read on.
Initial Impressions:
Wow. This weighs nothing. Is there a hammock in here or a bunch of crumpled up plastic grocery bags? (That's how it feels in the stuff sack) and that's when I see it. the stitching separating on the stuff sack
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I know this isn't the norm for Dutch's stuff so I sent him an email with this picture and responded almost immediately. He said he'd send me another one with a return envelope for the one I have now. Seriously, Dutch, your customer service reputation precedes you. Even on a Saturday evening, you still have time to respond to your customer's email.
That being said, the Argon sil fabric seems super super thin and light. Great for the gram weenies out there and if feels slick and soft to the touch. I wonder if it's thin and light to a fault. it looks like the stitch just popped out of the fabric, causing the separation. Personally, I would have liked to have seen this made from a more "bombproof" fabric. after all, this is a "stuff" sack and plan to do just that. I could be wrong about its durability, but its just so darn thin I'm afraid I'll break it.
This is the ONLY nitpick I could find in my analysis (which is thorough) and is something you may want to consider.
That being said, I think the stuff sack is the perfect size. At first, I thought it was super long. Why 15" long when I can compress the whole hammock in my hands to a size just bigger than a softball? Compared to my Grand trunk, which is about the size of a nalgene in its stuff sack fully compressed is amazing! I come to the conclusion that the extra size of the stuff sack will allow me to keep a bugnet attached to the hammock and keep in there as well. Good design! The cord locks and cord that cinch up feel solid. quality.
Onto the hammock! weights, comparison to GT Double, etc
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306g or 10.8oz which is 10g more than what Dutch says on his site, but the stuff sack weighs ~10g and I also don't really care about ~10g lol but for the sake of thoroughness, I report everything.
I also ordered some 7/64 amsteel from dutch in a cool yellow color and made some continuous loops and a fixed length ridge line. 5 minutes on the internet was all it took to learn how to diy both of these and its super fun! Anyways, I attached those and weighed in again.
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Not even a full ounce of weight gain. I am thankful to be getting into backpacking/hammocking at a time when everything is so lightweight and strong!
Quick comparison of the GT double weight (with whoopies and a paracord ridgeline
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...yeah, for all intents and purposes, HALF the weight. I would encourage any new hammocker to go this route instead of the commercial ENO or GT options. It's cheaper, lighter, and way more fulfilling.
Dutch uses some plastic cable ties to gather the ends of his hammocks. I was tempted to cut these out and replace it with some braided mason twine, but decided against it. the gathering looks symmetrical and clean. I'll just larks head the continuous loop on there and go to town!
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How does it hang? Answer: IMHO perfect.
It's a snowy day here in King George, Va so unfortunately I couldn't take all the pictures I wanted, but my kelty noah 12 provides another good standard of measure for a size comparison.
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Left: Black dutch argon Right: GT double
both pictures taken from approximate same location.
Initial haning impressions: MAN this thing is long. at 11' this hammock spans some distance and hangs pretty low. My GT double is 10.5 feet long, so it wasn't too much of a transition, but still noticeably longer.
As a frame of reference, I am 6'2" ~245lbs and broad shouldered. My main concern with this hammock was the width. With my height, and width across the shoulders, I was worried the hammock would inhibit my diagonal lay even with the 11' hammock length. I found that the width was perfect. A few inches narrower and it would have been too narrow. This is great, because I hated all the extra floppy fabric on my GT double.
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Another concern I had was the lightweight fabric inhibiting strength. The fabric is super thin. Thin enough to partially see thru. (see picture, you can see the snow and tree through the fabric
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Under tension, the fabric feels strong, soft, and comfortable. I was concerned about the stretch from the comments here on the forums. My definition of "stretch" is similar to paracord stretch which means after an hour my butt would be in the snow. I was pleased to find out this is NOT the case with Argon. The soft argon was a pleasure to lay in. I felt no measurable stretch, but there was a slight amount of give that I could tell was there. It is hard to describe, but one thing is for sure, it is NOT slippery at all. since I use a pad instead of an UQ (I will spring for a jarbidge eventually) I was worried my pad would slide around. I laid in the hammock with and without a pad and even after an hour or so I stayed put with and without the pad.
I also did some light "bounce testing" to kind of push the limits of that 280lb limit. Of course I didn't jump on the thing, but I did sit in the middle with my feet over the side and bounced a little to mimic the shifting in the hammock at night/readjusting pads/quilts etc. This also served as a way to test the "stretch" and I still had no complaints. I mean, its fabric, not a rubber band.
Simply put, I love this fabric, love the hammock, and love the company. I'm looking forward to the redesign of the speedhooks, the length of the hammock plus whoopies made for a long hanging distance. I may experiment with descender rings and some amsteel leads with the leftover amsteel from the loops and ridgeline I made. Always improving.
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Whatchu know bout hammocks in the snow?!
Hope this helps some folks out!
best,
moorefoodnow AKA 45ACP
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Originally Posted by mtntopper
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