I'm impressed. Very Impressed. I now know why those that have them love them. I opened the box to find it nicely packed with the hammock in a stuff sack and the poles in separate bags. The first thing I noticed grabbing the hammock is the stuff sack is very well made. It has a reinforcing grommet in a piece of webbing. That was my first clue as to the amazing quality I was about to see. I snatched the poles and the hammock and immediately went out back to string it all up. I pulled one end out of the sack and noticed right away how nice the fabric is. Not as smooth as 1.6 hyper D, but still very smooth and it has a really sturdy feel to it. The stitching on it is very precise. Never having used a bridge style hammock, I hung it about the same height I usually do with my gathered end and assembled the poles. Very easy and the poles have different diameters so there is no mistaking head and foot ends. After I got the poles inserted in their supports, I realized the hammock actually lifted quite a bit. I began lowering the hammock and realized it's very different than eyeing up a gathered end. On this, the poles are uneven by design. The foot end is much higher due to the cut of the hammock. I was trying to get the head and foot poles even and this left a really lopsided lay with the head being angled up rather sharply. Once i realized that, it was easy to eye the thing to a nice level hang. I started looking at the finish. The stitching is immaculate. I couldn't find a single stray thread or crooked stitch on the thing at all. The bug netting is a high quality netting with shock cord and button hooks on each end. These easily attached to the suspension to lift the net way up off the hammock. That's nice. The pockets are a really nice touch and having the zipper for the netting attached to the outer edge of the pocket is just genius.
I unzipped the netting enough for me to get in and carefully put my weight on the hammock. It settled a bit dropping about a foot into a comfortable sitting height. No problems. I'm 6' tall and 230 lbs. It didn't even creek a little. Now feeling confident I swung my legs up and laid back. It was this point where I smiled from ear to ear and just relaxed. This hammock lies perfectly flat and is oh so comfortable!! There is some form of webbing on the edge that tightens up under stress and becomes fairly rigid. I used that to adjust myself toward the head end a little and was amazed at how much room I had. It looked fairly narrow until I got in so this was a pleasant surprise. I had plenty of foot room at the bottom and more than enough shoulder room. I felt no shoulder squeeze what so ever and was able to put my hands under my head with elbows wide and not touch the netting on either side of the hammock. Remarkable! Feeling confident in the build,I started to toss and turn a little to see how it supported my weight in different positions. I can lay completely on my side with ease and even laid on my stomach for a few minutes in complete comfort. There is a little bit of a ridge that forms under the head, but it's not at all uncomfortable. I sat up in it and wiggled a little. At first it seemed a bit unstable, but never felt like it would tip. I unzipped the netting and reached out to the ground with no feeling of tipping and even rocked a little from side to side and it felt nice and solid. It's a solid feeling well made piece of gear. I laid in it for about an hour and had no pressure spots anywhere and was actually reluctant to get out of it! It's brilliantly designed. Definitely a keeper.
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