Over the weekend I had my first chance to take out the REI Quarter Dome Air bridge hammock (original version) and see how it performs. Overall it's a nice all-in-one system from a well-known vendor so it's not a bad choice for the timid newbie to dip their toes into hammock camping.
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TARP
Let's start with the tarp. There's much to like about it. It's very lightweight and provides sufficient coverage. There are two ridgelines that are attached to the tarp's ridgeline and have velcro to help with line organization and make it very unlikely that your lines will tangle. There is a small aluminum clip attached to the end which makes attaching to a tree extremely simple. It also makes it a breeze to raise and lower the tarp. Tension is applied using a LineLoc 3 type of connector.
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There are 4 other guy lines with similar LineLoc 4 type connectors. Each line has a loop already made to go over the stakes (4 stakes provided, with pull strings), along with the velcro organizers. All the lines are reflective. The only issue I noticed was that the LineLoc 3 type of connectors felt cheap and the lines didn't feed as easily as with other systems I've used. I'm not sure if this is because of the connector or the lines. Easy to adjust from under the tarp.
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The tarp almost covers the hammock suspension lines but is a several inches too small for that. There are water breaks attached to all 4 lines so water that comes down the suspension is unlikely to get in your hammock but your lines will get wet.
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The original tarp is 15D and the new one is 30D. Stronger is generally better but it does add a slight weight penalty and I don't see the need for the heavier fabric because the 15D seemed sturdy enough to me.
I hung the tarp as close to the hammock as I could get to see how much coverage there was. It was about 6" above the hammock ridgeline and extended outside the hammock 6-8" and came down to the hammock so when I was hanging I could see out through a 6" gap.
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This will provide sufficient coverage but if you want other stuff like your backpack to be dry it must be directly under the tarp and if the wind is blowing it will get wet. No way to get this tarp anywhere near the ground. My only wish was the tarp was about a foot longer and a couple of feet wider on each side but I like a lot of coverage.
HAMMOCK SUSPENSION
The hammock suspension uses essentially a whoopie sling. It has a tab showing which direction you need to pull to loosen and it's obvious how to tighten. This works very well but like any whoopie sling, you need to make sure the burry is milked properly (I didn't the first time and experienced some slippage but when I properly milked the burry it was fine for the rest of the night. User error). The suspension line is reflective which is nice. It's attached to tree straps by sewing into the end of the strap so you can't switch out the tree strap for longer ones which is disappointing. The major issue I had with the straps was they are fine for small trees but if you have medium or larger trees you'll have a problem. They should have made these at least 2' longer.
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The "whoopie" connects to the hammock suspension using reasonably lightweight carabiners. The hammock suspension is fixed and has a LineLoc 3 type of connector for the bugnet which makes deploying the bugnet trivial.
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BUGNET
The bugnet is easy to get into and out of and can be opened from inside and out. Unfortunately, when using the bugnet the outside mesh storage pocket is unreachable. If you flip the hammock over to not use the bugnet, the inside 2 mesh storage pockets become unavailable.
HAMMOCK
The hammock is made from sturdy but lightweight fabric and seems durable for first-time users. It should be plenty long enough for most people but it's not wide enough to prevent shoulder squeeze. For comparison, the long pole of the RidgeRunner is 6" longer. I tried to use a Klymit pad (23") to help with the squeeze but it didn't provide much help. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't squeezing me like an Anaconda but having gotten used to the room in a RR it was a slight disappointment in an otherwise nice bridge hammock.
The 2 mesh storage pockets were sufficient for my essentials but don't compare to the ridiculous amount of storage you get in the RR saddlebags.
This was a surprisingly stable hammock. I suffered no tipping which I've experienced in other bridges but that may be more of a function of setting the hang angle correctly. It also didn't swing much but that may be because of how close I hung the tarp.
I thought I'd mind the fixed poles but it really makes setup easy and you can't forget them. The combination of the hammock, tarp, and poles is comparible to other systems.
OVERALL
I like it. I think there are better options out there in cottage vendors and DIY but it's a solid contender for a first-time user. And with the REI guarantee, it's a no-brainer for seeing if hammocking is your thing. At $220 it's not a bad price and if you pick up the first generation for $150 it's a steal.
If I could make a suggestion to REI it would be to lengthen the tree straps by 2', widen the suspension bar by 6", and make the tarp a 1' longer and 2' wider on each side and this would be an outstanding hammock setup.
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