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  1. #1
    New Member Gyrth's Avatar
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    DD Superlight Combo Initial Impressions.

    So I bought some new gear from DD Hammocks and decided to give my first impressions about it. These are all the negatives I could find while trying it out at home. If anyone has some advice on the things that I’m pointing out please let me know. I’m still new at hammock camping so I could use some pointers.

    DD Superlight Combo
    Besides the whoopie suspension, no instructions were included. There were however advertisements attached on each of the stuff sacks. Mostly of the superlight products. Which I just bought in this combo pack. So I don’t need them. I think it’s a bit insulting after spending 190 euros you get a bunch of advertisements attached to your new gear. There were also a bunch of warnings included about what not to do with your newly acquired gear. Which isn’t very fun.

    DD Superlight Hammock
    The underblanket connection loops poke you in the face (or ear in my case, eek) when you don’t have an underblanket connected and you lay diagonally.

    The soft shackles are very annoying to use. Because you need to hold on to the hammock, the tree huggers and at the same time loop the soft shackle through. You need to have an extra pair of hands. To tighten the soft shackles you need to squeeze all the way around it. Which means the woopie sling and the tree huggers get in the way. I wish the Superlight karabiners were an option in stead of the soft shackles. They seem to be a lot easier to use.

    The warnings included with the tree huggers say to __not__ use a marlinspike hitch. No reason why though. I guess the friction isn’t good for them in the long run. But not having to use the soft shackles might make me use a marlinspike hitch anyways.

    DD Superlight Hammock Mosquito Net
    The net opening on each side are very small and the cinch cords are way to big to be used all the way.
    You cannot have anything inside the pouch when you want to slide the net out of the way because these openings are so small.

    You cannot attach the mosquito net to the hammock when the hammock is already suspended. Because the whoopie sling and the hammock need to go trough two holes in the mosquito net.

    You can’t have a lot of sag in the hammock or else the net will not hang low enough to reach all the way to the bottom.

    The mosquito net is constantly in my face. I can’t seem to get the netting tight enough.

    When an underquilt is attached to the loops of the Superlight hammock you cannot slide the mosquito net to one side.

    DD Superlight Tarp
    The lines are very short. It saves weight, but not very useful when you want to connect it to a tree that’s a bit further away.

    Putting the tarp back in the stuff sack is a huge hassle. Nearly impossible. Then after 30 minutes of cramming and losing my mind over it I remembered that I still needed to put the pegs in the sack as well. In the end I just used a bigger stuff stack from a different tarp. Because I don’t want to start the day off being in a bad mood when I go camping. Does anyone else have this tarp? And do you regularly take it in and out of the bag? Does DD seriously intend that the user stores the tarp in this stuff sack, or is it just some sort of packaging? The DD website seems a bit confused on how to store the tarp. At first it says to just stuff it in the sack, because folder it along the same crease will make it weaker. Then the line after that says to change folding direction every 10 uses. Well first of all, stuffing the tarp is impossible. Unless you use a hydraulic press in a room that contains a vacuum. If anyone can actually do this, I’ll be very impressed and I would like to see that happen. And second, which method should I use then?! Folding? Rolling? Stuffing? It just doesn’t fit! Aaah!dd_tarp_care.png

    The cinch cord locks on the stuff sack can get stuffed inside and get stuck. Then you have to take out the tarp again and keep the plastic locks to the side to make sure it doesn’t get tangled. I suggest removing the plastic locks. Since you can easily tie a knot in the cinch cord to make sure it doesn’t open. And use the weight savings to make the pouch a bit bigger. Is this some elaborate plan to make me buy the snakeskin? (Because I probably will. )

    To get the tarp back in the stuff sack again you need to use a lot of force. I felt like I could poke a hole through the fabric if my nails were a bit longer, or rip the seams of the stuff sack.

    Conclusion:
    My first impressions are that I’m not very pleased with the products. Overall the quality seems very good, but it’s not very user friendly. I’m going on a camping trip pretty soon, so I’ll be able to test it more thoroughly.

    20180716_232406.jpg20180716_231635.jpg

  2. #2
    Senior Member Rolloff's Avatar
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    New Equipment, same old DD.

    As far as not fitting easily into the provided stuff sacks, I wouldn't hold that against them, seems to be an industry standard. Saves cost and total weight. DD has always sort of been on the heavy side there, and didn't want to burn grams on their new Super Lt Combo.

    Most ALL of my gear came like that. Switched the hammock to a Black Bishop bag with plenty of room and the tarp goes into snake skins. Then my AHE tarp sack became the one I use for my cook kit, and the BIAS hammock sack turned into a small utility bag. I'm like you...not going to start my day with the frustration of cramming my gear into little bags. Having everything a bit less compact also makes it pliable and much easier to fill voids in the pack. So I wouldn't worry about that issue so much as design problems which can't be changed by slipping a bigger sack around it.
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  3. #3
    New Member Gyrth's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rolloff View Post
    New Equipment, same old DD.

    As far as not fitting easily into the provided stuff sacks, I wouldn't hold that against them, seems to be an industry standard. Saves cost and total weight. DD has always sort of been on the heavy side there, and didn't want to burn grams on their new Super Lt Combo.

    Most ALL of my gear came like that. Switched the hammock to a Black Bishop bag with plenty of room and the tarp goes into snake skins. Then my AHE tarp sack became the one I use for my cook kit, and the BIAS hammock sack turned into a small utility bag. I'm like you...not going to start my day with the frustration of cramming my gear into little bags. Having everything a bit less compact also makes it pliable and much easier to fill voids in the pack. So I wouldn't worry about that issue so much as design problems which can't be changed by slipping a bigger sack around it.
    It may be an industry standard, but I'm still going to complain about it!
    Besides, the stuff sack is part of the product you pay money for. So if it doesn't do the job, shouldn't the manufacturer be responsible?

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