Hammocks from Kickstarter

[HashimA]

Hi,
I often find really good and cheap gear there.
Is there anything worth considering?

Best regards

[michigandave]

Lots of kickstarter hammock projects pop up here in HF and there's always lots of discussion. IMO, the old adage, buy once, cry once is important to remember. You get what you pay for, but HYOH. I've never been a fan of the crowd funding business model...

[alifeoutdoors]

90% of anything on kick starter is people trying to figure out the quickest, easiest way how not to actually work for a living. Here's how it goes for hammocks. "Hey new hammock kickstarter, check it (us) out." Annnnnnnd it's another ENO clone. Parachute hammocks from China. But we're available in all those colors!! Oh wow, awesome. Pass.

We're past the peak of the hammock market and now just getting saturated with crap like this. The true innovators are already established and well entrenched doing great work. Pick from one of them.

[rweb82]

IMO, the Dutchware Chameleon is the best hammock that has been released via crowdfunding.

[dkurfiss]

I am not a fan of crowd source funding. Too many times the item never is completed and the person running the show pockets the cash and that is the last you hear about it. Or, my personal favorite, the item comes out and it is not what it was suppose to be such as hammock too short, hammock too narrow, 3 piece construction...the list goes on and on.

Obviously there are some good crowd sourcing project (such as the Dutch Chameleon) but IMO those are rare.

It is my experience that in the hammock department, you get exactly what you pay for. Therefore, I buy from reputable cottage vendors. So far everything I have purchased from them has been exactly as advertised and delivered when they said it would be.

So, no, I don't participate in Kickstarter or any other crowd source funding projects.

[jeff-oh]

As usual I'll be the counter point. I have found that the inexpensive hammocks can easily meet the needs of a majority of people. It all depends on your requirements and what is important to you in a hammock. I cannot complain about my $2.99 mass produced factory hammock. It meets my needs. Which are, be strong enough to hold me and be comfortable enough to have a great nights sleep. It meets both of those requirements. Would a $125.00 meet those requirements better? Perhaps, but the requirements are met. For me to go with anything more would be excess cash out lay or vanity. I have been extremely happy with my choices.

No judgement or opinion is made or implied toward anyone else who makes similar or different choices.

[Jimswms]

Nice to see others not agree with the crowd funding model. I suppose my hatred of it has more to do with the fact that I started my own business. With money I earned and saved, coupled with my own sweat equity. I didn't rely on others to make my dream a reality. Getting others to pay for your dream leads to the entitlement we see in our world these days. I'm only 48, but realize I sound like a crotchety old man whining about the way things used to be

[Dynamystic]

Nice to see others not agree with the crowd funding model. I suppose my hatred of it has more to do with the fact that I started my own business. With money I earned and saved, coupled with my own sweat equity. I didn't rely on others to make my dream a reality. Getting others to pay for your dream leads to the entitlement we see in our world these days.

I can completely understand reservations about crowd funding platforms these days. We do live in a society where opportunists will use any opportunity they can to take advantage of others for an easy buck. There is certainly no shortage on kickstarter.

On the other hand, kickstarter provides an opportunity for a whole other class of people as well. These folks are just trying to bring their dream to market without falling prey to the countless opportunists looking for high interest payments or perpetual growth in their dividends. Bringing a product to market is not an easy task, especially within the current economic landscape. In many instances it requires an up front investment, like sourcing bulk materials or manufacturing a large enough quantity in order to keep price points in a marketable range for example. Sure, if you happen to be independently wealthy or have enough saved, investment costs are less of an issue. Otherwise you will likely be looking to banks or private investors to help get things moving and IMHO either of these options are like trying to get up and running while someone is sitting on your shoulders and pulling on your hair to steer your course. If one can get a loan in the first place, interest payments can drown a developing business if not very carefully managed. And, perpetual growth demands by investors often lead companies down shady paths that they might have never traveled if there were such a thing in the business world called "good enough."

When it comes to outdoor gear, kickstarter has created a great platform to offer a presale on a new product in order to accrue the money needed for business development and production costs related to said product. Again, I understand the possible abuses of this model, but for an authentic entrepreneur this is a fantastic option that keeps potentially unscrupulous financial folks out of your pocket and without requiring a handout either. When folks offer a product on kickstarter, they are not usually hoping for something for nothing (presale sets expectation that a product will be delivered in return). When starting a business, we are ALWAYS relying on others to make our dream a reality. Without customers or clients, there is no business. Sure, the slow grind to the top works for some but in our current economic climate it seems as though you have to have money to make money and kickstarter is a great way for the little fish to source startup capitol without being dependent upon a bigger fish who just may secretly wish to devour them.

Regarding the OP. If you are looking to buy a product from kickstarter, one way to mitigate risk is to not look for the cheap products. Look for the genuinely creative products that have more to show than a couple computer images or concepts. There is also a difference between someone trying to sell you something and someone making you an offer. If you feel like they are trying to convince you that it is a good deal, it probably isn't.

Just my $.02. Best of luck out there. I hope that you can find the remaining entrepreneurs with enough integrity left to be worthy of your investments.

Cheers!

[TallPaul]

Hi,
I often find really good and cheap gear there.
Is there anything worth considering?

Best regards

I see you are in Berlin. In the U.S., we have a lot of hammock vendors to chose from so my opinion is why buy an untested hammock when there are so many good options out there.

However you may not have as many options (?) so Kickstarter may make sense. I’d look for an 11’ long hammock and keep the complexity of the hammock to a minimum to have the best shot at getting something good.

[SilvrSurfr]

The Dutch Chameleon is the only Kickstarter hammock I've ever seen that I would buy. However, that's not even a normal Kickstarter. Dutch is a well-established vendor with excellent customer service, so you know it was going to be a success.

Most every other piece of hammock kit sold on Kickstarter seems to me to be an ill-conceived, poorly thought out, overpriced ripoff. There may be exceptions, but I'm personally not ever going to give my money to Kickstarter (not even for Dutch).