Hammock vs Tent Price / Weight Comparison

[OneClick]

when we are all throwing out pack weight, I'm assuming we are all talking dry weight, no food, water or fuel?

No I count everything. I understand the need for a base weight, but I don't use that often because I never carry just a base. Maybe I'm approaching that on the last day, but that "doesn't count" IMO because the fun is over...just getting the hell out and back to the car.

A base for me is about 17lb.

[cmoulder]

No I count everything. I understand the need for a base weight, but I don't use that often because I never carry just a base. Maybe I'm approaching that on the last day, but that "doesn't count" IMO because the fun is over...just getting the hell out and back to the car.

A base for me is about 17lb.

From the semi-official, UL-weenie perspective, base is simply everything carried in the pack (and including the pack!) minus consumables... food, water, fuel.

Clothing can be a grey area for some but, for me, clothing that is worn only until I warm up (which is usually very quickly) is counted as base because it spends nearly all its time in the pack. Winter can be 'tough' on base weight because sometimes we carry snowshoes and/or microspikes and don't use them, so that's potentially 4-5lbs right there.

This is barely scratching the surface — there are a gazillion 'what ifs' that spring from the basic definition. However if we're going to discuss base weight it's helpful if we're all on the same standard.

But I'll say right up front that the practice of some UL/SUL types to carry stuff in pockets so that it doesn't count against base weight, because they're tying to achieve a target number for bragging rights, is just plain silly and moronic.

But OneClick's point is really the most important... what matters is 'from skin out' (FSO) weight, which is the total gear/consumables weight moving down the trail. For the typical ULer, food and water are often the 2 heaviest items on the packing list, and of course they vary wildly depending upon how long you're going to be out, how much food you need per day, how much water you consume, water availability, etc, so it's highly subjective. If you're doing a 5-day hike in the desert and need to carry lots of water, you'll likely need a heavier backpack with a stout frame to handle the heavier load... so you could potentially have a base weight of 9.2 lbs but a total pack weight (TPW) of 40 lbs.

And this doesn't begin to address FSI (from skin in!) weight and fitness!

[boca1]

"However if we're going to discuss base weight it's helpful if we're all on the same standard."

Thats what I was getting at, I hear so many people blurting out their base weights as bragging rights only to find that doesn't include this that or the other

[sidneyhornblower]

Hammock vs Tent Price / Weight Comparison

On this post, I thought I would do a purely "by the numbers" comparison of tents vs hammocks.
----------snip-------------

I hope this helps...

Thanks for the thought you put into this as well as the neatly presented format. Made it easy to read and easy to think about. What strikes me most is how close in cost and weight the tent vs hammock setups are. Your high end setups differ by what? $23 and about 12 ounces? Mid level is about $21 and roughly a quarter pound? The low end is closer still, if I'm reading it correctly. That makes decision making easy. Will I spend an extra $21 and carry a quarter pound more in my pack to be comfortable? Oh yeah!

This validates that decision I made more than four years ago to climb into a hammock and to hang out here.
Cheers.

[cmoulder]

"However if we're going to discuss base weight it's helpful if we're all on the same standard."

Thats what I was getting at, I hear so many people blurting out their base weights as bragging rights only to find that doesn't include this that or the other

Yes, and I've seen very low base weight gear lists that were suspiciously incomplete. This does not help people who are trying to get into UL (or to reduce pack weight to something more manageable) and are relying upon experienced folks' gear lists for guidance.

[OneClick]

6lb base + 10lbs of Snickers because fuel and cook kit is heavy.

[cmoulder]

6lb base + 10lbs of Snickers because fuel and cook kit is heavy.

lol there's always Esbit, but Esbit and gourmet are two words you don't often see together. Hot coffee in the a.m. and hot dinner are 2 "luxuries" I will not forgo!

[ricktreks]

Great chart, and interesting information about the price and weight of tents and hammocks. However, I think it's like comparing cars to motorcycles. What they have in common is only the fact that they can get you from point A to point B, but just about everything else is different. The reasons for picking one versus the other are more subjective than objective and more often than not boil down to personal preference.

Going back to the original subject, in my case I would be more incline to compare ground sleeping versus off-the-ground sleeping while camping. In that sense, I would always choose to sleep off the ground, and my shelter of choice would be a gathered-end hammock. I don't obsess too much about saving grams, but if I were ever in a situation where I had to sleep on the ground because there were no trees, and I had to save as much weight as possible I would choose a tarp, not a tent. As I already own a number of tarps, I would just need to add a pad and a ground sheet. No need to carry the extra weight of the tent wall fabric and tent poles.

So, based on the money and weight savings criteria, at least for me the tarp is the clear winner, not the tent. But I can't help looking at a tarp setup and thinking 'boy this is going to be a miserable night'.

[theRoyals]

Great chart, and interesting information about the price and weight of tents and hammocks. However, I think it's like comparing cars to motorcycles. What they have in common is only the fact that they can get you from point A to point B, but just about everything else is different. The reasons for picking one versus the other are more subjective than objective and more often than not boil down to personal preference.

Thanks and I actually really like this analogy of cars vs motorcycles. While I think you mentioned it to highlight the huge disparity between the two, I think it actually helps illustrated the point of the post.

Subjectively, motorcycles and cars are vastly different experiences and are riddled with personal preferences. However, there are some concrete objective (quantitative) things you can compare if you are trying to decide between getting a car vs motorcycle. Gas mileage, car insurance, initial cost, maintenance cost, ability to carry other passengers / cargo, etc...

Same is true with hammocks vs tents. Vastly different experiences riddled with subjective preferences, but there are a few things we can compare quantitatively (mostly weight and cost).

For me, when I know I'll be sleeping solo, my hammock gear weighs less than my 10 year old tent. It becomes a no-brainer: less weight and more comfortable (win-win).

[mab0852]

Until tent weight gets below 35-40oz, hammocks are very easily in the game for cost and weight. After that you start piling on the cost in either scenario. I'd say until about 2 years ago I was weight conscious (had a few ultralight pieces of gear), but fairly pound foolish as I'd never gone through the exercise of weighing everything and tracking actual usage on the trail. That meant 30-40 pounds was fairly typical and I was doing a different kind of camping and fairly tool heavy too. I'm no gram weenie, but I'd say anybody heading out in shoulder season and certainly summer with over 26-27 lbs all up needs to take a hard look at their gear. Most casual camper/hikers can probably dump 3-5lbs just in excess "What if" gear. There are a few things I can say fairly universally and right off the top to reduce pack weight drastically based on observing with my Scouts. Once you've scrubbed out the never or seldom used gear, start with you're sleep system. A lot of folks are still using 3+lb synthetic bags they've had forever and are well past their prime. Spend the money on good down and learn to take care of it (buy once, cry once). Good sleep goes a long way toward enjoying your time outdoors and is probably as or more important that the pack weight. Isn't that why you got into hammocking to begin with? Second is to update your pack. Same deal here, folks are using old school packs that need to be replaced anyway and weigh in at 7-10 pounds (cringe!!!). Catch a ULA, Gossamer Gear, Granite Gear, or similar 60-70L pack on sale or get it used in good condition. You can dump 5-7 pounds right there for ~$200 on an item you probably need to replace anyway. Next, and surprisingly, is probably rain gear. You can get a kilt and Frogg Toggs Ultralite jacket for ~$50, probably be more comfortable when you actually use it, and shed a pound or more in the process. More importantly, now that you're in a smaller lighter pack, they take up way less room...like barely bigger than a baseball small. Factor your clothes into your system. Go wool for undergarments so you can re-wear them without stinking to high heaven and minimize the extras pairs you carry. Multipurpose as many of your wearables as you can. They can serve as your pillow, bag liner/quilt extender, peak bag, etc. If it doesn't/can't serve 2+ purposes, replace it with a piece that can or leave it home. Just a bit of advice (not really intending to knock them because I love the store) is don't go to REI, use cottage vendors for almost everything and you'll save serious cash and weight. In general, your big box stores, even the high end ones, are super expensive, down on quality, and up on weight, versus what you can get spreading your cash out to smaller specialty operations (many who sponsor and contribute on this site). Doing those things can pretty easily get you under 30lbs and actually increase your comfort level substantially.

As for base weight (all packed items minus consumables), I keep up with it so I know what to expect heading out the door, but I find skin out weight far more meaningful. That's every ounce above naked. There's no cheating that scale. In your pack or on your person really doesn't matter, carried weight is carried weight. Your feet and joints won't know where the weight is, just that they are having to move it down the trail. In the grand scheme of things, you can lose 20lbs and take whatever you want.