I used the blue tarp on my first trip. Had never seen a real hammock tarp or even knew they were out there! After seeing how easy they were with all the tie out points and how small they packed up, I never took the blue tarp out again. If you are going backpacking or kayaking or pretty much doing anything where you'll have to be toting that tarp around I would go ahead and at least get cheap one just to save on space. I'm all for supporting the smaller vendors on here but I just got this one until I could afford a better one...have been using it for a few years now with no problems: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1
good luck and have fun