Bug nets, what are the pros and cons. Your experience please.
Bug net zipped to your hammock or is your bug net placed over your hammock with a bottom or side entry?
Have you tried both, what is your preference and why?
Bug nets, what are the pros and cons. Your experience please.
Bug net zipped to your hammock or is your bug net placed over your hammock with a bottom or side entry?
Have you tried both, what is your preference and why?
I truly hate zippers and prefer a Fronkey-style bottom entry bugnet. However, I have to use my Chameleon hammock with zippered bugnet when I'm camping with my beagle Joey - he cannot resist jumping out of a Fronkey bugnet because he can see the ground and wants to get free. The zippered Chameleon bugnet calms him down and puts him to sleep since he knows he can't get out.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
I prefer a zipped burnet full. Then I can zip back in the morn and have coffee from the hammock.
Shug
Whooooo Buddy)))) All Secure in Sector Seven
I currently have a Chameleon with a zippered bug net. It works. I like that I can unzip either side to exit or access gear. But the net falls in my face. The pull out helps a little, but not really enough to compensate for the hassle of tripping over it.
I used to have a Sierra Madre tarp with a built in bug net. I did not like the tarp as it did not allow enough air flow. However I loved that the bug net was held away from my hammock and also enclosed my gear.
My husband has a Pet Palace. He loves that - even when he does not have the dog with him. It is basically a screen room with a bathtub floor which surrounds his hammock. It is too heavy for backpacking, but works beautifully for car camping.
HUG-style bugnet for me, because my priorities are less bulk and weight for backpacking, not spending a lot of time in camp in the hammock. A HUG along with a top quilt lets me sleep bug free, which is my main concern. On those rare occasions when we're doing more camping and less walking, I'd bring my seldom used bottom entry bug net. It's effective and easy to install with whatever GE hammock I happen to be using.Originally Posted by Swinging_n_Trees
"...the height of hammock snobbery!"
Do you wear a headlamp at night? I slide mine to the bugnet side of my forehead to hold the net away. Works for me and might for you.
Swinging_in_Trees - your first post. Welcome to the forum.
I use all three - not at once - depending upon the environment. But I always have something because it just takes on mosquito to ruin a night's sleep. If there is minimum risk, like in a non-mosquito environment or day hike, I carry the HUG. It's netting that covers your head area with the idea that the rest of you is covered with clothes and/or shielded by the hammock/quiits themselves.
The built-net is always there. You don't have to think about it. You don't have to remember to bring it. You don't have to ponder if you should bring it or not. BUT ... it only protects you when you are lying in your hammock.
As Shug mentioned. The external zipper bug net would allow sitting up in the hammock, with legs out, and still be inside the netting. Note that you are vulnerable where it touches your skin, but if the netting is treated with permethrin, that should keep the critters away.
You can imagine a high humidity rain forest-type environment would be different than a dry high desert environment. So "best" would be environmentally dependent.
I've been told that in Alaska, it's handy to have a small radio that covers Air Traffic to the control tower. That way you may be able to keep track of the mosquitos when they call in a swam event - which is when any area of flesh is exposed for about 2.3 seconds.
Last edited by cougarmeat; 04-21-2024 at 11:49.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
No. I hang the headlamp from the ridge line. Plus, I’m a side sleeper. Even so, a headlamp would not hold the bug net away from me. There is just too much sag. I usually just adjust my pillow as best I can.
I've only experienced hammocks with no nets, and ones with bug nets which zip to the hammock.
I really like the bug nuts which zip to the hammock - they're always there, and you can flip them back if you don't want to use them. On the Blackbird (and XLC version) you have pullouts to keep the net off your face, but even when I do not use the pullouts I do not ever remember the net laying on my face at all.
I even use it in the winter - the amount of heat it holds in is probably mostly placebo and psychosomatic however, but I do think it also helps diffuse a breeze in the winter.
I started with a bottom-entry bug net (with a Dutchware netless), then moved to a zippered bug net (Simply Light Design Trail Lair) and then picked up a Dutchware Half-wit on a sale. Here's my 2 pesos:
Bottom-entry:
Pros - can be left home when you know you won't need it, provides slightly better protection (including the bottom of the hammock, to an extent)
Cons - can be forgotten (as it's a separate component), limits using hammock for anything but lounging/sleeping (hard to cook from the hammock)
Full-zip:
Pros - it's always there (some hammocks allow full removal), can be stowed or flipped over the ridgeline to get it out of the way
Cons - zippers stick/snag/jam (especially when nature calls urgently at 3 AM)
Half-net:
Pros - lighter, can be stowed when not needed (depending on how it's attached)
Cons - less protection, especially in very warm weather (when you might not be using a quilt to cover the rest of you)
These days, in very warm conditions or when weight isn't an issue (car camping), I use the Trail Lair (full-zip net). When I know I'll be using a TQ and weight is a concern, I'll use the Half-wit. In very cold weather, I use the Trail Lair with a "wind shield" (a layer that zips inside the bug net, providing wind blocking and a bit of heat retention at the risk of condensation).
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks