Hey all you much more experienced hangers here! I'm Spyder, a newbie to hammocks. So after deciding that my bed was not great, a new mattress was out of my price range, and the new year approaching, why not try a new way to sleep? I, someone who had only ever lounged in backyard hammocks as a kid, went full time sleeping in a hammock at the start of the new year and I have to say I love it. I sleep better, fall asleep faster, and wake up more rested than I did in a bed.

At the moment, because (a) I live in an apartment that prohibits any holes in the walls; (b) even if I wanted to skirt that prohibition and try to drill, the building is very, very old and not in great shape and; (c) my apartment would be considered a "microapartment" (just shy of 200 square feet of livable space), I wound up doing what a lot of newbie hangers do when looking at bed replacement: bought a vivere cotton hammock with stand off amazon for under $100 total. Since I'm short (5'5"/165cm), I haven't yet had any of the negative experiences that some others have reported on this site regarding the smaller size of the stand and while an upgrade isn't out of the question in the future, for now I'm very pleased. Honestly, my biggest concern was that my cat would hate it (he's slept in my bed with me since he was a tiny kitten). Took him about a day to get used to it, and now he is excited to jump in even when I'm setting it up for the night and will even hop in when I'm not inside to take naps on his own.

I'm looking forward to learning more about hammocks, full time sleeping and camping (I do camp and would love to try hammock camping soon) and being part of a great community!