lori said: "...not having an ache in my hip is worth the craziness."

Exactly --- it's pretty clear that a hammock wins for comfort for you. For me, it's a wash; if I'm in the hammock, I miss the tent somewhat, and vice versa. Apart from perhaps the steepest and longest learning curve of any piece of backpacking equipment, a hammock has some downsides for comfort too. Simply moving around, changing positions takes learning and different techniques, one can come to miss being able to just push off firm ground, and the relative roominess of a tent. And not having any dropped item migrate underneath you. Etc.

I'm not a hammock hater, but for me there's no huge comfort advantage either way.

In terms of using a hammock as a sort of ground tent ("The hammock ends can be tied to tops of trekking poles to keep the ridgeline high enough to use the hammock as a bug bivy if needed") --- the one time I tried that with my Hennessy hammock I found it a big PITA (recall that one enters a HH from underneath).

I really agree with whoever (Phat?) suggested building the Risk hammock to try it out on the cheap before committing to making or buying a field-worthy hammock. I tried quite a number of times to make it work, but ... I reckon now that I'll be a "dirt camper" for life!