I'll check out the Warbonnet Blackbird. What makes it the "best" when compared to another brand/model?

So from what I can gather... comfort is the main benefit to a hammock. And because it is so comfortable the minimal weight gain is accepted as a trade off.

Any other perspectives? Has anyone used a hammock and NOT liked it? Why not? [/quote]

People have not liked hammocks for many reasons. I was a total skeptic but my misery in a tent drove me to try it. People in my hiking group think I'm nuts for hiking with one, but you know, I don't get up at night as often and I don't have trouble falling asleep. When camping with my group I often hear people whispering or getting up for one reason or another; it's the only reason I wake up anymore other than the 3 am break for the bushes.

The Blackbird I ordered got here, and I can tell you what I will enjoy about it. It will make a good camp chair, for one. You can't cook in a tent but my trekking poles can prop up the side of my tarp to make a porch and I can boil my water in the shade, or out of the rain. I won't have to worry if the hammock is on a slope. If I go hiking in Yosemite and I am expected to camp in a specific area, I don't worry if all the tent sites are taken; I have pitched over a boulder field and let the tent campers have all the flat spots. I got a quieter sleep, too, because I wasn't forced to have next door neighbors. I love all the dry real estate under the tarp; I have a large one that closes in on the ends if I want. The Blackbird I got has two layers; a pad can go in between, and even without the pad it (reportedly, haven't tried it yet, going out this weekend!) has a flatter lay than the Hennessy it's replacing, and I had no issues with the Hennessy. The Blackbird has a shelf to put small items in (a unique feature to hammocks) and a ridgeline; I like to hang wet socks or clip my headlamp to the ridgeline. All my gear hangs from the support line under the tarp, in a small gear hammock. The bugnet on the Blackbird can be unzipped and draped out of the way. The straps on the Blackbird can be adjusted after the hammock is hung; I don't have to undo knots like I did with the Hennessy to fine tune the angle of the hang. And I think, just from looking at the overall size and shape of it, the Blackbird has more space in the hammock and more "headroom" inside the bugnet than my Hennessy ultralight backpacker. While i have never felt claustrophobic or closed in while in the Hennessy, I have felt at times that I wasn't in the hammock so much as I was wearing it.

All that said - you will find people who prefer the Clark, a bridge hammock (you can sleep in your stomach in one, and it has a flatter lay due to the shape and design), or one of the other six or seven brands available. What makes a hammock great, IMO, depends on what you value; I value a solid night's sleep, warmth, ease of getting out of it (I H-A-T-E-D getting up and out of the tent, with a passion unparalleled - my knees and hips led me to a nasty faceplant or three in the pine needles), and a non-claustrophobic and effective way to keep bugs and rain out. I will add that since getting the hammock, none of my joints have troubled me in the slightest. I always had a hip ache in the tent, and sometimes do at home in bed.

My tent dwelling buddies want to know what I'm going to do in places where I can't hang. I have a tarp. I'll have a few trash bags for a ground liner, and my ridgerest for backup insulation (the Sierras have weather that has a mind of its own). One night on the ground versus five or six nights on the ground - no contest whatsoever. I might just tell them I'll hike another mile to treeline and they can catch up to me; I can break camp 95% faster than they can, which is the other advantage to hammocks.