Reviews – Page 2 – Richard Rathe's Reflections

Kammok Mantis Camping Hammock Review

This is my third hammock tent. I hit a lucky home run with my first no-brand hammock tent. It’s somewhat non-standard (arched tentpole, no ridge line). I have improved it with several mods and it has served me well on many trips.

My second Hennessy model was a disappointment on several fronts, most notably the ridiculous knot-based attachment to the tree straps. Give me carabiners any day! I’m also not impressed by the asymmetric cut, especially the fly.

The Kammok Mantis is most notable for the superior materials used. My favorite is the “night sky” bug net material, which nearly disappears on dark starry nights. The hammock fabric feels very light and sturdy, while having a slight texture that makes it less slippery. The fly is made from an extremely light waterproof fabric. It all goes into a very small package.

Weight 2 lb 11.5 oz (per Kammok website)

The Basics

The stuff sack is integrated making setup and takedown very efficient. I’m less thrilled by the fly however, which is supposed to be folded many times and put into a little sidewall pocket in the stuff sack. The best I can do is 2-3 folds, then roll and stuff. The lines tangle unless you roll them up individually. I think a single snakeskin might improve this (see below).

The hammock is useable without staking out the sides, but I’ll probably stake/tie out the wings in most settings. (I’m a bit spoiled because my first hammock has an aluminum tentpole spreader to keep the netting away from your face and upper body.) The fly is tapered with less coverage at the foot and SIX (!) tie down cords (in addition to the two that hold the peak). I can’t help thinking a simple diamond fly would have been better.

Critique and Improvements

The fly is too complex IMO. Staking out all six tie-downs guarantees you’ll trip over them at some point! It’s like a spider’s web. As an alternative I came up with this “tucked fly” approach. (I’ve already used it in a moderate rainstorm and it worked well!)

Connect the fly ridge line to the highest rung on each strap (no need to go around both trees twice!).
Stake out the hammock and the fly head to a single stake on each side.
Loosely tie the foot ends of the fly together, and possibly to a rock, branch, waterbottle, etc. on the ground.

This improves things quite a bit. There are now only two trip zones and it is easy to access the hammock from either side. The foot end fly becomes more of a tunnel with plenty of sidewall. I think it may be more wind resistant. There is still plenty of room for air circulation…

The final piece of the puzzle is to compensate for the slight dip in the fly when the hammock is occupied. (This is something I worked out with my first hammock, completely replacing the tie-out ropes with elastic shock cords.) For this hammock I simply added elastic loops to the ends of the four corner ropes. This keeps everything nice and tight and helps the fly spill wind.

Aside: Underquilt

While not specific to this hammock, I recently purchased a generic underquilt for those cold nights. It really works well! You can see the extension cord with tensioner knot I added in the photo above. This is what it looks like with the fly off…

Conclusions

Overall this is a great hammock! It is certainly the lightest three season tent I’ve ever owned. Features I’ve not yet mentioned are: pockets for small gear in the wings (see glasses lower left above), tensioner toggle for each line, entrance from either side, completely removable bug net, and an option to replace the net with a “tent top” for winter camping.

That said it came to me from REI with slight damage and a manufacturing defect. =(

The first thing I noticed when inside the hammock were these two rather large holes in the end. Not exactly bug proof! On investigation I determined that the little flap on the outside had been attached to the wrong line (you can clearly see this in the screen capture I took from a how-to video and examples on the Kammok website). Easy to fix.

What Flap Should Look Like (source:youtube)

I experimented packing the fly with the snakeskins from my other hammock. This worked well, but ideally it should be a single skin sewn to match the shorter, less bulky fly. Future project perhaps?

Finally, I made a passible “loft” from an abandoned tent piece I found on the ground. It is not quite square, so does not quite form a diamond, but it seems to work!

Flashlight Thoughts

Some thoughts on camping flashlights…

There when you need it! (source:pinterest)

I’m not too fond of headlamps for a few reasons… they are generally too bright when you are working close, shine in peoples faces when you look up, and kill your night vision.
I’ve had at least a dozen flashlights over the years that have failed, about of half of those failed out in the woods when I needed them. Last trip I had two fail when we were caught out after dark with kayak problems, and a third failed the next day. So that’s three in 24 hours! Some were inexpensive, unknown brands, etc. Caveat Emptor applies obviously.
For the past several years I’ve relied on small cylindrical flashlights from recognized/trusted brands (Fenix, others…). They are simple machined aluminum tubes with threaded o-ring sealed caps, which makes them very resilient. They also have smart power management electronics so they don’t just go dark but fade out slowly as the battery dies (they “degrade gracefully” as we say in computer science).
Try to avoid on/off buttons (they get pushed in your pack and then you’ve got a dead light). Twist on/off is much less likely to fail!
I put my light on a lanyard that I wear around my neck so it is always ready even if I’m not using it. When turned on I let it hang down, which gives enough light to see where my feet are going and I can hold things near/in the beam to work on, read maps, etc. If I really need to point it at something while I work I put it between my lips.
When I’m camping I generally try to minimize flashlight use… I’ve learned to pitch my hammock in the dark for example. I might need 30 sec of light to see where to put a strap on a tree, that sort of thing.

Here are a few pictures to help illustrate the above…

Short lanyard so it hangs at my sternum. Note the knot, this is tied so it will breakaway if you pull on it hard. Better to lose the flashlight than be strangled by it!

Keep the barrel about 1/2 turn back from “on” when not in use to prevent accidental discharge in a purse/pack/etc. You can turn it to just before “on” and then use thumb pressure to turn it on/off as needed (like walking on a trail). Your thumb can also attenuate the amount of light coming out. Cover the light completely for a night vision-saving red filter.

I recently obtained little diffuser caps for this size flashlight. They turn the beam into an area light (for tent, picnic table, etc.)… Basically an electric candle. (Note that this flashlight stands upright on a level surface without support.)

And as a bonus… the caps glow in the dark!

Review of Pandemic (The Game)

I bought this award-winning board game about three years ago not guessing how relevant it would become. Now that many of us are sheltering in place from COVID19, what could be better than a science-based game where the goal is to cooperate in order to defeat life-threatening viruses!

The game is designed to mimic the behavior of contagious diseases which if left unchecked kill thousands of people (sound familiar?). There are several mechanisms to spread germs from one locale to another. Individual cities can become quickly overwhelmed (“outbreaks” in the game’s terminology). Outbreaks add to a “burden of disease” tracker on the side of the board. If you reach the final skull-and-crossbones–it’s game over!

The game unfolds quickly by drawing “infection” cards with names of cities onto which you place infection markers (small colored cubes). Several events can occur that will accelerate these infections to the point they become outbreaks (as outlined above).

Pushing back on this process is the actual game play. Each player has a special role (medic, researcher, etc.) with special abilities. Unlike most games the point is to maximize the benefit for everyone. This leads to discussion and cooperative problem-solving.

Pandemic is appropriate for older children, works best with four players, and takes less than an hour to complete.