{"id":9066,"date":"2022-01-19T06:58:05","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T11:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/richard.rathe.org\/?p=9066"},"modified":"2022-01-21T20:28:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T01:28:48","slug":"kammok-mantis-camping-hammock-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/2022\/kammok-mantis-camping-hammock-review","title":{"rendered":"Kammok Mantis Camping Hammock Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

My second Hennessy<\/em> 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<\/em>, especially the fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kammok Mantis<\/em> is most notable for the superior materials used. My favorite is the “night sky” bug net material<\/strong>, 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<\/strong>. The fly is made from an extremely light waterproof fabric. It all goes into a very small package<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Weight 2 lb 11.5 oz (per Kammok website)
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Basics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Minimal Hang without Stakes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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With Fly & Four Point Stake Out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The stuff sack is integrated<\/strong> 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<\/strong> 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.<\/strong> I think a single snakeskin might improve this (see below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inline Stuff Sack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The hammock is useable without<\/em> 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.)<\/em> The fly is tapered with less coverage at the foot<\/strong> and SIX (!) tie down cords<\/strong> (in addition to the two that hold the peak). I can’t help thinking a simple diamond fly would have been better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critique and Improvements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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

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Two Stake Setup with Tucked Foot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
  1. Connect the fly ridge line to the highest rung on each strap<\/em> (no need to go around both trees twice!).<\/li>
  2. Stake out the hammock and the fly head<\/em> to a single stake on each side.<\/li>
  3. Loosely tie the foot ends of the fly together<\/em>, and possibly to a rock, branch, waterbottle, etc. on the ground.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

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

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    “Tucked” Foot & Underquilt
    <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The final piece of the puzzle is to compensate for the slight dip in the fly<\/strong> 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.)<\/em> For this hammock I simply added elastic loops<\/strong> to the ends of the four corner ropes. This keeps everything nice and tight and helps the fly spill wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Fly with Shock Cord Loops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Aside: Underquilt<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    While not specific to this hammock, I recently purchased a generic underquilt<\/strong> 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…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Staked Out with Underquilt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Conclusions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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

    That said it came to me from REI with slight damage and a manufacturing defect. =(<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    “Stray Needle” (?) Damage to the Fabric<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The first thing I noticed when inside the hammock were these two rather large holes<\/strong> 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<\/strong> (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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Mysterious Hole at Both Ends?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Permanently Open Flap?!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    What Flap Should Look Like (source:youtube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Fixed!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    I experimented packing the fly with the snakeskins<\/strong> 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Fly Only in Snakeskins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Abandoned Tent Loft with Modifications<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Jacket & Hat in the Loft<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    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 … Continue reading “Kammok Mantis Camping Hammock Review”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268,409,47],"tags":[267,495],"class_list":["post-9066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-camping","category-how-to","category-reviews","tag-hammock","tag-underquilt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9066"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9122,"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9066\/revisions\/9122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}