Review by Eph:

The material quality is about what you would expect for the price. There are no carabiners included and it instead comes with hooks. That being said it is more comfortable than far more expensive ones. Ditch the hooks, use carabiners. These hammocks do not pinch you inward making it very comfortable.

A tip to you campers, use just one line between points (utilize a prusik knot for tension) and let the hammock drape from that single rope. You can now use that same line for your rain fly or your mosquito netting. You save on weight and you don’t have to cut your rope.

I uploaded video to a popular website (wink) of the hammock and how to use the single line method with a mosquito net! I tried posting the links but Amazon deleted them. Search under “Grand Trunk Ultra Light Hammock” and you should be able to find 3 of them.

If it came with carabiners I would have given 5 stars.

Review by Meghan K. Ingram:

I absolutely love these hammocks. I bought one for my fiancé and one for myself and we put them up immediately to start lounging. We then brought them camping with us and everyone that went with us (11 other people) had to have their turn in the hammock. I even had a few friends swinging in them. They are strong, dry fast (it rained on them) and are very comfortable. My fiancé took a two hour nap in one and I took I fell asleep while listening to friends in the other. The fact that the stuff sack is attached is very helpful. We did not have any problem with the hammock and had people weighing at least 180-190 lbs sat in it and apparently others had problems with the ropes but we didn’t . I highly recommend these.

Review by C. M. Laufer:

When I got ready to get a hammock for our frequent camping trips, I opted for the Texsport La Paz Hammock because it was made of cotton. My previous hammock was a polyester one, and it was very uncomfortable and sweaty.

This hammock is a dream. The material is sturdy, the hammock is light and takes up little space. It comes in a handy travel pouch, and it is very, VERY comfortable for one person, or a petite person with a child. If you are looking for a hammock that will fit 2 adults, you may want to look for another one – even though 2 adults may fit, it will not be comfortable. Otherwise, this hammock is a great deal and great for camping trips due to its light weight and convenient travel pouch.

Review by Joshua J. Amborski:

I LOVE this Hammock, I bought it for 15bucks at gander mountain and It’s REALLY REALLY comfortable. I cant believe the price of the other hammocks on this site, this is definatly a good buy, a great way to relax

Review by Kim:

This lantern is pretty neat. It gives off a considerable amount of light and has an off and on switch unlike lots of solar products. It saves on battery life.

Review by kandoro:

For safety concerns just use the source tank valve for on/off control…To fill each 1 lb. bottle more completely simply put those containers in a refrigerator or even a freezer for a few minutes AND put the 20/40 lb. FULL tank in hot water and/or in the Sun…The key here is to maximize the pressure in the source tank and minimize it in the receiving 1 lb. bottle allowing for more propane to transfer before the pressure equalizes…I’ve been filling these little bottles for years using this type coupler and while they may not get 100% filled as when new they can reach 80-90% with regularity when the above steps are taken…Keep in mind NO Propane tank is completely filled anyway or at least it shouldn’t be to allow for excessive heat expansion when full..

Even if trying to refill in a freezing or below environment simply heating the 20/40 lb. bottle up by leaving it in a heated indoors for a few hours and/or in hot water will help tremendously to get more transferred…

When you get tanks refilled commercially the source has pump assisted pressure so this always allows for a complete fill…

Review by Benjamin Herbst:

I have had this or a similar product for several years now. I live in the mountains, and go camping a lot, and sometimes set up camps and leave, going to work, backpacking, etc, and dont return until night or even a few days. I had two small bulk containers, one for a propane lantern, and one for a little heater and both were stolen out of my closed tent. Since the small refillable propane tanks (small bulk tanks cost more than the regular 5 gallon bulk tank) are expensive, I switched back to the 16 oz type disposable type. I have messed with all different ways of refilling these babies, and here are my suggestions and results.

1. If you only camp once a year (or twice), just spend the each on a couple new 16 oz disposables and be done with it. If you set up “big hunting type camps” you are probably going to have a big bulk tank or 2 anyway, with a propane tree on it or some similar setup for lanters, cooking, etc. or more than likely, have a trailer, and you probably don’t need advice from me anyway.

2. Though you can get a complete (and even a little over) fill by pulling the little “bicycle valve” overflow protection valve while filling, these tanks are not really ment for that, and frequently enough (one out of 4 tanks maybe, my experience … maybe one out of every 6) this valve, once pulled out, will leak, and the tank and refill will be useless. Even though the tanks are filled all the way, I do not recommend this due to the higher percentage of leakers.

3. I recommend following the instructions, which requires putting the bulk 5 gal. tank in the sun for a few hours (let it get nice and warm), and the little 16 oz tanks in the freezer, using temperature differential as a pump. Then, grab one tank from the freezer and attach to the refill device/bulk tank, make sure everything is decently tight, and open the valve on the bulk tank (which is upside down – I usually do it on the tailgate of my Toyota Tacoma). You can hear the propane going into the small tank, and when it seems like its not going to get any fuller – usually around 45 seconds to a minute, shut of the big tank valve and unscrew the little one, and go and get another nice cold one from the freezer (little propane tank, not beer). When I first started refilling them, I weighed them to see how much propane I got in the little tank. When I was a newbee, and didn’t know what I was doing, and didn’t have enought temperature difference, I wouldn’t get hardly any liquid propane in. Then I learned the “pull out the bicycle valve trick” and found I could fill them even a little more full than new, by weight on a postal scale. Now and finally, I just put the big tank in the sun, and the little ones in the freezer, and I don’t weigh them anymore, but my “picking them up” scale tells me that they are probably somewhere about 1/2 full, or a little more. This is enough for me, for just one single mantle lantern and one propane stove. Usually they don’t leak if you don’t mess with the overpressure protection valve.

Lastly, a couple things to keep in mind (principles of propane refill) – propane is always at a constant pressure, at a certain temperature. As some of the gas escapes, or is burned, the pressure that would drop is refilled by propane gas which has expaned from some of the liquid. Therefore, if both tanks were equal in temperature, and you hooked one to the other and opened the valve, (assuming the big tank is upside down so the liquid proane is comming out and not gas – if you refill with just gas, you might get 30 seconds worth of gas into the little tank, which is basically nothing and not what you are looking for) the smaller one would only get maybe 5% or 10% full, untill both tanks were under the same pressure. The object is to get as much “liquid” propane in. The more temperature differential, the more liquid you will get in, because the pressure will be lower in the cold tank. Of course, the bicycle valve trick works great (wear gloves on your right hand, because the propane gas is cold when it comes out/evaporates, and no smoking). But, because they weren’t made for that, seem to have a hard time seating themselves again, even when pushed in, etc. Now that I’ve been refilling these little babies for a few years, it seems so quick and easy, and probably saves a few bucks, and is better for the environment not throwing away a decent little tank.

So, summary – yes these work fine, but anticipate only about 1/2 full (or slightly more) small tanks.

Oh, and lastly about the no smoking comment – I stand by that, but propane gas is heavier than air (which is why you can’t use propane appliances in your basement) and goes down when leaking. I’ve had a little leaking tank within 2′ maybe of a flame which was higher and screened, and it didn’t catch, but I was watching it closely, and threw the tank away shortly thereafter. Try that with gasoline fumes, and you will find yourself in a big explosion of flames!

Sorry for the long review, hopefully it will be kinda helpful.

Review by Jeffrey Knott:

I was dead set on getting an ENO hammock, until I read the great raving reviews of the lesser named brands here from Amazon.

I also found that once you start outfitting an ENO hammock with things like bug nets they get very pricey. So I found the Skeeter Beeter.

It was a little bit of a stab having not read any reviews on it, but the price was right and the quality seemed to be there.

The hammock is very comfortable, and made of really nice materials (parachute material for the hammock, and almost like a silk for the bug-net…no cheap-o stuff here).

My only complaints are (and I’m not really sure they’re complaints, just things I wish I kn ew before buying), the size of this thing is pretty big for 1 person. 400# capacity doesn’t give enough of a description, but I’m 6’1″ at 185lbs and I get swallowed by this thing. I wish it was about 10% less wide.

The other thing was the bug-net…cool setup, but it does not come off…not possible to remove. There’s a zipper which runs about 90% the length of 1 side, but cannot be peeled back and removed. Not a complaint per se, but I wish I knew these things before-hand

Review by Dan D. Verville:

First one I bought came to me used, it was destroyed. stress points near the zipper terminus on both sides were torn asunder. Got a replacement and used this hammock myself in the mountains for 6 days, loved it. But recently I encountered the same problem as the unfortunate fellow who’s hammock I had received originally. It has been less than two months and less than a dozen uses and my beloved hammock is dead. Buyer beware.

Review by P. S. Jones:

There are definitely some advantages to hammock camping such as being off the ground and not sleeping on a hard surface. I have no trouble with sleeping in the Lawson Hammock, but I have discovered a few setbacks about hammock camping in general. If privacy is required to change clothes, changing inside the hammock is tough but doable. You don’t really have an area to store your gear while camping and especially while sleeping that a tent provides. It is extremely difficult to cold weather camp using a hammock. The process of positioning yourself in the hammock in a closed sleeping bag is tough due to the slick surfaces of both the nylon hammock and the bag. The fact of being suspended in the air (cold air)on a compressed sleeping bag does not allow the camper to retain body heat as compared to sleeping on a closed cell pad. To best use the Lawson Hammock as a bivy, the camper needs to be smaller than 6′ and really a lean individual as the suspended roominess disappears once the hammock is on the ground.

All that being said, I’m still glad I bought the hammock. I will gladly use it in spring/fall conditions where sleeping under a bag or blanket will suffice. I did have an aluminum pole to snap which was replaced with no squabble under warranty.

Review by Ron PA:

I bought one of these about 10 years ago and used it frequently but the grommets are pulling loose so I just bought another.

Compared to the older one, the new one’s hammock fabric seems about half the thickness and is now very slippery-(annoying); the steel end rings where all the lines join are replaced by loops of rope; the rain fly zipper is gone and you have to slip under the fly to unzip the mesh and enter and then try to reattach the velcro from inside-(annoying) and the mesh zipper is flimsier so I needed to use both hands to close it instead of just one in the older tent; the three piece fiberglass tent poles are replaced by shock corded aluminum ones and the sleeves are almost continuous instead of a bunch of separate loops-(great improvements); the rainflys brass hooks are now plastic, there’s an extra storage pocket and a light-loop above your head; new camo pattern, a few strap tabs along one side to clip a foam mat to-(leak source);

The slipperiness is very annoying and I’m considering thinning some seam sealer and painting stripes across the hammock.

I was in it through some heavy thunderstorms and like the old one the seam joining the top and bottom curves up to form a gutter which somehow collects water and I saw water drops forming on the short nylon strap pieces inside and rolling down the bottom, wetting my sleeping bag in the butt area. I had a similar problem with the old one but since I’m almost never in rain that intense, I never tried seam sealing the area. Lighter rain was never a problem.

Using it as a bivy, I side sleep and my shoulder presses against the roof, so I only use it as a hammock tent.

I’m sticking with this hammock tent because of its simplicity, even though it’s a bit heavy/bulky. I just wrap 1″x18′ cam-straps around trees and through the end loops and tension them and insert the poles and sometimes put on the rainfly. Hennesys require a complicated mess of straps, lines and stakes and took one guy I was camping with a long time to get right and then one of the kids blundered into a guy line and tore a loop loose from his tarp.

Review by Richard L. Fuller:

My father purchased two of these Coleman 5-gallon water jugs for my wife and I as emergency water storage when we moved into a common hurricane area. We have used the Coleman water jugs for 8 years and have never had a problem with them. They can be laid on their sides on picnic tables, then open the vent on top and they serve as a great kid-friendly water service. The nozzles are easy to turn and easy to clean. During the hard Pennsylvania winters, I keep both of them full in case of emergencies. Every year before we start camping and fishing I wash them out with a table spoon of bleach and fill them with hot water. I would recommend these to my friends and I plan on buying a few more for safe keeping! Thanks, Coleman, for making another good piece of camping gear.

Review by mommy of 2 girls:

We loved this product we just brought it on a three day camping trip. It was perfect. The water flows perfectly out of it and when you turn it off it doesn’t leak. It’s durable and made life easier with no running water or electricity available on our site.

Review by G. Southard:

This was a gift for my daughter-in-law and she absolutely loves it. Since it’s so portable she takes it with her for camping trips or just visiting at a friends. It’s comfortable and lightweight. Great product!

Review by Ms. Valerie Snyder:

I put this swing on my childrens swingset, so I’d have a comfortable place to sit and read while still being nearby. It looks nice and is comfortable. Does absorb some water after it rains, but is never dripping wet. Birds seem attracted to the wooden bar, which causes us to have alot of bird droppings to clean off. But I have learned to flip the seat over when I’m done so the droppings and wetness are on the bottom, and I can flip it over and sit down without worry. Might have even more trouble with the birds if attaching to a tree as intructions indicate. Hardware is included.

Review by D. Hsu:

Super-heavy construction, and preseasoned to boot. This is as close to a commercial griddle surface as you’ll ever take outdoors camping.

Did I mention heavy? It’s 29 freaking pounds! Gobs of thermal mass…I took it out to a big picnic of foodies, and we ran a bacon tasting (15-20 pounds of multiple bacon brands, cooked under cast-iron bacon presses) with superb results.

Not mentioned in the product description: the grease gutter incorporates a drain hole, and the product includes a wire cage to hang a steel can from as a grease catch. Nice.

Review by R. Dale:

If you have a sporting goods store nearby, you might save a few bucks by just going there to purchase this item. If the drive is too far or store does not carry the Camp Chef accessories, the free shipping offered makes up for the difference in price. Shop around.

Review by F. Gutierrez:

I bought the Airhead floating cooler and tied it to my inflatable boat and took it into the seacaves of the Channel Islands last month. This cooler rocks! You can put cans of Modelo in the holders, and ice in the cooler. I even put a camera in the cooler one day as to keep it dry on the open seas. The starfish didn’t even try to pop my cooler! ROCK ON!

Review by Doc McElroy:

Tried this cooler out this weekend on the lake and it worked out well. The cooler section is separate from the inflatable section which allows you to haul it around by the shoulder strap. The item that amazon shipped was a little different from the stock photo. It was octagonal in shape and the cooler reads “24 pack” on the lid. I was pleasantly surprised by how cold it kept everything as it is just a soft-sided cooler. There is a eyelet for a tying a rope on which is nice. The rope hole (1/2″) is pretty small, but appropriate.

In comparison to the Big Bobber floating cooler, the Aqua Oasis hold more and is considerable more stable. The Bobber is definitely more distinctive, but is harder to open and close with out dumping everything out.