|
| Home | Guest - Not logged in | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
» Register
» Login
Gear Reviews
Documents
Tools
» Contact
|
Reviews > Shelters > Shelter Accessories > Speer Hammocks Segmented Pad Extender > Christine Korhonen > Long Term ReportSpeer Segmented Pad Extender (SPE) Long Term ReportJanuary 9, 2006Personal Information: Name: Christine Korhonen Age: 32 Gender: female Height: 5' 4" (1.6 m) Weight: 150 lb (68 kg) E-mail: chris@wormguy.com Location: Western Montana Backpacking Background: I'm in Montana where I'm enjoying the summers and becoming re-acquainted with winter. Now that I'm back above the snow line, I'm attempting winter camping and snowshoeing. I'm a lightweight backpacker mentally, if not always in practice. My summer pack weight is around 17 lb (9 kg) with hammock. My winter pack weight hovers around 25 lb (11 kg). Product Information: Manufacturer: Speer Hammocks URL: www.SpeerHammocks.com Item: Segmented Pad Extender (SPE) Model: 4 x 4 MSRP: US $45
Accessory: Wing Insert MSRP: US $8 (set of 4)
Segmented Pad Extender Description: The Segmented Pad Extender (SPE) is intended to be used in a hammock to hold extra padding alongside a sleeping pad. I'm testing the 4 x 4 model. It has spots for eight Wing Inserts, specially cut pieces of closed-cell foam padding. Clothing or other insulation can be used in the SPE in place of the Wing Inserts. Field Conditions: During the long term phase of testing I spent four nights with the SPE in my Hennessey Hammock Extreme Ultralight Backpacker Asym hammock. I camped in forested areas throughout Montana and Michigan in elevations from 1400' to 8000' (430 m to 2400 m). The nighttime low temperatures went from 25 F to 37 F (-4 C to 3 C). On my trips I used either an Insul-Mat Max Mtn Women's 1½" (3.8 cm) thick pad or a Therm-a-Rest Ultralite 1" (2.5 cm) pad in the main compartment of the SPE. Four Wing Inserts and extra clothing filled in the side wings. Hammocks and Sleeping Pads: Using a sleeping pad in a hammock is not the easiest thing to do. First, the pad wants to lie flat, but the bottom of a hammock is curved. At the beginning of the night I'm usually on the pad, but when I roll to one side, the pad shoots out from under me. Second, the normal 20" (51 cm) wide sleeping pad isn't wide enough to protect the sides of my shoulders and legs from the curve of the hammock. The hammock wraps around and touches these exposed areas, developing cold spots. The SPE is aimed at solving this second problem. 2 x 2 vs 4 x 4: The SPE comes in two models. I'm testing the 4 x 4, which has space for eight Wing Inserts, four on each side of the SPE. Initially I made sure to fill all the wings, but as the test went on I found I only used the innermost ones. These inner wings are the ones in the 2 x 2 model. The outer wings tend to fold over and cover the same space as the inner wings. The inside curve of a hammock is quite steep, so if I wasn't directly holding a wing against the side of the hammock, it would naturally fold in. This folding also happened with the inner wings, depending on how askew the sleeping pad was. Sliding: I tend to be a restless sleeper, and whenever I rolled over in my hammock I had to spend several minutes rearranging the wings to make sure they weren't folded under me but were positioned correctly to block my body from the cold hammock sides. My sleeping pad always wants to slide around in my hammock, and the SPE doesn't prevent this. In fact, the slick material of the SPE seems to encourage the pad to slide. I tend to hang my hammock pretty level, so I didn't notice sliding down to the foot end of the sleeping pad, but I did notice the pad sliding out from under me every chance it got. I tried to solve this problem by keeping my self-inflating pad only partially inflated, but this didn't seem to solve the problem entirely. Wings: Since the wings of the SPE are open on both ends, items I put in for use as insulation had a tendency to slip out. This happened with both clothes and the foam Wing Inserts. A Velcro or elastic closure added to the far ends of the wings might help keep these items inside. I still find the wings to be convenient places to put clothes, especially my dirty clothes. I can keep them separated from everything else in the hammock and out of my sleeping bag. I also put extra clean clothes in the wings, items that I was wearing at the beginning of the night but ended up taking off later. If these items stayed in wings where I put them, I could usually find them again later if I wanted to put them back on. Of course, when I took the clothes out of my sleeping bag they ended up getting cold by the time I went back for them. Keeping the clothing in my sleeping bag would also keep it warm. Packing: I preferred to pack the SPE separately from my sleeping pad and kept it in my hammock's stuff sack. The SPE packs quite small and fit nicely in the hammock bag. On the trips where I brought the Wing Inserts, I fastened them to the outside of my pack so they wouldn't take up precious space. This worked nicely. The Inserts were readily available to pull out and sit on at rest stops, a nice dual use. Durability: Since it was only used when I slept, the SPE experienced very little wear. It has survived merciless compression from packing. All of the seams are intact. The stretchy panel on the bottom of the SPE looks fine, and there are no stains or tears. Summary: The SPE helps solve the problem of normal sleeping pads being too narrow for hammock camping, but doesn't solve the problem of these pads not being the right shape for use in a hammock. Like: Helps solve the problem of sleeping pad not being wide enough Place to organize my clothes in the hammock Packs small Foam Wing Inserts are multi-functional Dislike: Encourages sleeping pad to slide around underneath me Read more reviews of Speer Hammocks gear Read more gear reviews by Christine Korhonen Reviews > Shelters > Shelter Accessories > Speer Hammocks Segmented Pad Extender > Christine Korhonen > Long Term Report | |||||||||||||||||||||||||