Tents vs Hammocks: The Honest Truth From Three Lads Who Ditched Tents Forever
Tents vs Hammocks: The Honest Truth From Three Lads Who Ditched Tents Forever
Everyone starts with a tent. It's the default setting of camping. Something your dad throws in the boot without checking if all the pegs are there — they aren't. Something you fight with in the wind. Something you wake up drenched in, even when it hasn't rained.
We grew up doing all that. Half our childhood was spent trying to pitch a tent on ground that clearly didn't want it there. Then we discovered hammocks — and questioned every life choice up to that point.
Hammocks: The Upgrade Nobody Told You About
Hammock camping doesn't feel like roughing it. It feels like cheating the system.
Floating sleep. No lumps. No puddles. No wrestling aluminium poles at midnight. No condensation dripping onto your eyelids like budget torture. Just two trees, your hammock, and that feeling of being suspended somewhere between asleep and "I've just unlocked a new level in life."
Comfort: Hammock Wins Without Trying
Sleeping on the ground is never that comfy. Even with a decent roll mat, your hips, shoulders, and back are having a serious word with you by 3am.
A hammock supports you naturally. Lie diagonally and you get a genuinely flat lie — like a proper bed. Add a bug net and a tarp and you've basically got a treehouse without the house. You wake up feeling human. Not like a medieval peasant who spent the night on gravel.
Weight & Pack Size: Hammock Smokes a Tent
A proper wild-camping hammock weighs less than your packed lunch. A tent — even the lightweight ones — feels like carrying a small nephew up a hill.
If you want to shave weight off your pack, switching to a hammock is the single biggest upgrade you can make. Lighter, smaller, faster. You'll hike further and feel it less.
Setup Time: We've Actually Timed This
More times than we want to admit.
- Tent: 10–15 minutes if it's calm. 25 minutes if it's windy. A lifetime if it's dark and you're arguing.
- Hammock: 2–3 minutes, even if the weather's having a tantrum. Clip. Clip. Throw tarp. Done.
After a long hike, this matters more than you think.
Bad Weather? Hammocks Are Secretly Better
This surprises beginners every time. If your tarp is pitched right, rain is a complete non-issue. You stay above the wet ground, above the wind that funnels at floor level, and well away from the mud.
Tents trap condensation. Hammocks avoid it entirely. In summer: airy, breathable, perfect. In winter: add an underquilt and you're laughing.
"But What If There Are No Trees?"
Two responses:
In the UK, if there are no trees nearby, you're probably in the middle of a sheep field wondering where it all went wrong.
And you can genuinely hammock in more places than you think — woodland, coastal forests, hedgerows, riverbanks, national parks. If you're really somewhere barren, you can pitch your hammock as a bivvy on the ground. Not ideal, but still better than lugging a tent just in case.
Festivals: Hammock Takes the Crown
While everyone else is sleeping in tents hotter than a greenhouse at dawn, you're gently swaying between two trees — breezy, above the mud, completely smug about it.
And when the rain hits? The tent lads are paddling. You're floating. Festival hammocking is elite behaviour and we stand by that.
The Only Genuine Downside
We're honest lads, so here it is: hammocks take a tiny bit of learning. One or two practice hangs in your garden or local woods and you'll be faster than any tent user and comfier than all of them. Once it clicks, tents feel like outdated technology.
Why We Built the TwoTrees Hammock
We didn't want a hammock that looked good on a product page and fell apart in bad weather. We wanted something we could trust on real trips — rain, wind, midges, Yorkshire weather (its own bioclimate). So after years of bad hammocks and a trip across southeast Asia testing manufacturers, we built it ourselves.
- Tree-friendly wide straps
- Full integrated bug net
- Double-layer construction with 60mm air gap
- 4-season zip compartment
- Lifetime warranty
- Up in under 60 seconds
Final Verdict: Hammock > Tent
Wild camping. Backpacking. Festivals. Travel. Quick overnighters. Stealth camping. Chilling in the garden because the weather's fit.
Hammocks just win. And once you switch, you rarely go back.
We ditched tents. We built the hammock we always wanted instead.
Double-layered, mozzy-proof, lifetime warranty, £54.99. Make the switch.