DD or Tenth Wonder hammocks

[Midnitehound]

In my opinion:

I've had the DD Travel 2.7x1.4 930g £49, Frontline 2.7x1.4 850g £49 and Camping hammock 2.7x1.4 650g £25. I have now sold them all. Quality was OK but they were small and I just wasn't satisfied with them.

I now use the TW Compact 2.5x1.5 660g £15, Super XL 3.0x1.8 940g £24 and Camo Super XL Hornet 3.2x1.8 1.7kg £58. The Hornet is huge and I love it, use it for Summer/Moot. The SXL I use for Winter, great stuff. The Compact I use for a snoozer but it still has plenty of room for me and I'm a 6'2" brick outhouse! I am happy to sleep in it. TW will do ripstop Nylon upon request I believe for added reassurance. Quality, comfort and value is excellent.

I would say go with the extra width to get a diagonal lay and more room. The zip is not needed and adds weight. There is plenty of material to wrap up in if needed. Tie-ups and poppers could be added along the edges which is an upgrade I'm going to enjoy doing myself.

To cut weight on any of these hammocks I put soft shackles through the ends and then add whoopie slings (BCUK GpBuy Dyneema) to a £5 DDM crab and 1200kg Polyester 25mm tree straps (BCUK GpBuy) . The set-up works great, fast and is very secure. Huge adjustment if the single strap is looped up and over the crab. A great project for your students to make their own shackles and whoopies.

 

[sandbag47]

Have you compared the two? I have had both and edge towards the tw ones.

To be honest I never have seen a TW. They seem to have improved in the last few years and more people seem to be talking about them.
But to be honest I personally wouldn't get a TW because I am very biased toward DD and because of something happening in one of my group buys a few years ago that I won't go into.
But that only my opinion.

 

[thedawnawakens]

Here's a review my boss at Fenland Bushcraft did if that helps... Skip to navigation
DD vs TW - Fenland Bushcraft
12772Iceni Bushcraft
Fenland BUSHCRAFT
DD Hammocks vs tenth wonder (TW) Hammocks
So, I decided that it was time for a bit of “swinging”, my days of being a “Groundhog” were over. But as usual everyone had their favourite hammock setup and it was hard to get a un-biased view or a comparison so I decided the easiest thing to do was buy a couple of setups from 2 of the better known makers that came in at about the same price and offered similar products. I could then chose which one I preferred and palm the other off to my son or daughter as a gift, win/win!
These are the two setups I opted for and some of the details given from each site with a little added info of my own.

DD Frontline DD 3 x 3 Tarp TW 3 Layer Hornet TW Sargasso Storm
Size 2.7 x 1.4 m 3 x 3 m 9 sq. meters 2.8 x 1.45 m 3.8 x 2.4 m 9.12 sq. meters
Colour Olive Green or Coyote Brown Olive Green or Coyote Brown Green Green (Light)
Weight 820g (not including webbing) 790g (not including pegs) 1.8kg (incl all extras) 770g (tarp only)
Total Weight 1.21kg 995g 1.9kg 942kg
Includes 10m of webbing, 2 x 2m elastic cord, lightweight poles & a Stuff Sack 4 x 2 Guy Lines and 4 pegs 14m rope, 2 x Storm Rings, 8m extra rope, support bars for mozi net, elastic cord & Stuff Sack 6 x pieces of cord and 4 pegs
Additional Info No cord only Guy Lines No Guy Lines only cord
Price £49.00 £35.00 £51.99 £32.50
Combined Price £84.00 £84.49
Both were ordered from their own website at the same time, a Tuesday, and only minutes apart. Within minutes I had an order confirmation from both. The initial emails from Tenth Wonder (TW) were much more detailed and provided me with a temporary account logon; I also got an email from the courier which gave me the tracking number for my order. The next day I got the emails saying that the DD order had been dispatched and I should receive it in 1 – 2 days but to allow 5. I also got an email from Neil at TW saying the courier had collected my order. My hopes were high that we would be able to get out that weekend for a test run.
The DD order arrived on the Thursday, unfortunately the TW order didn’t arrive until after our departure on the Saturday. I think communications from both companies was great but it may be that TW need to look at the courier they use, my order seemed to be sitting around for a couple of days which was disappointing after such a good start.

So that weekend was a DD one only.

DSCF7151 DSCF7152
DD – 1
TW - 0

Anyway, we finally managed to get into the woods the following weekend and get both setups set up!

DSCF7587
Now, I have and do use a larger DD Tarp (4.5 x 3m) so I knew what to expect and wasn’t dissapointed at the 3 x 3 tarp. It has a total of 19 attachment points which gives a great variety of options when setting up. The Guy Lines are actually “Guy Lines” not bits of rope but it doesn’t come with any cord for a ridge line or even to tie the ends onto a tree. It does also come with 4 metal pegs.
The TW Sargasso does come with cord to tie up the centre but it also only has cord for use as guy lines. I know its easy enough to tie the appropriate knot etc. but for me it was a bit of a let down. It also only has 6 attachment points but it does also have D-rings for tying up the mozi net on your hammock. As this was the storm version it also has velcro at the ends which allows you to cocoon yourself inside. To use this option you just need to loosen the Guy line, oh yea, now we will see how good your knots are!! This tarp comes with quite chunky plastic pegs, which I don’t like, if I want thicker pegs I will buy them from the 99p store, which is where I bought the guy lines from!
After all that, both are good tarps, they have their ups and downs but both cover a similar area, seem fairly robust and suitable for purpose.

DSCF7590 DSCF7593
DD – 2
TW – 1

So, onto the hammocks. The DD Frontline can be used as a traditional hammock but unlike its companion, the Travel; it cannot be used as a bivi. As far as I am aware this is one of the few differences between the two. The Frontline comes with 10 meters of webbing which is plenty, and elastic to hold up the mozi net but that’s it. It has a double layer so you can put your mat/blanket etc. between you and the air beneath for extra warmth/comfort. It has a built in mosquito net and folding poles which can be inserted into the net as spacers. It also has entry/exit zips on both sides which will allow the net to be folded up and out of the way, as can be seen in the photo at the top!

The TW 3 Layer is better suited to the DD Travel for real comparison as it has a waterproof 3rd layer that allows it to be used as a bivi. Here the difference is in the name, having the 3rd layer means that if it’s on the ground then you get the added protection for the mat/blanket but when its used as a hammock it’s a great place to keep you kit safe and out of the weather. It also comes with Storm Rings which I think are an absolute necessity in this country. The mozi net poles are already in the net and it also has elastic to tie up the net. It does only have entry/exit zip on one side but for some reason I preferred it over the DD Frontline.

DD – 2
TW – 2

For me, I think DD Hammocks should include Storm Rings instead of a free t-shirt. TW Hammocks should provide guy lines and not bits of cord. The Dry bag style stuff sack on the TW looks good and the 3rd layer is excellent but the double entry/exit zip on the Frontline is also brilliant. Both are made extremely well and it would be difficult to choose a winning setup. But I know what is going in my kit; I will be taking the DD Tarp and the 3 Layer hammock by Tenth Wonder. Now that I have got some paracord for the Tarp and a couple of karabiners for the hammock I reckon it’s a good setup for a while to come.
DSCF7603
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