Guide Gear Portable Folding Hammock

I live in apartment and I wanted a hammock I could easily put up and take down. This hammock is perfect. You unfold the metal support (unfolds like a camping chair), stick the pins in the legs to keep it from folding up on you, hang the hammock on the hooks and you're done. It was so easy. Two of the holes in my leg don't line up exactly right so I spend a few extra seconds looking for the hole but it is in no way hard to put together.Once you lay down and get stabalized it is extremely comfortable. It isn't terribly long but I'm 5'7" and I fit just fine and feel like there's room to grow. I imagine people taller than me will enjoy it as well.Very comfortable. I set it up in my living room and I can't wait for the rain to stop to actually use it outside.The bag that it comes in like the bags that the folding camping chairs come in but it has a zipper that goes half way down the side, making it extremely easy to get the unit back into the bag. I've put it in/out of the bag several times and found it really easy to do. It is heavier than I expected when I was carrying it so I wouldn't want to carry it a long distance, but I will carry it to the back yard or from the car to the beach.Update: 8/29/13. This hammock is still going strong. The carrying bag is starting to tear away at the top but I think they just use bad quality thread on it. I'll be sewing the hem soon and it'll be fine. We also ordered one of these for my Mom and after 10 or so uses her hammock started to rip at a seam. Mine is still in perfect condition but we'll need to get some industrial thread and fix the joint as well. The price point of the unit is why I didn't expect the hammock to last forever but several years and mine is still going strong. Once it starts to rip, the stand will still function and I'll find a higher quality hammock to use with it. But that being said, I'd still buy this again in a heartbeat. I still love it.

I bought this Portable Folding Hammock last summer and I was excited to get hammock with a stand for less than $50. That's almost impossible to find elsewhere on the internet. It is very comfortable (I've napped in it a couple of times) and swings fairly well. It's not as nice to swing in as a rope hammock, but for the price it work's really well.The hammock was shipped promptly, and because it was rainy, I set it up in my living room. It came with all of the parts and setting up the hammock was very straight forward. There were no parts to put together and I had it up in my living room within a few minutes. The only flaw the hammock had when I got it was that the plastic at the base of hammock, where the horizontal and vertical arms connect, doesn't align directly with the holes in the arm poles themselves. This makes putting in the support pegs a little difficult, but after I figured out that by twisting the plastic slightly, I could align the holes and insert the pegs.The hammock comes with a canvas carrying bag, with a back strap. It has held up well, although it is hard for me to put the hammock in the bag. Both the hammock and the bag remind me of the canvas camping chairs that became really popular, but they are made out of a better material.-----I have now had it for a year and it is still working great. All of my family members have used it at one time or another and it has easily held their weight. There has been very little wear and tear: a little rust on the hooks that hold the hammock (not a structurally important part) after I made the mistake of leaving it outside during a summer rain storm, and one of the support pins has come untied, but that was easily fixed.All in all, a great buy!

The entire appeal and, therefore, performance of this product relies entirely on two factors: price and form (not necessarily function). The original listed price is $100. Not worth it. Then there is a sale price of nearly half that amount. Getting closer. And finally: the Amazon price, which was (when I bought it anyway) nearly 20% off of the sale price. Bingo. Yahtzee. We have a winner...And here's why- the frame alone is worth the price I paid. The hammock itself, eh. Allow me to elaborate. I bought a hammock in Ecuador last year and needed something to use it with. For the record, this is NOT the frame to use for a traditional cloth hammock with gathered ends to connect to a post/frame with a hook. But, with a little modification, and the possibility for modification, this frame COULD be used with the aforementioned cloth hammock.Form: everything on the frame is held together with a bolt/nut combination. Magnificent! Meaning, if one were so inclined, potentially, one could procure longer aluminum pieces to elongate the section that the hammock connects to. Genius! If one were so inclined...Price: there is nothing else on Amazon that would potentially suit my needs for the price I paid. Nearly double on all accounts. Granted, the more expensive frames (not including a hammock) would have probably had a more appropriate length to suit my previous needs, minus the adaptability, portability and ingenuity of this one. But I write 'previous' because- I can actually use the hammock it came with. Surprisingly. And, more than likely, temporarilyThe stitching is slipshod at best. The material: grossly inadequate for it's purposes. And the physics behind the design are severely flawed. That said, I've been using it for nearly a week now and it's the highlight of my day: coming home after work, laying in the hammock on my porch, soaking up the days last rays with a cold one and some Billie Holiday.And it will rip. Eventually. I know this. I can feel it every time I get in and out of the hammock. Which, by the way, with the inevitable fabric stretch, the proximity to the ground and the 'wobble' factor everyone keeps winging about: it is a bit of a challenge to get out of. However, turn sideways, feet perpendicular to the hammock, walk a half step back while seated, place both feet firmly underneath your buttocks (inside of the frame) and elevate yourself. Basic body mechanics.There is a 'sweet spot' in the hammock that will allow a grown man of nearly 200 pounds and 6 feet in length to recline and relax for a limited amount of time. Nearly an hour a day for me. This hammock is NOT for: camping, overnight sleeping, cuddling with your valentine, animals or kids. Seriously- an injury waiting to happen if uncoordinated children get in it.If and when it does rip, I have a sewing machine, also procured form Amazon at a reasonable rate, that I will use to add additional support strips to the hammock (going across the width of the hammock, not the length). There is one in the middle, and two near the ends where the mesh fabric tapers down to the more durable reinforced fabric. I would add two more- one on either side of the middle strip.But that's too much work you say: modifying the poles, adding stitches and strips, blah, blah, blah, whine, whine, whine. Listen up- there's no such thing as a free lunch (unless you're on government assistance in k-12 grade, which we were) and you're not going to get something like this that is going to suit all of your little desires, for less than a C-note. Done and done. Either shell out the dough, or take advantage of this fantastic deal. Which, by the way, I'm sure the price is so low on this thing because the poor distributor realized the hammock was garbage after multiple returns, due to the mass-production of the product from an impoverished third world country, and had to get rid of the things. Their unfortunate loss, your potential gain.So- 4 stars. For the price. And the possibilities. And the last week of wonderful cat naps on the patio.