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There have been 7 versions of Tensa4 since this video was made. Please email info@tensaoutdoor.com for any and all customer support matters, not public/social media, or personal channels, thanks.

Tarp is exactly as for Tensa4: pitch between tree and the head apex (if low is acceptable), or using our Tarp Extensions for Tensa4 for more height.

The Freestanding mod kits will be slightly simpler and cheaper for P7 than for P6 and earlier. We don't have a cost-effective upgrade path from P6 and earlier to P7 spec, yet. A similar question came up in our r/TensaOutdoor reddit. Pasting from my answer there: "Ultimately we want to offer a cost-effective upgrade path to P7 spec for older stands. At the moment, we don't have one, having only enough complete #4 segments with new tips (we call uni-feet internally) to upgrade 12 older stands. We will price these high enough to assure we have enough for warranty replacement service unless and until we can lay in a larger supply. Our tubing is made for us in China, like every other portable hammock stand we know. We failed to find any US manufacturer who would even respond to our inquiries as a non-military contractor with multimillion dollar budget and legal requirement to source in the US. The one exception cut us off immediately upon hearing that the application involved bearing human weight; "liability," they said. With that said, the present US administration's existing and threatened much higher tariffs on all Chinese-produced goods make uncertain our ability to offer a cost-effective upgrade path, and indeed whole stands at close to present prices in future. No, tariffs are not "taxes on foreign nations" but taxes placed on US importers, which costs will pass to consumers or else shut down importers' businesses."

Solo is a telescopic pole with a slight play between segments. Used as a walking stick, the play would drive me crazy. It would be bottom-heavy. There is no grip, and the foot piece is not likely durable used over many miles of hard surfaces. I would sooner pick up the nearest fallen branch and use it as a walking stick over Solo.

@@cleverchimp good feedback, thanks.

Should be easy enough. Tensa Outdoor has no plans to commercialize a carbon fiber Tensa4.

Why? The carbon fiber being a health hazard in manufacturing?

@@sierrasukalski2133 see reply to @Confoil

@@sierrasukalski2133 check reply to @Confoil for why.

@ see reply to @Confoil in this comments section.

It should if 56" high hang points are sufficient. Tensa Solo is a bit taller and much cheaper, and Tensa4 is known to work well with Havens. Do you hike far with a Haven, using trekking poles? If not, the latter two choices are likely better.

Unclear what you mean by "guyline." The basic recipe for each hammock is: 2 Tensa4 poles, 3 pole connectors, 1 line attached to pole ends on the ground, 1 stake deflecting that line. You can hang a counterweight on head end, or guy it to the stake loosely for more security/stability.

@@cleverchimp guyline =webbing, as I saw only 2 webbing to connect to anchor. I affair the 2 legs will spread

@@cleverchimp Also can it work with 2 tensa solo? or it only work with 2 tensa4 pole?

​@@MrKidrock2000 Solo, whether one or two, require much stronger anchoring and a larger footprint than this method.

@@MrKidrock2000 Shown is one line running along the ground from one pole end, to the stake, and then to the other pole end. The legs will not spread, being restrained along the vector they want to slide out; you can arrange them to assure adequate clearance with the hammock.

I thought the same until I built my own. The Tensa4 quality and small packing size makes me think that they aren’t charging enough… honestly.

www.tensaoutdoor.com/make-your-own-tensahedron-stand/. We still offer the least expensive market choices that will handle 11-12' hammocks, packing smaller and lighter than most, more flexible/compatible too.

I'll take the wild over most any suburban lawn, sod rolled over fill dirt. Too often no structure! Yet that's exactly where many people set up first.

If you don't need the portability, a 5' 2x4" will work about as well, given suitable anchors and lines. I haven't tried a Clark, but as I understand it, those hoops may effectively prevent the hammock being pulled taut/flat, as many users of popular lounger hammocks without ridgelines seem likely to try. That puts too much tension on the anchors for them to be likely to hold. A ridgeline or structural equivalent like those hoops to assure proper ~30° sag in the hammock spares the system stresses that might lead to bad experiences. Even if you hang a no-ridgeline hammock with plenty of sag, the pole will tend to wobble when nobody is in the hammock. The ridgeline keeps everything stable.

That's a fine way among many. It's hard to think of a wrong way that wouldn't fail instantly. I've probably never set it up exactly the same way twice myself.

@@tensacrew thanks so much! I set it up today for the first time and stayed in it for about 3 hours it was so damn comfy. Great product!

You can do that. Always using available on-site anchors lets you double-up where you need to anchor to ground. Solo and especially Trekking Treez are targeted toward backpackers, sometimes thru-hikers, not motor-based campers, who will go to extreme lengths and spare no expense NOT to carry an extra 2oz, or a full-length toothbrush. So, we focus here on making best use of just 2 anchors and guylines. Balancing the load across more than 2 anchors is also do-able, but more complex than it may first seem. Simply driving in more anchors and guylines does NOT help without special load-balancing rigging, which in the end is more complex than the techniques discussed here.

@cleverchimp Okay, thanks (I think), professor.

@@cleverchimp using short dogbones at the stake end to spread the per stake load with two others (presumably light ones) might be a good idea without much extra weight to carry.

@@MichaelHopkins-e3t can be useful with Treez and Solo whose guying demands are heavier than in this case with Tensa4. The number of real-world cases where 2 40cm Boomstakes per end aren't adequate, and hiking to firmer ground isn't an option, is really really small, and those who understand self-balancing 3-point rigging enough to implement ... you know who you are!

1. Doesn't matter. A 4-section segment is identical to a 3, except it has that middle fat sleeve. Any given 3-segment section may have been a 4-segment last time it was assembled/disassembled. 2. I attached a right-length loop of Amsteel extending my hammock's continuous loop directly over the ball loop connector. You can hang most anything off those ball loops. Think of them as soft carabiners. After the video I hung a water bladder on the head end to give more tip-over protection; it was windy on and off, so even if I kept my weight in the right place I didn't want the wind blowing it over when un-occupied. 3. That is a modified Warbonnet UQP. The way they sell it, it's just a UQP that's unusually baggy, and it can zip directly to the bugnet or winter cover. I tried that and didn't like it. My friend and business partner Cheryl modified it so it can zip to itself containing all quilts, becoming a neat stuff-able package as shown for lightning-fast deployment. When you get home, you don't have to de-compress your quilts either. The whole poofy unit is ready to stuff and hike in a heartbeat. Nothing gets tangled or wrapped wrong. She also added shock-cord strain relief so you can seal it tightly around the hammock body for best thermal performance without overstrain when you sit on the edge (after I ripped the grosgrain ties of the original after doing just that). I'm pitching Warbonnet to consider offering it this way as a competitor to other "lazy slug tubes" out there. And? It's also a gear sling. In fact putting some weight in the bottom minimizes billowing, which I figure boosts thermal performance. I have heard unfavorable comparisons to a scrotum, however, when you put stuff in it. They could roll with that with a custom print right? Or not.

@Tensacrew - YT won’t let me reply to your comment on my comment, but many thanks. Cheryl sounds like a genius. I hope WB takes you up on your idea - I think those items would sell well. Thanks again!

very good and helpful. What knot is used whith the Amsteel in the Ball Stopper?

Because we live on such a beautiful planet, especially at sunrise and sunset.

See reply to @Confoil in these comments on the same question.

As an on-road bike tourist, I would suggest Tensa Solo as much smaller packing, much lighter, much cheaper than Tensa4, which is more geared toward motor-based travel or home use. You can use the bike to support lower head end with some clever determination. See example photos in Tensa Solo product page on site.

@@tensacrew cool i check it out

You don't need to buy (2) extra ball loops if you are crafty enough to fashion functional equivalents. It's a pretty simple task, but exact method will depend on materials on hand. Whatever will allow secure attachment the the pole ends to keep them from sliding out, will work. You could even temporarily pop off the feet and use some kind of hook in the open tube ends if you didn't have a means of threading line through the holes in the feet. Alternatively, dig divots into (firm) earth for feet to settle into, unable to slide. Rain or weak soil cohesion could defeat that though. Remember the golden rule of hammocks: never hang higher than you are willing to fall!

It works fine with both, without incident. There are photos of both on the product page on our site.

Wasn't a problem on my 1300 miles of PCT. I would agree that if you find sleeping on the ground acceptable, you should probably keep doing that, as less complicated and with many more market choices.

I do like hammock camping however that hammock looks too much to deal with. Glad it worked for you @@cleverchimp

In my opinion, the tightness of the ridgeline is generally over-emphasized. As long as the ridgeline itself is essentially no-stretch and nowhere near breaking point, it doesn't matter. I've never heard of one breaking, though I suppose it's happened. As a practical matter, I tighten enough that the pole doesn't flop about side to side. Then I get in the hammock to test, and invariably the anchors settle, pole feet sink a bit into earth, and everything loosens a bit. Then I go back and take up the slack again.

​@@cleverchimp Thanks. It's definitely a little different than with two trees.

The part above the hammock hang point is a tarp extension, for that little extra height.

There've been four major foot designs, with a fifth in the oven. All retrofit to older stands in case of need or want, but there can be complications/limits depending.

Thanks, this was clear and concise. Has the ball end connector cordage been lengthened over time?

@@doug0964 yes, it has.

That’s half of my normal tree suspension, a 15’ dynaweave strap from Warbonnet. It is overkill for strength here. You could use most any line up to holding say 100lbs, though I haven’t done the physics math. You can also dig divots into the ground, ground composition depending, for the feet to settle into, and then you’d need no staking whatsoever.

@@tensacrew - Terrific! Many thanks!

I use a pair of Trekking Treez at scout camporees when we must camp in open fields. Always fun to show what's possible.

We don’t rule one out, but don't hold your breath. Here was our thinking: 1. Economics. The price of a carbon fiber Tensa4 would necessarily be much higher than that of the present 6000-series aluminum. Many people still tell us that the aluminum version is too expensive, but we also see now that there is a market for premium priced stands. The fact is that carbon fiber tubing can’t realize similar economies of scale in manufacture as aluminum. We get a good price on our custom-extruded aluminum because the minimum order quantity is huge. Coming up with the capital for a similarly large amount of carbon fiber tubing would be a stretch, greatly raise the QC stakes, complicate logistics if delivered in smaller batches, still not bring the cost down much, and its high price would likely make it sell very slowly. 2. Practicality. We see that hammock use falls into two broad categories: home or motor-dependent camping, where weight doesn’t matter too much, and backpacking where it does. Even at 4 pounds, together with the irreducible pack size of over 33 feet of strong tubing, carbon Tensa4 would be a hard sell to a backpacker. Meanwhile we offer the lightest hammock stand on the market in the form of convertible trekking poles, Trekking Treez in carbon fiber, that still cost less than a carbon Tensa4 would, and pretty-light Solo that is under $100 before lines and anchors, that is convertible from Tensa4. Both the latter make a lot more sense for a backpacker than even a 4-lb tensahedron, while campers using motor vehicles weighing hundreds to thousands of pounds take a funny position saying that Tensa4 in aluminum is too heavy. The truth is that the superior economics of aluminum Tensa4 are what let us pursue carbon fiber Trekking Treez, which in view of the skilled time and mold costs has been more a labor of love, by and for the backpackers west of the Mississippi who we are. 3. Failure mode. Metal generally fails more gracefully than carbon fiber when overloaded by acts of god, children, or negligence. Think sharp jagged flying shards that offer little warning. We’re really happy never to have received any report of injury with Tensa4. Replacement segments are cheap, and failure episodes non-dramatic. This wouldn’t likely be the case with carbon fiber. 4. Capacity. To realize a really low weight such as this prototype, and in view of the failure mode hazards, both real and in reputation, we’d have to set the maximum user weight very conservatively. Meanwhile almost 3 out of 4 adults in our US market are either overweight or obese, and I dare say that the figure may be higher among those above college age, with expendable income up to exotic hammock stands, who choose hammocks for comfort over other sleeping arrangements. So make a heavy duty version? We do. It’s made of aluminum, and you can DIY one in steel fence posts if you want one really cheap and bombproof. 5. It exists. CarbonTree from Germany is similarly light as the prototype, has a very “healthy” low weight capacity of 175lbs, costs almost $600, and is no longer supported for use with gathered end hammocks due to a history of failure. It works better with the transverse style of hammocks that the maker also makes: crosshammock.com/en/shop/carbon-tree/ . It appears not to have been a raging business success, but is super elegant! After the careless destruction of my prototype, I (Todd) want one, and in fact am making, but more as a personal hobby/exploration than as a Tensa Outdoor project.

@@tensacrew That makes sense. I'm very happy with the aluminum Tensa4 / Solo setups that I use. I balked a little at the price when first looked into them but after a few years of use, and realizing that I will continue to use them for years into the future, I consider it money very well spent. Bearing in mind the points you made on price, failure potential, and weight capacity I doubt I'd ever purchase a carbon fiber Tensa4 if it were available. That being said, and as you alluded to, there seems to be a market for very high-priced hammock stands. If you can overcome (or live with?) some of the issues you listed it would be nice to see Tensa Outdoor tap into some of that market potential. Anyway... Thank you for your detailed reply. And for making great gear that really helps improve treeless/limited tree hammock situations. 👍👍

I know Tensa4 works great with Draumr in the normal configuration. I don't have any direct experience with that hammock to have any insight as to whether it might work with half a stand and a vehicle as shown here.

@@cleverchimp great, thanks for the response! I ordered one.

Ah, but "standard garden grass", in dryer parts of the US, is often loose fill dirt with sod rolled over, and zero structure below the shallow grass roots. Clay or similar with lots of roots and rocks and so on for structure is much better!

@@cleverchimp Frankly I am not sure what to do... I am going to take Tensa poles to my PCT 2024, I am going to sleep in warbonnet hammock. So far, I am not confident with screw anchors I tend to take boomstakes...

@@rpsota23 If you hike southbound as planned, you will seldom if ever need to hang from the poles at all until Southern California. Boomstakes will be fine in the harder ground prevalent north of the desert, if you decide to use them at all (such as above treeline in the Sierra). The desert section featured both very hard and very soft ground. The boomstakes would have pulled out of the softest ground (burn zones where the ground is dead and bone dry like ash, or gravelly washes of decomposed granite), unless maybe you carried the 40cm. I wanted the lightest anchors likely to work everywhere, so I chose 4 Peggy Pegs and 1 30cm stake without the boom, that I used to hammer pilot holes for the Peggies when the ground was too hard. Best of all worlds I think, as long as you don't lose the 17mm driver!

@@cleverchimp thanks a lot. I guessed that North Cascades are without trees according to photos in Far Out app. Tensa poles have to serve me mainly as rock solid poles. Having 20+ kilos in bag and climbing Washington mountains without hand support I cannot imagine... Plus crossing creeks, ultra ligth poles will die quickly.

@@cleverchimp plus, reaching Southern California is target, which so far seems to me quite distant (lets be realistic😊)

Because you bought complete Solos, instead of conversion kits from Tensa4, what you receive will have the spacers already installed. You can refer to the video if ever you need to re-assemble, such as after a thorough cleaning if fouled with sand etc. If you had bought conversion kits instead, you'd receive at least one spacer, as we can't reliably tell whether your Tensa4 already has them installed. Spacers have been rolled out progressively over many years. In any case they are inessential to function, but do help keeping the stand properly arranged in transport.

Hi - sorry I thought I replied to this earlier, or maybe you asked in email? Anyway: the spacers have nothing to do with stand capacity. They can prevent spring button dislodgment during transport. Depending on the production batch of your Tensa4, you may already have them. If not and you want to use them, you can fish out the existing spring button and insert into the spacer(s), then re-install.

@@tensacrew awesome thanks