Posts Tagged Eagle’s Nest
DoubleNest Hammock from Eagle’s Nest Outfitters
The hammock is a wonderful invention. Whether it’s the netted style from the Yucatan or embroidered cotton in Brazil, nothing beats an afternoon snooze while swaying in the breeze. Eagle’s Nest Outfitters (ENO) has built its whole business around the hammock, but in their case it’s a higher tech version that is packable but durable.
I’ve been trying out the DoubleNest Hammock from ENO lately. I haven’t had the fortitude to go camping yet in this iffy spring weather, but I’ve been trying it out in another real-world location: my back yard. Strung between a tree and a deck, it’s been a great location for a nap. Except when my daughter decides it’s her fun new toy.
The ENO hammock stuffs into a sack that can fit in one hand and it has compression straps on the outside to make it squish up even smaller. If you put some effort into it you can get the pack down to grapefruit size. It’s not super light at one pound six ounces, but a fair bit of that is the thick steel carabiners that will support 400 pounds and keep you from landing on your butt.
This is a very roomy hammock, nearly 10 feet long and more than 6.6 feet wide when completely unfurled. It’ll easily fit two adults—well, ones that can fit comfortably into an airplane seat anyway. The breathable nylon is strong and “triple interlocking stitching” means that this hammock should hold up for many years of abuse.
There’s one optional accessory that I can’t imagine being without now that I’ve used it: a set of versatile ENO SlapStraps. These are super-strong nylon straps that have loops positioned all along the length of them. They make it a simple snap to secure the hammock to two support points, easily adjusting the length on each end. Simple but ingenious.
The other accessory that can be paired up with this is a small comfy pillow that is fleece on one side and Coolmax on the other. You use the side that fits the climate. There’s a ProPillow and PakPillow that each stuff down into a smaller sack. While I found the one I tried quite comfortable, an inflatable pillow would take up far less room. Unless a good pillow is a high priority for you, this mainly makes sense if you’ve got room to spare, are just on a day hike, or are pulling a car up by the campsite.
The Eagle’s Nest DoubleNest Hammock comes in 13 color combinations and sells for around $65. The SlapStraps are another $23. See the details, colors, and lots of cool photos of the product in use (like the two I posted here) at the ENO website. While you’re there you can check out their single hammock, chair lounger, and other products.
Eagles Nest Outfitters DoubleNest Hammock at Backcountry.com
Sign up for the newsletter over at Perceptive Travel before Friday and you will get the chance to win an ENO hammock of your own in April!
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, Kids and Family, Travel Light on March 31st, 2010
Portable Speaker Kit From Eagle’s Nest Outfitters
We’re suckers for portable travel speakers here at the Practical Travel Gear blog because hey, music is best when it’s shared. If you’re in a nice luxury hotel with an iPod/MP3 dock that’s easy enough, but it’s not so likely when you’re paying $20 a night for your digs or you’re camping somewhere.
Speakers for travelers have to be easy to pack though, which leads to all kinds of variations on size and weight reduction. This version takes the case approach: the speakers are built into a case that also holds your music player and cords. It zips up tight so your player is protected in a semi-hard case. When you’re ready to crank the tunes, you unzip it, turn both the player and the speakers on, and you’re set.
Eagle’s Nest Outfitters is a company best known for its great hammocks that pack up small. I’ll be reviewing one of those when this damn snow stops and the flowers start blooming in the south. They put out a line of accessories you would want to take along for your chillin’ time though and this is one of those.
As with most all of these portable speakers, there’s a major trade-off when it comes to sound quality. Labeling this as a “Hi-Fi Speaker Case” doesn’t make it so. On the plus side you get the separate stereo channels you don’t hear with the likes of the one-speakers solutions we have reviewed (see links at the end). On the minus side, the usual lack of bass response is joined by noticeable distortion, especially at a volume level that goes past halfway. On a sliding scale, electronica sounds best, followed by country/Americana, classic rock, and jazz. Anything dominated by a heavy bass and vocals mixed way up front—like rap—ends up sounding pretty lousy, even after tweaking your iPod’s EQ.
The thing is, they’re not alone in these deficiencies. For 25 bucks and eight ounces of weight, what can you reasonably expect? This “hi-fi” speaker case is not going to fill a large room with crystal-clear sound. What it will do is accompany your campfire weenie roasting or provide some musical accompaniment as you play backgammon in a cheap guesthouse room. For most of the time when you’re traveling, that’s good enough. It uses two AA batteries too, which makes things easy. The specs say the batteries will last 7 to 12 hours and I’m already at 11 in my testing, with rechargeable batteries I’ve used at least 20 times already, so this set of speakers is definitely efficient.
Shop for the Eagle’s Nest portable speaker case at Rock/Creek,
Related reviews:
Sony Ericsson MS410
iHome IHM7 mini speaker
X-mini capsule speaker
Posted by Tim L. in General Gear, Kids and Family, Travel Light on February 17th, 2010
