Warbonnet Blackbird Hammock Review | CleverHiker

Bottom Line

For the best balance of weight, features, and comfort, the Warbonnet Blackbird tops our list of the best camping hammocks on the market. It has an asymmetrical design to help get a flat lay, a unique gear shelf that provides some much-needed storage to hammocks, and a straightforward design that allows it to achieve the lightest weight of any hammock in our lineup, all while being well-featured. It’s among the most expensive we tested, but for serious backpackers, it’s a worthy investment into countless nights of great sleep.

It’s not the largest or most comfortable hammock out there, but when it comes to lightweight backpacking gear the Blackbird delivers what you need.

How We Tested

We tested the Blackbird on the Superior Hiking Trail in the fall, during deep winter in the Boundary Waters on a backpacking trip, and out in the beautiful San Juan mountains of Colorado and found it performed well in a variety of conditions.

Comfort

The Warbonnet Blackbird does the best job of any hammock balancing comfort to weight. Its asymmetrical design facilitates a flat lay better than a traditional symmetrical style. Our testers found it to be decently comfortable with most putting it in the middle of the pack compared to the others in our lineup, but everyone was able to get a good diagonal lay. With 10 feet of length and 5 feet of width to work with, it’s not as expansive as some other models, but for people up to 6 feet, finding a good position should be easy. Contributing to the comfort is the quality of the fabric, we found the 40D Dream-Tex struck a good balance of softness while retaining a more durable feel.

In general, the larger a hammock, the more room there is to find that ideal position, and if you’re taller you might struggle to find that position if that hammock isn’t large enough to accommodate. Our 5’11” tester found the Blackbird to be slightly above average for comfort, while our 5’9” and 5’5” testers found it to be slightly below average. Our 5”5’ tester noted that most of the hammocks felt about the same to them, “generally comfortable,” which indicates that shorter users have more leeway in what hammock they choose since a smaller frame will be able to find a comfortable spot more reliably than someone taller.

In general though, we think the Blackbird is plenty comfortable for a good night’s sleep, and has features that make it appeal to a broader range of body types and sizes. The length and width are just big enough for most body sizes to find a good position, and the addition of side pulls really opens up the interior volume of the hammock body, meaning mesh won’t fall in your face when you’re falling asleep. If you are taller, the good news is that Warbonnet offers a larger and more feature-rich model called the Blackbird XLC that accommodates heights up to 6’6”, but for people up to 6 feet, the original Blackbird fits well and is much lighter.

Compared to other hammocks, the Blackbird is about average when it comes to comfort. There are other models that are slightly more comfortable in general simply because they are larger. If that size appeals to you, we’d again recommend looking at the Blackbird XLC or one of those others.

Features

The Warbonnet Blackbird strikes an excellent balance between features and simplicity, offering thoughtful additions like a fantastic gear pocket and side pulls while leaving out features that would complicate and weigh down its otherwise streamlined design. Most unique to the Blackbird is its enormous gear pocket on the right side of the hammock body, a feature that none of the other hammocks provide. It fixes a common problem of hammocks compared to tents in that there is no easy place to put small items that would otherwise occupy the perimeter of a tent floor.

The gear shelf is an elegant solution to this issue and provides about two square feet of storage. During testing on the Superior Hiking Trail, we really enjoyed stowing our puffy, headlamp, phone, and electronics bag in the gear shelf without worrying they’d roll around in the main hammock body at night.

The Blackbird also includes side pulls that are meant to be staked to the ground to provide more interior volume and stability to prevent swaying back and forth during the night. These are simple in design and are easy to adjust, and we believe side pulls are one of the best additions to a hammock body for camping since they massively improve quality of experience compared to having the mesh hang in your face all night.

Since they’re attached with knots to the hammock body, they aren’t designed to be removed often which means they can be a bit tricky when setting up and taking down the system. However, this is a minor annoyance and different side-pull designs also suffer from a similar issue. While the version we tested does not have this feature, Warbonnet does offer the option to make the body double-layer for people who prefer to use a sleeping pad with their hammock.

If you prefer underquilts (and most people do) the Blackbird doesn’t have integrated underquilt attachment hooks on the side, but Warbonnet offers underquilts specifically designed for the asymmetrical style of the Blackbird that fit it well, so the lack of hooks isn’t a dealbreaker.

What makes the Blackbird stand out from other products are the features it omits in the pursuit of a lightweight design. The zipper pulls are simple and the bug net is only zippered on one side compared to some models that allow the net to be completely unzipped. This can be an issue in the winter since bug nets just get in the way. However, in testing the Blackbird in the harsh Minnesota winters, we didn’t find the bug net to be a huge annoyance..

However, if you’re planning on getting a hammock specifically for winter with occasional 3-season trips, Warbonnet’s Blackbird XLC is better since it offers a fully removable net.

There’s no included ridgeline organizer but this hammock more than makes up for it with the gear pocket. Aside from the two side pulls, there’s nothing else on the perimeter like D rings or underquilt hooks. It also doesn’t come with a spreader bar like other models, opting instead to rely on side pulls for interior volume, which is a lighter way of solving the issue of livability. Overall, the Blackbird balances features and weight well and mostly gets out of your way so you can enjoy the outdoors without a heavy pack.

Weight

The Warbonnet Blackbird weighed in on our scale at 15.7 ounces – a fraction lighter than the listed 15.8 ounces. ounces, which places it firmly as the lightest hammock on this list. However it doesn’t cut corners to achieve this weight, the materials are all high quality and the stitching quality is excellent, lending a sense of durability to an otherwise lightweight item.

Ease of Use

The Blackbird scores high here, with two fixed loops and good side pull designs, it’s a pretty straightforward experience. The one downside to those otherwise great side pulls is that they keep the bug netting stretched tight even when the hammock is unzipped which makes getting in and out a little awkward at times. It’s not a big deal, and when set at an appropriate height, it’s easy to get in and out but not quite as seamless as other hammocks that attach the side pulls to the hammock body only, and not the bug net.

We don’t necessarily think this design is bad since once you get in, the livability clearly benefits from the side pulls being attached to the netting. So it’s a good example of scoring high points in one category and taking a bit of a hit in another.

Should You Buy the Warbonnet Blackbird?

If you’re in search of a lightweight yet feature-rich hammock that nails the fundamentals, the Warbonnet Blackbird is the best option out there. It’s ideal for anyone looking to cut weight while remaining comfortable when backpacking, and the fantastic gear shelf means you’ll stay organized while on trail. Despite being one of the more expensive single hammocks in our line-up, we think the price is worth it for someone looking to invest in a lightweight backpacking setup that will see many nights of use.

The Blackbird is most at home in 3-season camping but can perform well on the occasional winter trip and has a double-layer option for people who prefer to use sleeping pads. It’s not for taller people – but Warbonnet does make the Blackbird XLC for that – and it’s not meant for those looking to lounge sideways with the entire bug net removed. But if you’re after the best lightweight hammock on the market, we can’t find a better option.

What Other Hammocks Should You Consider?

Dream Darien Review: This is the most comparable hammock to the Blackbird and comes closest to it in weight while offering a larger 11-foot length and 5.3 feet of width that makes it a bit more comfortable, but not significantly unless comparing them side-by-side. The Darien lacks the gear shelf and side-pulls of the Blackbird but has attachment points on the outside to add your own side-pulls or for other rigging options. Overall quality is very comparable between the two models, these are high-quality products that should last a long time. 

Onewind Tempest Review: For people on a budget looking to dip their toes into hammock camping, the Blackbird might be a bit expensive, and that’s where the excellent value Onewind Tempest comes in. It manages to execute on the fundamentals while only being 4.3 ounces heavier than the Blackbird (if you remove the optional metal buckles). The overall quality is not up to Warbonnet’s level, but for a relatively low price it’s an impressive product. For anyone serious about getting into backpacking, we’d still recommend biting the bullet and investing in the Blackbird since it might be the last backpacking hammock you’ll ever need, but for people unsure of the investment, the Tempest is certainly compelling.

Kammok Mantis UL Review: If you like the low weight of the Blackbird but want the simplicity of an all-in-one package that includes straps and a tarp, the Mantis UL is a surprisingly well-thought-out model that manages to achieve a low weight while including quality components. The hammock is as comfortable as the Blackbird, but the true stand-out feature is the luxuriously soft fabric that has the best hand feel of any material we tested while still feeling strong. At first glance, the simplicity of an all-in-one package comes at a premium price. However, when compared to assembling a kit from Warbonnet products, a similarly specced setup would be even more and weigh in at 38 ounces compared to the 36 ounces of the Mantis UL, which makes it look like a much better deal. The details of assembling a full kit is beyond the scope of this comparison, so for simplicity we’ll say that the Mantis UL is a compelling lightweight option if the most important thing to you is getting a full kit at a low weight.

Dutchware Half-Wit – For the absolute lightest netted hammock on the market without resorting to MYOG, the Half-Wit is an interesting choice that we wanted to test, but ultimately decided against. To save weight, it employs a half bug net that covers the head region without using heavy zippers, and when specced with Hexon 1.0 fabric, it manages to reach an astonishing 10.7 ounces which is a full 5 ounces less than the Blackbird and it still has an 11-foot length! The Half-Wit almost made our shortlist for testing because of just how light it is, but we thought the Blackbird represented a better general recommendation for lightweight backpacking.