Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The hammock stand failed and collapsed, while I was in it, after 6 months of use. The weight of me plus my very-heavy blanket is around 350lbs total (200lbs less than the 550 max advertised), and I have slept in it every night since July 11 2019. You can see in the picture the little bent rod; that rod is supposed to be straight. It is a support that prevents the big tube from collapsing. It bent right in the middle, and then the bigger tube bent in half, collapsing and dropping me to the floor. You can see in the second picture where the big tube ripped open (I tried to weld the hole shut, but the metal is so thin I just made a hole). The rod on the other side did not bend, it just snapped off at the weld site. After bending the big tubes back to normal, I went to the store and bought some thicker 1/2” welding steel and made my own supports, welding them all together (side by side in pictures). Since those same small rods are used on the other side as well, I felt a little worried that the other side would eventually fail too, so I added a 10’ long 2x4 to the top as a kind of compressive ridge line. This should stop it from collapsing again, but kind of sad that I had to do this. For any buyers looking to purchase this, just be aware that it has been known to fail with loads under 400lbs. If they say 550, it shouldn’t fail until at least 1000; the supports are very poorly made, and the actual rating is going to be under 300 unless you weld additional supports to it.