I have never had a hammock. This thing is impossible to get into without being assisted by another person. In addition, when you do try to sit or lay down the hammock falls all the way to the ground! I am not a big person and I hit the ground so hard that I was sure I had broken my coccyx. We "tightened" it as much as it will go and same problem. If sending it back were not such a pain it would be returned. As it is we are pretty much just using it as a decoration on the patio and keep asking ourselves "We could have paid $75 for one at Walmart and we were able to get on that without help or landing on our coccyx."