Warm and dry, unless you're caught in a hurricane. In which case the winds will be using you like a punching bag smacking you into whatever tree you tethered yourself to.

At least they could put a flap on the face of it so you could stay warm. Doesn't look very comfortable though...

"Nestled safely in the scrotum of an old oak, Jimmy was able to ride out the storm in relative comfort."

Reminds me of "Killer Klowns from Outer Space".

-anyone have a straw?

looks neat, like a toy. But how, I might ask, is a dehydrated, half-frozen, burnt-out casualty of the great outdoors supposed to climb a tree, find a branch that might eventually hold him up and that is not too far from the ground?

And you don't need gale-force to turn this thing into a big Piñata, considering the surface and, even worse (if there is no flap) the opening in this, winds of 2-3 Bft might completely suffice to turn you sea-sick in that thing within ten minutes. And the rangers will give you a wide berth instead of rescuing you, since your vomit is gently sloshing one-foot deep around your nether parts.

the end is near... when you find yourself sleeping in nutsacks

just an aside info about the Beaufort scale of winds: 4 Bft is when white tops start to appear on the waves on open water like a lake or the sea. 2-3 is not that much; I will not even go windsurfing in that wind.

Not very easy to hang that baby up a tree. Try and find branches that aren't too low and that can support your weight. And sleeping in such a thing? It'll be easier to sleep hanging upside down from the tree.

are you guys kidding me? I'm getting one of these bad boys for my room! I'M READY BORG!

With those carabiners on the outside and a piece of rope one could run a line around said tree to further stabilize the pod.

Given their location and some careful rigging one could haul one's self into a reclining positionand be a little more comfortable as well as less "swingy".

Good Stuff! Although I'd have to be in a seriously bad position to decide to use this as my home for the night, I'm sure a wind rocking cocoon is better than the soaking wet floor, plus you got the highest style points amongst the wildlife.

can you imagine hiking through the forest and finding a tree with like 10 of those things hanging from it?

Effective against weather. But is it effective against bears? Didn't think so!

Only repels heterosexual bears

Contemplate this on the tree of scrotums... I mean woe - the tree of woe.

@BOMBEAR: defininitely eerie, man. Alien. Creepy.

now i'll know how my balls feel when i let them just hang

Each one might have a tranked dwarf inside ready to be eaten by a giant spider too.

Attercop! Tomnoddy!

No more sharing the dog house when the wife gets (well you know)... I got a new place to go now!

Or what about the birds that mistake this for a gigantor nest and try to stuff food down your throat?

Looks more comfortable than being stuffed into a dead taun taun, but probably not as warm.

This will be really bad for your back....

I've watched enough SurvivorMan to know that something like this would definitely be nice to have - he's always getting eaten by bugs or lions and making a bed out of driftwood and prickly pear. Sure it's a bear-piñata, but better that than a bear-burrito. At least make the beastly carnivores work for their food!

Looks like there's a couple caribiners on the front for lead ropes to keep it from swinging wildly. No telling if wild animals would mess with it or not though. I guess you'd have to hang it 40' high just to be safe.

This sure reminds me of Rogor Dean for some reason...

I've got a great idea for a portable shelter. It will roll up into a small bag and can be set anywhere even if there aren't any trees around. I think I will call it a tent.

Ya I want to die from bears playing tetherball

... because no tornado/hurricane/earthquake/meteor could knock over a big tree...

Why is it red on the inside? Shouldn't it be red on the OUTSIDE so you can be easily spotted, and blue on the inside so that it will soothe you into a resful sleep?

Looks like the perfect fruit for a bears in.

Check out this option which is already in use and production to see that there is definitley a market for something like this.

[www.hennessyhammock.com]

would be a good mod to create a way for you to hoist yourself up while you're sitting in the pod itself which would allow you to stay our of a bear's/randy park ranger's reach. the current design seems to only let you hang it as high a you can climb into it -- about 4-5 feet off the ground.

Kind of reminds me of the Winged Creatures in Beastmaster for some reason.

And thus, freaks me out to no end.

This seem like a sacrificial device for lions, tigers, and aligators.

Time to pull out my dusty old boxing gloves and do a Rocky on those hanging cocoons in the parks.

it's clear this guy has NEVER been camping. it's a cute device, looks nice and all... but the standard way of hiding food whiel camping is to hide it in a bag, then string and hang from a tree. the goal is that hopefully animals won't then eat your food, but it only works about half the time.

this makes the suer look like food for a hungry bear or racoon. personally, I don't want a racoon clawing my face in terror once it discovers there's soemthign other than food in the food bag.

this guy makes good renderings, but needs to leave the thinking to others.

DO NOT WANT BETA. CAN NOT HAZ

@AlexTheSane:

For some reason I could imagine this.. And I laughed so much.. I actually had to calm down so I could regain my breath..

@Article

It is an interesting concept.. and I am curious how good it would actually work. It may look humorous but it might actually be very efficient.

So let me get this straight...you pack this 6-7 inch (maybe bigger) round ball preparing yourself to get stranded...camping starting out with a lost cause...got it!

I'm with whoever said I want one for my room. If there is a flap on this thing, it'd be the perfect little hotbox room!

Will this protect you from zombie attacks?

Theres an instruction manual inside it that says "In case of bear attack, swing wildly"

Does one confortably float in sack-juice once
entering this "organic dream" ?

Bear says "Oooo! Punching bag - cool!"

Why hasn't anyone invented a real stillsuit, like in Dune, yet?

Something like this could be really workable, and it appears to have anchor carabiners on the bottom if you actually are in a hurricane (as someone suggested), but it needs some water collection method.

wow. does this not look just like something i saw at in pictures of the AVN expo last year?

The caption should read, "Bear Pinata."

...and if two people hang them together, it looks just like something that's been hanging off motorcycles and pickup trucks for years...

This thing, which resembles Satan's distended testicle or, perhaps, an alien rejuvenation pod, turns out on close inspection to contain nothing more extraterrestrial than a lost human.

@Bombear:
Viva Pinata!

It looks extremely uncomfortable.
Ironic if you stayed in the coccoon long enough and died from deep vein thrombosis.

we should pass these out to all bums....seeing that there are never enough shelter beds...

The last place you ever want to be in a lightning storm is near a tree.
Not to mention sleeping like a testicle appears extremely uncomfortable and there's no way to lay out your gear to dry around you.
Inventive but only good to amuse children in the backyard.

Besides, anyone named Moriarty has to be evil.

Sleeping in that position definitely can give you a deadly condition - DVT (embolism). Bad idea.

This is a great concept and we talked about it on the Tuesday Night Tech show the other night! We want to get a review unit so we can do a show from inside of it.

@Arkayngel: Those hammocks are pretty nice. And it says they have size and weight for every purpose. ::looks thoughtful::