DutchWare ARGON Vented Sock

Great way to block the wind and retain heat in your hammock.

The Dutchware ARGON Vented Sock (Winter) is a great way to block wind and retain warmth in your hammock. It's also good for protecting your underquilt, and to catch an overquilt or whatever that may fall out of your hammock in the middle of the night. I now leave my underquilt attached to my hammock, close the sock over them both when I'm packing up, and stuff all in the bottom of my pack. It makes setup and take-down fast and easy.

I've had the sock about two months now and it's spent about seven nights in the woods. It hasn't seen any precipitation but it should give light protection. It has made me feel better about not deploying my tarp when it looks to be a dry night.

Here is the sock in the closed position with the no-see-um mesh vent at the head end, the long red cord is used to cinch the sock closed and if I were inside the cord would be as well:

Here it is open and ready to enter or sit in the hammock:

The ARGON 90 blocks a surprising amount of wind. You can really tell a difference when the sock is in the vented position and the air flows through the no-see-um vent.

To vent the sock, from the closed position you simply pull it left or right and the sock will rotate, placing the vent above your head. The sock is long and large enough to pull the vent well above your head, if you are prepared to wiggle upwards or have really long arms. On a shorter 10.5-foot hammock the sock is pretty long, though it works just as well.

Here's a shot of the vent where it meets the ARGON:

A cinch closure at the tapered foot end keeps the sock in place. When first putting it on your hammock it seems like there is too much material. It's kind of like opening a parachute, and I'm mindful of this when packing to make sure it doesn't snag anything.

When using the sock from inside the need for size becomes apparent, in requires some butt lifting and gymnastics to get the thing over your underquilt to open or close! Once closed it's roomy enough, it's not constricting, plenty of room for an asymmetric lay.  

Below I'm in the hammock with the sock open, making coffee and enjoying the extra wind block on my legs:

You can see the tension from the top of the ridgeline to where the sock is being pulled down by my body weight. In order to close the sock in the above position you gently pull/slide it over you and cinch the top. The lightness of the ARGON and the channel sewn through the no-see-um worries me a little about its long term durability, but all of my Dutchware stuff has been great so far, so I assume it will last.

It's definitely made my hammocks more comfortable in temps in the 40s and below. Heat retention is somewhat minimal but appreciated. The sock excels at blocking wind, and this to me is its greatest value. It's fairly light at 10 ounces, in the temps it's being used in it's worth its weight.  

I'm sure it holds in a little humidity, but nothing extreme. When using a hammock with a bug net and no sock in humid, single digit and teens temperatures I've had ice build up on the net and tarp above. When using the sock I've got these cute little snow-cicles that grow on the ridgeline:

I'm pleased with this sock for cold weather protection and for its packing utility and hope to use it for a long time. The cons for this product are mainly sock cons, and aside from not having a stuffsack (which doesn't bother me) they would be associated with any hammock sock.

I borrowed it from a friend and used it in 20°F weather. It really helped block the chill and was toasty in my 20°F bag with 40°F UQ.

Used it to supplement my base winter gear. It really helped block out the wind and keep the chill out.