Thanks for the info leigh, but I do have a couple of questions about that:

1) Doesn't a poncho need to be made a certain way to be used as a shelter? This is really not an issue here as my shelter will be provided via a hammock and rain fly but was just curious.

2) I think someone mentioned somewhere that if a poncho is used as a groundsheet, and then needs to be used as rain gear there might be an issue with mud and such on the poncho? I can't recall if it affected the poncho performance or if was just the inconvenience of having to wear muddy rain gear. Yeah, I know what harm is there from a little mud here or there right? But at any rate, I have a 5 by 7 tarp to use as ground cloth anyway, it's fairly lightweight and packs down nice and small too. Still, If I could leave it out and replace it with the poncho ... hmmmm. The main use I have for this item is to have a spot under the hammock where i can place my gear and take off my shoes, and also cover up said items in the event it rains.

I'd really like to know more about this