Confessions of a sleeping bag purist - down quilt review

[warnesy]

I know there were a few people who had asked for a user review of the quilts made by undercycling- mike, so I thought i'd give it a crack.

I'll admit, when i first heard of the idea of a down quilt instead of a sleeping bag, it sounded like a ridiculous idea to me. How could it be as warm, what was wrong with the sleeping bag I'd used for 15+ years, what purpose could it possibly serve.

My Kathmandu Rumdoodle sleeping bag is awesome, i swear I could wear it at Everest basecamp and be sweating in my jocks. But there is a downside, it weights 2.3kg! It was overkill for pretty much every trip I did, given my walking is done from November to April. And if it got cold I had all the extra clothes.

So I started the process of thinking about a lighter weight sleeping bag. I started reading a bit more about down quilts. One review in particular made a lot of sense, about the flexibility, the compression of the down you lie on providing little benefit in the way of warmth. The biggest thing that had me seriously considering a quilt was around being a restless sleeper and the freedom a quilt gave you. The major weight saving was of course a huge appeal also.

I hadn't got far into researching quilt options when i found viewtopic.php?f=27&t=21674, where undercycling-mike was peddling his quilt wares. They seemed to appeal to a few people and I was told by one user they liked the quality. With a big trip coming up I decided to take the plunge, and begged Michael to get it to me by Christmas Eve. I won't go into the technical details of the quilt in this review, you can find them in the thread, from the maker himself.

I went with the -8C temp rating with white goose down and Moroccan Blue shell and Racing Red liner in the HyperD 1.0 and nylon tafetta fabrics respectively. These were the heavier fabrics, which I hoped would make the bag slightly warmer and more durable (that was my theory anyway, and the colours I hoped would look pretty).

It arrived with two days to spare and it looked good. I set it up on my new S2S insulated mat. I was a bit worried about the length, given I was right on the 183cm limit. It was perfect, coming up to my nose if I snuggled in. The mat attachment was pretty straight forward and it fluffed up nicely.




The big test was to be the six day walk into the Jagungal Wilderness. The first night was camping at Island Bend, it a drizzly Boxing Day evening, so pretty warm with cloud cover. Kept as a pure quilt and was plenty warm with no additional clothing required. The second night was a Valentines and it was pretty cool. I reckon getting down to 1-2 degrees, with ice on the tent. Went to bed in a thermal top and did up the press stud near the foot and clipped in both sides to the mat attachment. I woke up a little cool and threw the down jacket on. Was too hot with this but went back to sleep. In hindsight should have just done up the collar press stud.

The third night was similarly cool, perhaps a degree or two colder.This time I did do the collar stud up and pulled the drawstring tight. Nice and cosy after that.

I won't bore you with the remaining nights other than to say they were a few degrees warmer and I mixed and matched how many straps and press studs I had done up for comfort.

Overall I was super impressed. Lighter weight and smaller meant I could get away with my new light weight pack (along with a few other pre trip purchases to lighten out my load). I was warm, that is the most important thing. It isn't as warm as my previous bag, but the trade off for weight and space makes it well worth it and I can easily add a thermal, or the down jacket and be plenty warm. Having slept in minus eight I think that would be a real test and would need all layers socks and a beanie to be comfortable, but I come up against those conditions on very rare occasions and always have those clothes with me anyway. The quality of construction looks great and it looks like something that would last. The weight came in at 680g, including the stuff sack, so exactly the quoted weight by Michael.

The biggest thing in the quilts favour for me was sleeping comfort. The easy adaptability of the sleeping systems with the two clips and two press studs meant I could easily adjust to have it as open as possible. It was great to toss and turn in and I felt far less restricted than in my traditional bag. My silk inner (should have mentioned earlier I use a silk inner), also got less twisted than usual. All in all I believe the quilt let to a more comfortable sleep out in the bush, so I was one happy camper..

If you have any questions about these quilts feel free to ask away. I've only 7 nights experience with it, but it gave me a pretty good idea of their qualities, particularly against traditional sleeping bags.

So if like me, you have been a sleeping bag purist for all your life, and somewhat dubious of quilts, I say give them a go, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Cheers

Andrew

[john l]

andrew did you get any fish,

[warnesy]

andrew did you get any fish,

Yes John, we found a few fish, was a great trip thanks.

[undercling-mike]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Andrew, and I'm very glad you liked the quilt! It probably does take a bit of use to work out the best way to use the quilt in varying temps for your personal preference but it's great to hear that you've been able to adapt quickly as a long term user of traditional sleeping bags. What were you using as head insulation? I find a beanie is good for me down to a little above freezing and after that I've used a beanie plus hooded jacket or wrapped an insulating jacket around my head. More recently I've been testing synthetic insulated hoods I've been working on. All of these methods have worked well, it's just a matter of working with what you have on hand.

I will just make one comment on the second picture you posted, which shows the pad attachment system. The photo shows the clips on the edge of the pad, which is really the warm weather setup for maximum space. In cold conditions the clips should be moved in on the straps so the quilt edges are tucked well under you. I'm sure you know this but I just wanted to post this for the benefit of others reading the review.

I'll just add a couple of pics of Andrews quilt (plus another one) that I quickly snapped before sending them off.

eP1240577.JPG (112.5 KiB) Viewed 6305 times

eP1240581.JPG (116.07 KiB) Viewed 6305 times

[warnesy]

Hey Mike. I didn't use a beanie. As I say I sleep warm. Good tip on the strap adjustment. I like the room so keep them as far apart as possible.

[undercling-mike]

All good, in that case you should have quite a bit of capacity to handle colder conditions with head insulation and the quilt wrapped more tightly around you. When it's not that cold then of course go for max. comfort!

[jimjim]

Hey! That purple and black one is mine! A beautiful piece of gear and the best made in Australia Christmas present ever!!