Mike7
WKR
There is quite a bit of info on quilts on this site, but I still had a few questions before making my recent purchase of an Enlightened quilt. Hopefully the following info will help some people considering taking the plunge into the quilt market.
I recently got a quilt for Christmas during a great sale Enlightened Equipment was having. I wanted to try a quilt due to the potential versatility of this item, and because I am a stomach and side sleeper who hates being stuck in mummy bags. My best sleeping experience to this point has been with my Montbell "stretchable" bag, but since I am a bigger guy, I notice that it gets pretty tight with cold spots when I try to take my 30 deg Montbell bag to 15-20 degrees and below by wearing puffy coat and pants inside the bag.
My initial impression upon opening the box was very good with respect to the quality of the EE quilt. I got the X-wide model primarily to allow my wife and I to use this quilt together for summer backpacking in 35-40 deg+ temps and because the wt penalty is so little to get the bigger models.
My current/old Bag is a Montbell 30 deg untreated-down Super Spiral w/ a Sea to Summit liner and Montbell sleeping bag cover (this setup is good for me down to about 15 degrees with use of puffy layers and down to 20-25 degrees without puffy layers).
Last night I did some testing with my new quilt due to our cold weather this week and the results are as follows:
New Quilt - Revelation Pro 850 DownTek 20 deg Long X-wide, 10 D w/ 20 D weather resistant strips at head and feet.
Specs - 25 oz for Quilt and 0.8 oz for inflatable pad straps.
Shelter - none (no liner or bivy either).
User - me, just over 6 ft tall and a fairly warm sleeper because I'm a bigger guy - 245 lbs.
Planned uses - solo use for Fall and Spring hunting/scouting in the lower 48, used together with wife for summer backpacking, and used with puffy clothes in the winter for 0-25 degree temps.
Pad - NeoAir Xtherm on top of a cheap blue EVA foam pad that was placed on a thin ground sheet over frozen ground & snow.
Head gear - A thin merino wool baselayer hat covered by a Katabatic Windom hood.
Conditions last night in my backyard - 4 to 10 degree temps with 1-4 mph winds.
Results -
The quilt worked as well or better than expected. After 30 min at 4-5 degree temps I had to remove my puffy pants because my legs were too hot. A couple of hours later, although comfortable, I removed my puffy jacket and slept the rest of the night comfortably in 8-10 degree temps with just a T-shirt and light sweat bottoms. I am very happy that I got the Long X-wide version. This allowed me to stetch out and sleep on my stomach with a pillow under my chest and my arm under my head while still being completely covered by the quilt, and still having enough quilt to wrap a little under my body all of the way around...thus, drafts were not an issue at all. If it was just for solo use, I probably could have gotten away with the Wide version quilt, but there would have been a greater chance of the quilt around the shoulder areas being a little compressed when sleeping prone over a pillow. Warming up the extra air space inside of the quilt when sleeping on my side, did not seem to be a huge issue for me during this test.
This morning, there was a fair amount of condensation on the outside of the quilt in the region of my head. The vast majority of this seemed to be kept on the outside of the 20 D material strip, with only slight dampness barely extending down onto the 10 D material less than 1-2 inches. Holding the quilt up to the light, the down seemed to be better dispersed than it is in my Montbell after I have slept in it with puffy clothes. The vertical baffles seem to do their job...with the only area that I could see that the down was thinner, was right over where my shoulders, which would have been the highest point on the quilt throughout the night.
Not having my head stuck in a mummy bag hood was great as always, but with the quilt, I always knew where the draw string was (at the top), and did not get all tangled up. The Katabatic Windom untreated down hood is designed for temps of 20 deg and above apparently, but I was just fine with this at 10 degrees along with my thin merino layer under it. It is small enough on my large noggin, that I couldn't add much more in the way of hats under this hood. At 4 degrees, my head was slightly cold, and so the thicker Katabatic Crestone hood would have been a better bet at that temp and below. I might also take a look at getting the Hoodlum, Climashield Apex insulated hood through Enlightened Equipment...although bulkier than the down hoods, I might feel more comfortable having the synthetic hood do double duty when worn glassing in cold wet weather.
Hopefully, this helps someone.
I recently got a quilt for Christmas during a great sale Enlightened Equipment was having. I wanted to try a quilt due to the potential versatility of this item, and because I am a stomach and side sleeper who hates being stuck in mummy bags. My best sleeping experience to this point has been with my Montbell "stretchable" bag, but since I am a bigger guy, I notice that it gets pretty tight with cold spots when I try to take my 30 deg Montbell bag to 15-20 degrees and below by wearing puffy coat and pants inside the bag.
My initial impression upon opening the box was very good with respect to the quality of the EE quilt. I got the X-wide model primarily to allow my wife and I to use this quilt together for summer backpacking in 35-40 deg+ temps and because the wt penalty is so little to get the bigger models.
My current/old Bag is a Montbell 30 deg untreated-down Super Spiral w/ a Sea to Summit liner and Montbell sleeping bag cover (this setup is good for me down to about 15 degrees with use of puffy layers and down to 20-25 degrees without puffy layers).
Last night I did some testing with my new quilt due to our cold weather this week and the results are as follows:
New Quilt - Revelation Pro 850 DownTek 20 deg Long X-wide, 10 D w/ 20 D weather resistant strips at head and feet.
Specs - 25 oz for Quilt and 0.8 oz for inflatable pad straps.
Shelter - none (no liner or bivy either).
User - me, just over 6 ft tall and a fairly warm sleeper because I'm a bigger guy - 245 lbs.
Planned uses - solo use for Fall and Spring hunting/scouting in the lower 48, used together with wife for summer backpacking, and used with puffy clothes in the winter for 0-25 degree temps.
Pad - NeoAir Xtherm on top of a cheap blue EVA foam pad that was placed on a thin ground sheet over frozen ground & snow.
Head gear - A thin merino wool baselayer hat covered by a Katabatic Windom hood.
Conditions last night in my backyard - 4 to 10 degree temps with 1-4 mph winds.
Results -
The quilt worked as well or better than expected. After 30 min at 4-5 degree temps I had to remove my puffy pants because my legs were too hot. A couple of hours later, although comfortable, I removed my puffy jacket and slept the rest of the night comfortably in 8-10 degree temps with just a T-shirt and light sweat bottoms. I am very happy that I got the Long X-wide version. This allowed me to stetch out and sleep on my stomach with a pillow under my chest and my arm under my head while still being completely covered by the quilt, and still having enough quilt to wrap a little under my body all of the way around...thus, drafts were not an issue at all. If it was just for solo use, I probably could have gotten away with the Wide version quilt, but there would have been a greater chance of the quilt around the shoulder areas being a little compressed when sleeping prone over a pillow. Warming up the extra air space inside of the quilt when sleeping on my side, did not seem to be a huge issue for me during this test.
This morning, there was a fair amount of condensation on the outside of the quilt in the region of my head. The vast majority of this seemed to be kept on the outside of the 20 D material strip, with only slight dampness barely extending down onto the 10 D material less than 1-2 inches. Holding the quilt up to the light, the down seemed to be better dispersed than it is in my Montbell after I have slept in it with puffy clothes. The vertical baffles seem to do their job...with the only area that I could see that the down was thinner, was right over where my shoulders, which would have been the highest point on the quilt throughout the night.
Not having my head stuck in a mummy bag hood was great as always, but with the quilt, I always knew where the draw string was (at the top), and did not get all tangled up. The Katabatic Windom untreated down hood is designed for temps of 20 deg and above apparently, but I was just fine with this at 10 degrees along with my thin merino layer under it. It is small enough on my large noggin, that I couldn't add much more in the way of hats under this hood. At 4 degrees, my head was slightly cold, and so the thicker Katabatic Crestone hood would have been a better bet at that temp and below. I might also take a look at getting the Hoodlum, Climashield Apex insulated hood through Enlightened Equipment...although bulkier than the down hoods, I might feel more comfortable having the synthetic hood do double duty when worn glassing in cold wet weather.
Hopefully, this helps someone.
