I finally got my kaq yesterday. The post office somehow lost my package but eventually they located it.
First of John has been excellent to deal with. He really is a good guy and you can be very confident working with him. I think that is an important point because this is in some ways a new venture and you have to have a level of trust.
The quilt is manufactured to a top notch standard. It is at least as good as my JRB old rag mountain quilt. It comes with quite a cool stuff sack as well.
My biggest concerns were that it would be too big and also not warm enough.I carry my gear on my motorbike and at least for me I think that the size of the packed kaq is small enough. It is a little bigger then the old rag but really not much. It actually really surprised me as I thought it would be much more bulky. So on that score I was pleased.
The other main issue is warmth . Last night I used it on my Claytor in my garage. I would estimate the temperature at 40 degrees and I slept in my tshirt and tracksuit pants with the kaq on the bottom and the old rag mountain on the top. I also had a hot water bottle.
Previous to the kaq I used a Speer pad- which is actually a great pad. But I always woke up feeling a little grungy because pads have a kind of stiff sweaty effect on me if you know what I mean. The kaq like other uqs I imagine gives you feeling of being cocooned. I found it really really nice.
The kaq has numerous adjustment cords but because I didn't read the instructions properly I just used intuition in setting it up. As a result I ended up compressing the kaq in my upper back area leaving a cold spot. Everywhere else was very warm but not too warm. I was too lazy to get out of the hammock to adjust the kaq and had no problems sleeping. The cold spot did not wake me up and by the time I woke up I didn't even notice it.I guess the only question is whether I can get rid of the cold spot once I
Learn how to adjust the kaq- I would think so. I don't see getting down to 20 or 30 degrees a big problem with the addition of clothes or a pad.
I really wanted to like the kaq because I really liked working with John. After the post office lost my package John offered to replace it although it was 100% the postmans fault. I refused but he insisted even though it was nothing to do with him and even though I told him it wasn't his problem. Pretty cool I thought.
Nevertheless if the quilt was too big or not warm enough it would have been returned as I had a snugfit on order and even though I like John I wasn't about to freeze for nights on end for him or carry a giant pack on my bike.
In conclusion I am very pleased with my kaq. Great workmanship. Warm enough. Works fine with my claytor. Lots of adjustment. Packs small. Synthetic and this hopefully more robust in the wet. And it's a lot cheaper then alternative uqs.
I think if the kaq was the same price as the down uqs I would still have a tough choice, balancing packed size with rain resistance. The $100 difference seals the deal for me.
