Garlington insulator (air bag underquilt) use

[Photograhiker]

Does anyone use the Garlington insulator underquilt? What are your thoughts and experiences on this? To me, it seems like a cheap, lightweight, and effective solution which has the advantage in the cheap and lightweight categories over a traditional down or synthetic underquilt.

The description says it's been tested to 5* F (along with two pads), but I wonder if sticking the pads to the outside of the hammock bottom with velcro would be almost as effective?

I just finished making a Speer hammock for backpacking and family camping. (Actually, I made my daughter one too, since I wasn't paying attention and cut the first one 2 ft too short for me. )

I don't really like the idea of sleeping on a pad (aversion to being sweaty and stuck while sleeping), and I'd like to avoid carrying two quilts.

[nickelanddime]

I do, it has it's limits though. I tend to sleep a little cold and with one pad and my tnf cat's meow(20 degree?) it gets me right down to freezing.

You might want to look here or Just Jeff's site has some links

[BillyBob58]

I have only used the "insulator" part of the Garlington insulators. I use the trash bag stuffed with space blanket, as an addition to my Hennessy hammock super shelter. I suppose the super shelter under cover itself amounts to something very similar to one part of the Garlington insulator. Then I take the trash bags/space blanket with enough trapped air to amount to three or 4 inches of loft, and insert it between the Hennessy hammock open cell foam pad and the HH sil-nylon undercover. I always thought it worked great, especially considering the cost and weight. I can't put any figures on it, any hard data, but all I can say is that it was always a noticeable boost to the warmth of the super shelter, which was pretty good to start with. It worked perfect with the super shelter because it was not heavy enough to cause the undercover to sag away from the pad. It was not heavy enough to cause any gaps. For that reason alone I thought it was the number one method(other than possibly the HH kidney/torso pads/space blanket) to significantly boost the warmth of the super shelter, as opposed to adding items of clothing down in the undercover.

But how well the system would work by itself, without being combined with the super shelter, I really couldn't say.