I just recently ordered the Shamu IX UQ and had a chance to use it on my first hang. I thought I would give a quick initial review of what I thought about it.

I did a pre fit in my garage. At first I had a hard time figuring out how to set it up (and still don't know if I did it correctly.) And after finding some pics of your all's UQ set ups, I had a better idea. The quilt comes with really long shock cordage tied to the ends. When I placed it over the gathered ends of the hammock it hung super low....like about 16 inches low. So I tied off enough slack on each end of the quilt to where it was snug up against the hammock. It came with two white tabs on one side and a white and black one on the other side (this is what the shock cord runs though.) I read some where that the white tabs go on the right side. All though for me I couldn't see why because it looks like the quilt is shaped the same on both ends, and is the same length.

OK now off to go camping. So once I got it on and attached I got in and adjusted things. I made sure that the ends were sealed up buy putting my hands out side the hammock and just feeling for any air gaps. None, OK good to go. I slept well all night long until about 5 am or so. I woke up to a cold back. It must have gotten out of adjustment. So I looked/felt around and noticed that the edge of the quilt was in the middle of my back and not wrapped around the side (left) of me, so I pulled it back up to the zipper area. And then felt for toe and head gaps, toe gap no, head gap yes a major one.

I noted that I was pretty slumped down in my hammock (remember I lowered my feet) and so my head was in the center and below the UQ edge by about 6 inches or more. So I slid myself up to where my shoulders were on the edge of the quilt and that closed up the gap. OK so the shoulders close the gap. Well in about 15 minutes I slid down again and felt the cold once again. OK so obviously where I am at now is my natural sleep position. I tried pulling the quilt down more but I could not because it is not on a linear cordage but end cordage. This means you can't slide it up and down your body like I have seen all the videos do. It would just pull back up to where I had set it. Alright I will just have to concentrate on staying "above" the quilt.

This worked but now every 5 minutes the quilt is sliding out fro underneath of me and stopping about half way in my back...its sliding on the linear axis as in the whole quilt is spitting me down the middle. I would un zip and pull it back around to my shoulder and in 5 minutes or so it would be back to where it was in the middle of my back. HMMMM.

But other then those two issues I thought the quilt worked great. And I am sure it is only a matter of time before I get those bugs worked out. The temps got down to about 37ish at the coldest point in the night, and I slept warm, save for the last two hours. My set is WBBB 1.0 DBL, WM Highlite (35* f sewn through) and the UQ, well and a tarp as well. I did not wear any type of thermal underwear this trip.

I think what I might try and do, is instead of having the shock cords tied to the ends of the hammock, I am going to tie them on the linear axis forming a big loop all the way around the UQ. So when I place the cordage on the gathered ends of my hammock. I can slide the quilt up and down my body to my liking. (Given that fact that I like to sleep with my head higher then my feet.) This should also hold the quilt up and around me and my shoulders/upper body better.

On a side note since this a synthetic quilt and I have a double layer hammock can't I just place the quilt in between the two layers, and get the same insulative affect/protection?