View Full Version : Synthetic insulation temp ratings?
With primaloft and climashield, what are the expected temps for single and double layers of each option?
I'm looking specifically at the insulations from RBTR: For primaloft, you have the gold and silver, and for climashield you have the 2.5 and 5
nuttysquirrel
11-09-2014, 22:43
I use 5 or 6 ounce cs apex to 30* 2.5 to 50 or so. Not sure about primaloft
SirMarkos
11-20-2014, 10:11
I'm interested in real world temperatures of these myself.
Mouseskowitz
11-20-2014, 11:32
This is the best chart I've seen. It doesn't have the PL silver, total CLO of 4.74, so I would probably use the 4.5 CLO range. For the weight, two layers of PL gold would be about 10* warmer.
El Gordo
11-20-2014, 11:47
Would someone please help explain that chart to me? For example, what is "Deg F-warm" versus "Deg F-cool"? And, for example, is the "900 1yd" column the weight at a given loft of a yard of 900 fill power down in ounces?
SirMarkos
11-20-2014, 11:48
This is the best chart I've seen. It doesn't have the PL silver, total CLO of 4.74, so I would probably use the 4.5 CLO range. For the weight, two layers of PL gold would be about 10* warmer.
Wow! Synthetic completely falls apart after the 40º range. No wonder most folks go with synthetic at those temperatures. I had no idea the gap got so large after that.
Down is still king!
SirMarkos
11-20-2014, 11:50
Would someone please help explain that chart to me? For example, what is "Deg F-warm" versus "Deg F-cool"? And, for example, is the "900 1yd" column the weight at a given loft of a yard of 900 fill power down in ounces?
Deg F-warm - Deg F-Cool is the temperature range.
And yes, that's the weight of each material needed to achieve that range.
Mouseskowitz
11-20-2014, 11:59
Would someone please help explain that chart to me? For example, what is "Deg F-warm" versus "Deg F-cool"? And, for example, is the "900 1yd" column the weight at a given loft of a yard of 900 fill power down in ounces?
From left to right. Temp for warm sleeper, temp for cold sleeper, CLO for that temp range, loft for that temp range, and the rest is weight per sq yd for the insulation. At the bottom you can see the calculations for the CLO of the different synthetics. For PL silver it's 0.79*6= 4.74 total CLO.
nosckaj123
11-20-2014, 12:11
Its amazing how years of research into insulation materials still doesn't add up to nearly the same insulating properties as regular down. Interesting to see if we will ever come up with a cheap alternative that actually matches down's properties
Wow! Synthetic completely falls apart after the 40º range. No wonder most folks go with synthetic at those temperatures. I had no idea the gap got so large after that.
Down is still king!
Yep. And the reason for that is percentage of insulation weight to percentage of shell weight in the quilt. Warm weather syn quilts can be VERY close in weight to down quilts. Cold weather, not so much.
tramos55
11-20-2014, 13:11
SWEET so that means the full length dual layer 5oz apex quilt I'm in the process of making for the RR will take me to -10 in ideal circumstances? Gonna weight a ton but it's for winter so car/pulk anyway.
BTW 2 stacked jarbidges and a 20 burrow kept me pretty warm in 16 degree temps with 15 mph winds - no UQP or tarp but it was sunny out during my test the other day.
atrane21
11-20-2014, 20:37
With my single layer of 6oz apex i've had it down to 28* so far without a single bit of cold. I was toasty warm so it should go quite a bit lower.
BillyBob58
11-21-2014, 00:48
I'm interested in real world temperatures of these myself.
Real world for me: not wearing any warm layers(just cotton) a 2.5 oz sq yd UQ kept me comfy in the mid 40s.
This is the best chart I've seen. It doesn't have the PL silver, total CLO of 4.74, so I would probably use the 4.5 CLO range. For the weight, two layers of PL gold would be about 10* warmer.
This chart confirms my experience with 2.5 oz sq yd CS XP.