Coverage in a sleeping bag versus topquilt

[solohh]

love my white cloud tq. no zippers, easy in and out.

[OneClick]

I was a big proponent for sleeping bags to start, then switched to top quilts. There's no questions a sleeping bag will keep you a little warmer all things equal...zip it up and only your face is exposed. Big cozy hood with nowhere for cold air to enter. But the weight and bulk are just too much for me especially when we're talking 20° or lower. I never saw an issue with getting in or out of a bag, but it's obviously much easier with a top quilt. With a neck gaiter and warm hat, I don't really miss the full coverage of a sleeping bag.

[joe_guilbeau]

I fall into the camp of sleeping bags. Western Mountaineering has a Cypress GWS dual zipper bag that can be completely opened for a rectangular top quilt.

It is generously cut when fully zippered and offers 69"at the shoulder, 61" at the hips, 48" in the foot box.

Material is DWR treated Gore Windstopper, which means no problems with frost melting as temps rise and no problems with the wind robbing the body heated dead airspace that surrounds you.

Keeps you toasty warm, keeps the down dry, stops any wind, because you have 52 ounces of 850 down.

Cypress-GWS-sideviewclosed-850x204.png

Opened at each end.JPG

11" x 22" in stuff sack and 5 lbs

For me it solves a lot of rigging issues and allows you to sleep in silk long johns for comfort without any bulky clothing/socks/jackets etc. to get to what should have been paid for up front.

Good option for the temperature rating, and no worries regarding high winds or moisture robbing the down of its insulation properties.

[Carrico]

For those of you struggling to get fully zipped up in a sleeping bag in a hammock, get a ground sheet, stand up, then zipper you're sleeping bags up around you, then get in your hammock.

[oldpappy]

I prefer being tightly coccooned up in a sleeping bag in winter. Yes its a pain at the 3am nature call. Maybe if I had JRB's down hood.
But for warmer temps the top quilts come out.

This is my mode of operation too. Below about 30F I prefer a mummy bag with hood and draft collars. Warmer than that, a DIY TQ.
For me, the mummy bag retains my heat better as I move around at night (doesn't allow cold air in).

Bottom line is I'm too cheap to buy an expensive down 0F or -10F TQ for 12 to 20 nights a year when the mummy bag works for me.
Plus, other than Shug :>), who really backpacks for distance when it is 0F - if so, you are pulling your gear and packability isn't an issue. I know that I stay home :>)

[calphillips]

I'm in the same boat... been using a 20* mummy bag unzipped up until this point. I think I'll get a down TQ as soon as possible, and the draft/cold spots don't really worry me because I figure if I have my UQ suspended properly, I should be fine. Not to mention, a down TQ would weigh less than half of what my synthetic sleeping bag does, and probably half the packed volume as well.

[dakotaross]

If you are using a mummy bag as a top quilt you do not have to completely unzip it. Leave the lower end zipped as a foot box, just like a TQ. Yes, a zipped up mummy bag can be more difficult to negotiate than a TQ. BUT the only time you are zipping it up is when you are cold. Colder than a comparable TQ can handle, and thus one of the benefits of a bag over a TQ, i.e. warmer when you need it.

Are talking on the ground the TQ is colder? Because in a hammock when used with a like UQ, there is no incremental warmth from an enclosed bag, discounting the warmth created by the wiggle factor.


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[hawghangar]

Like many, I started hammocking with a sleeping bag because I already owned one. Eventually, I bought a TQ and now own 3 of them - and never consider using a bag in my hammock. For me, it wasn't a question of greater warmth or weight/bulk savings... it was ease/comfort. I always felt like I was in a wrestling match with my sleeping bag while in the hammock - and hated the dreaded sleeping bag zipper in the middle of the night. The effort associated with getting into your sleeping bag before you get into the hammock, as several suggest, just doesn't appeal to me.

I suspect that if you try a TQ you will not go back to using a sleeping bag in your hammock - but that doesn't mean a sleeping bag won't work just fine.

[MoeTCrow]

Something to think about, have you ever been in your bed, didn't set the heat high enough and think, man if this blanket only had a zipper? My topquilt is overkill (0 degree EE) but it has worked for me for all 3 seasons (spring, fall, winter) to as low as I've ever been. (no exact measurement, just frozen water bottles, and waking up thinking "dang it's COLD out!" In the heat and humidity of the deep south, I have a cheap down sleeping bag simply because it was A. Cheap and B. unzips to cover my GF and myself for those occasional tent trips.