I need some buying advice for a top quilt

[WalksIn2Trees]

Going to toss in my own $0.02 now:

UGQ has a statement about why they discontinued the Hydrophobic Down in their products that shouldn't be ignored.

go for sewn footbox ... Unless you're planning to share it with someone, it doesn't NEED to go flat and it doesn't need to be vented. I used my UGQ 0°F quiltset all this summer. Mostly I sleep naked and stow the TQ under me in the UQ where I can get it quick if I wake up chilled. The UQ didn't keep me hot without the TQ. In heat of summer, when I'd wake up chilled at 4am the footbox was usually too warm, so I'd only cover my torso with the TQ usually waking up with my legs out to either side of it... My point is, you'll only really use the footbox when you need it and probably just stick your legs out anyway rather than waking up fully to vent or unvent, so you're wasting effort worrying about THAT factor, because the only real factor there is which footbox will be warmer when you need it to be and that will be the Sewn Footbox.

Well ok, one that opens flat WILL dry faster, though not faster enough to matter.

Sent from my SM-T817V using Tapatalk

[chjohans]

Edited 8-22-2017: Corrected an error, the Loco Libre Ghost Pepper indeed comes with water resistant down
Edited 8-23-2017: Added Enlightened Equipment Revelation to my shortlist

I am considering switching from traditional sleeping bags to a top quilt, this will be my first top quilt as I've been using traditional sleeping bags for years.

I sleep mainly in hammocks, but also in tent/bivy or just "cowboy style" on a sleeping pad or under a tarp. I am looking at quilt for 3-season use in a northern climate, and possibly winter use with an added layer on top.

I do have a few concerns regarding size:

I'm 6"1 and 242lbs and my shoulder shoulder girth is just above 50 inches. I'm a side sleeper when on the ground and I toss and turn a bit so especially when using the quilt on the ground worry that it still could be a bit narrow. I would like to be able to tuck in the quilt a bit around me on those cold nights, and also to be able to completely cover my head if I choose to do so.

I think I'll go for a 20*F quilt with a draw & cord footbox, that should be the best match for the temperature range I expect to sleep in.

It seems to me that most vendors "wide" version is around 55" wide. That does sound slightly narrow to me, sleeping on the side and tossing and turning at night. But I haven't tried anything but traditional sleeping bags so I might be wrong. But I know I prefer a bit wide over narrow, and that is partially why I want to switch from the "mummy sack" to a top quilt in the first place.

For the lenght it seems to me like most verndors "long" length is around 78", that should be sufficient. But the draw & cord foot box will take away some length when closed, and the loft at the foot end will too, so the usable length inside have to be less than the advertised length. And since I prefer the option to fully cover my head should I choose to do so I wonder if this is long enough.

What do the experienced quilt users think? Will the usual 55" wide and 78" long quilt fit me and my requirements?

When it comes to choice of top quilt I now have five(six) on my shortlist:

• Underground Quilts - Bandit 20
• Hammock Gear - Burrow 20, possibly the Econ version
• Loco Libre gear - Ghost Pepper 20
• Katabatic Gear - Flex 22

All of them seems to be great quilts from very reputable vendors. But I have to make a qualified choice so here are some pros and cons for each from my perspective:

Underground Quilts - Bandit 20
Pros:

• Can be made in 60" and 65" width
• Can be made longer than 78"
• I like the baffle design, horisontal in the foot end and vertical in the upper part, I believe that will help preventing down from shifting from side to side
• Great choice in color options
• Great price, as long as I don't need the XL version (60" or 65" wide), prise falls to "good" for the XL version
• Can be ordered overstuffed
• Can be upgraded to 850 or 950 fill-power goose down

Cons:

• They only offer full taper or no taper (eg no semi-taper which I think I prefer)
• The base less expensive model comes with 800 fill-power duck down (can be upgraded to 850 or 950 goose down at a cost)
• They don't offer water resistant down

Hammock Gear - Burrow 20 Econ
Pros:

• Offered as half-taper design which (I think) I prefer
• Great choice in color options
• Great price, especially for the Econ version
• Comes with water resistant down

Cons:

• From what I see it only has horisontal baffles, and I'm slightly worried about down shifting from side to side
• Comes with 800 fill-power duck down

Hammock Gear - Burrow 20
Pros:

• Offered as half-taper design which (I think) I prefer
• Great choice in color options
• Fair price
• Comes with water resistant down
• Comes 850 fill-power goose down
• Can be ordered overstuffed
• Choice of fabric both inside and outside (10d or 15d)

Cons:

• From what I see it only has horisontal baffles, and I'm slightly worried about down shifting from side to side

Loco Libre Gear - Ghost Pepper 20
Pros:

• Although they don't offer a semi-taper design you can choose between 10" or 5" full taper (or no taper)
• The zig zag baffle design seems less prone to down shifting from side to side
• The snap button behind the neck seems to be solid and thoroughly fastened to the fabric
• Their long version is 80" so slightly longer than most others long version
• Great choice in color options
• Comes with water resistant down
• Although the base version comes with 800 fill-power duck down the upgrade to 900 fill-power goose down is very reasonable
• Can be ordered overstuffed
• Can be ordered with a draft collar at the neck area
• Choice of fabric both inside and outside (10d or 15d)

Cons:

• A bit on the expensive side
• Base version comes with 800 fill-power duck down

Katabatic Gear - Flex 22
Pros:

• Their wide version is 58" so slightly wider than most others wide version
• The draw & cord foot box has a flap with a button that seems to completely seal the bottom of the foot box
• The snap button behind the neck seems to be solid and thoroughly fastened to reinforced fabric
• Their pad attachment system seems to me to be "as good as it gets"
• Although not semi-tapered it seems to be "moderatly tapered"
• Can be ordered overstuffed
• Comes standard with a down filled collar at the neck area
• Comes with water resistant down
• Base version comes 850 fill-power goose down, can be upgraded to 900 fill-power goose down
• Base version seems to have a bit more down weight and loft than the competitors

Cons:

• Poor choice in color options
• A bit on the expensive side

Enlightened Equipment - Revelation 20
Pros:

• Really great choice of sizes
• Offered as half-taper design which (I think) I prefer
• Comes with water resistant down
• Base version comes 850 fill-power goose down, can be upgraded to 900 or 950 fill-power goose down
• Great choice in color options
• Can be ordered with "weather resistant stripes", eg ticker and more water resistant 20D fabric at the top and bottom
• Seems to have a very good strap system for sleeping on a pad on the ground
• Large sizes are still reasonable lightweight
• Comes with U shaped baffles, seems good for preventing down shifting, especially important when sleeping on the side

Cons:

• Cannot be ordered overstuffed
• I've read report that this sleeps a bit cold, eg colder than competitors with similar ratings.
• By comparing specs it seems like it's filled with about 10% less down than similar rated quilts from competitors

This list is not at all meant to be a complete list of pros and cons for each model, they are just some pros and cons that seems important to me from my perspective. As I based this list off "google research" it might contain errors, although I've tried to verify the list from more than one source. And again, these are factors that (I think) will matter to *me* from my perspective, so in case any of the vendors read this please take no offence and feel free to correct any error you might spot.

Any input on size, quality and anything I might have overlooked is very welcome. Right now I'm leaning towards the Katabatic Gear Flex 22, but I'm open to alternatives. So any thoughts and input from anyone with experience with these brands/quilts and top quilts in general would be appreciated.

Although all input is welcomed in order to help me (and possibly others reading this) to make a decision I will especially value advises regarding sizing and features you might like/dislike in a particular model and why. Input in the form of "I have model X and I like it a lot", although appreciated as well, will not really help me in my decision making process.

I don't want my first top quilt to be a failure as that will mean I will remain in my mummy sack, so trying to be a bit thorough here. And price is not really the deciding factor here, meaning (better) alternatives I might have overlooked in any price range are possible options as well.

Thanks in advance for any contribution!

Wanted to update my initial post but for some reason I can no longer do that so will quote myself instead. I added the following to my shortlist:

Enlightened Equipment - Enigma 20
This is pretty much the same quilt as their Revelation, but it has a sewn close footbox instead of snap & draw.

Nunatak USA - Arc UL
Pros:

• Plenty of sizes to chose from, both for height and width
• The draw & cord foot box has a flap with a button that seems to seal pretty well with the "dogbone" they include, they also offer a send close insulated foot box.
• Can be ordered overstuffed
• Comes standard with a down filled collar at the neck area
• Can be ordered with with water resistant down
• Base version comes 900 fill-power goose down
• Can choose the foot box size
• Seems to have a very good strap system for sleeping on a pad on the ground
• I like the baffle design, horizontal in the foot end and vertical in the upper part, I believe that will help preventing down from shifting from side to side
• Has an "attachment system" for stacking quilts, attaching them at six locations, and use one set of mat straps for the bottom layer quilt, or just use them attached in a hammock. Their Gamut APEX quilt seems like a perfect fit for stacking on top of their down quilts this way.
• The neck strap is offset to one side so it doesn't end up in your face in the middle of the night

Cons:

• Poor choice in color options.
• A bit on the expensive side, especially when adding the options I would like.

Having considered feedback I am now most likely to get a sewn close foot box instead of a snap & draw for the 20*F down quilt. I will also get a higher rated synthetic APEX quilt for stacking, that one will have a snap & draw foot box for summer use as a blanket.

The Nunatek Arc UL paired with their Gamut APEX quilt seems very interesting, but it ends up quite a bit more costly than EE Revelation/Enigma paired with one of their synthetic quilts. Then again, their APEX quilts could of course be used with any other down quilt below. Decisions decisions

[Cory Hess]

I recently went through this same process. Best of luck to you. There sure is a lot of options out there, which is fantastic. At the same time it'll make your head swim. On the plus side, all reports are that you can't make a wrong choice when ordering from any of the vendors that you've listed.

[chjohans]

In the end I decided to go with two quilts from Nunatak USA, Jan at Nunatak has been just great to work with and I ended up with ordering the following:

Arc UL 20*F:
Cut to a custom width 62" with a custom 42" draw & snap footbox, 74" usable length inside when the footbox is fully closed. It has a 2" differential cut, a straight cut from the top to about the hips and a curved taper from there to the bottom. They provide a down filled "dogbone" to completely seal the footbox so I'm not too worried about draft. I went for black membrane 10d for the liner and sage green Quantum Ripstop 10d for the shell. It's filled with 900fp Hyper-Dry goose down. The final weight should be just about 25 ounces. It has a clip system to attach to another quilt for stacking during the coldest months. It has a underbody/pad strap system that looks pretty similar to the one EE are using.

Gamut APEX 42*F:
67" wide with a custom 44" draw & snap footbox, 75" usable length inside when the footbox is fully closed. Straight cut from the top to about the hips and a curved taper from there to the bottom. For this I went for black membrane 10d for the liner and grey Robic weather resistant Ripstop 10d for the shell. It's filled with 3.6 oz/sq yd Climashield APEX. The final weight should be just about 28 ounces. It has a clip system to attach on top of the Arc UL for stacking during the coldest months. This quilt is quite wide and it has a full-length zipper so it can be closed to essentially a hood less sleeping bag. The Robic outer layer should be great for humid environments. It has a underbody/pad strap system that looks pretty similar to the one EE are using.

As for the sewn closed vs snap & draw footbox option: I like versatile multi-function gear and I came across this:


I believe this should be a very versatile all-season setup suited for most climates, it should work well down to about -10*F and probably a bit lower with the right clothes.

I went trough a lot of options and I would probably have been happy with most of them but I believe this was the best choice for me, and in the end I had to make a choice. Having said that, I liked some features of most of the quilts I looked at and the vendors I did contact all responded with helpful tips and advises. But in my opinion Nunatak was a notch above the rest. My choice looks quite similar to a EE Revelation/Convert combo, but has a few added features that I really like. And since EE would not do the customization I asked for the choice was not very hard to make, although the price ended up a bit higher.

Now I need a 0*F underquilt to complement this as I only have a JrB 25*F rated "The Nest". I've decided on a UGQ Zeppelin 83" long.


Thanks for all the contributions, and hopefully this could help someone else in a similar situation as well!

[HandyRandy]

Wow that was a cool video, chjohans! Thanks for sharing!

[Coldcityely]

I love that video. Now, not only can we stay warm in camp in our top quilts but we know how to use them as formalwear when in a pinch!

[Bigg Ugly]

chjohans, thanks for doing all my research for me. I'm 6'2, 250+ pounds, and need a 3 season TQ. You asked the very questions I was thinking. Good job!

[Nedh84]

I really like your break down of all the different quilts! Like you said, many of them are very similar but they each have their small perks here and there. Thanks and congrats on your purchase, hope you have many adventures with it