I'm not sure if this post will come across as more of a question or a suggestion. Am I the only one who genuinely prefers a sleeping bag to a top quilt? Like most I'm sure, I started with sleeping bags. It's what we had, and it worked. Over time as I tried different things, I ended up trying blankets and top quilts. It did not take me long to ditch a sleeping pad in favor of an under quilt. The pad worked, but you felt like you were laying on a pad. You can't even feel an underquilt, it's awesome. The top quilt, I'm not so sure. To be fair, I have only tried a single top quilt, the one from Arrowhead. I've also tried various blankets when car camping. All of them have the same problem for me, and that is gaps.
I spend a lot of time in the cold and wind. I don't care how much you crank that underquilt, at some point it's going to shift a little, and that little 1" gap is going to be a stabbing chill. Especially when it's windy, and I mean real wind, there's only so much you can do. Even if it's only once every hour, that little blow that gets between the underquilt and hammock, you feel that. It can really ruin a night. I suppose you could get a bigger underquilt, but mine is already bigger than most people use. You can tuck a quilt under you enough to work for a while, but once you turn over its no longer tucked. Maybe a top quilt with all those elastic and other straps would help.
I don't know, but what I do know is a sleeping bag fixes all those problems, and even solves some more. I don't mean zipped open like a top quilt, I mean zipped up inside the bag as it was intended. I'm not sure why some people struggle with this, I'm the exact opposite of a gymnast, and I have no issues. Just put your feet in, tuck it under your back, roll over, and pull the hood up. No more cold spots. You never feel the random gusts of air. It's even extra warm, you could use less of an under quilt to compensate for the weight difference.
There also seems to be a this myth that the insulation being squished under you is worthless, and obviously it isn't as good as on top, but worthless? If the nighttime low is over 40 degrees, you don't even need an underquilt with a good sleeping bag. I'm not saying you can't use one, but obviously that sleeping bag works. A bare hammock with nothing under you is hardly tolerable with a breeze under 60 degrees, and yet it's toasty at 40 with nothing but a sleeping bag being squished under you. I don't even bother to use my underquilt for spring or summer.
So don't automatically think something is better just because others use it. It might work for them, but it might not work for you. Sometimes the simpler solution is the better solution.
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Originally Posted by matted
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