If you could only have one... (TQ/UQ)

[L84toff]

I was wondering this very thing for a while now. And now I know…wife says she'd bring the TQ, I think the UQ for the exact reasons mentioned.

With that in mind, I'm thinking of picking up a summer TQ and a 3/4 UQ so I don't have to worry about making that decision.

[Otter1]

+1 UQ.

No second guessing here.

[lymphocytosis]

UQ.

Blah blah blah 10 characters.

[jbrianb]

It's unanimous (I think) and I am not one to buck the system when it speaks so strongly.

A short story...

Was on a trip and put down a cc pad. Put a zipped up sleeping bag on top of that... yeah, I know I compressed the insulation, but it was doubled up. Then I slept with a 40 degree sleeping bag unzipped (open) pulled over me. Slept two nights at 29 degrees. It was cold, but not brutally so.

The third night, it got up to about 50 degrees. I kicked off the sleeping bag cover and slept in a pair of pants and a long sleeve shirt on pad/sleeping bag insulation and I was actually warm.

The point: If your butt's warm, the top part of you doesn't need much.

[kayak karl]

pad and top quilt. i've been to 30 degrees with that. never used fleece.

[nateseviltwin]

Another vote for UQ.

[Boomer]

On most mid-summer nights (50* - 60*) you can use only the UQ until the wee hours. If you try that with a TQ but nothing on bottom, maybe a couple of hours.

[Murl]

pad and top quilt. i've been to 30 degrees with that. never used fleece.

Me, too.

I think it depends on what else you have.

I've been down to about 18 degrees with a pad and poncho liner UQ, but the sleeping bag I normally use doesn't compress at all, so I either need a decent TQ or a wagon to pull my sleeping bag along behind me.

[raiffnuke]

UQ for me. I have many things that will work as a TQ, but nothing I have and can rig for an UQ is as comfortable and warm as a true UQ.

[NCPatrick]

I'd say UQ too. If my back is warm, I'm warm. Combine a warm UQ with a nice warm hat and you don't need much of a TQ unless it's pretty darn cold.