This is my initial review of the Enlightened Equipment Epiphany Top Quilt

I just got my EE Epiphany top quilt in a couple of weeks ago.

First, I have to say it was a pleasure doing business with Tim. I couldn’t have asked for better communication.

After I placed my order Tim emailed me to let me know that a couple of people have reported baffle failures in this quilt model. I suspect they were stuffing their quilts too fast, but at any rate, he wanted to let me know that he was going to ship me a slightly different configuration to help alleviate that. It involves more nylon at the foot to let air in and out faster and a flap to cover the nylon rather than the inflation tube. That’s a good thought, but one thing I really like about this quilt is the inflation tube. I can seal that off to control loft (more on that shortly). After a couple of emails, he ended up making me a hybrid that both packs a bit easier and still has the inflation tube that I wanted. I couldn’t ask for more.

A few specs:
I ordered a 6 foot, regular, half taper, 20 degree quilt.

I found mine to be exactly 72” long by 50” wide at the top and 39” wide at the bottom, and begins tapering at exactly the half way mark. That’s slightly smaller than spec, which is 78” long, by 52” wide at the top and 40” wide at the foot. I’m not complaining, though. I’ve slept under it very comfortably. The estimated weight according to the EE website is 18.5 oz. Mine tips the scales at exactly 488 grams, or 17.21 oz. I can’t complain about that, either.

I haven’t measured loft because, as I alluded to above, I can control that with the inflation tube. The claimed 2.75” max loft is certainly within its range.

Performance:
I’ve only had this quilt out for two nights so far, in the mid 40’s. That’s well above its rated 20 degrees, so I’ll have to get back to you on how it does when it’s closer to its lower limit. However, the warmer temps are just as interesting to me. This is an expensive quilt, so I want to be able to use it as much as possible. To that end, I was able to close the inflation tube before the quilt was completely lofted to effectively reduce its rating. I slept only slightly warm for those two nights, even though my quilt is rated for less than half the temperature encountered. I was really surprisingly comfortable! I expected to be clammier, given that the temperature was more than twice the quilt’s rating, plus the vapor barrier effect. The inherent ease of venting a quilt is all that was needed to stay cool enough. I know the drawstring foot box isn’t the most efficient, but I like it a lot. In even warmer weather I’ll leave it open and vent the quilt even more. In colder temps, I think it closes up tight enough to be very effective.

Quality:
I’ve been all the way around the quilt looking at each hem and seam. I haven’t found any flaws. I’m very happy with the quality of construction. As well, the design shows a great deal of thought. Mine is not custom. I’m not even sure that Tim is making custom quilts these days. But I wouldn’t have asked for anything to be different, anyway. In fact, I chose not to ask for anything different. I liked the specs and l like the end result. I can’t really say anything more than that.

I would have appreciated it if it had come with a stuff sack. If you make your own, be careful. I made a stuff sack from cuben left over from another project that weighs in at 6 grams. It’s 4” by 6.5” by 14”, to fit one of my backpacks perfectly. I mentioned at the start that I thought others were probably stuffing their quilts too fast. I do have to be patient stuffing my quilt into this bag. It’s not fast. But I knew that when I ordered a quilt made of cuben fiber. It does fit easily, if slowly. I could compress it more, but don’t have any need to.

Bottom line:
I do recommend EE quilts. I love my cuben Epiphany so far, as it has exceeded by expectations.