Jarbidge Review

[DRobertson]

I first received this UQ in the mail a week and a half ago, and I'm very impressed. This thing is COMFY, WARM, and LIGHT! just on friday night, I went with my BSA troop to a pre-klondike to build snowcaves in the Big Horn Mountains. Everybody else slept inside the cabin, but i decided to put my UQ to the test of -20 F. I was using an ENO singlenest, Jarbidge (obviously), and a -20 F alps mountaineering echo lake mummy bag. I stayed warm as toast, until it began to get really snowy at about 5 A.M. and i came inside. Should have pitched my tarp lower, though. However, I am a warm sleeper, and this UQ was great for me. Thanks AHE! (p.s. this is the normal apex climashield 3 season standard UQ, not the 4 season.)

[Chriss]

Awesome. Never under estimate the Jarbridge! Love mine! Surely you took some pics you can share!

[michigandave]

Yes, post some pics. I got mine before Christmas and the temp rating is conservative. What color did you get?

[jacob8806]

Nice! I just received my Jarbridge about a month ago (I assume its the APEX Climashield but the receipt did not indicate it) but I'm glad to hear that there is another satisfied customer : ) Can't wait to put mine to the test.

[oldpappy]

-20F - wow. I've been using my Jarbridge (my 1st ever UQ) all winter with good results down to +28F. That's low enough for me. I like the nice and simple design. Only problem is my trusty pads are getting dusty from lack of use.

[BillyBob58]

-20F - wow. I've been using my Jarbridge (my 1st ever UQ) all winter with good results down to +28F. That's low enough for me. I like the nice and simple design. Only problem is my trusty pads are getting dusty from lack of use.

For a year or more, I have been posting that it seemed to me these were extremely conservatively rated based on my personal experience with other CS UQs of various weights. And I was looking forward to many test results this winter by many folks to confirm my theory. But minus 20F? That seems a bit much even for me. I was thinking if someone was toasty at 20F or maybe even 10F without any thing else below, that would be great though not a huge surprise, especially at +20F or maybe +15F. But toasty at minus 20? 45+ degrees below it's rating? WOW!

Of course, people can vary by huge amounts and you might be a furnace.

Also, is your minus 20F bag synthetic? If so, a poorly compressing synthetic bag rated that warm could add quite a few degrees to back warmth even after your weight compresses it some.

And also, what kind of clothing did you sleep in? Would love some for details to go with such mind blowing results.

But regardless of the answers to the above, very impressive results for the old CS Jarbidge! That is huge warmth for the weight and even more so for the cost.

[Ratdog]

Haha -20, good on ya.
I had to supplement/stack once it dropped into the high teens low 20's.

I love these quilts but I'm waiting to hear someone say NASA is going to use them on the new lunar rovers when they send them to the Dark Side of the Moon. /que music

[bob2guns]

..... yeah i can believe -20 (...even if the thermometer is a little miscalibrated ...i got to use 2 ) . i got subzero with the NewRiver and could dive deeper , i'm sure ... but going out of my way to find real winter is the problem....should have stayed in AK i guess....but that was before hammocks.

BB58...wonder why WB quit making the CS yetis like you guys had...seems like he was ahead of the curve maybe ..

[BillyBob58]

..... yeah i can believe -20 (...even if the thermometer is a little miscalibrated ...i got to use 2 ) . i got subzero with the NewRiver and could dive deeper , i'm sure ... but going out of my way to find real winter is the problem....should have stayed in AK i guess....but that was before hammocks.

BB58...wonder why WB quit making the CS yetis like you guys had...seems like he was ahead of the curve maybe ..

If memory serves, he had trouble getting CS. And I guess once he got all switched over to down he just didn't feel like going back. I never understood why someone else, like Paul/AHE, does not pick up the idea. I've always thought it was nearly the best thing since sliced bread. So versatile and always seemed to work good. Take layers out, put layers back in when it gets colder. And it will go way down. Probably would work even better now using some Apex layers.

[DRobertson]

im going back up next week, and ill be sure to take some awesome pics of my hang! Going up tommorow with the same setup! and yes, i was using a -20 F synthetic bag. was warm as toast. of course i was wearing insulating thermal pants too. only place i was a little cold was my feet. Guess im gonna put LOTS of socks on.