Quilts

[astafford]

I'm planning a NY - Katahdin hike from the middle of June to August. I would like your opinions on your quilt. Temperature rating, brand, likes, dislikes, suggustions, weight, etc. Thanks!

[Rasty]

I have a Enlightened Equipment Revelation X 0 degree quilt which is well made and economical. The 30 or 40 would be a great quilt.

[barf_jay]

Ditto on the Enlightened Equipment Revelation X, mine is a 30 degree bag. Packs small is super light, ratings are very accurate. Another good thing...Made in the USA!

[Praha4]

I have a MLD Spirit 45 degree synthetic quilt for summer hiking, just used it on the Fla Trail and it worked great down to high 30s at night, wearing a Montbell UL thermawrap jacket, long pants, wool socks, and balacalva. The other nights when temps were in 50s and 60s I only wore a long sleeve shirt under it.

great UL piece of gear

[Wise Old Owl]

Stormcrow made my quilts, I added a black side to absorb sun after a storm in case it got some wet.

http://www.hammockgear.com/

[burrito]

wilderness logics 45* wieghs 15oz, great company to deal with, i also have quilts by jacks r better and lieghlo, love my lieghlo winter quilt .
all these companies have been great to do buisiness with and made in usa

[SCRUB HIKER]

I'm assuming you're a ground-dweller and not a hammock camper? My answer applies to ground-dwellers.

I have a GoLite 3-season quilt (out of stock right now, oddly) and I love it. It's rated to 20 degrees, which I've found accurate. I got it last summer and so far I've used it for everything from warmish Eastern hiking (nighttime lows in the 60s) in Virginia in September to snowshoe-camping at Crater Lake (nighttime temps in the tent 20-25) a few weeks ago. I don't have any negatives to say about it yet.

Some people don't like quilts because they say that when you toss and turn, it lets in draughts. I have never had a problem with this. I sleep in a pretty wide variety of positions, often wake up in a different configuration than I fell asleep in, and I've always slept soundly in my quilt and not woken up cold. My GoLite quilt--and most of the EnLIGHTened and Jacks R Better, as far as I remember--have a thin buckle-strap that you can slip underneath your sleeping pad at the chest level. In my experience, that strap has done a very nice job of keeping the quilt in place and making a toasty little cocoon between pad and quilt.

When it's cold, I've just worn a hooded garment to sleep, plus a balaclava on that snow-camping trip. Not even a wool hat. I've been fine down below freezing with that setup. I wore a thin cotton hoodie while car-camping in September when it froze overnight and I was fine. I'm usually an average-warmth sleeper, by the way--not particularly warm.

This old thread (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?86544-Sleeping-Bag-v-Quilt/page2) talks about some quilt pros and cons if you're interested. In it, I mention that I am now "an evangelical convert" to quilts, which still holds true. I'm probably not buying another mummy bag again unless I get into winter or mountaineering expeditions.

[garlic08]

Ditto on the Enlightened Equipment Revelation X, mine is a 30 degree bag. Packs small is super light, ratings are very accurate. Another good thing...Made in the USA!

Ditto all this, I got the same one and love it. One other plus--it stays cleaner than a bag.

[MuddyWaters]

I have a EE 40F quilt. No overstuff. Summer use intended. Works great.
Normally around 40F-45F its great.

Used it down to 28F with just longjohns and light fleece hoody top, fleece beanie, on a very thin CC pad.(7.5oz)
I was a bit cold, but not too cold to sleep. It was a test to see how far I could push it. It was about as far as Id want to really. I was satisfied an occassional night in high 20s would be tolerable with it. Normally I would have donned rain gear and puff and gloves if actually trying to stay warm.

[Maui Rhino]

I made my quilt using 6oz Climashiled Apex and 70d uncoated nylon (the same as used in a military poncho liner) Total cost was around $120 for materials. The Climashield Apex is a continious filament insulation so it does not need baffling to keep it in place. It is rated for ~25 degrees. I don't have much cold weather testing opportunities in Maui, but on a camping trip in Haleakala National Park, it hit 36 degrees and I was quite warm.

[burrito]

i am primaraly a hammock camper , but do a fair amount of hiking above treeline in the sierras and the rockies, for these trips i use a big agnes air core pad that i have glued a 12" piece of velcro to each edge,
all my guilts have velcro sewn to them to correspond with the pad, this allows me to get a really nice seal on the pad and keep out drafts.
backpacking quilts tend to be a little wider at the top to allow for ground sleeping, but my hammock quilts work well for me with this set up.

[blue indian]

+1 on the golite quilt. I am a convert. I even use it at home

[QiWiz]

I am a fan of the JRB quilts. I have a Shenadoah when it's warmer and a Sierra Sniveller that I can take into the upper 20's with some worn layers. Below 25-28 degrees, I switch to a down bag.