Traditional sleeping bag vs quilts.

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AlmostThere
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Re: Traditional sleeping bag vs quilts.

Post by AlmostThere »

Hats work. I used hats before I started using quilts.

CANNOT use a mummy bag hood, no matter what - I thrashed and smothered in them. CANNOT stand being twisted up inside a mummy bag. The bag has to be big enough to thrash in, which defeats the purpose of it. HATE zippers. Quilts were like the epiphany of my backpacking life. Without them I would not still be going. There's absolutely no way I could be trapped in a mummy that much.

Strangely, the more comfortable I am, the less I move at night - in a hammock I slept 10 hours once, all the way through, without waking.

That cat has no claws. The worst thing she can do is shed - which doesn't stick to the quilt. It may be the only thing in the house that doesn't have cat hair on it... even things she never touches accumulate cat hair.
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longri
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Re: Traditional sleeping bag vs quilts.

Post by longri »

rlown wrote:I have no hair and I do sometimes choke the badger down around my head.
I can't quite figure out what this means but it sounds funny.
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longri
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Re: Traditional sleeping bag vs quilts.

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AlmostThere wrote:CANNOT use a mummy bag hood, no matter what - I thrashed and smothered in them. CANNOT stand being twisted up inside a mummy bag. The bag has to be big enough to thrash in, which defeats the purpose of it. HATE zippers.
Is this -- the constraints of mummy, hood and zipper -- the main reason quilts are popular?
Or is it mainly a question of fashion?
Or could there be a weight advantage?
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AlmostThere
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Re: Traditional sleeping bag vs quilts.

Post by AlmostThere »

longri wrote:
AlmostThere wrote:CANNOT use a mummy bag hood, no matter what - I thrashed and smothered in them. CANNOT stand being twisted up inside a mummy bag. The bag has to be big enough to thrash in, which defeats the purpose of it. HATE zippers.
Is this -- the constraints of mummy, hood and zipper -- the main reason quilts are popular?
Or is it mainly a question of fashion?
Or could there be a weight advantage?
Most people try quilts for the weight loss - some people seem to collect them. Were I to splurge, I would order up a custom Nunatuk quilt, in a heartbeat.

For me I am a slave of function. They work better than bags for me, and didn't cost me as much, even though I have two for simultaneous use with a hammock. I also have a dedicated 0 degree under quilt - 3/4 length, intended to use with a pad in the hammock - that has seen very little use, since it was purchased when I (like so many sleeping bag users) labored under the apprehension that leads folks to go 0 degree "just in case" (a byproduct of having cheap bags that won't cut it at the rated temp).

I don't care about re-tucking the quilt. I prefer the freedom of being able to get the heck out of the tent in a hurry, if I need to. One ridiculous episode of a stuck zipper and having to pee and bam! instant buy-in to quilts, forever.

My first quilt was a Ray Way - still have it. It gets loaned to people who want to try quilts. It is the same dimensions as a JRB save for the draft stopper edging.

I suppose for $580 I could have a Western Mountaineering - but it would not do all the things the quilts do - it won't be top quilt and under quilt with a hammock down the middle, to keep me off the ground. It won't be a queen sized comforter. It won't let me cut it in half for when I sleep on the ground. It won't let me open it out totally flat. It won't (with one quilt, this is possible) pack down to smaller than a typical kickball and fit in a corner of the pack with room to spare at the bottom for the sleeping pad and my down jacket.

Function is pretty much all I look at, with some gear. I am too accustomed to multi functionality to give it up for a one trick sleeping bag. Even if it's as nice a bag as a Western Mountaineering. I may, someday, spring for a winter WM bag and sell the heavy Marmot Never Winter. But for $145 that was a good compromise for the single snow trip per year I manage to do, and a decent price for a bag I intended to potentially abuse ala Search and Rescue. The Marmot is too big for me, but it gets filled with extra clothes and things I don't want frozen at night including my bagged boots. And I stuff things in the hood and use it as a pillow, since claustrophobia demands that I never try to kill myself again by actually using it as a hood - a balaclava and wool cap are my insulation. I do somehow manage to close down the chest baffle for warmth's sake, but I always sleep on my side, always move around inside it a lot, and usually pair it with an Exped DM 9 - overkill, but eh, I am a cold sleeper and dislike the chill and the feel of stacked pads.
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Re: Traditional sleeping bag vs quilts.

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longri wrote:
AlmostThere wrote:CANNOT use a mummy bag hood, no matter what - I thrashed and smothered in them. CANNOT stand being twisted up inside a mummy bag. The bag has to be big enough to thrash in, which defeats the purpose of it. HATE zippers.
Is this -- the constraints of mummy, hood and zipper -- the main reason quilts are popular?
Or is it mainly a question of fashion?
Or could there be a weight advantage?
I agree with everything AlmostThere wrote. I'll add a big part that pushed me into quilts was your reason #1. I always get a much bigger bag than I need in order to toss and turn which means more weight, still not totally comfortable, more bulk. Now I got use to sleeping with my bags unzipped but hated laying on the zipper. Once I bought a quilt it solved all my issues I've had with mummy bags. I don't use the straps but button up the bottom half if it gets cold. I got a wide quilt so wrapping up when the temp drops is easy. I'm thinking of getting a 40* quilt in addition to my 20*. I think I could handle most temps with either one or a combo of both.
I'm no suture for my future.
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longri
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Re: Traditional sleeping bag vs quilts.

Post by longri »

AlmostThere wrote:Most people try quilts for the weight loss - some people seem to collect them. Were I to splurge, I would order up a custom Nunatuk quilt, in a heartbeat.
If you just look at the manufacturer's numbers -- questionable as they always are -- the Nunatuk 32°F bags are pretty close to the same weight (but more expensive) as the 32°F Western Mountaineering mummy bags.

AlmostThere wrote:Function is pretty much all I look at, with some gear. I am too accustomed to multi functionality to give it up for a one trick sleeping bag. Even if it's as nice a bag as a Western Mountaineering. I may, someday, spring for a winter WM bag and sell the heavy Marmot Never Winter.
That may be true for hammock camping but for tent camping it's the other way around. A mummy bag with a full zipper can be a quilt, albeit a heavier than necessary quilt. But a quilt can never be a mummy bag with an integral hood.

AlmostThere wrote:I suppose for $580 I could have a Western Mountaineering - but it would not do all the things the quilts do - it won't be top quilt and under quilt with a hammock down the middle, to keep me off the ground. It won't be a queen sized comforter. It won't let me cut it in half for when I sleep on the ground. It won't let me open it out totally flat. It won't (with one quilt, this is possible) pack down to smaller than a typical kickball and fit in a corner of the pack with room to spare at the bottom for the sleeping pad and my down jacket.
Prices for quilts and bags of comparable temperature ratings aren't that far apart. A Nunatek quilt will cost you more than a Western bag of the same rating. Does stuff size vary that much? A 5°F Nunatek quilt for a 6'0" person stuffs to 7x18 inches whereas a 5°F WM bag stuffs to 8x17 inches. That would be only 23% more volume -- if the numbers were exact.

AlmostThere wrote:One ridiculous episode of a stuck zipper and having to pee and bam! instant buy-in to quilts, forever.
Also a good reason to switch to pants with elastic waistbands.
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Re: Traditional sleeping bag vs quilts.

Post by Rockchucker »

Enlighten equipment a numbers are spot on according to my scale so my 20* wide is 22 oz and at the time cost 170$ now they use duck down and cost a bit more 210$. Way cheaper than WM, but I'm not bashing WM,their bags are awesome, great quality, fabric, pack weight and size. Hard to beat. I want one for 0* temps ..... Maybe one day!
I'm no suture for my future.
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Re: Traditional sleeping bag vs quilts.

Post by Wandering Daisy »

You have to tolerate a fully cinched up hood on a sleeping bag to get the maximum warmth from it. If you simply want to leave the top open, a quilt may be just as warm. Another option is an "elephants foot" and down hooded jacket. You can use a lighter down jacket for summer, and an expedition jacket for shoulder seasons. An elephants foot is a half sleeping bag that you cinch around your waist. Feathered Friends will make one to fit (custom order). My husband uses this method because he hates to be confined. And, you can wear the jacket on cold mornings and in the evening!
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AlmostThere
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Re: Traditional sleeping bag vs quilts.

Post by AlmostThere »

A single JRB 3 season quilt is 240 - not bad for a 20 oz down item that keeps me that warm.

And I have no need of a replacement any time soon.

Don't care about the weight as much as I care about the function - I find that using a sleeping bag as a quilt ain't the same, as you are then either sleeping on the zipper or not tucked in - and zipper wear in a nylon hammock? on a NeoAir? Nope. Not doing that.

I don't need a hood. I never used one, never will. That's what hats are for. And you can't use the mummy bag hood while you're out hiking around - hats are multi-purpose, too.

If you spend 2 seconds kicking off the quilt, you don't need an elastic waistband - you can get out of the tent without fighting your way out of a twisted up tube of fabric first. If you're in a hammock, it's even less of a problem - unless there's bugs about I don't even zip the bug net shut, just swing the legs out and walk off into the trees.
Last edited by AlmostThere on Tue Nov 12, 2013 9:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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longri
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Re: Traditional sleeping bag vs quilts.

Post by longri »

Enlightened does have very competitive prices. Their 850 fill quilts are significantly cheaper than a comparably rated Western sleeping bag. It looks like good stuff. My homemade quilt was cheaper (ignoring my labor time) and lighter in weight, but not by very much.

Again, as Daisy suggests and AlmostThere reiterates, it seems that some people just hate to be mummified. I always find it comforting to be snuggled in a tight bag zippered up and with a hood all cinched down when it's really cold. Maybe I got stuck at one of Freud's or Piaget's earlier stages of development.
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