UKC

Does anyone use a quilt instead of a sleeping bag? Pros and cons?

I'm trying to improve how I sleep in a tent and considering trying a quilt. I find sleeping bags restrictive for my preferred sleeping positions.

My next trip is mountain bike touring in Kyrgyzstan. We are likely to have multiple nights between 3000m and 4000m so I will need something that can go a little below freezing.

Any recommendations?

Do you have some kind of sheet for you sleeping mat?

Also... Has anyone had any joy with an inflatable pillow?

Thanks

Can't really comment on quilts by themselves. I have a very lightweight down one that I sometimes take with me to increase the rating of my sleeping bag and fill 'dead' space in it. It also doubles up as a down poncho for an extra layer in the evenings. But I sleep too cold to use one on its own.

I do use an inflatable pillow - I have a tiny MontBell one and was recently gifted a lightweight Sea to Summit one. I guess I could stuff a fleece in a drysack, but the pillow is my luxury item and for me it's worth the extra 50g for the comfort. It can be a wee bit annoying if it slips off my sleeping mat as the different makes mean I can't easily secure the pillow to the mat, but it's a minor price to pay for the comfort of having a decent pillow.

Thanks Kate

So I've been mostly using a quilt for the summer months here in the Nordics. Not sure which model (prolly one that they don't offer anymore... Auris or something like that). And I have also been using regular sleeping bags for well over 20 years (some rather lightweight ones, last such was the Haglöfs LIM +5, which is also no longer available). Sleeping in a tent, or a hammock... and a few nights also in the car and beneath the stars.

So in short, with a proper sleeping pad (in a tent), I do feel that a quilt offer the same or more warmth for comparable weight. But when ti starts to dib below freezing (a few late fall trips), a sleeping bag might be more useful, especially since they have a hood and you and close them up so no airleaks happen.

The great thing with quilts is, that if it is warm dumping excess heat is really easy, just place yer feet out... no need to unzip anything (and in case of my LIM +5, it was impossible, as it only had a half-zip).

So yeah, I'd say up to +5 a quilt is a rather nice option... but if it is colder, then perhaps a sleeping bag is more suited. Up to that temp range, a quilt will be lighter and pack smaller. Oh, and the nice thing is that you can also use it when it's colder on top of yer sleeping bag for some extra insulation (if it is a down one, do be careful with condensation though).

Good knowledge. Thanks

Well, I was in your situation 7 years ago, so i bought a sewing machine and made one.  Followed by a few redesigns as my experience grew.

1)  a big quilt works just fine but it does take up precious volume, especially on a bike.

2)  when i tried to make a narrower quilt, it didn't work at all.  Every time i rolled over, it let cold air in.  As my friends said, " BAG Dave, sleeping BAG!"

3)  the solution to point 2 is (a) to make the bag a bit wider and (b) to have a lower shell that turns the open quilt into a bag.  The shell keep the draughts out.

4)  i put my mat inside the quilt/bag.  That stops me rolling off it. 

5)  i use a silk liner for greater comfort.

6)  your head and shoulders can get cool.  I use a fleece balaclava to keep my head warm - a hat will come off quite quickly.  A merino shirt sorts of the shoulder/arm problem.

My mk.4 quilt is excellent.  I wouldn't go bag to a conventional bag for bike touring.

I went down the quilt option and ended up selling it after 1 use. Mainly because I move about a lot during the night and found that I had draughts waking me in the night. Sold it and got a hoodless sleeping bag to maintain the lightweight aspect of the sleep system.  

Also remember that you really need to upgrade your sleeping mat in conjunction with a quilt to maintain its effectiveness.  

I've got a Thermarest Vesper quilt advertised as comfortable to -6c. It's a good piece of kit but I suspect strongly they're over claiming, probably about 0c really. I'm happy with what I use it for. I just wear a T shirt against the mat unless I need more warmth. 

I don't carry a pillow I use an OMM Rotor smock which stuffs into the lined handwarmer pocket, very comfy.

Regarding a camping pillow: I roll up my lightweight insulated jacket in its hood and use it as a pillow. To me it’s soft to the skin and just the right thickness. 

I've been using an Enlightened Equipment Revelation quilt bought back in 2016. 
A lavish spend, but I swear by it. My use case has been spring/summer/autumn in the Alps (vol-biv paragliding), sometimes around 3,000m but usually less, with a sleeping mat (ranging from foam to a thermarest neo-air). So not as cold as your conditions are likely to be, but down to a few degrees C at times.  

I also find sleeping bags restrictive and uncomfortable, hence the move. The quilt solves them all. The Revelation has elastic bands that clip to the side and run underneath the sleep mat, so you are snug while also giving room to slide outside f you are too warm. I imagine that is pretty standard. I can see the advantage in a sheet for the mat given you may end up wrapping the sides of the quilt under a sleep mat, but as I've been in a tent I've never done so.

All personal taste of course, but I'm not sure I could return to a sleeping bag and have had no issues whatsoever with the quilt - solves all my sleeping bag issues while being more compact, lighter, just as warm and far more comfortable.  Also handy as a blanket for home.

Despite being a bit of a gear freak I’ve never experimented with down quilts. I’ve got a super lightweight bag for the summer/desert/friend’s houses and a ridiculously old heavy weight one for the winter. What’s key to both is that they have full-length zips so I’ll often open them out and use them as quilts. I has to get pretty cold for me to actually do a bag up. 

Many quilts including my TR mentioned above are not fully flat but have a foot box making them useless for spreading over your bed for extra insulation. Besides they are made of lightweight slippery material and unlikely to remain in place overnight! 

i agree with this. Use a sleeping bag rated for the temperatures that you expect that has a full length zip, and take a fleecy liner. That's what I did trekking in Nepal. Fleecy liner on the warm nights, unzipped as it got cooler, one or both at 4000 metres.

Last year bike touring I slept 30+ nights on one tour using ,
Alpkit Cloud 9 https://alpkit.com/products/cloud-nine?variant=33021527752809
Alpkit Cloud Base https://alpkit.com/products/cloud-base?variant=40689877057641
Alpkit Drift Pillow

and slept better than I ever have before when camping, I also use for huts a Decathlon Cotton Rectangular Bag https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/cotton-sleeping-bag-for-camping-arpenaz-0deg-... and sleep very well.

The common feature here is the rectangular bag, as I just do not get on with mummy shaped bags. The Cloud 9 would not be warm enough for what you are doing, it was not warm enough in the Outer Hebrides last April, but I would suggest its worth seeing if you can get a rectangular bag for colder weather, possibly with a hood system like on the Decathlon, which I have used in very cold huts, but probably not minus temps.

I'm a big fan of quilts and have used a Nunatak quilt (supposedly good to ~7C) for virtually everything for the past half a decade. Has worked perfectly well for bivying at 3000m. Being able to strap it to your sleeping mat will hugely improve the warmth, in my experience.

I've done multi day ultras, where every gram counts. I've even got a cut down tooth brush. I take an inflatable pillow as a luxury item as well. I've reasoned that if it gets me 5 minutes extra sleep, its paid for the extra weight many times over. I could use a jacket or jumper in a stuff sack, but I now have the option of wearing those if its cold.

My wife doesn't get on with mummy sleeping bags and, after the suggestion from a friend, now takes a sheet over the sleeping mat and a down duvet off the spare bed and loves it.

But we're talking summer family car camping, not lightweight high-altitude touring.

Another suggestion is something like the old Mountain Equipment "Sleepwalker" bags, which have a very elastic middle section, so are less restrictive than a standard mummy bag. No longer available, though, so you'd need to look at eBay for one.

I've got an inflatable pillow from Mountain Warehouse. It's ok, but a bit thin - you also need to get the pressure in it just right.

My other pillow solution is a Thermarest fleece pillowcase that you just stuff with spare clothes.

The Revelation is tapered but doesn't have a foot box, so has that going for it.
But given it is intended as super light-weight, the slippy texture means it can certainly slide off.
Though I have to say I've never found that to be an issue in practice and, being both wide and through use of the elastic bands, it always seems to be in place in the morning - unlike sleeping bags that are usually corkscrewed around me by the time I wake up. 

Also have a EE Rev from around that same period and love it. I slept in it for 5 months on the Appalachain Trail and it was good from -18 (though I did wear my micro puffy that night!) to >30. I paired it with a thermarest and never had any issues with cold spots or it falling off, as it has a footbox and straps that go around your pad to keep it in place. Have used it in the UK too on occasion (e.g. Pennine Way) but I don't tend to do many multi-day trips where I'm carrying all my stuff so it doesn't get much use now. If I'm car-camping I'll just chuck my big synthetic bag in.

To clarify on the above as it contradicts Andsomemore - It has a footbox but it is created with poppers and an elasticated draw-string. The quilt can be opened completely rectangular and flat but I found to be very effective for keeping my feet warm with the footbox in use. 

I'd always turned my nose up at any kind of proper pillow option, in favour of stuffing various combos of clothing into some kind of bag. Which did the job reasonably well, and I would probably go back to it for a really light trip. But for a recent sea-kayaking trip (so weight/space not too much of an issue as you're not carrying it up hills and the storage is quite spacious), I brought a Nemo Fillo* and it was a revelation. With the improvised options, I'd sleep reasonably well, but they'd inevitably shift around so that at various points in the night I'd be woken by a seam/toggle/zip pressing into my face or the pillow would have escaped entirely. The Fillo is great and definitely improved my sleep. The majority of the volume comes from inflating, so it packs down fairly small, but it also has a cushioned layer which makes it more comfortable and easier to get the pressure right on the inflation. The overall size when you're using it is also about perfect, in my opinion.

*On the recommendation from OutdoorGearLab's comparison review:

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/camping-and-hiking/camping-pillow/ne...

I found that if you put a pillow on top ot your mat, it tends to go for a walk during the night. Putting it UNDER the mat seems to make it much less mobile.

I also put a fleece jacket over the end of the mat, to make it feel more confortable.

I use a sea to summit inflatable pillow and its fast become a bit of kit I'll take on every trip. Weighs nothing and packs down to the size of a Zippo, but improves my sleep massively 

Having used many different types, including the 'fleece in the sleeping bag stuff sac', I rate this one:

https://www.expeduk.com/products/ultra-pillow

Have used it on mountain marathons as well.

I use a quilt down to about +5, a sleeping bag below that. Partly that's because my quilt is not rated as cold as my sleeping bag, but I suspect even with a warmer quilt, at colder temperatures the lack of a hood on a quilt would become more of an issue.

But for warmer weather I really love my quilt - incredibly compact and light, freedom to stick arms or legs out when it's really warm, cosy strapped down to my sleeping mat when it's cooler. I do need to wear a hat with the quilt in cooler conditions, though, which is why I think I'd miss the sleeping bag hood if it was really cold. 

Ray Jardine (inventor of the friend) is  a great advocate of quilts in preference to bags, read his in depth views here: https://www.rayjardine.com/ray-way/Quilt-Kit/index.php

He only sells kits to make your own quilts rather than finished quilts, so you'll need to get your sewing machine out if you want one of his designs............

Thanks everyone for input. Much appreciated 

I've also been increasingly finding that I don't sleep well in a sleeping bag when backpacking. I'm not sure why: perhaps bags are getting narrower or that I'm getting less narrow. I'm also increasingly convinced that good sleep is the main factor that helps me enjoy the outdoors on multi-day trips.

I had considered a quilt but was put off by the possibility that it might not work for me and being left with something I couldn't easily re-sell. What does work (so far) is simply fully unzipping whatever bag I'm using and just sleeping under it - directly on top of the pad. I find that the foot box forms a natural "peak" over my feet and can be kind of hooked over the foot-end of the pad. I sleep slightly warm and heat regulation works well - with the flexibility that I can revert to using the bag as a bag if necessary. The pad I use, a neoair xlite, never seems to feel cold or clammy, even in freezing conditions, and I can usual feel my body heat radiating back at me.

As for pillows: I find inflatables too hard and they have a tendency to move around - even those with sticky pads on the underside. I usually just turn a zipped-up fleece top inside-out, stuff the top half with my clothes, and tuck the bottom half inside to form a pillow. I had a Thermorest Trekker pillowcase that was expensive but worked quite well, and the brushed material reduced movement, but I managed to lose it.

tldr: its the "sleep system" not the bag or quilt on its own

Just a thought, but perheps you can find a cheap'ish outdoorsy down comforter and try that instead of the sleeping bag. If it doesn't work, you can still use it as a comforter back home (on the patio, or just when it happens to be chilly outside).

Something like this: 
https://www.amazon.com/KingCamp-Lightweight-Waterproof-Packable-Alternative...

Yep totally agree about needing sleep for enjoyment but also recovery.

Sleeping bag open is the obvious thing to try but I guess Vs a quilt it's more material and more weight... But as you say if it gets really cold you can revert to a bag.

Mountain equipment extra wide bag. I get restless legs and this has made sleeping so, so much more enjoyable. Also I use an xtherm deflated a bit so I don't get a dead hip.

I use an inflatable pillow (sea to summit) but deflated slightly and with a stuff sack lightly stuffed with clothes beneath as a sort of nest. The extra height and stability of having some clothes below the inflatable pillow make a huge difference.

I've been using a MacPac quilt for many years now - I liked it so much I bought another even though the first is still going strong. It's wide enough that I can move around without getting draughts, I can toggle it together and cinch it up to make it into a sleeping "tube" when it gets really cold, packs down tiny and I love it.  Haven't used a traditional sleeping bag except for very cold conditions since I got it.