Jacks Are Better Quilts

[Dave Earhart]

So, which one would be good for -9?

[Tom Caldwell]

If you're not a warm sleeper, probably none of them. The baffles are spaced too widely, and the down fill is unimpressive

[Dave Earhart]

I figured as much, I am a warm sleeper but probably not warm enough

[Jason Elsworth]

Sierra Sniveller as it is the widest. Feedback on the JRB quilts is generally very positive. I haven't tried my No Sniveler enough yet to give a sound opinion, but it is a bit too narrow for me as a side sleeper.

[Tom Caldwell]

Just get a Megalite. It weighs less than my 1 oz overstuffed 25.9 oz (27.1 with stuff sack) Sierra Sniveller, and that includes a hood, zipper, and bottom. You can count on one to keep you warm at it's temperature rating w/o several pounds of insulating layers.

[Jacob Linton]

Apparently Tom had a bad experience with a JRB quilt and enjoys venting. Ummm I've had no quality issues with JRB and just received a High Sierra Sniveller that's well filled and very well constructed in my opinion. This quilt obviously isn't warm enough for you, but I've found their temperature ratings to be pretty accurate.

[Tom Caldwell]

"Apparently Tom had a bad experience with a JRB quilt and enjoys venting."

No, I don't enjoy venting.

[Lori P]

The three season quilts are good to the low 20F temps. They also have four season quilts. I would email them and see what they recommend for your application. The regular quilts are quite good for hammock users and the large quilts are what I would get for dedicated ground use.

I have found that while the JRB quilts are light and feel as though they shouldn't be very warm, they are in fact true to ratings suggested on the website – and I'm not a warm sleeper at all. As always, results depend on your comfort zone and personal preferences.

[Tom Caldwell]

I think one of the reasons they fail is the baffle design. Their baffles are spaces 40% farther apart than other leading bag and quilt makers, they are one of the few builders that do this. I think they are cutting corners. Also, the 1.1 oz nylon ripstop material is just an off the shelf product like any DIYer can purchase. The material is relatively heavy, which causes even more problems with lofting. They're made decently, but I don't think they could sell in a major retailer as a premium UL item, as they still look homemade with too many uneven dimensions and often coming in overweight. I'm not impressed. I was chilly at 50F in my Sierra Sniveller, which is rated to 25F.

[BlackHatGuy]

Agree with the positive posters — I have a Mt. Washington 3 for my hammock. Very well made, great customer service, and true to temp rating.

[Lori P]

In the past year and a half reading up over at hammock forums I have never seen a complaint about customer service or quality.

I'm wondering what the Jacks did when you told them about your experience, Tom. You did tell them, right?

[Tom Caldwell]

There's nothing that customer service could correct, it's just not that great of a product, and is just a lot of hype.

By the way, I have it for sale, if anyone thinks they are so great.

[Lori P]

So you don't even try to talk to them about it, slam the product across the forum, and don't even think about the fact that they have a great reputation among cottage industries in general… Sorry, dude, but if I were making a product and selling it, I'd want to know. If the quilt doesn't have adequate down, that's easy to fix.

Yours is the only complaint I have ever read about those quilts – and I read a lot of reviews and ask a lot of questions before I spend that much money on a piece of gear. You're basing your opinion of ALL JRB quilts everywhere on a single item and not bothering to talk to the Jacks about it – nice generalization and great way to handle things… not.

Sure, I'd have a Nunatuk in a heartbeat – but I would still be using the JRBs, and I look forward to decades of good service from them.

ETA: The Jacks have a guarantee. You might read it.

Selling a defective quilt to another backpacker – and that sounds like what you're describing here, a defective quilt – is probably not going to help you, the backpacker or the Jacks. And I think they would honestly want to help you with the problem.

[BlackHatGuy]

I have a couple of Nunataks. Love them, excellent quality, true to rating. Same for my JRB, as I said above. JRB under my hammock, Nunatak in my hammock (well, now there's that Tim Marshall cuben quilt in the mix….).

Don't doubt you got a quilt not to your liking Tom, and not to your expectations. It happens. But I disagree that the JRB quilts are overrated, or that they're anything but a quality product. And I think there's a whole lot of people who would agree with me, far more than would disagree, I think.

[Jack H.]

Some people seem to be aggressively attacking Tom for expressing his experience. I want to defend people's right to express negative opinions about gear. Yes, even cottage gear manufacturers. Often times the cottage industry is hailed as perfection, which is rarely the case.

I've seen one JRB quilt and thought it was merely OK.

[Lori P]

He's aggressively attacking a product and trying to sell it despite his belief that it's inadequate. I wanted to know if he had attempted to deal with the Jacks, because if he had rectified the problem with the quilt already and still not been satisfied, it influences any interest i might have in getting that particular item myself, whether from him or directly from the dealer. It sounds like a defective quilt to me.

[BlackHatGuy]

"I want to defend people's right to express negative opinions about gear."

Me too! Of course, I also want to defend peoples' right to disagree with someone's negative opinion. We must have, though, a different opinion as to what constitutes 'aggressive' and 'attacking.'

[Tom Caldwell]

"It sounds like a defective quilt to me."

No, it's just their standard quilt. I asked them about overfill, and they insisted that they are already overfilled. I did get an extra oz. They are okay, just not as good as the hype, IMO. I think that maybe I'm just a little tired of the hype. Quietly returning an item doesn't help the community of backpackers make wiser purchasing decisions, and what would the Jacks do with a like new quilt? I'm perfectly honest selling stuff, I'll be the first to tell buyers what I think about it. I have already been inconvenienced, so if I want to sell it, that's my right.

[Lori P]

Fair enough.

It's a new product… perhaps the new design isn't for everyone? I don't know that I would like the tapered cut. It would decrease the multi-functional aspect, and I like using either quilt under the hammock, or both if necessary.

[Tom Caldwell]

The tapered cut doesn't help it's ability to be used as an hammock underquilt, but I think it makes for a better quilt. That's why I bought it, I was excited that the Jacks are offering a tapered quilt at a better price than the competitor, and in stock w/o a long wait. I've read the reviews of JRB products and it convinced me that they must be alright. I have a local friend with a No-Sniveller (basically the same specs) and he has told me that there is no way the No-Sniv is warm at the Jacks rating. I should have listened to his experience, instead of the praises on the forums, who seem blinded when it comes to cottage makers. I did it to myself, by making the mistake of buying the quilt, so I'll sell it at a loss. It's not the first JRB product I've had, but it will probably be the last.

[Lori P]

I don't tend to blind easily… if there's one thing I want when I'm sleeping out it's warmth, and I am ALWAYS cold at 50F without a jacket. Was out in the snow the first weekend of October and slept well with a single 3 season JRB on the ground at 25F, which I hardly ever do (ground sleeping) as the hammock tends to be warmer for me – so it does surprise me to hear your experience. It doesn't surprise me that there are people in the world who find them (or any bag or quilt, for that matter) warmer or colder than expected, but being cold at 50F with a quilt of similar loft as mine just did not compute. So thank you for your patience with my questions.

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