Extra insulation – jacket&pants vs quilt

That is my experience when trying such. Right now I am going to a jacket and half bag combo. http://blog.owareusa.com/2015/10/07/half-bagoverbag/

Would you have the insulated clothing with you anyways?

My experience says yes. However, Since my "coldest" bag is a 30° quilt, when I expect lower I wear down pants and jacket. Works fine, but not as well as my former bag which was rated lower.

Todd, this is my situation as well, and I'm wondering would it not be more weight and warmth effective to bring an extra quilt instead of jacket and pants? I suppose this will not work in very cold environments where you need both top and bottom insulation not only for sleeping but also for pottering around the camp. But for milder cold weather were you tend to put on warm pants only when sleeping, could something like MLD Spirit 48°, with poncho head slot, work? Worn as a poncho in camp it will keep the core body warm (and one's bum!) which hopefully could be sufficient. Once its time for bed its a full size quilt which in addition to your main quilt will keep you warmer than the same insulation jacket and pants, and is lighter. I thought about David's approach too, to bring a "shorty" quilt and a jacket. But the weight would increase in this case, it would be almost the same as bringing jacket and pants combo.

"….all else being equal mittens are warmer because they allow body parts (fingers) to share heat…" I would agree with this analogy only if "all else is equal", but I don't believe that both methods are quite the same.. Personally, I have found that supplementing my lightweight quilt with a down pants/jacket combo has been very advantageous, primarily due to the fact that I don't loose as much heat "turning" in my quilt while sleeping, since more of my core heat is being maintained within the down jacket & pants. I believe that heat loss due to convection is something which is difficult to quantify for sleeping bag manufacturers, especially for makers of semi retangular quilts. The other thing I like about the "jacket/pants" method is I can also better regulate the amount of insulation within this type of system than with simply bringing a warmer quilt. (Wear pants, wear jacket, vest only, hood only, etc…) So, my analogy is its like wearing a pair of gloves under some overmitts. While the mitts primarily keep my hands "mostly" warm, I can pull them off when I need the extra dexterity, without freezing my fingers off.

I think much of the answer depends on shell weights. For example, the 6.2 oz MB EX-Lite Anorak (medium) has a 4 oz 7d shell filled with 2.2 oz of 900 fill down. You get a lot of warmth per weight. Same with the Borahgear down pants. They weigh 5.5 oz (medium) with a 10d shell and 3 oz of 800 fill down. So for the 2 items you get 5.2 oz of down with 11.7 oz total weight. That's about what the Spirit 48 quilt weighs. On the other hand if you're packing clothes with a 12d or heavier shell, then I believe the Spirit Quilt with poncho head slot would be more efficient. Jacks R Better makes a down quilt with head slot, but they use heavy 30d material. Too bad somebody doesn't make a down head slot quilt with a 10d shell.

Re shell weights of course but we need to compare like for like, 10d with 10d, down with down, synthetic with synthetic.. In practice such comparisons may not exist but as you say, this is only until somebody makes the product… Caesar I see your point about turning, the guy that did Winter PCT used two quilts and found a bivy useful in containing the “sandwhich”.. The regulation though should be quite easy with a quilt, its like an extra blanket after all. Feel too hot move it aside, core body getting colder pull it across your chest, feet getting colder pull it back over your legs..

"I'm wondering would it not be more weight and warmth effective to bring an extra quilt instead of jacket and pants?" As long as the dimensions of the "over" quilt are larger than the outer dimensions of your main quilt, it will work well to keep you warm. I like to spend time in camp most evenings – and for that the down pants sure are nice!!! Pure luxurious warmth. Just don't sit down without a sitpad or you can easily damage delicate fabrics.