Arc Alpinist quilt vs Alpinist bag

Also if you guys have any other suggestions for a bag or quilt rated for 20 degrees (F) that weighs 21 oz or less, let me know.

Interesting. I hadn't noticed the alpinist bag before… only the quilt. That's pretty impressive. The bag is substantially lighter than the WM equivalent. Anyone know whether it has a neck baffle? I'm guessing not at that weight.

The Golite ultra quilt is much cheaper than any Nunatak offering and is less than 20oz.

The Ultra 20 is also closer to a 30-35 degree quilt.

GoLite uses less down than Nunatak (all stats per manufactur websites).

GoLite: Short, 257g/9.06oz; Medium, 270g/9.52oz; Large, 297g/10.47oz
Nunatak: Small, 10oz; Medium; 11 oz; Large 12 oz.

Also, Nunatak is a custom shop and will work with you on items. My understanding is most folks get a 2 oz overfill of down in their Nunatak quilts. This is not available on a GoLite.

Pay for what you get.

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@Chris: Even the newer ones? I thought the early production runs were notably underfilled, but that has been corrected. Clarification?

Shameless plug for one I have for sale here.

I had a newer one and was chilly into the low 30s despite being a warm sleeper. I've read similar experiences from other members with newer ones as well. I'm pretty sure they have a new unreleased model they're working on though which will hopefully correct it.

Kinda what I thought. My local gear shop has a short on sale for 40% off, but I haven't taken a look at it yet and I'm skeptical due to the quilt's current reputation.

That said, I'd like to see GoLite put out a good down (or even synthetic) quilt and get back to its roots. But alas (see 2009 Jam2, Pinnacle, etc.).

Sorry for sidetracking folks. I'm still curious about the Alpinist bag.

How about the JRB quilts? The Hudson River @20 oz. or the No Sniveller @21 oz. would fit the bill. The No Sniveller is unique and extremely versatile, and a great deal at $259. Check out the reviews here, pretty much everyone raves about this quilt. For a bag, the WM Summerlite seems to be the standard-bearer at 19 oz. Full zip at that weight too. If you don't move around much, the Highlite is about as warm and only 16 oz.! The Highlite does have longitudinal sewn-thru baffle seams though, so maybe not quite as warm, and it only has a half-zip.

Scott,
Well I already own the Highlite and I love it. I need a bag rated for 20 degrees (F) though. I believe the quilts you mentioned are more in the 30 degree range. The reason the Alpinist appealed to me is that it's a mummy style bag, which should keep you warmer than a quilt and it is still pretty much just as light as a quilt.

As far as the Golite Ultra is concerned, from the reviews I have read, I don't believe that quilt is true to it's rating of 20 degrees.

-Sid

Hi Sid,

Didn't notice the need for 20F warmth, but how about a Summerlite with the overfill option? This would give you 11 oz. of down in the same dimension bag as the Highlite. (I'm assuming this can be done as WM lists an overfill option for the Megalite but not the Summerlite). The Summerlite with it's continuous baffles would also allow you to shake alot of the down to the top; I'm thinking you should be able to get 2.5" top layer loft, maybe more if you can get overfill.

At the same time, the Nunatak center-zip bags really interest me; I can see the center-zip making the bag more functional for down-time around camp. Choices, choices …

I don't think WM gives the option for overfill with the Summerlite. If you look at the pricing page of their website:
http://www.westernmountaineering.com/index.cfm?section=Pricing
You can see that they don't list a price for overfill with the Summerlite. I presume that means they don't offer overfill for that bag.

I really wish someone who owns the Alpinist bag would speak up, I simply cannot find a single review of this bag anywhere.

-Sid

Although it is not a standard option, it is apparently possible to get a summerlite with overfill. I can't find the PM in my email at the moment, but I exchanged messages with someone who had one…. thing is, he is actually a dealer for WM. I think if you ask a good dealer they should be able to arrange it.

I'd like to hear a review of the alpinist bag too!

Ashley,

I believe the member you are thinking of with the overfilled Summerlite is Brad Groves. I think he mentioned that in a couple threads about very light bags. He is a WM dealer and has had good input about them many times.

-Tim

So I'm guessing the temp rating for the Summerlite with overfill would be about 20 degrees (F), right?
I should talk to Brad Groves and see if he can get me a Summerlite with overfill.

Yep it was Brad.

I'm not sure how much overfill you would need to get to 20 degrees. Keep in mind that if you put the same amount of down into a summerlite you're not quite going to end up with an lighter 'WM ultralite' (20F). The extra weight in the ultralite goes towards very useful features like a better hood and a neck baffle. I like to have a neck baffle for temps below freezing but YMMV (you could always install a MYOG version).

If you do end up getting a summerlite with overfill please report back and let us know how it performs (and the weight!).

Cheers, A

Hi all, just a couple of observations:

A medium (6 ft) nunatak alpinist (sleeping bag, not quilt) has 11.5 ounces of high quality down fill and is billed as a 20 degree F bag.

A medium WM summerlite has 10 ounces and is rated by Western Mountaineering to be a 32 degree bag (i use this bag).

The WM Ultralite has 16 ounces of down fill and is rated to 20 degrees F.

All of these bags have roughly similar girth/length dimensions, with the WM bags actually being slightly trimmer. This leads me to believe that "20 degree bag" means different things to WM and nunatak. In my estimation, if the alpinist were rated using the same criteria as the WM bags it may be a 28 or 30 degree bag, based upon fill quantities.

Also, as was alluded to above, you'd have to add a heck of a lot of overfill to a Summerlite to end up with as much down as a WM Ultralite (6 ounces!).

Thoughts?

Matt

Good observation Matt.
Being that WM has a reputation for being true to their ratings, I am a lot more inclined to believe their ratings than I am when it comes to Nunatak bags and quilts. Basically this means if I was to get a 2 oz overfill on the Summerlite, I would have more down than a Nunatak Arc Alpinist quilt or Alpinist bag. Not only that, but the Summerlite uses 850 fill down rather than the 800 fill down used in the Nunatak products.
Another observation, the WM MegaLite has 12 oz down fill and it is rated at 30 degrees (F). With the 2 oz overfill, the Summerlite would also have 12 oz down fill. Does this mean the 2 oz overfill on the Summerlite would only give you a gain of 2 degrees? I would've thought it would give you at least 5 degrees more.

.

"the WM MegaLite has 12 oz down fill and it is rated at 30 degrees (F). With the 2 oz overfill, the Summerlite would also have 12 oz down fill. Does this mean the 2 oz overfill on the Summerlite would only give you a gain of 2 degrees?"

Sid –

The WM megalite has a 64" shoulder girth as compared to 59" on the Summerlite – On two bags with the same dimensions I assume you'd get much more than a 2 degree difference, but the megalite spreads the down over a larger girth, so i imagine the increase in loft and insulation is not as great as if two ounces of overfill were added to the Summerlite.

Matt

I went to Travel Country today and asked them if they are able to order a Summerlite with 2 oz overfill from WM and they said they could do it for an extra $18. I think I will get this for use in temps down in the low 20s (F). I will save some money this way since Nunatak is so expensive. I am confident this set up will keep me warmer than the Nunatak bag or quilt. Once I get this bag and test it out in Colorado I will report back with a review.

Great! Post some pics too!

I would think a summerlite with 2 oz overfill will get you an extra 3-4 degrees over the standard summerlite. That's based on the fact that the ultralite has 6-7oz more fill and is 12 degrees warmer. But with layering clothing you should be fine to get into the low twenties I should think.

Just to note… the MegaLite has a draft collar, which the SummerLite does not. It actually makes a difference. Other than that, width (and the relative fill difference) is the only difference.

Megalite draft collar? When? Where? Huh? Maybe mine is hiding.

It has a "top collar", but there is not that much extra down there as compared to a real draft collar.
The "top collar" looks like a slightly over stuffed baffle compared to the draft collars in the badger and versalite.