Well, I got my Katabatic Alsek quilt in the mail a couple days ago. Surprisingly fast delivery. Overall I'm quite impressed with the quilt. The loft of the quilt is amazing for its weight. On my scales, the quilt weighed in at 20.8 oz for the regular size (sans attachment cords and stuff sack). It is significantly loftier than my WM Summerlite and my MH Phantom 32, which are similar in overall weight.
Now on to the attachment system. This, apparently, is the real virtue (or vice?) of the quilt that separates it from other quilts. After playing around with it for an hour or so, I found that it seems to work well, although a bit fiddly. Basically, you attach two cords around your pad, and the attachment thingies on the quilt hook onto the cords so that you can adjust the fit as needed. In practice, I found that you'll want to have the bottom attachment and one side of the top secured. Then climb in and secure the other top attachment. But how to secure the neck? There are two snaps there and they are quite hard to close. I'm not sure how you would manage this while lying in the bag. Also, It's a bit constricting (frightening for claustrophobes like me) to being lying on your back and have the neck portion of your quilt closed around your neck with the closure underneath you. I suspect I'd only want to do this if it was downright freezing cold and comfort outweighed the possibility of quick exit. I think personally something like velcro would be better for easier ingress and egress.
The real worry, though, is the attachment system in relation to my pad. Now I use an NeoAir Xtherm, and there are two main concerns here:
(i) The cords that wrap around the pad act as a tourniquet, and I fear that a puncture of some sort will be induced by the pressure of the thin cord with my body weight on the pad. Thoughts?
(ii) The cord attachment thingies on the quilt itself have rather sharp corners, and I'm concerned that, once again, they will puncture the pad. The material of the NeoAir line, particularly on top of the bad, isn't the thickest out there, and having a sharp object nearby isn't the best idea. From all appearances, the thingies are plastic but they do feel like metal, or at least have a similar kind of pointiness.
In summary, I think the quilt attachment system is quite ingenious, although will take some fiddling to get right. I tried ditching the cords and thingies and attempted to use the grosgrain ribbon closures instead (as found on most quilts), but found it too complicated. Trying to slide one's body into a quilt with multiple closures underneath just isn't worth it, to my mind. To put the point slightly differently, I can't imagine using any other quilt that doesn't attach in some way to your pad as the Katabatic system does. Indeed, I'm now considering rigging a similar system for all my sleeping bags. It's just nice to have your sleeping pad attached to your pad so you don't roll off at night. It's just figuring out how to overcome the aforementioned difficulties that presents a challenge.
Thoughts?
