New Feathered Friends Quilt

I think Edward brings up a good point, and that is having the footbox opening along with a full length zipper for flexibility in a wide temperature range. For people wanting those features in a "do it all" bag (and who may not be ready for/do not like quilts), I think this could have great appeal. I know I like the look of it.

I don't think there is marketing spin here. A blanket that can turn into a sleeping bag would be expected from a company that makes sleeping bags. A blanket that turns into a quilt would be expected from a company that produces quilts ( I.e. EE and MLD). Opening up a sleeping bag never gives the same effect as a quilt because of the proximity of both the zipper and the foot box. Close, however.

I thought the purpose of a quilt was you don't need insulation on the bottom, because it just gets squshed, so it's lighter weight

This bag is 62 inches wide. Quilts are maybe 54 inches wide, so that much lighter weight.

I like the center zip. When it's not too cold I can just leave it open, and as it gets colder I can zip it up. Before I get in, just open it up with both sides sort of tucked in. Keeps dirt and stuff from getting into bag.

If I have to get up briefly at night, I just quickly get out and close it back up to keep heat in. All the hot air will leave regardless. The fabric and down doesn't have a lot of heat capacity so it quickly warms back up when I get in. An hour later it makes no difference that I got up.

A semi rectangular bag works great as a quilt even with the footbox on it's side.

Still no need to change.

Semi rectangular bags are not heat efficient because of their shape and of course, are heavy. Is there a semi rectangular bag with zipper that is rated to 20 degrees and about a pound and a half?

Btw, my quilt is 58" wide. 54" and I would be cold.

"•Continuous baffles let you position the down where you need it"

I sleep on my side and turn back and forth left side to right side many times during the night. (Think washing machine agitator motion laid on its side.) So continuous baffles (and my broad upper body)would gradually move the down to the sides of the bag during the night. This would leave only a token amount of down sandwiched between two pieces of nylon on the upper portion of the bag.

I predict this because I had the same problem with the continuously baffled FF Swallow. I often wake up in the middle of the night, very cold, exit the bag and shake the down back up to the top. Very unpleasant. I quit using my FF Swallow for this reason but it took me a few years to figure out why I was so cold in the bag.

My wife uses the continuously baffled Swallow without the problem I describe above. So my comments may not apply to you. For me, however, I would rewrite as follows:

"•Continuous baffles let you position the down where you DON'T need it"

Need the bigger footbox on a semi rectangular bag to house my size 15 feet. Standard bags seems to be sized to that cute size 9 everyone wears.

Has worked for me just fine for 20+years. But I am a furnace also.

Back to the regular broadcast.

Ken,

Friend of mine also has large feet. When he took ballet he couldn't find a pair of pointy toe ballet slippers that fit. I suggested that he hollow out a couple of raccoons for slippers.

That was 40 years ago and things have changed. Have you had any problems finding good fitting ballet slippers?

Not graceful enough for ballet. Possum slippers are similar. It's a curse. Quilt , bag, or whatever. I sleep like a log most nights.

Glad to see FF spread their wings some more.

"Continuous baffles let you position the down where you need it"

That's good marketing spin

Take a negative and pose it as an advantage

Sort of like Real Estate agent saying as house is "cozy"

Just add a couple of ounces of overfill.

Yeah, that dam marketing spin. What are FF and Western Mountaineering thinking with continuous baffles? Katabatic Gear must be crazy! Nunatak insane!

;)

Never had an issue with my FF Swift and shifting down. Once the down is in place, it won't move over the course of the night unless I am having a dance party under the covers.

del

You mean the systems that are reworked ever couple of years to maximize the aforementioned marketing spin?

I would rather have down evenly distributed. Maybe more on top because there's more pressure pulling on it.

If I'm too warm, I'll unzip.

I bit the bullet and placed an order for the 20 degree Flicker. I'll post up some pictures and initial impressions when I get it.

My hope is that it is a nice middle ground between a traditional quilt and hoodless sleeping bag (ala my western mountaineering bag). If that is the case, then I'll be quite happy.

And just what is the flowgate systems? I called montbell and really couldn't find anyone who knew what it was or how to explain it to me. I had one montbell bag that had down migrate out of the baffles to others (after washing) and they were close to empty and I couldn't get the down shifted back, I figured that was "flowgate technology". I bought the same model again after they made a few changes and went to en ratings and the down shifting problem is much better but the bag seems to be cut much smaller. Sorry to get off subject but I saw a possible chance to learn more about flowgate technology. My references were about two ul spiral 3 bags

Aaron,

Did you get the quilt yet? I am interested in your thouhts. I plan to either purchasing one or maybe waiting to see what Tim does with an EE quilt. My first reaction to the FF is that I like the Full zip idea. Gives a lot of flexibility.

Has anyone picked one of these up yet? I'm interested in hearing some thoughts.

I picked up the 20 degree version, and my initial impressions after a couple of uses are positive.

Pros:

The drawstring footbox works well and is a great way to vent excess heat.

The way the quilt overlaps and creates a draft tube effect when zipped.

The ability to open it up as a blanket and close it up as a hoodless bag.

Cons:

The zipper catches occasionally, but that is probably more due to user error/impatience.

I sold a Katabatic Gear quilt to pick this up. Overall, I'm happy with the tradeoff. I found that the closed footbox of the Alsek really limited it's flexibility over a wide range of temperatures and so far, the flicker seems to solve this problem without too many compromises.

Thanks Aaron, couple questions . . . is the advertised weight accurate? and, how do you find the dimensions? It's spec'ed at 62" for shoulder girth, do you find that to be a little on the roomy side or does it feel pretty comfortable for you? Thanks.

I have had the fortune of seeing the quilt first hand. It is a very nice quilt but it looks claustrophobic if you were to use it in zipped up mode, other than that it is top notch and would be a great choice for slim athletic hikers with 2% body fat"……………..I will stick with my extra wide EE Quilt because I have a fetish for comfort.

HI Chad,

I don't have a scale handy (blasphemy), but the dimensions are pretty much spot on. I'm 5'9 and around 158 lbs and find it to be roomy enough without feeling like it's too big for me. So far I've used it mostly partially zipped. Temps in Alaska have finally dropped below it's rating, so I probably won't get to to test it out further until Spring.

I was at FF last week as well and was told you lose 6" of length by cinching up the foot box. As I am well over 6 feet this means I will need to wait for the extra long version which the gal working there mentioned may be available this spring. They are very busy right now with expedition orders.

I'm skeptical of the dimensions of this bag, from looking at the pictures. The Vireo is 64/48/38, and has a very tapered look to it. The Flicker is 62/48/39; close to the Vireo, but the pictures I've seen of the Flicker (Gear trade forum here, and the FF website), don't show it being even close to as tapered as the Vireo.

Even the picture of the Swallow shows more taper, even though the dimensions are not as tapered, 60/56/38.

Steve

Watching the video for this bag/quilt; there is no footbox. That may seem to obvious to some, but for those non-quilt users, !!! I really like the footbox in my Vireo…

Steve