How well does the Enlightened Equipment strap system REALLY work?

I was doubtful that I would bother using them, I thought I'd find them too restrictive, but found I like them a lot.

They are very adjustable. It does take a little bit of experimenting to find what suits you best, but you should be able to hit the right setting of movement/snugness.

I like the EE strap system a lot. In particular it is very easy and fast to adjust from a wide setup, to give more freedom of movement and/or to let some heat escape on a warm night, to cinching it in closer to snug you up on colder nights — you just slide the buckle along the strap that's around your pad in or out from the edges.

Hey all, thanks for the quick responses.

JR, do the buckles ever move "accidentally" or are they pretty set and forget?

Anyone else?

-Jeremy

They work to secure the quilt to the pad but I do not get tangled up like a mummy bag. No issues with them out on a trip, just a little bit more setup and tear down time

The system works quite well. I spent 22 nights this summer with their quilt and had no problems at all. I use the Neoair pad and the straps go under the pad, so I can adjust the straps so the edge of the quilt is about one inch under the pads. Easy to adjust and clip/unclip and everthing stayed in place. I'll never go back to a mummy bag!

The buckles pretty much stay in place, they hold tension on the ribbon that runs through it. If you a more physical toss and turner you probably could slide the buckles outward, but as a general concern I haven't had any issue.

Have you seen this page on their web site? http://www.enlightenedequipment.com/blog/quilts-102-pad-straps/
It's not a top-level link so could be easy to miss. It shows the attachment system in more detail. Basically you have a ribbon that goes around the pad, and on that ribbon are the buckles you will clip the quilt to. It can be a little fiddly to get the straps onto the pad each time, and which buckle is supposed to attach to what can be a little confusing at first, but overall it works well.

EE also includes elastic straps if you want the quilt attached around yourself rather than around your pad.

BTW the buckles and straps themselves are very thin and light, I don't feel them under me.

Kenneth,
Just to make sure I'm understanding what you are saying…you actually have the buckles underneath the pad about 1" from the sides so the quilt is wrapping the sides of the pad?

I usually have the buckles on the top of the pad about….5" or so (depending on temperature) from the edge of the pad…nothing of the quilt fabric itself is under the pad…

I haven't bothered with the straps at all. I find that once the neck cinch is tightened, the quilt naturally tucks under your shoulders and consequently under your sides, all on top of your pad.

I too am a (mostly) side sleeper and when I roll over it just takes a tiny attention to detail to rotate while keeping the quilt stationary. For me, I honestly cannot imagine what the straps would do other than complicate what is an amazingly well made, comfortable, effective and simple quilt. If you are a thrasher who sleeps so soundly that you do not know you are doing it, perhaps the straps are the answer.

I wasn't all that convinced about their actual utility before using it…and for the first few trips I hadn't even taken them with me. I was going on a trip where I knew I would be pushing the limits of the cold so I brought the straps with me in case I needed to really bunker down…and I did. The straps were AWESOME, I believe I only ended up using two of them and quite loosely but they kept the quilt taught enough to eliminate drafts on my sides without me having to put any effort into it at all.

I sleep directly on a neoair with the straps around the sleeping pad. The only trouble I had was if I don't have them tight enough they tend to pop loose.

well now you guys are making me think about trying them – except that I've never seemed to need them. I like to call myself an athletic rotisserie sleeper and drafts haven't been a problem for me. Of course, I ordered the wide quilt and that may be all I need to keep the quilt in place.

But I'm going to Big Bend in January and it gets awfully cold at night on the South Rim, so maybe I'll bring the straps to try them out.

Hey all. Just in regards to some of the comments/questions about using the straps so the quilt is either just on top of the pad, or just underneath the edges, our official recommendation at EE is to use the quilt so that it's still on top of your pad. Obviously you can use them however you like, but we recommend it that way for a couple reasons: 1. Your pad (should) use better materials to handle abrasion and contact with the ground, and 2. in our experience it tends to be less drafty that way.

Again, you can use it however is comfortable for you, but if you're wondering what to try first, that's what we suggest.

I put the straps under the pad as it allows me to easily roll over from side to side without having to worry about the quilt moving when I roll over. I use the Neoair XTherm; it’s narrow and somewhat has the same shape as the quilt, plus I have the wide version quilt so it drapes down close to my body even though the sides are over the pad. I don’t like the feel of being restricted in movement like a mummy bag so this arrangement suits me well. I only use two straps, and I can’t imagine using more as two seems more than enough.

To be honest, I haven’t tried sleeping with the straps directly underneath me; I’ll have to give that a try and see how that works.

I do the straps around the pad, then adjust the position of where the strap attaches to the quilt.

The quilt can be close to the edge of the pad or really tucked under me or somewhere in-between.

I can't feel the straps under me at all. (and I'm the sort who might)

I have a Prodigy and an Enigma.

The Prodigy came with the "ribbon" type of wrap-around, adjustable strap (referred to previously) as well as a basic elastic strap that simply hooks the sides of the quilt together. These are, respectively, the top and bottom ones in the photo.

The Enigma came with an elastic strap sewn into a loop with the quilt attachment clips threaded onto that loop, which is the middle one in the photo.

I used the simple elastic straps one time with the Prodigy. I have used the ribbon type strap a few times and the elastic loop version only a couple of times, but so far the winner by a longshot is the elastic loop version. Easy to wrap around the pad, and also holds a supplementary foam pad in place if you're using one, and the stretch reduces stress on the attachment points if you fidget about a lot (as I do!) but pulls the edges back into place after a bout of tossing and turning. I never even noticed the straps underneath my torso, although I was wearing a few layers.

The elastic loop was long enough to stretch just right around an Exped Synmat MW and a GG 1/8" foam pad on top. For a much narrower pad, I suppose one could just tie a small, loose overhand knot with the loop to shorten it.

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I know this is an old thread, but it’s right on my topic.  I have an Enigma that I used for the first time last weekend.  I was a bit chilly from tossing and turning and want to understand the strap system better. I’ve watched the video on the EE page a few times, and I understand how to use the strap that is the sewn loop.  I did that right.  What I’m confused about is the second loop, that the video simply says you can use to adjust your comfort level, or something like that.  So I put the loop around the pad and adjust the buckles and clip the quilt on.  Then the next piece of elastic, the video says, clips into the quilt so I can adjust the quilt.  BUT, it says that if I put the strap under the pad, then I might prematurely wear out the fabric of my quilt.  Fine, does that strap then go between me and the pad, and then clip to the quilt?  So that final strap goes over the pad, and under me? Thanks fo any clarification.

If yours came with both sets of straps the longer Loop ones are designed to stay on the pad and Clip your quilt to them, the short ones that don’t Loop turn the quilt basically into a sleeping bag with the opening under you and the little elastic acting like the zipper I use the straps that go all the way around the pad and either spread them to the outside if the temperature is mild or tighten them up under me a pretty good bit to get a Tight Seal they’ve stayed on the pad for over a hundred nights I just deflate roll it up leave them in place and in heavy winter or rough surface they also hold the foam pad for Extra Protection or insulation to the air mattress

I don’t do straps until the temps get into the 30’s. Having said that, I never had a problem with EE’s pad straps. I will say, since changing to a Katabatic quilt, their strap system is even better.

IME the simplest approach is to use 2 of the elastic loop straps because this provides the flexibility for any configuration.

In some instances — such as when using the straps to snug the quilt sides together without putting the loop around the sleep mat — there will of course be excess strap material between sleeper and sleep mat. This doesn’t bother me but I can understand how it would bother some people.

However, some time back EE started making their quilts and straps with male-female clips vs the previous method of male-male/female-female, so now the quilt sides can be clipped directly together, thereby eliminating the straps entirely.