An idea for improving the warmth-to-weight of an Apex quilt – feedback please!

[Ryan Jordan]

Air stability. Minimize convective movement. Love this discussion, but focus: it’s not just air volume – keep it from moving around.

This is why the crinkly and sort-of-heavily-baffled construction of the Patagonia Micro Puff garments work so well.

[Michael B]

The only thing I don’t like about Apex is its lack of compressibility. I like the 5.0 and I have mine cut so that my 6’1” self is plenty warm with a 20oz quilt. But it is bulky in my pack compared to down, even compared to my Kelty Cosmic 20, which is 600FP.

If one could find a way to improve the  loft of the lower weight apex products somehow, that would be awesome. Maybe one could do this “apple pie” woven strips idea with Apex 3.6 and achieve lofts similar to 5.0 or better?As others say, I would fear the woven material falling apart pretty quickly. I would hate to be the one cutting and weaving the strips too.

[Jerry Adams]

I just looked at Patagonia micropuff

it uses pluma fill synthetic insulation

“Revolutionary lightweight PlumaFill insulation replicates the structure of down in a continuous synthetic insulation material, offering the warmth and packability of down but with the warm-when-wet performance of synthetic insulation”

I wonder if that really works.  How did they measure and how does it compare to conventional insulation like Apex or down.

https://outdoorcrunch.com/nano-puff-vs-micro-puff/#:~:text=Warmth%20of%20PlumaFill%20is%20equivalent,other%20hand%2C%20is%20equivalent%20to%20.&text=PlumaFill%20insulation%20of%20Micro%20Puff,65%20grams%20vs%2060%20grams).

“Warmth of PlumaFill is equivalent to around 650 fill. PrimaLoft Gold Insulation Eco, on the other hand, is equivalent to .62 dry CLO value and roughly corresponds to 500 fill.”

“Nano Puff uses 1.4-oz 20-denier for shell and 1.3-oz 22-denier for lining fabrics (both w/ DWR); whereas Micro Puff uses 0.7-oz 10-denier Quantum Perfex w/ DWR for both shell and lining.”

“As a result, Micro Puff sits at 235 g (8.3 oz) compared to Nano Puff’s 337 g (11.9 oz). Which is nearly 100 grams (3.5 oz) of extra weight.”

So, most of the difference between nanopuff and micropuff jacket is the face fabric, but the plumafill insulation is a little better.

Maybe plumafill is similar to Primaloft Gold (aka One) which is a little better than regular synthetic but you’re supposed to put in more quilting to stabilize it.  The micropuff does have a lot of quilting rows of stitches compared to a regular synthetic jacket with no quilting.

 

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