Quilts with and without draft collars

WM’s sizing in quilts are odd. At that price, I’d just look at Nunatak. Sleeping bags.. Yea, WM all day.

Garrett, In what way are WM’s quilt sizings odd and how is Nunatak better? This is important when laying out that kind of money.

These are the only quilts WM offers below 40 degrees. Anything above 40 degree, I’d opt for synthetic.

Tamarak 30F – <5ft user only – 59″/58″/33″

Alder MF 25F – 62″/59″/46″ – This one is close to normal, but I would still prefer a smaller hip and foot girth, especially for only having a 62” shoulder circumference.

Ponderosa MF 15F -67″/64″/48″

Nunatak is customizable, draft tube, differential cut, down or downtek option, better sizing, and offers zipless quilts. WM only carries the zip up version without a draft tube (basically a sleeping bag without the hood).

Garrett,

I think you missed these Western Mountaineering quilts under 40° F.

NanoLite 38° F
http://www.westernmountaineering.com/sleeping-bags/extremelite-series/nanolite-top-quilt/

AstraLite 28° F
http://www.westernmountaineering.com/sleeping-bags/extremelite-series/astralite-baffled-top-quilt/

— Rex

Rex, you are right. I didn’t even notice the unzipped quilts that were available. That said, 68” chest circumference is still an odd size, especially for a quilt. I would imagine a lot of bunching upfront around the face. Its only an issue, because they don’t offer smaller sizes as an option. The UltraLite and Alphinlite is a prime example of where they offer multiple sizes to accommodate different body types for their 20 degree sleeping bag.

The 68” reference includes the open back as the actual quilt is 59” wide at the shoulders.  I have the Astralite and really like the yoke style draft collar as it is quite effective without having to close the neck collar and cinch the drawstring.  It’s kind of actively passive. 👍

My quilt from Loco Libre Gear came in. This in my opinion is a very good example of a proper draft collar on a quilt.

Resurrecting this thread.

I contacted EE and they don’t intend to add a draft collar to their Apex quilts because Apex won’t form properly.

I’m considering DIY adding a draft collar to a 20deg EE Revelation Apex, using Primaloft or similar.

Has anyone tried this?

A draft collar makes a big difference in the 20Fs on my synth bags (I’m allergic to birdies).

David, yes done that. I used a loose fill synthetic called Loftech. Another name might be UP.

Thanks George.  My son has an EE down with draft collar, I’ll look into mimicking that design with UP.

David – EE could totally add a draft collar using Primaloft or similar if they wanted to.

Minor thread drift here, but does anyone else find that when you roll over in any quilt, regardless of draft collar or straps, the edges pull up off the pad immediately below the snap? It’s just a basic ergonomic thing. Unless you tuck your shoulders to roll just so.

My zippered quilt has a two-way zipper. When it’s mostly unzipped and open save for the top ~12″ below the collar, you don’t really get drafts rolling around at night. In other words, it’s zipped closed ~12″ from the collar down, and the rest of the quilt is open like a typical quilt.

I dunno. Collar or not, that one change seems to make a difference for drafts. I would love to see more design attention paid to that top 1/4 of the quilt in terms of shape or fixture. maybe I’m missing something though, or doing it wrong!

Jeff,  I think so too.  They already have the liner patterns, jigs and methods in use for the down quilts.

What I read into their reply is that they don’t want to source an additional type of insulation.

Looking at this thread, they’ve been getting requests for it for a while.

Chris K, interesting observation! How would this be done best? Seems like it would be hard to get in thru the slot if the bottom is closed much further down than just the typical top snap

Hello Chris K,

I find that the edge tensioners on my quilt stop that from happening.

Cheers

Megan

“I contacted EE and they don’t intend to add a draft collar to their Apex quilts because Apex won’t form properly.”

I find this response from EE rather mysterious, having made an Apex quilt myself with a collar. I had no issues of any kind making a collar with apex. I much prefer a collar on a quilt.