Ive had quilts primarily from Hammock Gear up to this point, and tried out a friends UGQ and a Zpacks for a hot second. Over time I have learned a lot about sleeping and put that into 2 new Diamondback quilts from Warbonnet Outdoors.
I knew I wanted a differential cut quilt so to my knowledge, that cut it down to Katabatic, Nunutak, UGQ, and Warbonnet (at least that was my list). Originally I wanted a Nunutak, as I am quite sure Jan makes the most thoughtful quilts around and I like the idea of the WPB neck/foot very much, however the difficulty obtaining one and the high (but justified) cost led me to Warbonnet.
I have a custom Membrane7 WookieXL underquilt from them with almost 60 nights on it and really love it, so I decided to give them a shot with the top quilt too.
I specd out 2 quilts during their memorial day sale, both identical other than the temp rating – they are a 40* and a 20* Diamond Back, differential cut, 850fp DWR down, +3oz down (option), regular length, 55 wide, 15d fabric, Edge Tension Control system (option), with draft collar (option), oval footbox.
Initial impression / Look – I Loooove the color. vanity is a part of any purchase and the warbonnet website does a piss-poor job of showing you exact colors or a rendering of your choices. I just chose Olive Green shell and Brown interior and hoped for the best. They ended up exceeding expectations – their 15d olive ripstop is more emerald than your typical olive drab. It has depth and almost a fish like shimmer. The Brown interior is equally pleasing to me. So a big win for aesthetics.
Fabric – One point I wasnt crazy about is the 15d fabric. They offer 10d, but not if you want Diff cut, so 15d was a compromise I had to accept. On the plus side the 15d fabric feels substantially thicker and more durable than 7 or 10. I think 7 and 10 feel pretty similar, but their 15d feels much, much beefier. Truly 50% stronger feeling than 10d and 2-3x stronger feeling than Montbell 7d, Membrane 7, or Pertex Quantum 7d. I am very careful with all my gear and have never torn, snagged, or burned my extensive UL fabrics in over 100 nights backpacking, so durability is not a benefit in my case, but others who are harder on their gear would definitely see increased durability, tear resistance, and down-proofness compared to 7 or 10d (zero feather leakage in 2 nights plus none in the box plus none as I tested the 20 on my deck). Comparing Argon fabric, their 7d=.49oz, 10d=.67oz, and 15d-.90oz. So assuming Warbonnets fabric is similar, the weight penalty for going from 10d to 15d on 5 yards of fabric is about 1.2oz. Not great for the 40*, less noticeable on a heavier quilt.
Diff cut – Differential cut plus their vertical baffles is why I chose Warbonnet. I determined I constantly had cold feet because my foot would push on the footbox and lead to thin spots, so Diff cut was a must. Next, I often found down falling down over the course of the night, so I have begun to dislike the common horizontal baffle footbox, (and thus eliminated Katabatic and Trailheadz because I do not have faith in horizontal baffle quilts. I really hate down migration and horizontal baffle is particularly prone to this). Although I have more faith in Nunutak to get horizontal baffles right, I still dont like horizontal based on my experience.
The differential cut is noticeable when you hang the quilt – it naturally wraps itself into a circular shape. I thought it would be more noticalbe, but its fairly subtle. They sew it such that its a smaller cylinder inside a larger cylinder, so it just looks normal until you hang it (it curls) or flatten it out (the outside bulges). I will never buy another Non-diff-cut quilt again. It seems to help with my feet and arms pushing against the inside and reducing loft. Also the quilt natually wants to wrap around you.
Vertical Baffles – I wanted to try vertical baffles. Warb cuts them in half around your waist with a cinch point. Its open about 1 or 2 inches so you can force down from one half to the other if desired, but it wont migrate naturally. They claim this results in one of the shortest baffles which I guess is true – on a 72 inch quilt each baffle is under 36in, which is indeed less than the circumference of most footboxes or the chest portion of most vertical chest quilts. (UGQ divides the chest baffles in half so kudos to them, but still has horizontal foot baffles). Overal I approve based on 2 nights below temp rating.
Hourglass cut – The quilt is only at max width from the shoulders to the waist, then it tapers in at both ends. This is nice because you end up with less fabric around your head and feet where it isnt needed, but provides good room inside the quilt. I measure about 44in at the head, and 55in near the waist. I pulled the quilt tight, then let go, let it rebound and measured exactly 55in, so the diff cut seems to help resist the quilt scrunching up on itself when not under tension.
Footbox – I chose the sewn oval footbox. I dont have strong feelings about it being round or oval, but I would probably get the oval again. I hate zip foot boxes but they offer them too.
ETC – I got the optional Edge tension control elastic along the back of the quilt. I didnt use it in my initial 2 nights as I usually hammock sleep, but I got it so they are more ground-friendly when I occasionally go to the desert or above treeline. I tried it in my bed and it worked as advertised – it sucks up the extra slack beneath you and reduces drafts.
Draft collar – Man do these guys make a draft collar! its tapered so its thin at the edges and puffy in the middle. It can be tucked in the quilt and still works 100% in my limited experience. Its puffy enough that it completely fills the air gap around my neck. I think this is one of the reasons it exceeded its temp rating comfortably – more on that below. Also they put the cinch cord off to the left side so when you tighten down the neck the excess cord is not in your face. A nice thoughtful detail.
Down – I chose 850 because I specifically dislike high fill power down. Its a poor return on your $, it saves almost no weight, it goes down to ~700-800fp effective when its humid or damp, and it has less spring to it to resist compression and rebound. 850 is my preferred FP because its economical, light enough, and has good rebound. Overall I think it performs better in adverse conditions, and the $100 bump to make the quilts 900fp wasnt worth it. I have a 950fp HG quilt and dont think it has adequate rebound as soon as its humid for comparison. Also had a HG Econ 800fp that had the best rebound/humidity resistance ever, so 800-850 is perfect IMO.
Other attention to detail – One major kudos I give them with the sewn footbox is that its a fully rounded cut where it splits. HG and some others use 2 straight edges joined with a triangular gusset. The benefit to a round intersection is a circle has no stress concentration points – if I tried to rip the quilt in half, it has a large 5 inch radius to spread the load with no specific stress point. Compared to a triangular gusset, all the stress will concentrate on the couple stitches at the meeting point, making a tear much more likely if you kicked or pulled on the quilt haphazardly
Performance – Temps were forecast at 41 and 46* per the NOAA point forecast the day before. I took my 40* out for 2 nights last weekend on the Gene Marshall Trail in southern california. Temps were tracked with a $5 amazon thermometer and the Govee thermometer (a freaking great tool to track temp/humidity/Dew point/VPD. Everyone go get one. Now! Remember Ryans recent VPD class? when my govee reported VPD starts to approach zero, I get condensation every time! so my experience directly correlates to ryans supposition.)
Anyways, I hammock camp and had a Warbonnet WookieXL overstruffed 20* under quilt, bug net (relevant because it blocks wind and adds a couple degrees of felt warmth), and my 40* Diamondback.
I wore a Buff synthetic dual layer light cap, Kuiu Peloton97 hoody with hood up, P97 zip off long johns, and Darn Tough Midweight wool socks.
The first night I camped next to Beartrap Creek at the beartrap camp. It is in a valley at about 5200ft with some tree cover. The nearby ridge is about 6000-7000ft depending on the exact spot. Overnight low was 36* and I was toasty warm all night. Almost too warm in my chest because the draft collar traps air so well. My feet were ever-so-slightly cold, but I have cold feet nearly 100% of the time in the backcountry (time for some Apex 6.0 kicks I think). When the temps were closer to 50 I started with the quilt pulled down to about my nipples, then pulled it up further as it got colder. No accumulated condensation the first night.
The 2nd night we hiked up the ridge to Pine Mountain Lodge. This plateau is one of my favorite spots in the Los Padres, and has native petroglyphs if you know where to look. a really remote, beautiful spot that not a lot of people visit. We camped in the valley about 200-400ft below the peaks on either side at about 6200 ft. The evening got colder sooner, and it was already 41* by the time we doused the fire. It was clear and calm, perfect cold weather conditions.
I woke up for my usual 2am whiz and I knew it was cooooold (for June in SoCal I mean). I laid back down and slept for a couple more hours, then woke up around 4 with cold feet. My body was slightly cool but overall comfortable. My legs were cool, somewhat uncomfortably so, and my feet were cold. Not frozen or really cold, but cold (standard for me anyways). Well my Govee said 30.7*!!! The quilt was relatively comfortable 10* below rating! and If I had packed down socks I would upgrade that to mostly comfortable, and with down socks and my montbell ex light down pants I would call it fully comfortable at a full 10* below rating! My cheapo thermometer said 32* low, but I believe the Govee because there was frost on my gear that was left out.
Govee alsoreported essentially zero VPD, as the dew point was 28 with an air temp of 30.7. I did have light-moderate condensation in the down in the footbox and minor condensation 6 inches down from my head. I realized later my under quilt slipped under the hammock so that didnt help my cause in the foot end, decreasing the insulation under my feet to nearly zero and increasing condensation. It only took 20 minutes in the morning sub to dry out fully, so not a big issue and mostly my fault.
So overall I was thoroughly impressed by the Diamondbacks warmth. If anything, the 40* is so warm its too warm to be my summer quilt with 55-65* nights. It was wayyy too warm for the 20*, so I will have to wait until I get to the Sierras or next winter to limit test the biggun.
Not exactly UL… I only have one minor complaint to the quilt, and part of this complaint is directly because of choices I made so take it with that in mind – they are kind of heavy compared to UUL quilts like Trailheadz or that other really overpriced brand (see the recent sectionhiker review). Both those come in around 19-21oz.
I added every option you could (ETC +1oz, Draft collar +1oz, +3oz overstuff) so those added approximately 5oz of optional weight by my own choosing. My 40* weighs 24oz and the 20* weighs 30oz.
Not exactly UL, but I have no doubt the 20* is substantially warmer than a 21oz 20* quilt like the overpriced one (with 7d, no etc, no draft collar, lower overstuff %). Compared that to my HG, Premium, 10d, 950fp, +2oz overstuff, 50 inch wide, regular length, zip footbox, which is 17oz.
the 7oz differential between 2 quilts rated the same is substantial, but the warmth difference is substantial too. I would have frozen my ass off at 31* in the HG instead of being slightly cold. at 36 in my HG I would have to put my puffy over my feet and wear my other shirt, and probably still be somewhat cold.
I only complain about the (really insubstantial) weight gain because there are 2-3oz I cant account for based on features, overstuff, and size difference. Its hardly worth mentioning in the context of my otherwise glowing thoughts, but we count grams and 3oz is a lot of grams to some people. (I didnt compare down fill weight, so maybe that is some of it too)
My original intent was to sell both my HG 20 and 40, but now I wonder if I keep the HG 40 to use as a light summer quilt for 45*+, or if I get an Apex quilt for summer and use it as an overbag in the winter (Im thinking the Diamondback 20Â + a 2.5 Apex top quilt would easily get me towards 0* comfort assuming my head/back were properly insulated). Although we never see those temps, not fearing the fall mountain temps would open up a longer season to me at higher elevations.
Value – the list price for both quilts was $700, minus 15% memorial day sale brought it to an even $600 for 2 quilts, or $620 shipped. Price is a big reason I chose Warbonnet. The Nunutak ArcUL 25 I specd was about $500, so I got almost a 2:1 deal. (No doubt Jan returns that value in the absolute best product money can buy, but I’m not that rich yet and wanted 2 new quilts :). So I would say Warbonnets price:performance ratio is in the highest category. An extremely good value on sale and a very good value any day.
Overall I was thoroughly impressed how warm I was 4* and 9*F below rating. The quilt is highly customizable, has a very thoughtful design, close attention to detail, a great look, and outstanding performance based on my limited stress-test of 2 nights.
I dont think Warbonnet gear gets enough love, so check out their awesome quilts which I can personally vouch for, or their other stuff which is on my to-buy list (specifically the impermeable Stash rain jacket made from their 15d or 30d tarp material with huge pit zips – only ~6oz and $100)
I have no affiliation to Warb – I have just had a good experience with all their stuff so far!
