Staying warm and dry is essential for a restful night’s sleep when you’re camping under the stars. But because each style has a different set of benefits and drawbacks, choosing between the two can be challenging. In order to help you choose which is best for your upcoming camping trip, I will compare weight, warmth, ease of use, price, durability, comfort, size, moisture control, and more.
Pros And Cons Of Quilts
Because they use much less insulation and materials than sleeping bags, quilts are typically lighter than sleeping bags. A quilt may be up to 50% smaller than a sleeping bag because it uses less down and fabric to make it.
As a rule, down quilts shrink to the size of a softball when packed down, which is also incredibly impressive.
Because of its design, a quilt can be used in a variety of ways. You might be able to expand it into a straightforward down blanket, depending on the particular model you buy. For people who value variety, this may be pleasant.
Quilts can be more expensive than sleeping bags because they’re still a more recent addition to the camping equipment market. However, you can find a reasonably priced quilt that will meet all of your sleeping needs.
Pros And Cons Of Sleeping Bags
Quilts and sleeping bags both have advantages and disadvantages. You won’t need to fiddle or adjust a sleeping bag in order to stay warm because of its design.
Instead, you won’t have to worry about tossing and turning in your bag or having a foot escape into the cold when you’re ready for bed.
However, they also contain more fabric, which makes them generally heavier than quilts. And as we previously stated, that extra insulation might not be doing much to help.
Quilts VS Sleeping Bags
Weight
Generally speaking, quilts weigh about 25% less than comparable sleeping bags. By removing extra insulation and fabric from underneath the sleeper, quilts reduce overall weight.
This is possible because down or synthetic insulation does not provide warmth when compressed by the body weight of the user.
Instead, the bottom is simply left unclosed. A sizable amount of weight is lost by removing this extra down and fabric. Your sleeping pad helps to keep the bottom of your body warm.
By eliminating extras like full-length zippers and hoods, quilts also reduce weight. A quilt simply contains less material.
Volume/bulk And Compressibility
Quilts compress down smaller than sleeping bags because they have less insulation and material. You could potentially save up to one additional liter of space in our pack by switching to a quilt. This has several advantages.
The most significant benefit is that you can store your quilt less compressedly. This makes it loft more quickly at night when you’re ready to go to bed. When you’re drained and chilly and just want to curl up in your tent and fall asleep, you’ll be glad you have this.
A quilt, for instance, could loft fully in just a few minutes if it was only loosely compressed. A sleeping bag that is tightly compressed could take 5 to 10 minutes to loft completely.
Additionally, if the quilt is not compressed as tightly, it will last longer.
Warmth
In general, given all other things being equal, sleeping bags are warmer than quilts. There are several causes for this. The first step is sealing the sleeping bags completely all around. Because of this, you can move around at night without worrying about catching a cold draft.
To keep your head warm, most sleeping bags come with an integrated hood. The sleeping bag can be fully closed with the zipper, with the hood pulled over your head and zipped up snugly. You will remain warm and cozy as a result of this.
Ease Of Use
The set-up process for sleeping bags is much quicker and simpler. Unstuff your sleeping bag, roll it out on top of your sleeping pad, and climb in when you’re ready to go to bed. No straps or clips are necessary, so there is no hassle. The bag is kept shut by the zipper. There is no learning curve.
As a result of the need to be fastened to the sleeping bag so they stay in place, quilts require a little more time and effort to set up. Every producer employs the tiniest unique attachment system.
To hold the stopper in place, the majority of designs employ some type of snap, clip, or hook. Some are more effective than others. Some are simply obtrusive and challenging to set up, while others have a propensity to come loose.
Cold air may draft in the night if one of your fasteners comes loose.
Cost
In all other respects, quilts are less expensive than sleeping bags. This is because of two factors. To begin with, fewer materials are needed to make quilts. They generally don’t have zippers and use less fabric. Because quilts don’t have hoods, the designs are secondarily simpler.
As a result, quilts are quicker and simpler to sew. Due to these factors, quilts are less expensive to produce and therefore more affordable to purchase.
For instance, you could budget $250–350 for a nice, ultralight 20° quilt. A similar sleeping bag could cost $350-$400. A quilt typically costs $30 to $50 less than a sleeping bag. The savings are hardly noticeable.