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Super Speedy Summary Review

The Outdoor Vitals Storm Loft Down Top Quilt is a super solution to staying warm when camping. If you turn over a lot in the night you’ll prefer sleeping with this to a traditional sleeping bag. The Quilt is probably 30% lighter than a traditional equivalent sleeping bag and gives you more solutions to staying warm than a conventional sleeping. Its filled with super warm ethically sourced 800+ Down that has a water repellent DWR coating.

I used this on my recent 365 Mile Fastest Known Time on the Leatherman Loop in March in New England .

You will be hard pushed to find this level of performance and quality elsewhere.

PURCHASE $189.97

In Depth Review

The sleeping bag is dead. Long live the quilt.

As a long distance runner/ hiker I’m always looking for the lightest possible weight for gear with the best performance and I’ve always found the sleeping bag to be my biggest issue. If I save too much weight I get cold, but sleeping bags are bulky and heavy.

I’ve noticed more and more ultra and multi day hikers using quilts instead of sleeping bags so I took a closer look at the Outdoor Vitals Storm Loft Top Quilt.

I took this Quilt on a 9 day test through Snow filled New England in March this year and I’m now a complete convert to Top Quilts.

Advantages of A Top Quilt versus a Sleeping Bag

When you first get a top quilt out of its stuff sack you’ll be a bit confused. If you are used to seeing sleeping bags it wont make any sense why someone has stolen the zip and removed the hood.

There are three main advantages to using a Top Quilt instead of a sleeping bag when camping. They tend to be smaller and lighter in your pack compared like for like with an equivalent sleeping bag, they are also more comfortable if you turn over a lot in the night and they are also more flexible as a sleeping system than a sleeping bag.

Under Pressure

The first advantage of a Top Quilt is that when you use a sleeping bag any of the material that is underneath you gets compressed by your body weight so its basically ineffective as an insulator. The insulation in jackets and sleeping bag works because of the ‘puffiness’ and air caught inside. Compress and you have much less warmth potential.

By not having the underside of the sleeping bag you do away with a large area of unnecessary material which saves considerable weight when compared to a sleeping bag. On top of that this also means the Quilt packs down into a much smaller size when compared like for like with a sleeping bag. This Quilt comes in at under 23oz !

Top Quilts work Better with Inflatable Sleeping Mats

The ‘cold underside’ is dealt with in a much more effective way by using an inflatable sleeping mat which most people with a sleeping bag would use anyway. These act to keep you insulated ( because they are filled with air and pumped up so they don’t compress). Given that you would use a sleeping mat anyway with a sleeping bag you can still see the like for like weight and size advantage a Top Quilt has.

Top Quilts have small straps you can click round the inflatable sleeping mat to keep them secure if you wish. I tend to sleep on my side and turn over a lot so a Top Quilt is better suited for me as I find in a sleeping bag I turn over a few times and the hood then moves round and covers my face.

All Good with No Hood

By not having a zip or hood the Quilt also saves space and weight. The lack of hood isn’t an issue as I tend to find I sleep with my jacket on anyway that has a hood, or wear a beanie hat. By not having you breathe as much into the bag it stays drier overnight from body moisture and is ore effective at keeping you warm.

Down Down Down

The debate continues to rage between synthetic versus down filling for jackets and sleeping bags/ quilts but I find the bottom line is that its OK to chose both for different reasons depending on what you are doing. The down fill with the Top Quilt overcomes some of the ‘hard to dry’ concerns by having the down coated in a DWR water repellent finish.

Once taken out of the stuff sack this quilt expands in a way I’ve never seen any jacket or sleeping bag do. It seems to magically puff itself up. This is because the 10D outer fabric is a light as possible and the 800+ down fill is generous.

Top Quilts are Good for Hammock sleepers too

Top quilts are also great for hammocks because you are sleeping off a cold hard ground do you don’t lose lots of heat through a floor.

Baffled Footbox

The Top Quilt still has a baffled footbox section like a normal sleeping bag so your feet and legs stay warm in the traditional way. Most people dont have a lot of body contact to the ground from the knees down so the traditional sleeping bag shape works great at that end.

Clips and Toggles

The Quilt not only has clips for clipping underneath an inflatable map but also a strap so you can extend the lengths of the clips to go round longer wider mats.

There are also poppers near the top of the Quilt to help do it up round your body tighter if you wish as well as a drawstring toggle to also tighten the quilt round your shoulders when sleeping if you wish.

Share the Warmth

Because the quilt opens up much more than a sleeping bag I also find this really useful when sat outside in a chair before bed when camping and to also wrap parts of it over my partner if she gets cold when we are camping.

Sizing

The Top Quilt comes in two sizes and three temperature ratings so you can pick the right quilt for your needs and budget. The Red one is good down to 30F. The Blue one tested here is good down to 15F and the Green is good down to 0F.

Gripes

I find the little black clips a little bit too fiddly to undo. I know that squeezing the down too much in a stuff sack isn’t ideal for these but I would still like to see some compression straps on the stuff sack so that i can really squeeze the size down for the times I’m actually packing it away in my backpack.

Verdict

The Outdoor Vitals Storm Loft Down Top Quilt is a super solution to staying warm when camping. If you turn over a lot in the night you’ll prefer sleeping with this to a traditional sleeping bag. The Quilt is probably 30% lighter than a traditional equivalent sleeping bag and gives you more solutions to staying warm than a conventional sleeping. Its filled with super warm ethically sourced 800+ Down that has a water repellent DWR coating.

You will be hard pushed to find this level of performance and quality elsewhere.

PURCHASE $189.97

Care And Cleaning

I would recommend if possible storing this item hanging in wardrobe rather than keeping it in the stuffsack. It’ll keep the down more fluffy and effective for much longer

Its sensible if you wash this garment on low temperatures WITHOUT detergent. Its why I try pick all my technical gear in black if possible. It hides the dirt and stains. I strongly suggest using a mild soap based cleaner instead or a specialist tec gear wash such as Nik Wax tec wash. If you do this and leave the garment to hang dry you will massively increase its lifetime of breathability and water repellency. I also suggest using Nik Wax waterproof spray on it from time to time to keep the garment beading properly.

TECHNICAL SPECS 

Temperature Rating	0 – 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-9° – -1°C)
Weight	0 Regular: 1 lb 12 oz (28 oz) 15 Regular:1 lb 7 oz (23 oz) 30 Regular: 1 lb 2 oz (18 oz)0 Long: 1 lb 15 oz (31 oz) 15 Long: 1 lb 10 oz (26 oz) 30 Long: 1 lb 4 oz (20 oz) Carry Bag & Strap: 1 oz
Shell	10 Denier (0.7 oz/yd²) Ripstop Nylon w/ VitalDry™ DWR
Lining	10 Denier (0.7 oz/yd²) Ripstop Nylon
Insulation Type	Down
Fill	800-Fill Power StormLoft™ Water Repellent Down
Fill Weight	0 Regular: 19.4 oz / 550 g 15 Regular: 14.5 oz / 410 g 30 Regular: 10 oz / 285 g0 Long: 21.5 oz / 610 g 15 Long: 17 oz / 485 g 30 Long: 11.5 oz / 325 g
Pad Strap Included	Yes
Sleeping Bag Shape	Mummy/Tapered
Fits Up To	Regular: 6′ Long: 6′ 6″
Shoulder Width	Regular: 54 inches Long: 56 inches
Hip Girth	Coming Soon
Stuff Sack Size	Coming Soon
Gender	Temperature Tested For Men
Warranty	Outdoor Vitals Lifetime Warranty

About Outdoor Vitals

Outdoor Vitals challenges outdoor enthusiasts to “Live Ultralight” through use of premium ultralight products that eliminate waste.

While in college the founder (Tayson) developed a passion for ultralight outdoor gear. His goal was to lighten his pack and stay comfortable in the backcountry. After college, he set out to help others more fully enjoy the outdoors by starting Outdoor Vitals; a premium outdoor gear company with a unique business model.

Outdoor Vitals focuses on designing premium ultralight products that are comfortable and multi-functional. Their high standards of quality and versatility keep customers from buying multiple items or replacing gear to often. Living Ultralight means buying less quantity and getting higher quality!

They specifically don’t sell through retail stores to avoid their additional markups on gear! This is a hard thing to do for them as a business, but saves you 40% or more on your purchases. It’s all apart of our vision to Open The Outdoors to everyone!