The Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag ($489) is our favourite ultralight sleeping bag for three-season fastpacking journeys as a result of it’s gentle, packs small, and stays comfy all through a bigger vary of temperatures than another bag we examined. And sure, you learn the product title accurately, it’s each a quilt and a sleeping bag. We like this sleeping bag a lot that we named it the very best hoodless sleeping bag in our finest ultralight sleeping baggage information.
The Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag is a hoodless quilt/sleeping bag hybrid with a full-length zipper and a drawstring footbox, so it may be zipped and cinched when it’s chilly and opened right into a quilt when it’s not. When it’s absolutely cinched and zipped, the general form of the bag is mummy-like for thermal effectivity.
The principle profit of getting such a flexible bag is that relying in your most well-liked sorts of journeys and the landscapes by which they happen, this might function your solely sleeping bag. We aren’t attempting to dissuade individuals from the quiver technique — of getting a number of baggage for a lot of totally different situations — however we’re additionally conscious not everybody can afford to do this. The Flicker is sort of $500, so it’s not low-cost both. However, because it may have you ever lined between about 15 and 60 levels Fahrenheit and will final for 20 years if you happen to handle it, you could not want the rest.
Store the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag
The Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag. All photographs: iRunFar/Ben Kilbourne
Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag Heat
The iRunFar workforce discovered the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag to be heat sufficient for any three-season fastpacking journey and even some journeys in that fourth colder season. A number of iRunFar workforce members usually sleep within the canyon nation of the Colorado Plateau the place winter temperatures typically hover within the teenagers and located the Flicker to be comfy and heat on these chilly and dry nights.
We discovered that when the Flicker’s 14.7 ounces of 950-plus fill Accountable Down Commonplace (RDS)-certified goose down wrap round us, we really feel a way of safety, a certainty that we gained’t be chilly. One in every of our testers used this sleeping bag at 15 levels Fahrenheit sporting base layers, a lightweight fleece, socks, and a down hood. He famous that he felt assured he may push it just a few extra levels with the addition of a down jacket.
Chilly sleepers or smaller individuals could not be capable to push this bag as low, however we imagine it would nonetheless serve them properly right down to about 20 levels Fahrenheit, particularly with an efficient clothes layering system.
The Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag’s down insulation has wonderful loft.
Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag Consolation and Versatility
The Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag is tremendous heat, and it’s additionally tremendous versatile, adapting to just about any situation like a chameleon. Or slightly like a Flicker, we must always say. The Northern Flicker, this bag’s namesake fowl, adapts to an unlimited vary of ecosystems and is usually discovered all through the continental United States, properly into Mexico, and even as much as the decrease fringe of the Arctic in Canada and Alaska.
As a result of the Flicker is each a quilt and a sleeping bag, our testers had been ready to make use of it in temperatures ranging between 15 levels and 60 levels Fahrenheit. Primarily, it’s a hoodless sleeping bag with a full-length zipper and a drawstring footbox that’s designed for use with a heat hat or hooded jacket, permitting you to save lots of weight through the use of your camp garments as a part of your sleep system.
Between 15 and 25 levels Fahrenheit, one among our testers likes to zip the bag all the way in which up and sleep with the zipper beneath his physique. Between 25 and 45 levels Fahrenheit, he retains it partially unzipped to mid-thigh and the footbox stays cinched. He snaps the 2 small snaps on the neck opening after which drapes the bag over his torso however lies on the sleeping pad.
On this state of affairs, it begins to operate like a quilt and the down contained in the bag stays uncompressed. When temperatures are decrease, he can tuck the perimeters beneath his torso, and when temperatures are hotter, he lets the perimeters fall to the edges of the pad. Above 45 levels Fahrenheit, he uncinches the footbox, too, and goes into full quilt mode.
After all, this is just one particular person’s concept of how you can use this bag, and that’s what’s so nice in regards to the Flicker. Different testers slept with the zipper on high or on the aspect, for instance. This sleeping bag accommodates many various sleeping kinds and does so all through an enormous vary of temperatures.
A view of the neck baffle on the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag.
Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag Weight
The Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag makes use of ultralight supplies together with 950-plus fill down, a 10-denier nylon shell, and a 15-denier nylon liner. The #4 coil zipper can be an important stability of sturdiness and low weight. All these options lead to a really gentle and but nonetheless sturdy sleeping bag.
In a dimension common, the Flicker weighs solely 25.8 ounces. There could also be marginally lighter 20-degree Fahrenheit sleeping baggage on the market, however we don’t suppose any of them strike the identical stability of versatility, heat, and low weight.
Testing the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag on a cold day in Utah.
Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag Packed Measurement
Within the offered eight-liter stuff sack, the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag packs right down to 7 x 13 inches (17.8 x 33 centimeters). This small bundle matches completely within the backside of many 25- to 55-liter ultralight fastpacking packs. Within the Pa’lante Packs Joey — learn our Pa’lante Packs Joey assessment — it matches vertically beside a small tarp and the Therm-a-Relaxation NeoAir XLite Sleeping Pad — take a look at our Therm-a-Relaxation NeoAir XLite Sleeping Pad assessment.
You possibly can use a compression sack to make this bundle even smaller, however we don’t suppose it’s crucial as a result of we discovered that it already naturally compressed even additional as we stuffed extra gear into our packs.
A view of the footbox on the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag.
Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag Alternate Sizes
We examined the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag in a dimension common. This bag matches people as much as six ft tall and with a shoulder girth of 62 inches. This dimension was excellent for our 155-pound, 5-foot-11-inch male tester however a little bit roomy for a few of our smaller feminine testers. One smaller tester discovered it troublesome to heat up the bag one night time when the temperature dropped just under 30 levels Fahrenheit. After including a down jacket to her sleep system, she was superb, however we want Feathered Associates would supply this sleeping bag in round a five-foot-eight-inch size and a 58-inch shoulder girth for smaller individuals.
Bigger individuals are completely lined, although. You will get the Flicker in an extended 6-foot-6-inch size and even a 67-inch width. Huge!
Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag Different Temperature Rankings
We examined the 20-degree model of the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag as a result of we anticipated that it might modify to the large vary of temperatures that our testers had been prone to encounter from spring to fall within the mountains and deserts of Colorado and Utah. We weren’t improper.
However if you happen to play in hotter areas or if you happen to simply sleep sizzling, you should buy the Flicker with 30-degree or 40-degree Fahrenheit rankings. After all, these temperature rankings will make the bag even lighter: 22 ounces for the 30-degree Fahrenheit bag in a dimension common and 18.5 ounces for the 40-degree Fahrenheit bag in a dimension common. One in every of these ultralight sleeping baggage could also be precisely what you want on your subsequent ultra-minimalist fastpacking endeavor.
We sleep with the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag’s zipper beneath us on chilly nights.
Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag General Impressions
Like most good fastpackers who minimize tags off of shirts, we too have been tempted by the lightest, most minimalist sleeping baggage and quilts. We now have typically used such feathery baggage, typically loved their lightness, and typically regretted our selection as we shivered inclined below a frost-covered tarp.
In response to such conditions, these of us who spend larger than 10% of our nights every year sleeping below the celebrities typically find yourself justifying the purchases of a number of sleeping baggage — one for summer season, one for the shoulder season, and one for winter, at a minimal. And there’s nothing improper with that. However we additionally perceive that not everybody can afford to personal a number of sleeping baggage. This context is necessary for understanding why we just like the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag a lot and why we named it the very best hoodless sleeping bag in our finest ultralight sleeping baggage information.
At 25.8 ounces, the Flicker is remarkably gentle contemplating how versatile it’s. We discovered that it may be used comfortably all through a wider vary of temperatures than another sleeping bag we examined. It’s each a sleeping bag and a quilt, so it may be zipped all the way in which up when it’s chilly and opened right into a blanket when it’s heat. This versatility meant the Flicker may swing simply between 15 levels and 60 levels Fahrenheit. This sleeping bag is dear, little doubt, however give it some thought like this: proudly owning one sleeping bag is roughly half the price of proudly owning two.
The Flicker is near flawless, however we did discover one drawback with it. The neck cinch has two shock twine drawstrings — one on both sides — which might be adjusted by cinching a small twine lock. These twine locks usually are not sturdy sufficient to carry the neck opening closed, with even small actions undoing the opening. To remediate the problem, we added a further twine lock to every shock twine.
We added a second twine lock to the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag’s elastic neck opening because the one offered by the corporate right here isn’t safe.
The Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag’s versatility is astonishing. It’s our advice for any fastpacker who dashes via the mountains in the summertime and powers via the desert within the spring and fall. It’s additionally our advice for anybody wanting just one sleeping bag. It’s comfy beneath 20 levels Fahrenheit, amazingly gentle for the way heat it’s, vents simply, and will be draped blanket-style for balmy nights.
Store the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag
Name for Feedback
- How do you employ the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag? As a quilt, a sleeping bag, or each?
- What’s the bottom temperature to which you will have pushed the Flicker?
- Do you employ a down hood or a beanie with the Flicker?
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A yard view of the Feathered Associates Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag.
