PHD Ultralight Quilts, a missed Opportunity?

I bought a 2nd hand PHD Ultra Minim sleeping bag last year and have been really impressed with it, more so than my Minim 500 bag. The Ultra Minim uses 900 down and has neither zip nor shoulder baffle as you'd expect on such a lightweight bag but comes in at an unbeatable, as far as I'm aware 364g.

After using it a few times I wondered what they could achieve if instead of making it a sleeping bag they made it as a quilt or top bag. With no insulation on the bottom it would be lighter or if they retained the same fill weight it would be warmer.

I just received an e-mail from PHD with the heading "PHD launch 2 Ultralight Quilts" so I was pretty excited to see what was on offer. Looking at them they aren't what I imagined at all, rather than being quilts in the form usually associated with ultralight backpacking they're quilts in the regular use at home form. I'm not sure that they haven't missed an opportunity here to be honest although what the intended market is would dictate the form that the quilt takes.

As stand alone insulation the lightest of the 2 is heavier than the Minim Ultra and at this end of the market weight is probably more important than outright warmth. That said it may well be a useful way to upgrade a lightweight bag.

As far as I'd be concerned it's something of a missed opportunity but of course I may be missing the point, I'd be interested in the views of others.



How light and how compact could a Minim Ultra Quilt have been?

New gear Reviewed, PHD Minim 500

Sleeping Bag - PHD Minim 500

Initial Impressions

I’d ordered the PHD Minim on the last day of the sale prior to setting off on the last trip. The amount of loft was amazing and even with a Half Zip and stuffed into a Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil roll top the weight was only around 900g. There seemed to be plenty of insulation and the hood looked good so I had high hopes for it, intending to use it as a winter bag and only taking it this time as it was the lightest bag I had even though I expected to be too warm in it. I opted for the Drishell outer and the bag looked the business, it came with a storage stuff sack and a normal stuff sack.

In the Field

I spent both nights in the bothy and I didn’t feel particularily warm. The 1st night I changed into my spare base layer and socks but felt a bit cold around my lower back. This may have been due to the lack of shoulder baffle but as I tend to wrap the bag around my shoulders with the hood up it’s more likely, given that I’m pretty skinny, on the amount of space in the bag as it isn’t particularily close fitting for me. The 2nd night I only changed into my spare socks but ended up sleeping with base layer, trousers, fleece, wind shirt and a Montane Flux and it still took a hot cuppa soup before I could get over to sleep. I’ll assume that my (quite possibly) slightly damp base layer was to blame this time as my feet were toasty in dry socks. Both nights I used a Pacific Outdoors Ether Thermo 6 mat, the 1st night on the wooden bench, the 2nd on the wooden floor.

Conclusion

I‘m slightly disappointed as I expected the bag to over perform given the time of year, I know that I need about 5 deg more than the rating for a Snugpak bag but didn’t expect to need it on the PHD, clearly I sleep very cold. I’ll certainly be careful to check the dimensions of the next bag I buy, particularily the width as I feel that too much extra space is part of the problem. The Mountain Equipment bags with the elasticated mid section might be worth considering but I’d be reluctant to buy another bag without a shoulder baffle in any case.