The Feathered Buddies 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 snug all through a bigger vary of temperatures than some other bag we examined. And sure, you learn the product identify 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 greatest ultralight sleeping baggage information.
The Feathered Buddies 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 totally cinched and zipped, the general form of the bag is mummy-like for thermal effectivity.
The primary profit of getting such a flexible bag is that relying in your most popular kinds of journeys and the landscapes during which they happen, this might function your solely sleeping bag. We aren’t attempting to dissuade folks 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 almost $500, so it’s not low cost both. However, because it might have you ever lined between about 15 and 60 levels Fahrenheit and will final for 20 years for those who handle it, it’s possible you’ll not want the rest.
Store the Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag
The Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag. All pictures: iRunFar/Ben Kilbourne
Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag Heat
The iRunFar crew discovered the Feathered Buddies 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 crew members typically sleep within the canyon nation of the Colorado Plateau the place winter temperatures generally hover within the teenagers and located the Flicker to be snug and heat on these chilly and dry nights.
We discovered that when the Flicker’s 14.7 ounces of 950-plus fill Accountable Down Normal (RDS)-certified goose down wrap round us, we really feel a way of safety, a certainty that we received’t be chilly. One among our testers used this sleeping bag at 15 levels Fahrenheit sporting base layers, a light-weight fleece, socks, and a down hood. He famous that he felt assured he might push it a couple of extra levels with the addition of a down jacket.
Chilly sleepers or smaller folks could not be capable to push this bag as low, however we imagine it is going to nonetheless serve them properly right down to about 20 levels Fahrenheit, particularly with an efficient clothes layering system.
The Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag’s down insulation has wonderful loft.
Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag Consolation and Versatility
The Feathered Buddies 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 quite like a Flicker, we should always say. The Northern Flicker, this bag’s namesake fowl, adapts to an unlimited vary of ecosystems and is often 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 in a position to make use of it in temperatures ranging between 15 levels and 60 levels Fahrenheit. Basically, 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 avoid wasting weight through the use of your camp garments as a part of your sleep system.
Between 15 and 25 levels Fahrenheit, certainly one of 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 situation, 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 individual’s thought of the best way to use this bag, and that’s what’s so nice concerning the Flicker. Different testers slept with the zipper on high or on the aspect, for instance. This sleeping bag accommodates many alternative sleeping types and does so all through an enormous vary of temperatures.
A view of the neck baffle on the Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag.
Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag Weight
The Feathered Buddies 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 a fantastic stability of sturdiness and low weight. All these options end in 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 assume any of them strike the identical stability of versatility, heat, and low weight.
Testing the Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag on a cold day in Utah.
Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag Packed Measurement
Within the offered eight-liter stuff sack, the Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag packs right down to 7 x 13 inches (17.8 x 33 centimeters). This small package deal suits 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 overview — it suits 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 overview.
You can use a compression sack to make this package deal even smaller, however we don’t assume it’s vital as a result of we discovered that it already naturally compressed even additional as we stuffed extra tools into our packs.
A view of the footbox on the Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag.
Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag Alternate Sizes
We examined the Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag in a dimension common. This bag suits people as much as six ft tall and with a shoulder girth of 62 inches. This dimension was good for our 155-pound, 5-foot-11-inch male tester however slightly roomy for a few of our smaller feminine testers. One smaller tester discovered it tough 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 advantageous, however we want Feathered Buddies would supply this sleeping bag in round a five-foot-eight-inch size and a 58-inch shoulder girth for smaller folks.
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. Monumental!
Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag Different Temperature Rankings
We examined the 20-degree model of the Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag as a result of we anticipated that it will alter 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 incorrect.
However for those who play in hotter areas or for those who simply sleep scorching, 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 among these ultralight sleeping baggage could also be precisely what you want on your subsequent ultra-minimalist fastpacking endeavor.
We sleep with the Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag’s zipper beneath us on chilly nights.
Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag General Impressions
Like most good fastpackers who lower tags off of shirts, we too have been tempted by the lightest, most minimalist sleeping baggage and quilts. We’ve generally used such feathery baggage, generally loved their lightness, and generally regretted our selection as we shivered susceptible 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 generally find yourself justifying the purchases of a number of sleeping baggage — one for summer time, one for the shoulder season, and one for winter, at a minimal. And there’s nothing incorrect with that. However we additionally perceive that not everybody can afford to personal a number of sleeping baggage. This context is vital for understanding why we just like the Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag a lot and why we named it the very best hoodless sleeping bag in our greatest 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 some other 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 might swing simply between 15 levels and 60 levels Fahrenheit. This sleeping bag is dear, little question, 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 downside with it. The neck cinch has two shock twine drawstrings — one on all sides — which can be adjusted by cinching a small twine lock. These twine locks should not robust sufficient to carry the neck opening closed, with even small actions undoing the opening. To remediate the difficulty, we added an extra twine lock to every shock twine.
We added a second twine lock to the Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag’s elastic neck opening because the one offered by the corporate right here isn’t safe.
The Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag’s versatility is astonishing. It’s our advice for any fastpacker who dashes by way of the mountains in the summertime and powers by way of the desert within the spring and fall. It’s additionally our advice for anybody wanting just one sleeping bag. It’s snug beneath 20 levels Fahrenheit, amazingly gentle for a way heat it’s, vents simply, and may be draped blanket-style for balmy nights.
Store the Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag
Name for Feedback
- How do you utilize the Feathered Buddies 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 utilize a down hood or a beanie with the Flicker?
[Editor’s Note: If you’re affiliated (i.e., an employee, ambassador, etc.) with a brand, please share your relation in each of your comments on this article. Thanks!]
A yard view of the Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 Quilt Sleeping Bag.
