Since I started backpacking, I’ve been carrying my old 1,5 kilo synthetic sleeping bag from Dutch Mountain, which I’ve used for summer car camping over the past 10 years
It served me well, but the sleeping bag is very heavy while I feel cold already if temperatures dip below 10°C 🥶
So it was time for an upgrade 🙌
After quite some research, I decided to try out the Cumulus Quilt 250.
In this review, I’ll tell you all about it 🤓
Table of Contents
Disclaimer: I bought this product with my own money, this review is not sponsored, and there are no affiliate links on this page. All opinions are my own.
Overview
The Cumulus Quilt 250 is incredibly light at 490 grams while still keeping you warm up to a comfort temperature of 4°C, with a lower limit of 0°C.
Because of the down feathers, it also packs down incredibly small if you use the 3-liter stuff sack.
| Technical Details |
|---|
| Weight Quilt 490 g, pad straps 31 g, stuff sack 12 g |
| Temperature rating 4°C comfort, 0°C limit |
| Dimensions 130cm/100cm wide x 195cm long |
| Materials 850 Fill Power Down, Pertex Quantum 29 g/m², 3mm YYK zipper |
| Price €309 |
What’s cool with Cumulus is that you can completely customize the quilt.
You can make it longer, wider, fill it with more down, use different fabrics or colors, etc.
Why choose a quilt over a sleeping bag
Comfort
I’ve always found sleeping bags quite constricting because I like to spread out like a starfish on my sleeping pad.
A quilt is more spacious because it’s more like the blanket you have at home, but with a footbox and straps to attach it to your sleeping pad.
Weight
A sleeping bag is slightly heavier because it has a full length zipper, a hood, and needs to have more fabric in the width because it needs to wrap around your whole body.
If you for example take a comparable sleeping bag like the Lite Line 300 from Cumulus with the same temperature rating and materials, you’ll see that the quilt is 80 grams lighter.
In my opinion, that isn’t a reason to get a quilt, but it’s nice nonetheless 🙂
Design, Materials, and Features
Down
The quilt is filled with 250 grams of 850 fill power down.
Fill power is a way to measure the fluffiness of the down, the higher the number, the more the quilt will loft and the warmer it keeps you.
Down is incredibly light compared to synthetic materials, but the downside is that it looses its insulating properties when it gets wet.
Cumulus uses ethically sourced down from Poland.
Fabric
Cumulus uses a superduper light fabric called Pertex Quantum that weighs only 29 grams per square meter.
It’s possible to customize the quilt for €95 with another fabric called Toray Airtastic that weighs only 19 grams per square meter, but personally I think it’s not worth giving up durability for the 57 gram weight savings.
The Pertex Quantum doesn’t feel as soft and fluffy as my old sleeping bag, but it’s not too bad.
Footbox
Some quilts have a sewn footbox that can’t be opened, but Cumulus opted for a 3mm YKK zipper along 60 cm of the footbox.
The benefit is that you can open the quilt completely on warm nights so you can use it like a blanket, or to drape it around you outside your tent.
Personally I almost never zip the quilt open, but it’s nice the possibility is there.
Along the zippers there are some thick baffles that do a pretty good job at making sure no cold comes through the zipper.
Pad straps
The quilt comes with two pad straps that help you attach the quilt to your sleeping pad of choice, which helps with reducing cold drafts.
Each strap is a piece of 20mm wide stretchable webbing, and has a clip on each end.
I only use them when it’s below 5°C, but when I do use them I find them pretty handy and comfortable.
You don’t feel the webbing you lie down on, and the quilt stays in place well.
You can also slide the clips along the webbing to make some adjustments if you like.
Packability
The cool thing with down insulation is not only that it’s crazy light, but it’s also extremely compressible.
It goes from this thick feathery blanket into this supersmall stuff sack that’s smaller than a regular 1 liter water bottle 🤯
I cram it into every corner in the bottom of my backpack without the stuff sack, which works great too! 🙂
Who’s Cumulus?
Cumulus is a Polish company founded in 1989 with the goal of creating lightweight gear.
From the beginning they were focussed on creating quality sleeping bags, but expanded in 2009-2018 to create other clothing items too.
The down they use is 100% ethically sourced down from Poland, and they use technical fabrics like Pertex.
First impression
As soon as it arrived, I tried out the quilt inside, hehe.
I noticed a few fibres sticking out from the stitches near the neck baffle.
Not sure what these fibres are from, but I suspect it’s from where the Pertex Quantum was cut, and somehow it found it’s way outside through the stiches. Don’t think it’s anything bad, so I just cut the fibres off carefully.
A week later I took the quilt on it’s first outdoor adventure, and really liked it.
I’m so surprised a thing so lightweight can keep me so warm! And love the packability.
Real world tests
I’ve taken the Cumulus Quilt 250 on several trips now, and slept over 50 nights underneath the quilt.
Temperature performance
I went once winter camping at -2°C, and the quilt definitely felt too cold for that.
But besides that, this thing always performed well from 2°C to 18°C 🙂
Feel
I got really used to the feeling of the fabric on my skin, and actually really enjoy it.
Only on a hot and sweaty night it’s not so nice, but which fabric is?
Pad straps
The pad straps are a cool feature to avoid drafts, but I only feel like I need them when the temperature goes below 5°C or so.
If they predict anything above that, I leave the straps at home and just roll myself up in the quilt.
Usage Timeline
Will this quilt hold up over time? I’ll keep updating this until it breaks, so let’s find out! 😄
New
Condition: Great
Everything perfect except for a few loose fibres sticking out from between the stitches. Nothing a steady hand and some scissors can’t fix.
Initial Usage
Condition: Great
Looks still like new. Can imagine the fabric inside the footbox might get dirtier after a while because I usually don’t wear socks & pants with warmer weather.
6 Months of Usage
Condition: Great
Used it for roughly 40 nights and it still looks the same as the day it arrived. I’ve not seen any other fraying of the fabric, or dirty fabric in the footbox because I’ve been usually wearing socks and pants during the last few colder months.
1 Year of Usage
Condition: Great
The quilt is holding up really well, and still looks almost like new despite me using it without any kind of liner.
Conclusion
I’ve honestly nothing that comes to mind to improve on the Cumulus Quilt 250, I really like this thing.
It’s incredibly lightweight, packs down impossibly small, and while not being soft & fluffy the material feels still comfortable on the skin.
When ordering I was a bit overwhelmed with all the possibilities for customisation, and I’m actually really happy I just went with the stock version because it fits me so well.
I could imagine is a bit of extra down in the footbox because my feet were cold when I got close to the rated limit temperature, but that was nothing a pair of warm socks couldn’t solve.
I can highly recommend it for any kind of adventure that’s a bit above freezing, and where weight & size are at a premium.
