Nemo Tools is probably greatest recognized for its line of light-weight freestanding tents, however over time, have grown right into a wide-ranging outside gear model, providing every part from totes to sleep programs.
As their ultralight Osmo and Elite sequence have pushed the envelope on freestanding tent weights, they’ve additionally launched an ultralight sleeping quilt and pad to match. This evaluate covers the Nemo Pulse 20/30 quilt, their first entrance into the non-zippered sleeping bag market. Can they compete with the ultralight titans which are already established within the subject?
Nemo Pulse Quilt At-A-Look
Value: $550 common dimension / $580 lengthy dimension
Weights:
- Quilt solely: 18.0 oz Common (6’ 0”) / 20.6 oz Lengthy (6’ 6”)
- Pad straps (x2): 0.9 oz
- Stuff sack: 1.45 oz
Supplies:
- Shell: PFAS-free Ripstop nylon
- They didn’t specify denier however I might guess it’s a 10D base with a 15D or 20D ripstop.
- Fill: 1000FP (cubic inch/ounce) down with ExpeDRY therapy
- Down sort shouldn’t be specified, however I presume it’s goose down given its excessive Fill Energy (FP)
Letting the frost soften off my Pulse and Durston tent on a crunchy September morning on the Colorado Path. Camped at 13,000ft, it nonetheless calmly froze in a single day.
Supposed Use
The Nemo Pulse quilt is a light-weight bag meant for hotter climate. Its beneficiant width and restricted footbox size are higher for sprawling, lively sleepers.
Circumstance of Assessment
I received the Pulse quilt in August, which in most locations continues to be firmly a summer season month. Nevertheless, most of my testing was above treeline, the place fall was underway. I used this quilt for a sequence of weekend journeys near house within the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, in addition to for a quick-hit part hike of the Colorado Path.
Nemo Pulse Quilt Options
Karo Step Baffles
Probably the most distinctive characteristic of the Pulse quilt is the Karo Step baffles. This most likely feels like phrase salad, nevertheless it’s price breaking down to know the important thing design factors.
Baffles are the chambers of cloth into which down is stuffed to carry the feathers in place. Sometimes, they’re sewn in lengthy tubes, both horizontally or vertically, in order that they can’t bunch up in a single location contained in the quilt.
Karo Step baffles are a singular design for conserving down in place utilizing a two-directional grid of noncontinuous baffles. This reduces the quantity of baffle materials required whereas permitting all the right down to be redistributed anyplace inside. In idea it is a lighter development methodology than steady tubes of narrower baffles.
Draft Collar with Exterior Sinch
This quilt has a considerable 5” vast draft collar, a characteristic typically absent on hotter climate quilts. Most draft collars are narrower however extra overstuffed than the one discovered on the Pulse, however I discovered it to be efficient sufficient for summer season situations.
The cinch twine sits just under the draft collar and makes use of a singular surface-mounted toggle to maintain it tight.
Brief Footbox
Measuring at simply 12” from the foot finish of the bag, the totally enclosed “footbox” is shorter than most quilts. Sometimes, footboxes are sewn closed tubes that finish about knee excessive (about 15 to 22″ from the top), at which level the left and proper sides break up.
So why is the Pulse a lot shorter? My guess is they’re extra nervous about being too sizzling in a restrictive tube than being drafty from the big backside opening. This matches each the summer-weight insulation and my expertise utilizing it in hotter temperatures. The open backside can be extra of a U form than a V, that means it widens out rapidly.
Chilling in mattress on a chilly morning. The open baffle design of the quilt doesn’t lend itself to an overstuffed footbox, that means chilly ft for me whereas pushing the temperature score of the bag.
Nemo Pulse Quilt Professionals
Environment friendly Baffle Design
The Karo Step baffles (defined above) are designed to be weight-efficient, utilizing much less materials to create the chambers than conventional designs. On sewn-through or brief baffle designs, it additionally permits a reasonably even down distribution, avoiding chilly spots (or, extra realistically, strains) the place the shell partitions are sewn shut collectively.
The loft peak shouldn’t be listed, however my extremely unscientific poke-and-feel methodology tells me these do have baffle partitions (not sewn by way of) which are a couple of half-inch tall, and the middle of every baffle “cell” is about 2.5” tall. The variation of the baffle peak means some areas will really feel hotter than others, making a decrease temperature score in comparison with a quilt that was 2.5” tall all through.
Excessive Energy Down
Stuffed into the baffles is 1,000FP, ExpeDRY handled down.
Fill energy is a measure of how lofty and environment friendly down is, measured in cubic inches of area per 1 ounce of down. Basically the upper the quantity, the extra heat air it could actually lure with much less weight and bulk. A rating of 1,000 is on the high of the road, with consumer-grade down beginning round 550FP.
ExpeDRY is a waterproof therapy provided by Allied Feather and Down. This therapy was new to the market final yr, utilizing a dusting of gold particles to assist evaporation and wicking of moisture away from compromised down. Whereas hopefully your bag by no means will get moist within the first place, this therapy ought to assist maintain the loft alive in humid, dewy environments.
A backlit picture displaying the oblong grid of Karo Step baffles. discover that some are properly distributed to the perimeters and intersections, whereas the highlighted zone as some uneven distribution.
Roomy Minimize
Wigglers and rotisserie sleepers will recognize the vast, blanket-like form of this quilt. Measuring 55” throughout on the shoulder, it felt palatial over my stick-like body and 20” vast sleeping pads.
Over the previous couple of years, 54” to 55” has develop into the “normal” width-at-shoulders for quilts, however coming from my go-to 44” quilt, it’s a fairly good change for sprawling summer season nights. The Pulse additionally retains a comparatively vast minimize all through the torso, tapering to a snug 48” across the hips.
Nemo Pulse Quilt Cons
Temperature Rankings are Complicated and Optimistic
My months of use with the Pulse left me with a complicated psychological record of temperature rankings. The mannequin title is “Pulse 20/30,” which might be simple to interpret as a 20°F restrict, 30°F consolation score. These are the conventionally listed numbers when describing a sleeping bag. In distinction, the printed EN 13537 normal temperature rankings are barely completely different at 34°F consolation, 23°F restrict, and -8°F excessive.
In apply, I assumed the consolation restrict was extra within the 38-42°F vary. My nights out with forecasts of low 30s (validated by a frosty tent) left me persistently chilly, even with mild base layers. Once I managed to drop elevation sufficient to get a excessive 30s/ low 40s forecast, I slept by way of the evening considerably higher.
I discovered the down was not tremendous evenly distributed out of the field, usually shying away from the perimeters and baffle line intersections. Some guide adjustment of down distribution might get rid of these chilly spots and shut the 4-6° hole in efficiency I skilled.
Exterior Cinch Twine Is Arduous To Alter
Mounted just under the draft collar is a singular, surface-mounted twine lock by Cohaesive. Its a nifty piece of {hardware} that piques my designer mind’s curiosity, however in the end didn’t enhance a lot upon the straightforward drawstring toggle for this utility.
My expertise with this cinch design was all the time a little bit problem. Its place beneath the 5” draft collar and situated on the outside of the bag made it onerous to tug as soon as the pad straps have been already deployed. I might virtually desire the twine exited the opposite facet, in the direction of the face, and was paired with a shorter (and extra densely stuffed) draft collar in order that it could actually extra simply be operated from the within.
The vast and flat draft collar (inexperienced), together with the Cohaesive twine cinch just under.
Pad Straps Don’t Keep in Place
The 2 pad straps included with the Pulse are product of flat, easy 1/4″ webbing. Every has three items of {hardware}: a typical toggle to tighten across the pad itself, and two “hooks” that seize cords on the sleeping bag.
The positioning of the hook {hardware} is adjustable, permitting them to be pulled to completely different widths and for different-shaped pads. They’re additionally designed to lock in place when the twine is tight, however in apply this by no means appeared to occur fairly completely. The {hardware} all the time appeared to finish up out of place: both it could find yourself beneath my physique, making a strain level, or it could fall off the perimeters of the pad, making a drafty air hole.
The a number of items of {hardware} have been additionally a minor chore to arrange and place in camp every evening, one thing I grew to become more and more aggravated at with every use.
Down Redistribution Could Be Tough After Washing
I didn’t really feel the necessity to wash this bag throughout my testing interval, however having washed a number of quilts and luggage prior to now, I fear about what the method might do to the down distribution. With no fully sealed baffle chambers, the whole bag is actually one huge maze.
Washing down causes it to clump up and fall to the sting of baffles. It’s fully doable a wash cycle on the Pulse would result in one or two massive clumps that may should be manually redistributed throughout the whole bag. This may be a irritating and time-intensive train, and doubtlessly tough to get even once more.
The pad straps on the quilt connection level.
Weight Is Center of The Street
For all of the hype on the environment friendly, weight-saving design of the Karo Step baffles, the 21oz weight shouldn’t be notably spectacular when the consolation restrict is within the excessive 30s. I think the shell material is simply thicker and heavier than the true UL choices, and the baffle structure doesn’t scale back the fabric as a lot as anticipated. The beneficiant minimize width is a direct tradeoff of versatility and weight, which additionally makes it appear heavier on paper.
Worth
The Nemo Pulse is a spacious summer-warmth quilt with a number of cool tips up its sleeve to realize balanced efficiency. At $550 MSRP, it lands very excessive on the worth spectrum for three-season luggage. Its middle-of-the-road weight and minor annoyances are more durable to miss, given the excessive value.
If a pal requested, I might in the end suggest one of many choices listed beneath over the Pulse on account of weight, value, and person expertise.
Store the Nemo Pulse 20/30 Quilt
Comparable Quilts
Katabatic Chisos (40 consolation)
- MSRP: $319
- Weight: 17.3 oz
(6′ 850fp model)
Hammock Gear Burrow UL
- MSRP: $355
- Weight: 15.1 oz
(common size/width, 30-degree model)
Enlightened Tools Enigma
- MSRP: $330
- Weight: 17.7 oz
(common size/width, 850fp, 30-degree model)
The Nemo Pulse Quilt was donated for goal of evaluate
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