The ZenBivy Ultralight Mattress 10 consists of a sheet and quilt that combine right into a bed-like system that’s draft-resistant, supremely snug, versatile, and non-restrictive, particularly for “rotisserie” sleepers who change positions ceaselessly within the night time.
For a backpacking sleep system, one has traditionally had to decide on between a quilt and a sleeping bag, every with its advantages and downsides. A sleeping bag is draft-free however heavy and has a hard and fast girth, so it’s both restrictive or has a number of dead-air area to heat up. A quilt is lighter weight and has variable girth (which means you may cosy it round you to heat up or drape it loosely to chill off). However this flexibility makes it susceptible to drafts. In distinction, ZenBivy combines the advantages of quilts and sleeping luggage whereas minimizing their drawbacks. The answer is outstanding.
Specs
- Product examined: Ultralight Mattress Ultralight Quilt + Ultralight Sheet) on the 10F temperature score, with an everyday width (20” broad) Ultralight Sheet.
- Producer’s Weight Whole: 2 kilos, 0.7 oz. (Ultralight Sheet: 6.7 oz + Ultralight Quilt: 1 pound, 10 oz.)
- Examined Weight Whole: 2 kilos, 1.3 oz. (Ultralight Sheet: 6.6 oz + Ultralight Quilt: 1 pound, 10.7 oz.)
- Producer’s Dimensions, UL Quilt: (the producer provides the size for reduce cloth, with the word that “stuffed, lofted quilts can be a number of inches smaller in each size and width.”): 72” x 54”
- Examined Dimensions, UL Quilt: Roughly 68” x 52” semi-rectangular form, coming collectively into a hard and fast foot finish panel
- Examined Dimensions, UL Sheet: Half-length (39” lengthy), usable for brief, common, or lengthy mattresses as much as 20 inches broad.
- Material (each quilt and sheet): 10D Pertex Quantum 280x250T, fluorocarbon-free DWR
- Insulation: 900 fill-power ExpeDRY fluorocarbon-free waterproof 90/10 goose down
Sheet and Quilt Integration
How does it work? The ZenBivy sleep system includes two items:
- a fitted, hooded half-sheet with flaps and plastic hooks on each side
- and a quilt with loops that clip to the hooks on the half-sheet
The loops are set about 25 cm in from both sides, so the flaps overlap the sides of the quilt and block drafts. Not like pad attachment straps that pin the edges of a quilt tightly to the pad, negating the advantage of variable girth, these flaps, when connected to the quilt, depart the sides of the quilt free. This lets you cosy them round your self for heat whereas additionally allowing the quilt to maneuver and increase with out letting in drafts.
You possibly can clip the entire loops and hooks collectively to batten down the hatches, however my favourite method to make use of the system is to depart two or three of the hooks on one facet unclipped (the facet I’m going through when mendacity on my facet) and wrap that facet of the quilt tight round myself whereas leaving the opposite facet clipped to forestall drafts on my again. Leaving one facet principally unclipped additionally makes it straightforward to exit in the course of the night time–as straightforward as pushing apart your comforter at residence.
Outsized Hood
Utilizing the outsized hood is way much less claustrophobic than sporting a separate balaclava-style down hood with a quilt system. You possibly can toss and switch with out getting smothered by a mummy-style sleeping bag-attached hood. You set the pillow contained in the hood and slip the hood excessive of your head. The reduce of it lets you transfer backward and forward with out restriction and helps make sure that your breath at all times exits the bag.
As of 2024, all ZenBivy Sheets, together with the Ultralight Mattress, have “Headboard Clips” contained in the hood, permitting you to clip 2024-and-beyond fashions of ZenBivy pillows in place so that they don’t transfer round. My ZenBivy pillow is from the older system and doesn’t have the attachment factors for clips, however I discover the hood alone does simply superb for protecting the pillow from transferring round an excessive amount of.
Quick Footbox
The 10F Ultralight Quilt has a “Quick Footbox,” which is a hybrid of a hard and fast (completely closed) footbox and a convertible one. Their totally convertible footbox might be opened flat and closed in a few totally different configurations, which created some client confusion, particularly since one needed to dig into the ZenBivy movies to grasp learn how to configure them.
The Ultralight Quilt’s Quick Footbox can’t be opened fully flat however has a sewn-in panel on the finish and open sides. The edges might be closed up for heat across the decrease legs with a single clip or opened up for extra width. On a typical quilt, the footbox is sewn up the edges to the person’s shins or knees.
Temperature Score
ZenBivy names its quilts by their Decrease Restrict Score. The Decrease Restrict is the bottom temperature at which the common heat sleeper will really feel snug. The Consolation Score is the temperature at which the common chilly sleeper, like me, will really feel snug, sometimes 10 levels increased than the Decrease Restrict. So, if you’re a chilly sleeper, add 10 levels Fahrenheit to the named temperature (i.e., the Ultralight Quilt 10F can be heat to 20F). Observe that these rankings are contingent on you utilizing an appropriately rated mattress.
Progressive Neck Cinch
Most backpacking quilts have a drawstring cinch and snap on the neck to maintain out drafts. Nonetheless, this characteristic is greatest for non-moving again sleepers. Should you sleep in your facet, it could actually really feel restrictive and let in drafts as you progress. The ZenBivy quilt solves this with an progressive neck cinch they name the “Kylie-Curve.” It’s a drawstring that cinches solely within the heart of the quilt to curve the highest round your neck and shoulders whereas leaving the sides of the quilt unfastened to tuck round you or into the Quick Sheet’s hood for heat.
Mixing and Matching Items and Further Equipment
The quilt and sheets have standardized placement of hooks and loops, which means that any ZenBivy quilt can be utilized with any ZenBivy sheet, whatever the 12 months made, width, or measurement. I recognize that Zen Bivy is protecting the attachment factors normal and never altering them from 12 months to 12 months or from one measurement to the opposite, to drive shoppers to purchase a whole new system in the event that they get one new piece. The one gadgets it’s a must to coordinate are the sheet and mattress sizes: you should utilize any mattress, together with closed-cell foam, that matches your sheet’s dimensions, together with tapered ones.
Pairing a third Social gathering Quilt with a ZenBivy Sheet
SectionHiker just lately obtained an e-mail concerning our final ZenBivy evaluate, asking if it was doable to pair a non-ZenBivy quilt with a ZenBivy sheet. Michael Glavin, the founding father of ZenBivy, shares that one may reduce patches of Tenacious Tape with a slit within the center with a loop of wire pushed by and stick them on the quilt to match the position of the hooks on the Sheet. There are two keys right here for correct integration: utilizing 1.8mm-2.0mm wire that can snap securely into the hooks, and inserting the loops away from the sting of the quilt (Glavin recommends at the very least 25 cm away from the sides) in order that the sheet and the quilt create a draft-free seal.
Suggestion
Should you discover sleeping luggage too heavy and claustrophobic, quilts too drafty, and pad straps too fussy, the ZenBivy Ultralight Mattress may be your Goldilocks sleep system. As an especially mild and delicate sleeper who spent years resigned to getting unhealthy sleep within the backcountry, the ZenBivy system supplies the most effective sleep I’ve ever gotten on the bottom. The burden discount as a result of supplies and development of the Ultralight Mattress makes the system much more compelling for weight-conscious backpackers. Extremely really helpful!
Professionals
- Supreme consolation: no restrictiveness or drafts for an energetic sleeper
- Decreased weight from earlier variations
- Coloration-coordinated clips and loops make setup quick
- Modularity/skill to share items throughout totally different programs (mattresses and sheets are the one items that should be the identical measurement)
Cons (Room for Enchancment)
- Make it simpler to check the specs of various mixtures of things on the web site
Disclosure: Zenbivy donated a UL mattress system for evaluate.
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Concerning the Writer
Greg Pehrson is an ultralight backpacker who was bitten laborious by the MYOG (make-your-own-gear) bug. He repairs, tinkers, and builds gear, typically searching for to upcycle throwaway gadgets or repurpose issues from outdoors the backpacking world.