The Rock Entrance 350 Professional Ultralight Backpacking Mattress combines a 900 fill energy down quilt and a sheet with a pillowcase attachment to create a draft-free sleep system when mixed with an inflatable sleeping pad. The result’s a sleep system that can maintain you toasty heat right down to 36 levels F. The mixing of the quilt and the sheet makes use of full size zippers, draft tubes, and draft collars to marry the quilt and sheet and remove facet drafts. Rock Entrance is a cottage gear producer in Ukraine that makes ultralight quilts, sleeping baggage, tarps, bivies, and clothes.
- Quilt weight: 605g / 21.34 oz (21.9 oz measured)
- 900 Fill Energy Insulation weight: 350g / 12.35 oz
- Quilt Development: Field baffles
- Temperature ranking: (Tcomfort/Tlimit) +2°C / -4°C | 36°F / 25°F
- Sheet weight: 130g / 4.59 oz (4.7 oz measured)
- Compression sack weight: 40g / 1.41 oz
- Weight of the set (blanket, sheet, compression sack): 775g / 27.34 oz (1.71 lbs)
- Materials: Ripstop nylon 10d with DWR, YKK #3 zippers
- Value: $341
- Execs: Ingenious means of eliminating facet drafts, very light-weight
- Cons: The zippers are simply snagged on the quilt shell cloth; a single zipper failure renders the system unusable.
Facet drafts
Backpacking quilts can endure from facet drafts as a result of they’re not hooked up to your sleeping pad and air can sneak in alongside the perimeters and chill you. That is in all probability the principle cause why individuals complain that the temperature rankings of their quilts are incorrect. A number of quilt firms have provide you with quite a lot of strategies for coping with facet drafts, though most quilt firms punt on the difficulty utterly.
For instance,
- Zenbivy covers the sleeping pad with a sheet that wraps over the sting of the quilt and blocks drafts.
- Warbonnet makes use of facet elastics that maintain the perimeters of the quilt near your torso.
- Katabatic Gear makes use of “stretchy” edges to restrict facet drafts.
- Neve Gear positions their quilt pad straps 18″ from the sting, creating what quantities to facet draft tubes on your quilt.
Rock Entrance addresses the facet draft drawback through the use of zippers to attach a quilt to a sheet that covers your sleeping pad. The quilt has down-filled draft tubes that drop down over the zippers to forestall drafts from the perimeters, in addition to draft collars on the head and foot ends.
When configuring the Rock Entrance sleep system, you connect the zipper enamel that that run down the perimeters of the quilt to the enamel on the sheet, utilizing zipper sliders on the foot finish of the sheet (see above). The highest and backside zippers overlap to assist remove any air gaps. Getting the enamel of the quilt and sheet to attach requires some advantageous motor abilities, though it will get quicker the extra you do it.
The quilt, which Rock Entrance refers to as a blanket, has a drawstring footbox with a tube of down insulation alongside its border, very similar to a draft collar. That additional insulation and materials utterly block footbox drafts when the footbox is scrunched closed.
The left and proper sheet zippers curve in as they strategy the top finish of the blanket with a view to shrink the dimensions of the opening across the prime of your shoulders and neck. The neck of the “blanket” additionally has a draft collar and drawstring closure. When tightened, so no air can enter or escape, the enclosed space between the blanket and the sheet turns into noticeably hotter and stays that means all night time lengthy.
Getting out and in from beneath the blanket is straightforward; you partially unzip the facet you want to exit from. However breaking down the sleep system into its part components requires a fragile contact to keep away from catching the 10d shell cloth within the zippers. It’s important to do not forget that that is ultralight gear and needs to be dealt with rigorously.
Pillow case
I haven’t talked about the pillow case part of the backpacking mattress but. It’s related to the highest of the sheet with webbing straps and buckles, and when used, does a superb job of holding a pillow in place. The lengthy facet of the pillow case is open, so you’ll be able to slide your pillow inside, cinching it closed with a wire lock to forestall the pillow from sliding out.
Just a few extra observations
- The sheet solely suits sure sleeping pads and never others. Sheet-to-pad compatibility might be spelled out in better element within the product specs. Rock Entrance requested me what pad I deliberate to make use of with the Backpacking Mattress once I ordered, so I’d advocate checking with them, since feedback on their web site point out that sure pads are incompatible.
- The quilt has small webbing loops sewn simply contained in the facet draft tubes, which Rock Entrance suggests might be used to make the quilt right into a hammock underquilt. I haven’t tried that but (I solely simply noticed it flicking via their web site photographs), however it’s an attention-grabbing choice.
- Rock Entrance sells a pad attachment system that allows you to use the quilt as a conventional backpacking quilt with out the sheet.
- The stitching, supplies, and high quality of manufacture are wonderful.
Suggestion
The Rock Entrance 350 Professional Ultralight Backpacking Mattress combines a 900 fill energy down quilt and a sheet with a pillowcase attachment to create a draft-free sleep system when mixed with an inflatable sleeping pad. Facet drafts are utterly eradicated when the quilt is zippered to the sheet and the down footbox and neck draft collars are cinched tight.
Whereas efficient on this software, zippers do fail (see our article Why do Backpack and Tent Zippers Fail?) and aren’t probably the most dependable fastener one can use in backcountry gear. That’s actually my one reservation with the Rock Entrance Ultralight Backcountry Mattress. However for those who’re keen to babysit its zippers by holding them clear and lubricated, and changing the sliders when crucial, then the Rock Entrance Backpacking mattress ought to handle your wants properly.
Disclosure: Rock Entrance offered samples for assessment.
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