After a night tossing and turning in my sleeping bag during a recent motorcycle journey into the tropics, I had questioned if it was the right choice for my motorcycle adventures. It was either too hot or too cold. Even though it was an extra-large bag, I found it restrictive, and as a side sleeper, incredibly uncomfortable.
About a month ago, I received an email asking if I would like to review the Neve Gear’s Waratah Hiking Down Quilt. Neve Gear is an Australian company that makes its products locally from imported materials. As a confessed gear nut and someone who always wants to try new products, especially those made in Australia. I agreed and within a couple of weeks, a brand new Waratah Hiking Quilt arrived in the mail.
Are they good for motorcycle touring?
It’s a big decision to change your sleeping equipment. However, having made the change, I won’t look back. If you’re undecided about the various merits of quilts versus sleeping bags, I have done a review of the relative pros and cons of both. Check out my view on this in the following post: Quilts vs Sleeping Bags
The Waratah Hiking Quilt by Neve Gear is an excellent piece of equipment, it is well-made, comfortable and reasonably priced. You can check out their website through the following link: Waratah Hiking Quilt
Waratah Hiking Quilt
The Waratah Hiking Quilt is made in Australia by Neve Gear from imported materials. The objective of the quilt is to provide an alternative sleeping cover to the traditional sleeping bag. The material is 10D taffeta nylon and comes in a range of colours. It is difficult to differentiate the vast amount of sleeping covers that are currently on offer. This includes a vast array of sleeping bags, blankets and covers from synthetic to natural fibres such as duck and goose down, but there are very few manufacturers that specialise in quilts for adventurers.
Flexibility
A quilt provides more flexibility than a traditional sleeping bag for a similar warmth rating. The Waratah Hiking Quilt can come in many colours and colour combinations, it can also come with different temperature ratings from plus five degrees Celsius to minus eight degrees Celsius.
Warmth
The Neve Gear Waratah Quilt is rated to -6 degrees, you can get higher rating quilts. It depends on the down pile used during construction. My quilt has 850 down filling, but you can get quilts with more dense filling, lifting the warmth rating.
Build Quality
The quilt is made from Nylon, which is similar to the fly on high quality tents. It uses a taffeta weave. If you are not familiar with Taffeta, ask any stylish young woman about it. Taffeta is a weave process that creates a super fine fabric. It’s what upmarket cocktail, wedding and evening dresses are made of. But this is the first I’ve heard of it being used in combination with nylon for sleeping quilts. The quilt has that silky smooth feel to it, which makes it feel like a luxury item. The downside to that silkiness is that it can slip off you in the night. But the ingenious people who make quilts have though of that and provide elastic cords to keep it rapped around your mat, especially in cold climates.
Conclusion
Quilts are awesome, the Waratah is as good as they get. The quilt is perfect for motorcycle touring and hiking, it’s warm, well-made, light and perfect for light-weight touring. I have yet to take this product into cold climates below negative six degrees C, but I’m pretty sure it will work as expected.
There’s one important aspect that anybody buying a quilt should consider, the quilt is just part of the sleep system. It’s a bit like layering for the cold, each layer has a part to play in keeping you warm. In the old days, it was about having a big down sleeping bag that took up most of your pack, now we have specialist gear with the intent to trade bulk for light weight. With the new sleep systems, we no longer need to trade lightness for comfort. Check out my blog post that describes my seven essential items for a good night’s sleep.
Sleep systems help reduce the weight of your pack, but as the technology improves, so does the specialisation of the equipment. While a quilt offers a modern approach to sleep systems, it is only one component, therefore you must consider where you will be travelling and what your actual needs are. If you want to see what I use for motorcycle touring, I have included a link to my post on seven essential items for a good night’s sleep and my entire camping set up. https://digitalswaggie.com.au/seven-essentials-for-a-good-nights-sleep-when-camping/
If you like this post, please leave a comment and let me know what your camp set up is. Don’t forget to check out my book “Gun Fights, Ghosts and Goannas”, available from Amazon.
