Hammock camping has seen booming popularity in the past few years. Many who have never used a hammock find themselves drawn to the potential comfort benefits, simple setup, and unique site selection that using a hammock can offer.
If you sleep in a hammock, a topquilt is typically preferred over a sleeping bag in almost any situation. They’re less bulky, less of a hassle to get zipped into, and no straps or attachments are needed to keep everything in place.
But as with a sleeping bag, insulation underneath you is also an important part of the system. An underquilt, such as the Revolt or Revolt APEX, is suspended below the hammock to complete the insulation. We offer underquilts in partial lengths to best accommodate users who want to bring a partial-length pad along or full-length options for those who just want the underquilt to completely insulate them.
Our hammock-edition topquilts, the Revelation H.E. and the Enigma H.E., use the same templates as our standard quilts, with a few helpful hammock-specific differences. They are narrower than our standard quilts, as they are made to be used in conjunction with an underquilt. We've trimmed off the pad attachment buckles to limit abrasion on hammock materials. Our hammock topquilts also feature toggles at the foot end for attaching a foot pad.
Insulation
There are two types of insulation commonly used in quilts and under-quilts: down (used in our Revolt) and synthetic (used in our Revolt APEX). See our Insulation & Loft article for more info. Down is lighter, compresses much more, and typically can be used to get to lower temperatures without becoming impractically bulky.The Revolt has a differential cut where the outer fabric is larger than the inner fabric, allowing the down to loft fully when the quilt is suspended under you.
Synthetic insulation, as in the Revolt APEX, offers better all-weather performance, resists sweat and oils from your skin better, is easier to clean, and comes in at a lower price. The choice between them will ultimately be a personal one as you’ll need to find the best balance of these factors for your needs and budget.
Length
At first glance, it may seem like there wouldn’t be any purpose for going with anything less than a full-length UQ. After all, set it up, and your whole backside is covered; nothing could be simpler. But there are a few cases where it would be worth considering going to a shorter length.
Many UL hikers find that even when hammocking, they still want to bring a pad. Sometimes it’s just a very short one used only as a cushion for sitting, sometimes it’s somewhat larger and doubles as both a torso-length sleeping pad and offers some structure for their pack. A torso-length pad is especially helpful for users who may hike through areas in which there aren’t any trees for hanging a hammock, or as a backup for equipment failures or issues with route planning. In these cases, a shorter underquilt can be used. This saves weight vs. a full-length underquilt, and the pad then fills in to insulate the legs while sleeping in the hammock.
Suspension
All EE hammock underquilts were designed to have the simplest possible suspension that sacrifices nothing in versatility, even being adjustable without getting out of the hammock. Our hammock underquilts feature adjustable shock cords on either end to close the quilt around the hammock, along with shock cords to suspend the quilt to your hammock line. Read more on how to use underquilts.
