WTB: quilt, down, 5'6 womens, -5 to -10C considered

[myrtlegirl]

I'm keen to try a quilt. I'm a 3-season walker, but in Tas there will be 4-season nights even in summer. I have good sleeping mats.

Has anyone tried a quilt and been very disappointed? What surprised you about it, both good and bad?

[north-north-west]

I have one of undercling_mike's quilts, from when he was taking orders through this site. Light, warm, great quality, good range of colours. Downside is they aren't as warm as sleeping bags with the same quality of down and level of fill simply because they don't have attached hoods (beanie helps but doesn't work as well because it's not integrated). Colder times of year I'll take the lightweight WM bag as well, and for snowcamping the APII bag comes out of storage.
Being a toss-and-turner, the quilt can be a nuisance to keep the drafts out because those buckles tend to slide and the back can open out when I roll over. Overall, it's worth the investment but isn't perfect.

[Tortoise]

I also have one of Mike's. Being shorter than north-north-west (apparently by just enough), I snuggle down further so the top part of the quilt becomes my integrated hood. I'm also a tossed and turner, which as nnw said, can introduce drafts. If it's going to be really cold, I get inside my emergency bivvy bag as well, which helps a lot.
I haven't gone back to my heavy, bulky equivalent bag, even when I'm expecting below zero temperatures on exposed mountain top sites.

[phATty]

I have a more common, more available Enlightened Equipment quilt (the warmest one at 0F = -17.7C). I'd say it's good till about 0. In my opinion, I don't believe quilts are effective enough in winter and I probably wouldn't take mine down as far as what you specify.

However, I will say I am a very cold sleeper. I have a -16C OP Winterlite that I take for all other occasions and I must admit I spent a night on the Central Plateau in the fringe of autumn and experienced what I thought must've been well into the negatives (the condensation from breathing was solidifying on surfaces including our tents) and it took me maybe an hour or two to warm up inside the bag before I was okay to sleep in it.