by Franco » Wed 16 Dec, 2009 8:31 am
A mate of mine has two. One is the Specialist the other is either an Alpinist or a Specialist with overfill.
(he likes them...)
They really are a shaped quilt with a footbox. The idea is that since the down under you is pretty much useless for insulation, you save that part in weight and stored size by not having it..
I would recommend experimenting sleeping under a quilt first. I use the JRB No Sniveller (that is a rectangular quilt that you can cinch at either end to turn it into a foot box) . Not as well made/puffy as the Nunatak but works for me.
Or I use the WM Ultralite opened up in quilt mode. The Western Mountaineering bag is of a similar standard (fabric and amounts of down used) to the Nunatak.
The best part of the Nunatak is that they are custom/semi custom, so you can mix and match sizes,fabrics and amounts of down used. Even the baffle height and space can be specified. Tom (Halpin) at Nunatak will help you out there.
On the other side, if you have a highly customised version and you end up not liking it , it will be harder to sell.
The temperature ranges given on their site are usually quoted as "accurate" .
Franco
Since I started sleeping under a quilt I have learned to toss and turn keeping the quilt on top of me. Not much chance for me to stop tossing and turning...