less is less Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. This is especially true when you’re carrying everything you need for a week’s worth of life on your back, which brings us to the backpacking quilt: it’s a sleeping bag, but less of it. In many cases, all you need is a backpacking quilt, and I like them better than sleeping bags for all but the coldest trips.

These quilts are not like the ones your grandmother gave you. Backpacking quilts are made of nylon and filled with down like a traditional sleeping bag, but they fit over you like a quilt, rather than enveloping you like a sleeping bag would. The benefit is twofold: a quilt is lighter, which means less weight to carry in your backpack, and under the right conditions, you may sleep better, too.

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Best quilt for ultralight summer trips

For summer trips, when I want to go as light as possible, Enlightened Equipment’s Revelation Quilt is my top choice. I have the 40°F version, which weighs only 19 ounces. Unlike many manufacturers, Enlightened Equipment does not offer a dual temperature rating of comfort and lower/extreme limit. Instead, it chooses a middle number and recommends on its website that most people “use a quilt 10 degrees warmer than the lowest expected temperatures.” My experience with Revelation suggests that this recommendation is sound. I found that Revelation keeps me warm until I’m almost freezing, as long as I wear a base layer. If it’s colder, I’ll also sleep in a puffer jacket, but in summer, even in the mountains, this will rarely be necessary.

The Revelation has the ability to lie completely flat on warmer nights, which is how I typically use it. The foot box has a 20-inch zipper and drawstring, allowing you to close it to create a nice, tight (read: warm) space for your feet whenever you need it. There are also straps that form a loop and wrap around the mat to keep the Revelation in place. The straps are separate, which is good because I don’t use them half the time, but it makes losing them a risk. They’re also a little different from other systems I’ve tried in that they wrap around your pad (rather than right under it) and then you clip the Revelation to them. I don’t like sleeping with the strap on, so I use these straps “wrongly” and just put them under my pad, ignoring the loop feature, and it works great. On warmer nights, I don’t bother with the straps at all; After all, quilts are all about flexibility.

The Revelation is available in a nearly endless variety of configurations, with temperature ratings from 50°F to 0°F. You can also get different lengths (short, regular, long) and different widths (wide, regular) and choose between 850 fill power and 950 fill power. A collar is available for bags rated below 30°F. I tested the 40°F model with a fill power of 850, which weighs 19 ounces and costs $370. It’s also worth noting that there is the option to create a completely custom, made-in-the-USA Revelation using your exact dimensions, fill power, and fabric color preferences.

The best sleep system for trips in the shoulder season

When the temperature drops below freezing, I turn to Zenbivy’s various sleep systems. In my danger zone, freezing temperatures can extend into June and start in early September, so I spend a lot of time on Zenbivy quilts. I’ve tried every model the company makes and part of the beauty of the Zenbivy system is that you can mix and match different duvets and sheets depending on what works best for you. My favorite combination is the light comforter (convertible version, which opens completely), combined with the half sheet/hood of the Ultralight bed. I prefer the 10°F version of both. This is the most versatile and lightest combination for the temperatures I usually find (using a half sheet saves me 6 ounces over the full one). That said, if I were backpacking primarily in the mountain west or warmer climates, I would choose the 25°F option.