The Thermarest Corus HD quilt is new for 2016 and Thermarest says it is their most technical down quilt. I am a big fan of quilts, although I do enjoy burrowing up into a warm sleeping bag. Camping or backpacking quilts are more popular recently and there are good reasons for this. The biggest advantage quilts have over sleeping bags is their low weight and pack volume. The Corus HD gets rid of squished, ineffective insulation and fabric on the bottom and relies on the sleeping pad or other insulation to provide warmth.
I got the Corus HD in the regular size which is 76 inches long. The width tapers from 48 inches at the top to 21 inches at the feet. I am just less than 6 feet 1 inches tall and have a 46 inch chest. Thermarest says the regular will fit a person up to 5 feet 10 inches tall while the large fits people up to 6 feet 2 inches. The regular size weighs 1 pound 6 ounces which is 2 ounces less than the large. The regular quilt covered me okay, but the large is 4 inches longer and tapers from 52 to 24 inches in width.
I use the Corus HD to sleep both on the ground and in the hammock. When using the quilt on the ground, perimeter snap loops are used to fasten the quilt onto a sleeping pad or other compatible Thermarest gear like blankets or sheets. The Corus HD comes with a Ziploc bag of sticky back attachment points for the perimeter loops. These stick onto your sleeping pad and hold the quilt in place. I don‘t have a Thermarest pad but I stuck the connectors onto my sleeping pad just fine. The adhesive seemed very sticky but one of them did pull free during the night.
With temperatures in the lower 40‘s to upper 30‘s, I slept comfortable in the hammock and in the tent. Once the temps got down to about 36, I started to feel just a little bit of a chill on my legs. Thermarest rates the Corus HD at 35 degrees for men and 45 degrees for women and this rating is spot on for me. The down in the quilt is 650 fill power, high loft, Nikwax Hydrophobic down. ThermaCapture technology used at the seams retains radiant heat from your body. Full perimeter side baffles seal the quilt to the ground.
The Corus HD gave just enough coverage for me while sleeping in the tent. I recommend you follow the sizing guidelines from Thermarest and get the large if you are my size. In the hammock, the Corus HD is plenty big for me and I have extra quilt bunched up on top for extra insulation. Of course, I like to have a more enclosed foot box in the hammock and used the snap loops on opposite sides to make a foot box. This little trick kept my feet a little more warm and I just liked the more enclosed footbox around my feet.
Each Corus HD has an external snap pocket and ships with a stuffsack and a unique compartmental storage sack. They pack down to about 10 inches by 7 inches. The MSRP on the Thermarest Corus HD is $239.95 for size regular and the large is only $10 more. This quilt delivers the warmth and the unique attachment system keeps the quilt in place. Click here to browse over to the Thermarest website.
Mark
Thanks to Thermarest for providing the Corus HD quilt for testing and review. We at Industry Outsider have limited budgets just like everyone else. Hopefully the information we pass along about our experiences benefits everyone.