Greetings,
I am new to this forum and have a question about the momentum fabric that seems so popular. I now live in Colorado, and camp between 6000' - 9000'. The wind seem to be a factor that was not a real concern on the AT. I wish to continue using my tarp, but have been dealing with colder nights at this elevation. Does anyone have any real world experience with this fabric? How is it's wind resistance and heat retention when used as the shell in a quilt? Thank you in advance for any light you can shed on this.
Best Regards,
Cabana

Hey John,
I have a home-made quilt made from .85 DWR and one made from Momentum. They both have 9 oz of down and have a similar design.
The .85 DWR is from Thru-hiker and is no longer being sold in favor of the Momentum.

My .85 quilt is horrible with any breeze. I have stayed comfortable down to 40* with light winds and was very cold at 35* with about a 5 mph wind.

With the momentum, I have stayed warm down to about 37* with a 10 mph wind. It was actually quite comfortable at that temperature.

All things added up, the momentum bag with just the different fabric gave me about 7-8* over the .85 DWR and the 10 mph I slept in made me happy that Thru-hiker is selling the fabric.

This is about all the help I can offer, hope it helps.

I've got 15 yards of the Momentum right now just waiting to be molded into a wind breaker, hooded sythetic jacket, and pants, and new design All-in-one Quilt-Bivy-Pad.

Edited by awsorensen on 03/13/2007 01:22:41 MDT.

Thank you for the great insight! Do you think that if I used the 1.1 ripstop from Thu-hiker the wind resistance would increase?
Best Regards,
John

Hey John,
I meant to add that part to the last post.
My very first, (now scraped) quilt was made with 1.1 DWR.
I did not have it around to compare it with the Momentum.
The 1.1 was warmer than the .85 DWR and I would put it just behind the Momentum.
Wind resistance was actually fairly good with the 1.1 DWR, however any dew at all would stick and throughout the night get the fabric soaked enough that even some, (not much) of the down would get wet.

If you are using the 1.1 DWR in perfect weather or shorter trips, the 1.1 DWR will do you justice.

On the other hand, Momentum is a far superior fabric and if you really want to rely on your bag and don't want any problems, Momentum is the way to go.
If you are going to spend all of that time making your gear, the extra $$$ you spend for a better product that you will be much happier with far out weighs the price difference.

I scrapped my 1.1 DWR quilt because I wasn't happy at all with it. What was left over after scrapping it became a dog bed, (my dog is sitting on it in my I.D. picture).

Edited by awsorensen on 03/13/2007 23:08:29 MDT.