The Rolls-Royce of Ultralight Sleep Systems is *Almost* Perfect

if getting good quality sleep has ever been a problem for you then you've got to know about the new zenbivy ultralight quilt system I've always been on the lookout for like the best quality Sleep System I can get and the zenbivy light bed has has been that for the last year and a half two years for me however one of the things that always held the light bed back was that it was just a little bit bulky and a little bit too heavy but that all changes with the new ultralight system from zenbivy first of all it's not perfect I think it has a few things that it can still tweak and improve upon and second of all it is very expensive now I have about the most expensive version of this this is the tended 10 de quilt this is the 10° quilt 25in wide mattress with the insulated hood and a pillow system the final total for this whole system is over $1100 that is quite the pricey system while this maybe won't ever be a budget friendly system there are some things that you can do to get into this system for much closer to $600 first of all let's look at the mattress this is the zenbivy light mattress this is the zenbivy ultral light mattress it is significantly smaller and lighter than the previous older generation where to me the light bed is still maybe the most comfortable mattress on the market it's just too bulky and I think that zenbivy really saw an opportunity to slim down and especially compete with the Nemo tensors the new big adness reped and some of the other mattresses that are really doing an amazing job of getting smaller this is a baffle system that uses these diagonal designs and I have actually been rather impressed it is very comfortable and most importantly it's been rather warm now while it's a pretty small and subtle difference between this and the previous model this inflation sack is actually a vast Improvement and the nozzle actually lets in way more air at a way faster rate making the inflation time much quicker if you got it too full you can just Boop let it belch out a little bit of air and get that right dialed in where exactly where you want it but when it's time to dump air you got to wrestle with it but then it gets air out of there super fast something that I've always really enjoyed about this it is a zipperless system and it just uses these colorcoded clips so blue to blue green to green yellow to Yellow it's very intuitive and it's very easy now the downside of a system like this is if you're fumbling around in the dark it can be a little bit tricky to know obviously what color is what and it's not as easy as a zippered system and because this is a quilt you always have the ability to easily just kick a foot out from under the quilt and cool down if you need and that is actually one of the biggest selling points for me for using a system like this now traditionally I have been pretty anti- quilt there's a few things that zenbivy has done that actually makes this rather accommodating and cozy which has always been my drawback with quilts I don't find them cozy they're lightweight they do the job but they're not satisfying and this is a satisfying Sleep System one of the main reasons is this whole design around keeping out drafts and if you notice where these quilts attach there's actually quite a bit more material on the end so once you link these up you can still have this extra material that's under you to wrap around you while this guard or this sheet will actually block out drafts first of all look at how crazy fluffy this whole quilt is it is wild how much loft there is and that's because there's 900 fill power down inside that is a premium fill and that means that this is the loftiest system while still maintaining relatively low bulk and very low weight this quilt is just so cozy and awesome and there's a few things that I really like about it let's start with the foot box whereas a normal quilt might just be like a rectangle with a bungee system or some sort of cinch system to draw the foot box closed this has a sewn in foot box that is very intuitive very smart and very lean so you always have the ability to cozily tuck your toes in and on a warmer night you can leave this unclipped for a more open and Airy experience and for colder nights you can simply do one little Buckle there and then you've got something that resembles a lot more like a sleeping bag we'll talk a little bit more about the quilt but first I want to get to a few more things about this sheet now zenb actually has the ability to choose different levels of sheets depending on what you want the old light bed actually had a sheet that covered the whole mattress and while I loved the comfort and feel of it it was just more bulk and more material than was honestly necessary so for the ultral light system what Zen baby has done is gone for the half sheet actually ends right around your hips I think that was a smart decision we don't need that sheet so this half sheet is actually quite a good Improvement but it's not perfect my biggest complaint with this sheet is actually up here at the hood at the very top it just has this little bit of material that hooks over the top of your mattress and then you have these additional anchors or tie downs or straps that go underneath those straps are very effective however this Hood regularly it does this it just kind of sloughs off the top and what I think Zen bivi really needs is just a tiny bit more of a way for that to really hook around in a snug way so that this doesn't kind of pop off if you're pulling this Hood up and over your eyes when you sleep and that is something that I've done repeatedly that is me being nitpicky because honestly it's not been that big of a deal but Zen baby Prides himself on good design and that is a a lackluster design for me this is an insulated hood and zenb also sells a version that doesn't have an insulated Hood so if you want to go even lighter you don't need this but what this Hood does is it really provides a reduction in draft I like to be able to tuck my head into something it has so much more room for you to move around I can roll I can twist and turn and it just feels like I'm sleeping in a bed at home while having that coziness to keep my head warm to keep my ears warm to block out moonlight light to block out ambient light it is so so cozy the other really interesting thing that zenbivy has done is integrated the pillow with the hood now there's actually clips that you can clip it into the hood to keep it from migrating and moving around it keeps it in place so simply hooking these in and having this hood or the pillow Barn up over your head you really want to Cozy in you absolutely can this is the nitpick iest of all nitpicky things to nitpick but this valve system I think could also be improved upon now what I've noticed is that to get this to deflate it requires quite a bit of wrangling now what I found is if you actually do it first the outer get that one free first because that's creating an additional little expansion in here that makes this quite difficult I always feel like I'm about to rip this and I don't want to do that I'm deathly afraid of that happening so I'd love to see this be just the slightest like 10% easier to lift out or to make this flap just a little bit longer so you can get a better grip of it we're really getting cozy now so let's talk about some of the downsides of a system like this the price is pretty prohibitive you want to go all out with this 10° quilt this beautiful sheet with the insulated hood and this 25-in wide mattress it's going to cost you $11,000 now I get that that is going to price out a lot of people here and we have haven't even gotten into the tent and the backpack and all these other things if this bag of beans is just too much for you I totally get it but there are some things that you can do for a more efficient or economical system there is a 25° model as well you can get the 20in wide mattress instead of the 25in wide mattress you can go with the uninsulated sheet instead of the insulated sheet and all of that is actually going to save you a couple hundred bucks so I've slept in this system down to 19° and was actually completely warm the previous night however I slept in it at 21° and I was pretty chilly and I think I found out why so with this air mattress if you don't inflate it all the way get it really crisp and kind of rigid you'll actually not create the air gap that you quite need for the R5 air value R5 r value to really work for you if you leave it a little bit soft it's going to let that cold come through more and I have found that if you really hyperinflate it hit it really tight it actually is more comfortable and more warm as this quilt has had a minute to Loft out from being in the compression sack you can really see just how Giant and lofty it really is this thing is plush one really underrated Improvement of the system is this pillow they've done an amazing job combining both an air bladder with an actual down topper and this is so plush and so comfortable and if you need that extra lift to keep your head up especially if you're Sid sleeper this pillow is the way to go what I love about what zenbivy has done is they have really evolved and are thinking about sleep in some pretty creative ways they've shed weight while also going and being more cozy and more comfortable than most mummy bags will ever be it's probably the most like sleeping in a bed that I've truly found and it is a beautiful Evolution from the light bed which was awesome but bulky a little bit too heavy towards really something that an ultral lighter can truly use if sleep has been elusive for you in the back country I highly recommend you actually look into the light bed or the ultralight system and if dollars are not a huge issue for you I think that this system is well worth the upgrade zenbivy is also coming out with some new equipment that keeps the budget-minded approach accessible for more people but this is the Ultra Premium ultr light system I'm thrilled with where zenbivy is going with this system and if you can afford it it's well worth it in my opinion I know that there are some other reviews out there and there's that have generated quite a bit of Buzz and honestly it's buzzworthy Zen Biv is doing some really cool stuff it's one of my favorite young little companies and I just like what they're doing so if you want to check them out we've got some links below and uh they're well worth it if you can afford it and if you can't afford it I totally get it because it's a lot of money all right if you have any questions about the system or anything else please hit me up leave a comment below I'd love to hear from you I'll try to answer as best I can that's it for me I'm going to go hike around in Sedona some more it's a beautiful day down here so uh I'm going to go live it up all right everybody I'll see you later

Channel: Eric Hanson

Views: 89,860

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Id: u8a1kybCAI8

Length: 11min 6sec (666 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 24 2024