Enlightened Equipment Revelation 20 Review

Performance Comparison

Alan hanging out in the Revelation 20 in The Barracks of southwestern Utah.

Photo: Ethan Newman

Warmth

While quilts struggle to match the warmth that mummy bags provide, we found the Revelation to be the warmest quilt. It's noticeably lofty, and the U-shaped baffles keep the down more or less in place. The extra ten percent of down added seemed to make the quilt closer to its 20℉ rating. There are mummy bags in this review and on the market that weigh more and didn't keep us as warm.

The Revelation comes with two pad straps, one being a loop strap, the other straight. We were able to adjust them to be adequately tucked in and felt plenty warm on a night below freezing. There are also two cinch cords, one on each end. Unfortunately, the cinch cord on the bottom didn't close up quite as well as we would have liked, although it worked alright. Like any quilt, there is some slight draftiness, and the Revelation wasn't wide enough to fully wrap around ourselves. However, for a lightweight quilt, we are quite impressed with its warmth.

Weight

At around 20 ounces, it's one of the warmest ultralight quilts we've reviewed. 13 of those ounces are down fill, which means that only seven is the fabric, a pretty good ratio. If you were only hiking in warmer climes you could get a warmer version of the Revelation and save some weight with less down fill. The 10D fabric is a good choice for saving weight and is less delicate than it seems.

Although the quilt is only 21 ounces, the included stuff sack is one of the larger ones. We recommend an aftermarket compression sack to get it as small as it should be.

Photo: Ethan Newman

One thing we wish Enlightened Equipment would update is the stuff sack. Even though it weighs less than some other similar quilts, it didn't pack down nearly as small as we wished. If we were looking to pack it down as much as possible we'd pair it with an aftermarket compression sack, or nix the sack entirely and smush it into the bottom of our pack.

Comfort

Regarding comfort built into the design, the Revelation definitely feels like it was cut to be ultralight. In a side-by-side comparison with similar quilts, we noticed the Revelation to be narrower, even though they're both listed at 55 inches. We felt this difference when in the quilt as well. It fit our 5'8" tester but might feel tight to taller or wider folks without getting the wide cut. We also found it difficult to keep the opening pointed at the pad when rolling around in the middle of the night without strapping it down to be very constricting.

The fabric is a slick and smooth 10D nylon that feels nice on the skin and not particularly crinkly like some ultralight fabrics. You do end up sleeping on top of the buckles, and the top drawcord sometimes ends up on your face because of its centered position.

We like that the Revelation can be strapped down to a quilt or fully opened like a blanket.

Photo: Ethan Newman

Versatility

Like any quilt worth its weight, the Revelation is quite versatile. We enjoyed being able to fully open it up on hot nights and sleep with it in blanket mode, eschewing the pad straps, buttons, and zipper. On cooler nights, we could zip, snap, and strap it down to the pad and curl up to maximize the warmth in the bag. We liked wrapping it around ourselves at camp, and as an extra blanket while car camping. It also could be used as a top quilt in a hammock, although Enlightened Equipment makes a hammock specific version as well.

The pad attachment system ends up under the sleeper, and it can be hard to always keep the opening against the pad when rolling around. However, you can see how much it lofts off the pad to keep you warm.

Photo: Ethan Newman

Features

The Revelation 20 comes with a ton of features to make it so versatile. It has a drawcord and button on the top to seal in heat around your neck. On the bottom, there's an elastic drawcord, a short zipper under the foot box, and two more buttons underneath your legs. In the middle, two pad straps, one looped, one straight, to seal the quilt around the sleeping pad.

We felt that with all these features, a tweak or two could have made the quilt much better. The bottom didn't seal quite as well as fully zippered designs, as it still left a bit of a hole for warmth to escape. The top drawcord toggle could be moved to one side to eliminate a cord in the face and recessed into a neck baffle to make it comfier and a better seal. The two buttons could have been replaced by a slightly longer zipper to better enclosed the lower body. Lastly, we wish that Enlightened Equipment could find a better solution to sealing up the middle of the quilt, either with three pad straps, or taper the cut differently to keep the middle of the quilt in place around the user. Alas, we are definitely picky. Overall, this model has a solid set of features.

The Revelation seals much better than the Burrow, but not as completely as the Flicker UL.

Photo: Ethan Newman

Value

The Revelation 20 remains the Best Buy Award winner for the fourth year in a row. There are cheaper options, but they don't perform nearly as well as the Revelation. Given that any other option with a similar score is noticeably more, we think that this quilt is an outstanding choice for balancing performance with price. Among high-end quilts, the Revelation represents the best value.

Comparing how comfortable everyone felt in a mummy bag (orange Patagonia 850) versus a quilt (blue Revelation 20) or simply brown fur, camping on the Dolores River in the spring.

Conclusion

The Enlightened Equipment Revelation 20 is a highly versatile quilt that can be spread open for warm summer backpacking or closed down and strapped to a pad for use into the spring and fall. The stock version comes high-quality fabrics and high loft Downtek fill to ensure a quality product for a reasonable price. You can also customize nearly everything on this quilt, from heavier or lighter fabrics, 850 or 950 FP down, and a range of temperatures and sizes to fit your needs. If you do so, just make sure you have plenty of lead time, as custom orders can take up to four weeks to arrive.

Other Versions and Accessories