REASONS TO BUY
Very affordable
Highly customizable
Versatile
Lots of features
REASONS TO AVOID
Long wait for product to be custom made and shipped
Foot box draw cord still leaves a little hole
Lots of buttons and straps
Enlightened Equipment Revelation 20 Review
Offers the versatility of sleeping under it as a blanket or fully wrapped up, with a huge range of customizable options
Credit: Enlightened Equipment
RELATED: Best Ultralight Sleeping Bag of 2023
Our Verdict
For years now, the Enlightened Equipment Revelation 20 is the reigning champion of the Best Buy Award. We love the versatility of the quilt, and that it's the warmest quilt among the competition. It isn't the absolute lightest, but it is lightweight for a 20℉ quilt that lives up to the rating. It isn't the cheapest, but it is quite a bit less expensive than most of the models in the review and still made from high-quality materials and craftsmanship and offering top-notch performance. For those that want a solid, customizable quilt, this is an excellent option. If the price isn't within your budget, our other Best Buy Award winner, the Hammock Gear Burrow Econ 20, is a real bargain with more modest, but sufficient for most, performance.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Enlightened Equipment Revelation 20 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  | | |||
| Price | $320 List | $409 List | $389 List $429.00 at Feathered Friends | $299.89 at Amazon Compare at 3 sellers | $200 List |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Pros | Very affordable, highly customizable, versatile, lots of features | Warm for an ultralight bag, simple and versatile design, box baffle construction, waterproof stuff sack | Super simple and light, highest quality down, spacious and comfortable | Super lightweight, water-resistant down, nice fabric | Very inexpensive, versatile, good feature set |
| Cons | Long wait for product to be custom made and shipped, foot box draw cord still leaves a little hole, lots of buttons and straps | A little constricting, small foot box, not the best neck draw cord design | No zipper, hard to tell the difference between variable fill zones, must be paired with warm jacket, feet can get hot in warmer weather, not as versatile as other ultralight bags | Could use a second attachment strap, snap sometimes comes undone | Not as warm as similar quilts, doesn't seal at the bottom very well |
| Bottom Line | Offers the versatility of sleeping under it as a blanket or fully wrapped up, with a huge range of customizable options | A top-scoring bag that's warm and versatile enough for full three-season use, while weighing impressively little | A lightweight, variable fill, hoodless mummy without a zipper, designed to be used for alpine climbing in conjunction with a belay parka | A comfortable and lightweight quilt for summer hiking | A quilt with good features at an unbeatable price |
| Rating Categories | Enlightened Equipme... | ZPacks Classic | Feathered Friends V... | Therm-a-Rest Vesper 32 | Hammock Gear Econom... |
| Warmth (30%) | |||||
| Weight (25%) | |||||
| Comfort (20%) | |||||
| Versatility (15%) | |||||
| Features (10%) | |||||
| Specs | Enlightened Equipme... | ZPacks Classic | Feathered Friends V... | Therm-a-Rest Vesper 32 | Hammock Gear Econom... |
| Manufacturer Stated Temperature Rating | 20F | 20F | 25F lower half, 45F upper half | 32F | 20F |
| Measured weight, bag only (ounces) | 20.9 oz | 20.3 oz | 16.4 oz | 15.0 oz | 25.0 oz |
| Stuffed Size | 7" x 12" | 6" x 12" | 7" x 10" | 5" x 6" | 6" x 10" |
| Stuff Sack Weight | 0.6 oz | 0.9 oz | 0.8 oz | 1.7 oz | 0.6 oz |
| Manufacturer Claimed Weight | 20.2 oz | 19.8 oz | 16.7 oz | 15.0 oz | 22.2 oz |
| Fill Weight | 13.0 oz | 13.1 oz | 9.4 oz | 9.0 oz | 13.2 oz |
| Shell Material | 10D nylon fabric | 0.70 oz/sqyd (23.7 g/m2) Ventum Ripstop Nylon w/ DWR | Pertex Endurance UL | 10D nylon ripstop | 20D nylon taffeta |
| Fill Power | 850 Downtek | 900 fill | 950+ goose down | 900 fill | 800 fill duck down |
| Style | Quilt | Hoodless mummy | Hoodless, zipperless mummy | Quilt | Quilt |
| Construction | U-shaped baffled quilt | Vertical upper baffles and horizontal lower baffles, box baffle construction | No hood, no zipper and a variable fill | No hood, no zipper | Box baffle consruction |
| Shoulder Girth | 55" | 61" | 64" | 58" | 55" |
| Hip Girth | 55" | 61" | 48" | 51" | 50" |
| Foot Girth | 55" | 35" | 38" | 38" | 45" |
| Zipper Length | 1/3-length at bottom | 3/4-length | No zipper | No zipper | 1/3-length at bottom |
| Sizes | Short/regular, regular/regular, regular/wide/ long/wide | Slim, standard, and broad (girth) short, medium, long, x-long and xx-long (length) | 62", 68", and 74" | Regular, long | Short, standard, long, wide-short, wide-standard, wide-long |
| Temp Options (degrees Fahrenheit) | 10, 20, 30, 40F | 10, 20, 30, 40F | 25, 45F | 32, 20F | 0, 10, 20, 30, 40F |
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Our Analysis and Test Results
Performance Comparison
Alan hanging out in the Revelation 20 in The Barracks of southwestern Utah.
Credit: 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.
If you like the Revelation, but want to cut down the ounces, consider the very similar Enlightened Equipment Enigma 20. The Enigma is basically the same quilt but with a sewn foot box, saving about three ounces by eliminating the zipper, lower drawcord, and two buttons. We prefer to keep the few ounces for the versatility of turning the Revelation into a blanket, which the Enigma can't do.
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.
Credit: 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.
Credit: 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.
Credit: 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.
Credit: 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
The Revelation is very customizable, from fabrics of a burly 20D to a lightweight 7D, temperature rations from 50℉ to 0℉, different sizes, and up to a 950 fill power down.
—
Ethan Newman
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