To answer your question...
Tim is the owner of Enlightened Equipment and they use Karo Step for their Revolt underquilts.
https://enlightenedequipment.com/revolt/
It's a nice way to build a quilt with only one chamber to fill and as Tim mentioned... got a lot of attention among gram weenies on BPL to shave baffle weight.
I think EE is one of, if not the best, quilt makers around. The baffle patter on the Revelation is fairly revolutionary and one of the most efficient.
But I have to say that the karo step as and underquilt is a disappointing bust.
Perhaps if one did two chambers at each edge, with a Karo Step in the middle of the quilt it might do better.
Perhaps the simple fact that EE uses this design over the karo step for it's top quilts is enough of a clue that for various reasons it didn't pan out long term.
I think George's chevron baffles are very interesting as well, especially in high fill power, high temp applications.
I agree with Mad777 that the karo can be nice for a lower loft/low temp design.
I think that if you look up some of my 'overstuff insight' threads or other mentions you might find some math explaining it if you wanted... but it's hard to say.
There is no hard fast rule on baffle designs and it's always a balance of shell weight, labor costs, difficulty to fill, and temp rating. If in doubt... a decent way to figure it is look at what most are doing and figure they are doing a good enough job at it seeing as they are still in business.
Bookmarks