Howdy,

I wish I has more experience and could give you many examples of what works what doesn't but I cant, I am a hammock newbie. But what I can share is how I selected the gear I am waiting on to be delivered. When it comes to gear, my life literally depends on it to stay alive in a worst case weather situations, I tend to chose highly rated gear I only need to buy once. I have lived long enough to learn buying cheap or buying "get me by gear" means cold nights or heavy packs resulting in having to purchase the same thing again sooner that later. Regarding the quilts. I looked at a lot of manufactures and quickly narrowed it down to the cottage variety. Very high quality, similar features that meet specific backpacking needs and made in the USA. I chose HammockGear quite simply because of their recent Easter sale. The 15% off and the 4 week lead time was the difference. Like I said, all the cottage makers are producing very high quality gear, I doubt you can go wrong with any of them. Send them emails, they are all very helpful.

I went with a wide 20degree wide top quilt with a sewn footbox. Simply because it will meet most of my spring and fall needs and can be doubled up to go lower and vented to go higher. I also love to have my feet outside of my sleeping bag so for me, I am confident the cinch footbox will be great for me. I am sure I will get a 40degree setup someday but I only had so much of budget. As we all know, this gear is not cheap. But I intend to sleep as comfortable as I can and survive all situations. Also, I chose wide because I know I will be going ground packing with friends on occasion and needed a versatile quilt.

I hope this helps a bit, sorry I don't have more actual field experience but stay tuned for that.