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After testing the updated version of Rumpl’s Original Puffy Blanket , we found it to be as insulating as the previous model.

A warm but lightweight blanket can be the key to a cozy fireside cuddle or surviving the sidelines of a Little League game. After spending 40 hours researching and testing 13 puffy blankets outdoors, analyzing them with an outdoor insulation guru in his workshop, crashing a series of outdoor movie nights, and stress testing at a local laundromat, we think the Rumpl Down Puffy is best for keeping you cozy.

This blanket offers the greatest warmth and durability for the lowest relative weight, price, and size.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $160.

Packing water-repellent and sustainably sourced down in a soft yet durable nylon shell, the Rumpl Down Puffy wards off the cold better for its price than the competition, so you can stay warm outside for longer. It’s primed to last through adventures better than many other puffy blankets, too: It survived four rounds in the washing machine without a snag (and dried within an hour), and was notably stain resistant to dirt, dew, and even coffee.

A slightly heavier and stiffer blanket, but for less money and with more style options.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $100.

The Rumpl Original Puffy is enhanced with many of the same smart details that give the Down Puffy its resilience to the elements, like a nylon shell that’s densely knit yet breathable and quick-drying. Its durable water-resistant coating prevents the residue of camping trips from coming home with you. Inside, the Original Puffy depends on synthetic polyester fill for insulation, which adds weight and bulk and makes the blanket stiffer and slightly less warm-feeling. (But it’s also less expensive than its down-stuffed sibling.)

This blanket offers fewer durability features and less insulation than our top pick but still wears great.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $30.

The Kelty Bestie Blanket doesn’t pack as much insulation or as many outdoor-oriented features as our top pick. But it still sports a tough-enough shell and has one of the best stitch patterns of any blanket I tested, at a fraction of the cost of the top pick.

This blanket offers the greatest warmth and durability for the lowest relative weight, price, and size.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $160.

A slightly heavier and stiffer blanket, but for less money and with more style options.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $100.

This blanket offers fewer durability features and less insulation than our top pick but still wears great.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $30.

I spent 40 hours researching different models of puffy blankets, their history, and their construction for this guide. I visited All About Down, the workshop of Jack Sukalac—a veteran down expert who has made and repaired down comforters and sleeping bags for more than 40 years—where he analyzed each of the blankets tested for this guide and shared insights into what makes a great outdoor blanket.

To get the other half of the insulation story, I reached out to Primaloft—a manufacturer of synthetic fill—and interviewed their director of engineering & technology Vanessa Mason. I also interviewed REI buyer Tracy Collins—the senior merchandising manager for the co-op’s camping department—to learn about how people are using puffy blankets and what they should expect to spend on a good one. I also spoke and/or emailed with designers, product managers, and other employees representing each product tested for this guide.

The case for a puffy blanket comes down not to a matter of need, but quality of life. When you’re reading a book outside and the sun passes behind the clouds, you could wrap yourself in that crunchy emergency space blanket stashed in the trunk of your car, the chenille throw that used to live on your couch, or you could burrito yourself in something that will neither detract from the experience or get damaged: a wicking, stain-resistant, ripstop nylon, puffy blanket for lounging around in nature.

The case for a puffy blanket comes down not to a matter of need, but quality of life.

Puffy blankets as we know them are relatively new additions to the outdoor scene, but people have attempted to stay toasty with insulated blankets while recreating outside for at least a century. Terry Young, a professor of anthropology and geography at California State Polytechnic and author of Heading Out: A History of American Camping, told me via email that while early adventurers didn’t use puffy blankets per se, they availed themselves of similar things as early as 1917. That’s when celebrated travel writer Horace Kephart mentioned ‘eiderdown’ sleeping bags in his seminal book, Woodcraft.

“It seems to me that these would have been feather bags, but I’m not sure,” Young says. “Mostly [Kephart was] in favor of layers of blankets (wool) fastened together.” Before that, backpackers slept on blanket rolls made of wool, a less insulative but still durable and water-resistant material—and wool sleeping bags. “But these were sheepskins with the wool left on them,” Young says. “They may have been warm, but they couldn’t have been very light.”

Half a century later, after experts like Jack Sukalac began making custom down sleeping bags for everyone from wildlife photographers to geologists to QVC announcers with dreams of hitchhiking to Polar Bear Country (true story), designers looked at their insulated, nylon sleeping bags and realized they might hold value outside of sleeping.

What companies making puffy blankets offer that so many people find compelling is an improvement in an object that many people—not just the hardcore backpacker—are more likely to use regularly. “The demographic is more of a social camper (age agnostic) or customer who wants some small creature comforts of home to enhance their [outdoor] experience,” says REI’s Tracy Collins. In my research, I’ve come across people using puffy blankets as everything from an extra layer in a hammock to a comforter on their bed at home.

Blankets insulated with down or synthetic fill and given repellent treatments not only pack down smaller than blankets traditionally used outside, but also wash well, dry quickly, fight staining and odors, and offer more warmth for their weight. Wearing an insulated camp blanket, you can feel comfortable in a wider range of temperatures in conditions, with more room in your bag for other camp or travel essentials.

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In my initial scan of blankets that could possibly be considered ‘puffy,’ I started with 65 models, and looked at them for the criteria below. Ultimately, I found 13 blankets were worth considering in my tests.

Weight: A good insulated blanket shouldn’t weigh more than a few pounds. A good sleeping bag might weigh shy of 10 pounds, but the average puffy blanket I considered was slightly more than two pounds.

Size: The blankets I considered range from 50 by 70 inches (the previous dimension of Rumpl’s now-discontinued ‘throw size’, or big enough for a 6-foot adult) to 80 by 72 inches. Ultimately, I found the smaller size is plenty big enough for hanging around.

Customer service: I considered blankets primarily made by companies with easily accessible customer service and strong warranties. The blankets I considered came with warranties that lasted anywhere from a year to a lifetime; if they were made by a small company, I made sure the manufacturers were responsive to notes sent via email and social media.

Price: I looked at blankets ranging in cost from $20 to $320 that provided the most promising features in their price ranges.

Comfort: Just because these bags can withstand the elements best doesn’t mean they aren’t meant for comfort first and foremost. I looked through dozens of Amazon and manufacturer website reviews for each bag to see whether there were any glaring impressions of the fabric (scratchy, lumpy, etc.) and removed them from consideration. As a result of being ripstop nylon, some of the blankets I tested are relatively slippery. You need to consciously keep them on your shoulders if you wear them standing up, more than with blankets made from softer, grippier materials like brushed fleece or wool. Some of my test models came with features meant to make this easier, like toggles, snaps, and hand pockets—also making it possible to use your hands while wearing the blanket, which some people might appreciate. For blankets that are downproof—as in, they keep down from leaking out of the bag—breathability becomes a concern. No one wants to feel sticky in their blanket, so I looked for blankets that were marketed as breathable and had online reviews that spoke to that.

Machine washable and dryer-safe: It’s important for an outdoor blanket to be able to handle stress and be cleaned of grime easily—there will be no kid gloves in the backcountry. I eliminated all blankets that are hand-wash only, though many people I spoke with for this guide heavily stress the benefits of handwashing (easier to spot-clean, better prevents insulation from clumping up or falling apart). Of all your blankets, your camp/travel blanket is probably the one that will go through the most—and cleaned the least. I looked for blankets with anti-microbial odor-resistant treatments and shells that were stain-resistant or could be easily spot-cleaned.

Durable design: Depending on how often you get your blanket dirty, how often you pack and unpack it, and how much you move around while using it, your blanket is going to be stressed. A strong stitch pattern will help keep the insulation in place and be less likely to come loose itself. When Sukalac makes down sleeping bags, he likes to stitch in 14- or 16-inch squares. That way, you’re more likely to sew with the grain of the fabric.

“Whenever I see curvatures [in stitching], they’re aesthetically trying to make it look more appealing. But there's the potential for these things to snap. You're putting a strain on the bias of the stitching to keep it in shape,” Sukalac says. I narrowed my final picks down with help from this insight, but decided to test blankets with various stitch patterns to see how they held up to my tests.

DWR: A durable water repellent (DWR) treatment is a bonus feature in outdoor blankets that feels more and more like a necessity. “It's going to last longer and give you more wind resistance, and it’ll function better over time,” Sukalac says. “And you need a certain amount of [DWR] to be down-proof,” i.e., to keep your down from leaking through the blanket shell. The most effective DWR treatments—which help water bead off of the shell and keep out of the fill fibers more easily, so they don’t seep into the blanket—are ones that coat the fill and shell threads before they’re woven into the blanket, rather than added as an external coating. “A typical DWR coating, it should not come off,” Sukalac says. I gave preference to blankets that came with this treatment, though some of my budget contenders do not have one.

Packability: One of the main selling points for an outdoor puffy blanket is its packability and ability to withstand being packed and unpacked. Size is important, but not to the point where a square inch will make the difference between models—you’re not using these blankets for thru-hiking, after all. The most packable blankets are ones used with stuff sacks, so I chose to test blankets that came with their own dedicated sack.

As with many products meant to keep you warm outdoors, most puffy blankets rely on synthetic fill. The schism between down and synthetic diehards is fraught and storied, with disagreement about the relative merits of each. In the case of puffy blankets, though, we’re talking about high-performance benefits in a low-intensity product: You’re not going to be taking these blankets to the top of Rainier and counting on marginal gains to keep you functioning. Even so, I wanted to pin down the best fill for your needs (and money).

Down, derived from the plumage (or plumules, if you’re fancy) of waterfowl like ducks and geese, is the most insulating fabric found in nature, meaning you can stay warm with less bulk and weight relative to synthetics. Because of its loft—how much quilted pockets of down in the blanket inflate as they capture hot air—down can feel plusher and cushier than synthetic counterparts. This is especially true for down with high fill power—how warm the down can keep you relative to its weight, based on how much hot air one ounce of down can capture (measured in cubic inches per ounce). The lightest, fluffiest, and most expensive down reaches up to 900 fill power; in this test, I looked at down models ranging from 600 to 750 fill power. Because it can capture lots of heat with little material and compress well, down blankets are incredibly packable.

The biggest issues people have with down are that it’s generally more expensive than synthetic down, it doesn’t insulate well when wet, and it doesn’t dry quickly. Because of this, I looked at down models with hydrophobic down—down treated to stay warm when wet, dry fast, and handle many rounds in the washing machine. Expert Jack Sukalac has some reservations about hydrophobic down because he says some of the treatments only last one or two wash cycles, and some companies use sketchy chemicals in the treatments; to better prevent against these problems, I picked models from companies that source sustainable down given more environmentally friendly treatments, like DownTek (used in the Kammok Firebelly) and Allied Feather (used in the Rumpl Down Puffy).

Synthetic down, usually made from polyester, has historically been heavier, bulkier, and quicker to wear out than bird down—but it’s cheaper, keeps you warm when you get wet, and dries more quickly than untreated down. It’s also liable to smell fresher for longer, because it lacks the naturally occurring oil in bird down. Some people prefer synthetic fill because it’s hypoallergenic—but “that’s a completely made up word by people in the industry to just imply that it's washed well,” Sukalac says. People aren’t allergic to down, but rather dust left in down that hasn’t been cleaned enough, he says.

Synthetic down has improved in warmth-to-weight ratio in recent years. “While the gap in thermal properties is closing fast, there is still room for improvement from the synthetic side,” PrimaLoft’s Vanessa Mason says.

According to Jack Sukalac, the synthetic insulation most likely to hold up to regular use is made up of continuously spun filaments; it’s more expensive, but because it’s one long piece, it can withstand being pulled in multiple directions and gives blankets more structure for less stitching. The less stitching you need, the more loft you get, and the more heat you can trap. Most of the blankets Sukalac and I examined were packed with less durable, looser polyester batting (like you’d see in a chair cushion). It’s not as sturdy, and because it can be pulled apart, it's more likely to fail in the washing machine.

I elected to test both synthetic and down blankets—not only for due diligence, but also because for conditions in which you’d opt for a puffy blanket, you’re not going to be deciding between down and synthetic blankets separated by five or 10 pounds on the scale. The amount of insulation you need is slim enough that weight savings aren’t the biggest determiner of value.

I was able to narrow the scope considerably by eliminating blankets primarily meant for sleeping—for instance, sleeping bags that could unzip into puffy blankets; blankets tailored for use in hammocks; or camp quilts, which are effectively less structured sleeping bags.

“[You’re] not buying a sleeping bag replacement” when you purchase a puffy blanket, Rumpl Co-Founder and CEO Wylie Robinson said on a phone call. “I would not recommend using a Rumpl as a sleeping bag in 30 degree-or-colder temperatures… I definitely wouldn't want someone to think that they could go out in like a snow camping situation with a Rumpl and be safe.”

What if you use one of these blankets for that purpose? “You may have one of the most unpleasant nights of your life, but you won't die,” Sukalac later told me while looking at the blankets in his shop.

Upon receiving the blankets, I measured and weighed them to see if they held true to manufacturer specs (all did, within an inch or ounce using a tape measure and aging kitchen scale respectively). I sat around on my porch at night in each of them to get familiar with their ‘bonus features’—the snaps, toggles, velcro pockets, and hand pockets—and determine whether I liked how they felt outright.

I pitted the blankets against each other at outdoor movie nights hosted by Seattle brewery Peddler Brewing. I went to two of the movie nights: first with just the four thinnest and least expensive models (which fit in two bike panniers all together) in late August with two other testers; and then with all of the blankets and six other testers in late September, after the brewery had turned on its outdoor heat lamps but with the temperature still in the 40s and 50s. (I also brought my REI uninsulated camp blanket as a control). Throughout the two-hour evenings, testers responded to prompts in my test journal (“How long did it take for you to feel warm? Is it pleasant to touch? Is the insulation evenly distributed? Does it stay on you easily or slip off? Do its bonus features extend its use without compromising its functionality as a blanket?” etc.), packed and unpacked the blankets to rate how easy the process was, ate and drank while trying to keep the blankets on their shoulders and food off the blankets, and sat on benches and cold concrete.

At the end of the second outdoor movie night, testers selected blankets they thought would be most packable and competed to see who could put them away the fastest. The winning time: 20 seconds, with the slowest still under a minute. (Ultimately, all of the blankets very compressible: They fit together in a 20-by-20 cardboard box when I shipped them to our main office in L.A.)

Easy maintenance is a huge selling point in outdoor goods, so I made sure to evaluate how well these blankets stood up to the washing machine. I went to Fremont Clean Express Laundromat at 7:30 on a Sunday morning, when I assumed monopolizing the commercial front-loading washers would be less intrusive. To the concern of onlookers without context, I poured a half-ounce of my Americano on each of the 12 blankets whose care tags specifically mention washing machines, let the coffee sit for a minute, and then sent the blankets through four consecutive cycles—the first on warm, to reflect what might happen if people didn’t follow directions, and the next three on cold, as manufacturers suggested on their care tags.

After completing $80 and 2½ hours of laundry service, I stuffed the wet blankets in a plastic bin. Because I didn’t have enough space to hang-dry 12 blankets, I drove them up to Green Lake, a large lake in the middle of Seattle’s northern neighborhoods. About half an hour after leaving the laundromat, I laid all of the blankets out in direct sunlight (on a 55-degree day) on the edge of the docks, and started a timer. At Jack Sukalac’s suggestion, I analyzed how well the baffles, stitching, and insulation appeared to have held up to the washing machine while waiting for the blankets to dry.

Apart from the Winterial blanket, all of the blankets were still firmly intact and already half-dry. About half an hour into drying, some of the blankets were dry enough to start rippling in the breeze. After an hour, I enlisted the help of four teenage boys hanging around the docks to determine which blankets were driest. The boys and I both thought the Lightspeed and Kelty blankets were the most dry, though all but the Winterial were at least 90 percent dry.

Smell test Upon returning home from Green Lake, I left the mostly-dry blankets in the plastic bin to reflect what would happen if I didn’t treat the blankets with utmost care. The next day, I unloaded all of the blankets and evaluated them for dampness and odor through touch and smell.

To my surprise, some of the blankets were more damp than they’d been the day before—with one of the blankets still holding visible beads of water on top. I left all of the blankets out on my front porch and lawn for an hour to fully dry out. The bin smelled faintly like a public gym that had been wiped down with ocean water, but on their own, none of the blankets smelled offensively.

This blanket offers the greatest warmth and durability for the lowest relative weight, price, and size.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $160.

After testing, I found that the Rumpl Down Puffy blanket in the one-person size is best for most people. It offers the most competitive warmth-to-weight-to-price ratio of all the blankets I considered in a sturdy, packable, and comfortable design.

I also found that it packs down to half the size of its synthetic counterpart and easily fit in a tote bag.

The blanket gains warmth from high-loft, 600-fill down that my testers felt insulates better than all of the synthetic blankets I considered. It is sewn into a tough shell treated to repel liquid and stains. The baffles are sewn in tight squares that contain the down and keep it in place, but still let it puff up enough to capture heat and don’t create noticeably cold spots. It’s finished with a thick piped edge that absorbed wear when I dragged the blanket along the ground.

Our testers universally enjoyed the Down Puffy for its plush texture and loose drape—an industry term for how a blanket hangs. It conformed to and stayed on people’s shoulders well despite its slick downproof construction. I also found that it packs down to half the size of its synthetic counterpart—about the size of a spaghetti squash—and easily fit in a tote bag. When I reviewed my test journal after outdoor movie nights, there were lots of smiley faces accompanying notes on this blanket.

My testers appreciated small exterior details like the sheen and color of the fabric that complement its performance qualities. It also comes in a roll-top stuff sack that keeps out water and doubles as a carry handle; most other stuff sacks use drawstrings.

Although $150 might feel steep for a blanket you’ll use around dirt and wet grass, I feel confident recommending this model: It comes with a one-year warranty and is manufactured by a company devoted entirely to one product category.

The Down Puffy is the best puffy blanket option, but not a perfect product. After using some of the other blanket options, I found myself wanting smart functional details like snaps to keep the blanket in place around my shoulders, or a softer, suede-like finish. When I tried to see if it could double as a throw blanket indoors, it gripped well to a microfiber couch, but slid off sateen bedding. Additionally, it smelled slightly more in the sniff test than its synthetic counterpart, though not offensively.

A slightly heavier and stiffer blanket, but for less money and with more style options.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $100.

The Rumpl Original Puffy is slightly stiffer, less packable, less breathable, and an entire pound heavier than its down equivalent, but it offers many of the same smart details that give the Down Puffy its resilience to the elements and attractive looks. Plus, it still weighs less than the majority of the competition, with better durability. It dried more quickly than the Down Puffy, and comes in a wider range of colors.

Packed in the same ripstop nylon shell, the Rumpl Puffy blanket fends off stains and liquids as well as my top pick. Since we originally tested, Rumpl has updated its synthetic fill to recycled material, which is still bulkier and takes slightly longer to capture heat than down. This fill, though, is constructed as a continuously spun filament—the one kind of synthetic fill construction that insulation expert Jack Sukalec deems good enough to use in his personal synthetic sleeping bag. This gives the blanket more structure and durability, but also means it doesn’t drape as well as my top pick over testers’ bodies or pack down as small as the down version (in its drawstring stuff sack, it’s about the size of a household fire extinguisher). Some testers also found the shell too slippery.

The intricate, flowing stitch pattern mitigates stiffness by creating more places for the blanket to fold, but potentially at the cost of long-term wear; Sukalac stresses that curved stitching creates unnecessary tension at seams. After using, stuffing, and unstuffing the blanket for weeks and washing it four times, I found that it looked great except for one loosening stitch near the end of a line of stitching, and its manufacturer tag somehow sheared clean off. The down fill and shell itself, however, were in great condition.

The blanket is quick-drying, for the most part: During the smell test the day after the wash test, my hand got cold if I pressed it into the blanket for a long time; the exterior was completely dry, but the insulation was still slightly damp.

At a lower price, the Original Puffy performs practically as well as the top pick while compromising somewhat on comfort. It is a great buy.

This blanket offers fewer durability features and less insulation than our top pick but still wears great.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $30.

Made with taffeta instead of nylon—giving it a slightly looser, more breathable weave—and a thin layer of proprietary synthetic fill, the Kelty Bestie Blanket won’t keep you nearly as warm as my top pick in cold, wet, or windy conditions. It’s also eight inches narrower than my top pick, which some taller users found issue with.

However, it dries more quickly than any other blanket I tested—after a day of sitting at the bottom of a pile of almost-dry blankets, it was still totally dry. It also relies on a square stitch pattern experts say best prevents seam tears in insulated blankets.

It’s finished with a thin fabric edge that may be more susceptible to wear, which I plan to watch for in long-term testing. It also comes quilted on one side with a very soft, suede-like polyester that helps the blanket stay on your shoulders better than most other blankets I tested, but that isn’t water- or stain-resistant.

Experts say a square stitch pattern best prevents seam tears in insulated blankets.

If you don’t plan on using your blanket very often, or in cold conditions—or you just want a blanket you don’t want to feel guilty about staining—the Kelty Bestie is the most reasonable blanket to buy. It also comes in an array of colors and designs, though not as many as Rumpl’s Original Puffy.

Testers found that the Winterial Goose Down Camping Blanket 1-Person was soft and warmed them up more quickly than anything else—sometimes annoyingly so, because it wasn’t as breathable as other options. However, it failed in terms of durability. Upon first use, it came out of its stuff sack crinkly and lumpy; its down was clumpy and soggy after one cycle in the washing machine, and it never bounced back after that.

One of only a few products from a relatively new brand, I'm excited about Kawartha Base Camp Blanket. It wasn’t the warmest or softest blanket I tested, but it offers a decent amount of utility that I've found really enhances an outdoor blanket. But I'm worried about its durability; one of its seams came loose after the wash test. Its stuff sack was also unimpressive: The cord used to compress the blanket fell out after one use.

If you’re ready to invest in the lightest, most tank-like outdoor blanket you can find—with a lifetime warranty—the Kammok Firebelly is the best-priced option. Not only does the Firebelly utilize DownTek—one of the lightest, most water-resistant down fills on the market—but it packages it in a sturdy ripstop-nylon shell sewn with heat-reflective threading and cold spot-eliminating baffles. However, I felt the Firebelly didn’t provide that much more warmth or durability for its price relative to my top pick; and its extra outdoor-friendly features aren’t essential for most people. The blanket also comes in a slightly thinner shell than the Down Puffy (15 denier to 20 denier), and some testers found its fabric crinkly and loud; one went so far as to call it ‘garbage bag-like.’

Taller testers raved about the big, quirky L.L.Bean Traverse 3-in-1 Camp Quilt. It’s definitely not the best for most people: There’s a giant hole for your head in the middle of it, so that it can be worn as a short-sleeve poncho. I found this feature to be of huge value while eating, but that the arms could have been a lot shorter. The placement of the hole on one side of the blanket also meant that it didn’t hang evenly; either your back or front is mostly uncovered at any given time. (It also meant that for testers of average height, the blanket dragged on the ground when they stood up). It’s the only blanket to have insulation stitched to both sides, which impressed Sukalac in terms of durability, but this limits its ability to puff up and capture heat: It wasn’t the warmest option. It also didn’t dry as quickly as other blankets, and smelled a bit more.

The Double Black Diamond Packable Down Throw was a seriously strong contender for my budget pick. A pair costs $40 at Costco. But it doesn’t insulate as well as the other blankets in the test—it’s incredibly light, without using much fill—and it’s not treated to be moisture- or stain-resistant. It’s stitched in small squares like Sukalac recommends for longevity, but unfortunately, it’s not downproof: Over the course of testing, I picked off more than 20 loose feathers that spilled out of the blanket. Our budget pick, the Kelty Bestie, is only a few dollars more and much more durable.

For a blanket of this price intended for the outdoors, I want to see more performance features in the Western Mountaineering Cloud 9 Comforter. The comforter is the lightest, fluffiest, and warmest blanket I tested, offering the most luxurious experience (its name is fitting), but its shell wasn’t given any moisture- or stain-resistant benefits. My anxiety about putting an expensive blanket in harm’s way far surpassed my joy about being snug and warm. I ultimately decided against attempting to even wash the blanket because the manufacturer’s directions were so complicated. I later learned from a Western Mountaineering product manager that I could wash it in a front-loading washer if I had to, and intend to do so for an update to this guide.

The Nemo Puffin is just as warm and heavy as my runner-up pick, but comes at the cost of comfort: It feel starchier and stiffer than other blankets and takes longer to warm up, and while it dried quickly, it retained smells slightly more than other blanket. Where it falls short in durability is its stitch pattern: It doesn’t use a continuously spun fiber like my runner-up pick, and I'm watching its curved stitching over long-term testing to see if any of the threads come out.

The Lightspeed Outdoors Sundown Camp Quilt “has the stay-put-ability of a Snuggie without making me look like a dork,” one friend told me. It was also incredibly easy to pack and unpack, and tied for ‘fastest drying’ with my budget pick. However, it was slightly larger packed down than the runner-up pick; and less warm and durable than the top pick. The blanket is quilted on one side, with the other side open like a parachute: It can inflate to capture air, but at the risk of catching snags, or allowing the loose synthetic fill to move around. It also lost more stitches than any other blanket I considered. It was damp to the hand a day after going through the washing machine, though not visibly.

Larger and heavier than my top pick but just as packable, the Snugpak Jungle Blanket performs great for a third of the price. However, like the Sundown Camp Quilt, it’s only quilted on one side, with a gauzy parachute layer left to billow out around looser synthetic fill. Some felt this helped the blanket fit better to their bodies, but it also made the blanket feel bulky and more difficult to manage.

REI introduced its own performance puffy blanket, the Co-Op Camp Throw, which is larger and lighter than the Rumpl Original Puffy but packs down smaller, has a DWR coating, and is made in a square-stitch pattern from recycled materials.

We also plan to check out the Rumpl blankets that have been released since our original testing, including the Sherpa Puffy Blanket.

Jack Sukalac, down comforter designer and repairman at All About Down, interview, September 27, 2017

Wylie Robinson, co-founder of Rumpl, phone interview, September 7, 2017

Vanessa Mason, director of engineering & technology at Primaloft, email interview, October 6, 2017

Tracy Collins, camp department senior merchandising manager at REI, email interview, August 22, 2017

Down Vs. Synthetic Guide, Sierra Trading Post

Kelly Bastone, Rumpl Gives Guys a Way to Get Cozy, Outside, May 4, 2015

What’s Up With Down, QBP, May 1, 2016

Ian Saukerson, How to Take Care of Your Sleeping Bag, Backcountry, March 27, 2014

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