Rumpl Blanket Review: The Original Puffy Blanket for Travel & Camping

Going on camping trips growing up, I remember my parents always bringing along an old forest green REI fleece blanket. That blanket went through a lot over the years: from picnics on dirt trails to serving as protection in hail storms to having holes burned by campfire embers.

Technology, materials, and design have progressed a lot since that blanket was made, but I have a lot of memories associated with that blanket. It seemed to always be there on every adventure.

A good outdoor blanket needs to be warm, packable, durable, and easy to keep clean. The Rumpl Original Puffy Blanket was designed to use modern technical materials and construction from the outdoor gear industry to make the ultimate everyday blanket.

For this gear review, I took this puffy blanket along on my adventures to put it to the test. From snowshoeing and casual ski touring in the Wasatch Mountain Range to winter camping in red rock deserts, I really put it through its paces.

This Rumpl Blanket review will give you my honest opinion on this puffy blanket based on real-world use. I’ll help you understand what it’s good at, what it’s not good at, and whether it would be a good purchase for your next outdoor adventure.

My first impression, pulling the blanket out of its bag, was smooth. The sleek woven polyester face fabric is silky and almost frictionless to the touch. It feels a lot like the fabric from a modern down sleeping bag, which makes sense because these puffy blankets are meant to incorporate materials from high-performance outdoor gear.

The blanket came nicely rolled up in its dedicated stuff sack. I love that the sack has the same design on it as the full blanket. One thing to note is that you’ll never get it back in as nicely rolled up as it came in the package. I’ve found it’s way easier to just stuff it right in the sack and not worry about folding or rolling it at all.

Rumpl was built on the idea of bringing the technical materials and designs of outdoor gear into a blanket for everyday adventures. They say the idea started when their founders ended up stranded in their van during a ski and surf trip and had to bundle up in their sleeping bags until help arrived.

This experience sparked the idea of a “sleeping bag blanket” that uses high-performance materials from outdoor gear in a design that’s optimized for everyday use.

Founded in 2014, Rumpl is on a mission to introduce the world to better blankets by incorporating high-performance materials and innovative design. The Rumpl Original Puffy Blanket is their best-selling product.

One thing I like about this brand is their commitment to sustainability and reducing their environmental impact and carbon footprint. Outdoor gear is often produced in ways that are detrimental to the beautiful places we love to explore. More and more brands are starting to recognize that irony and are changing the way they do business to reduce waste and improve transparency.

Rumpl donates 1% of all their revenue (not profit) to environmental non-profits. In 2019 they also revamped their entire product line to use 100% recycled materials.

When considering the performance of the Original Puffy Blanket, I think it’s important to keep in mind its intended use. This blanket is designed to use technical materials to make a functional everyday blanket that’s optimized for outdoor use.

It’s not an ultra-plush throw blanket to keep on your couch at home. At the same time, it’s not an ultralight backpacking quilt to take far into the backcountry. It’s somewhere in between and is best for more casual outdoor use.

I’ve found that it’s a great keep-in-the-car blanket so it’s always ready for picnics, car camping, outdoor concerts, or just as an extra layer on cold morning drives.

Materials

The outer shell of this blanket is made from 30-denier ripstop polyester. Both sides of the blanket are made from this same material. It is very similar to the fabric you’d find in most modern sleeping bags. It is thin, smooth, and quite lightweight.

Inside the shell, the Rumpl Original Puffy Blanket uses a hollow-fiber synthetic insulation for warmth. Synthetic insulation is definitely not as lightweight or packable as down, but it works better if it gets wet and is less expensive. If you really want the lightweight performance of down fill, Rumpl does have a down puffy blanket at twice the cost.

Both the outer shell and the insulation are made with post-consumer recycled materials. Rumpl says that the one-person blanket is made with 60 water bottles, while the two-person size uses 100. I try to buy only products made from recycled or sustainable materials, and it’s great to see that in this blanket.

Aesthetic

One of my favorite features of the Rumpl Original Puffy Blanket is the wide range of colors and designs you can choose from. Seriously, you can spend a lot of time scrolling through all the awesome designs.

It’s super easy to get a blanket that matches your style, whether you want a unique piece of artwork, a loud design that stands out from the crowd, or a more understated solid color.

I personally have a one-person size blanket with the Zion National Park design, which features a full print of an artist’s rendition of Zion Canyon on one side. As a Utah native, it feels like a piece of home wherever I go.

Warmth

I’ve been testing this blanket during winter in northern Utah, and most of its use has come during snowshoeing and ski touring outings in the Wasatch mountains. I’ve never brought a blanket into the mountains during winter before, and I’ve loved being able to lay this out on the snow so I can kick back and take off my boots to enjoy lunch and a hot beverage.

I’ve been impressed at how well this blanket works at providing some insulation from the snow (or cold ground) underneath you.

For sleeping outdoors, this lightweight blanket definitely won’t replace a full sleeping bag for camping at high altitudes or during cooler weather, but it’s enough to keep you warm on a summer camping trip.

Comfort

Overall, I would recommend this blanket in terms of comfort. It feels smooth on your skin and is very lightweight. No, it’s not an uber-soft minky throw blanket, but that would defeat the purpose. Fluffy blankets attract dirt and would become nasty pretty quickly from outdoor use.

I personally like the sleek, smooth texture of the sleeping-bag-like fabric, but it can start to feel sticky if I’m too warm. Some people may find it too slippery or plasticky for their preference for at-home use.

Durability

I’ve been using the Original Puffy Blanket for a few months now. That isn’t long enough to have a lot of feedback on long-term durability, but I have put it through some serious use to see how it holds up.

The 30-denier ripstop polyester fabric is very smooth and does a great job of avoiding snags on rocks or bushes. It is thin and lightweight, but it doesn’t show any signs of wear yet and has proven to be a surprisingly durable fabric. I tend to be hard on gear, and I’ve used this as a picnic blanket on all sorts of rough, rocky surfaces, so that’s a promising start.

Some things to watch out for are campfire sparks, cactus spines, and the temptation to use this blanket as an impromptu sled. The thin fabric is definitely not bombproof and will tear if it gets caught on something sharp. If you can avoid those dangers, I think this camping blanket will last a long time.

If you ever do get a hole in it, a piece of Tenacious Tape will patch it up no problem.

I love that Rumpl has taken a product as simple as a puffy blanket and really paid attention to every detail of the design to make it as functional and user-friendly as possible. This is something I expect from high-end technical adventure gear, and it’s great to see that carry over to something for everyday use.

Cape Clip

The most innovative feature of this camping blanket is the cape clip that can secure the blanket around you while keeping your hands free. This is great for wrapping up and getting cozy while cooking meals or just hanging out on chilly evenings during a camping trip.

Here’s how it works. On one long edge of the blanket, you have two different attachment points: a piece of webbing with two small buckles and a small webbing loop. You drape the blanket over your shoulders, feed one of the buckles through the loop, and then clip the buckles together.

Once you get it situated, this setup works really well. With the blanket clipped around your shoulders, you have your hands free to cook breakfast, sip a mug of coffee, or stoke a campfire.

DWR Coating

The outer shell of this puffy blanket has a  DWR treatment (durable water-repellant coating). To be clear, the Rumpl puffy blanket is not completely waterproof. The DWR treatment helps it shed some water from splashes or short exposure to rain (it will keep you dry running from your tent to your car), but if you lay it down in a puddle, it will soak through.

The smooth polyester fabric and DWR treatment also make it stain resistant and easy to clean. If you get the blanket dirty, it’s pretty easy to brush or wipe off anything from trail dust to pet hair.

Corner Loops

At all four corners of the blanket, there are small paracord loops sewn into the edging. Rumpl says that these are so you can stake down the corners of your blanket. At first I thought this was just a gimmick, but on a recent trip I had to run after the blanket when a gust of wind tugged it across a frozen lake, so now I’m reconsidering.

Am I going to bring a set of tent stakes with me on every picnic from now on? Probably not, but I do appreciate the attention paid to the design.

Rumpl offers the Original Puffy Blanket in three different sizes: junior, one-person, and two-person.

Size

I’ve found the one-person size to be very versatile about perfect for most activities. Two people can easily sit or lay on top of it, and it wraps fully around one person to help you stay warm.

One thing to note is that while these puffy blankets do pack into their own stuff sack, they don’t pack as small as I expected. If you are taking one on a hike, you should expect it to take up most of the room in your backpack.

Weight

At 2.1 lbs, the one-person blanket is quite lightweight and won’t weigh you down on a day hike. It’s definitely heavier than ultralight down sleeping bags and quilts though. You can also buy the down version, which delivers almost a pound of weight savings (though it’s much more expensive).

If you are looking for a sleeping quilt to take backpacking, I’d recommend finding something lighter and more packable like an ultralight quilt.