Down sleeping bags
From Troop 63 Gear Reviews
Of the twelve sleeping bags we possess, five are goose down. Down sleeping bags are superior to all but perhaps the latest synthetic bags when it comes to their light weight, efficiency at insulating, and compressibility. However, down bags are not always the best choice for every adventure – get them wet and you’re in for a miserable night. Even if you manage to dry a down bag after a soaking using the sun or wind, the loft (the amount of air trapped between the down itself, which is what traps body heat and in turn keeps you warm) would be somewhat compromised until the bag could be tumble dried. The Northern Tier trip this past July was an excellent opportunity to compare performance of three of our down bags: Feathered Friends, Swallow; Sierra Designs, Rampart Ridge; and the North Face, Chrysalis. All three bags are mummy-style bags in long, rated to 15° with full-length, two-way zippers.
The Feathered Friends, Swallow, is a 700 fill bag with gortex laminated to ripstop nylon exterior and a nylon taffeta interior. The gortex/ripstop nylon exterior made this the heaviest of the three bags (we’re talking about ounces, not pounds here). The gortex, however, made this the driest bag in the mornings after the breath from the three of us had condensed on the interior of the tent and sleeping bags. It also did not pick up dampness from the tent corners or seams on rainy nights. It survived a mini-hail storm beautifully when it was the last piece of gear hastily thrown into our tent. And, while it felt… different… that night, worked just as well at keeping the inhabitant warm and dry even though it was discovered in the early morning light to have been slept in inside out. This bag took some work to restore loft after having been in a compression stuff sack all day though. The draw cord on the hood has a sizeable cord lock which was somewhat annoying as well. This is a no-frills bag other than the full-length, two-way zipper. It does not have a zipper tube, draft collar, etc., like newer bags. However, Feathered Friends (based in Seattle, WA) is a custom sleeping bag manufacturer who has kept pace with the latest trends in sleeping bags and offers most of the bells and whistles found on off-the-shelf bags.
The Sierra Designs, Rampart Ridge, is a 600 fill bag with an ultra light-weight, micro-ripstop nylon taffeta exterior and a Tactel interior. This was by far the lightest of the three bags. The ultra light fabrics used both inside and outside the bag proved too fragile for hard use though; twice over the 14 days we needed to empty the tent of the tumbleweed-like clouds of down which were working their way through the fabric and seams. While this bag has pad straps – two narrow straps sewn into the side seams which you can run your sleeping pad through to ensure the bag doesn’t creep off the pad – we chose not to utilize this feature on the trip. One of the straps had torn free of the side seam on a previous trip, requiring re-stitching of the seam. This was a simple enough fix , but not one we wanted to revisit. This bag performed beautifully when removed from the compression stuff sack and shaken out to re-establish loft. The silky Tactel interior felt nothing but luxurious at the end of the day. While it tended to pick up dampness easily on rainy nights, it also dried extremely quickly when thrown over a line or tree branch. It had a plethora of niceties including a small, zippered pocket about chest-height in which to stow a watch or bandanna for the night.
The North Face, Chrysalis, is a 600 fill bag with a water-resistant, mini-ripstop nylon exterior and nylon taffeta interior. The water-resistant, mini-ripstop nylon used on the exterior of this bag, was, well, slippery. This coupled with the lack of a pad sleeve or straps found us re-establishing inhabitant and bag back on the sleeping pad at some point most nights. Across the board though, this bag performed extremely well. Restoring loft out of a compression sack was quick and easy. The bag seemed to warm superfast when crawled into at night – no waiting until the chill had worn off. North Face has added stiffeners to the zipper tube in this bag which made for easy, one-hand operation of the zipper. One of the coolest features was the hood opening which could be drawn down to just a blowhole on the nights we could see our breath. While this bag picked up dampness from the corners of the tent on rainy nights, the dampness did not spread to the rest of the bag while compressed in the stuff sack during the day. Once in camp for the evening, the foot box dried fairly quickly and insulated against cold feet without a hitch.
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The Good
The Sierra Designs bag was amazing, almost seeming to self-fluff, when removed from the compression stuff sack and gently shaken out. The North Face bag, while somewhat challenging in sloped tent sites due to the slipperiness of the exterior fabric, by the same token, did not accumulate dirt, leaves, squashed mosquitoes, etc.
The Bad
The Feathered Friends bag developed more of a funk, perhaps due to the heavier gortex exterior (or perhaps due to a stinkier body being put in it each night…). The Sierra Designs bag, while incredibly light and extremely comfortable, will not be a bag that survives years of hard, three-season use.
The Verdict
Despite the three sleeping bags being vastly different as far as materials, they each performed well: We were warm and dry all 14 nights even though many of them were cold or stormy. The North Face bag required the least amount of TLC during the trip – no issues with bleeding down, no drawn-out lofting required.
Down bags tend to be more expensive than all but the newest synthetic bags. They are however, an excellent investment if you spend any appreciable amount of time sleeping in the wild, particularly if your camping covers more than one season. Backpacker magazine publishes an outstanding gear review every year in their March issue. In the 2009 edition they offered the following advice on how to “fit” a sleeping bag.
1. Try before you buy. Crawl into as many bags as you can, wearing appropriate layers, to get an overall idea of the way each brand fits. 2. Integrate the pad. If a bag has a pad sleeve, rig it that way in the store. A pad sleeve will reduce the bag’s interior volume. 3. Check the closures. Zip it up, down, and up again. If a zipper snags now, it will in the field. Cinch down the hood and draft collar. Check for a comfortable fit, a snug seal around your head, no scratchy Velcro rubbing against your check, and ease of exit. 4. Roll around. If you’re a cold sleeper or cold-weather camper, opt for a fit on the snug side. But, if you’re a thrasher or side sleeper, make sure you are able to comfortably rotate your body.
The only caveat to the Backpacker gear review is that they test only the latest, greatest, updatest stuff. We have found if you become knowledgeable about a particular sleeping bag via the gear review, but can wait to actually purchase the bag until the fall or, better yet, the following spring, great deals abound. The North Face Chrysalis reviewed above, was awarded Editor’s Choice Best Value the year it first hit the market. We actually purchased the bag some 18 months later when we saw it in the clearance section of the Campmor catalog, at a screaming deal.
REI (they have Michigan stores in Ann Arbor, Northville, and Troy) is an excellent point of purchase for gear. If you purchase a sleeping bag there (whether it’s an REI bag or other manufacturer doesn’t matter) and, after using it for one night or an entire trip, you determine you don’t like the bag for some reason, they will refund your money. There are some no-brainer criteria to this guarantee, such as not having taken a knife to the bag, not having spilled something on it, not gotten too close to the fire, etc. REI also hosts what they call Garage Sale four times a year. This is where you can purchase gear that someone else purchased, used for that one night or entire trip, and returned to the store for a refund. Some things will be discounted to unbelievable prices, others only slightly cheaper than new. Garage Sale is a great opportunity to purchase gear you may have on your wish list, with the potential for huge savings. However, go with a critical eye, purchases made at Garage Sale are final.
One additional bit of wisdom we can offer to those with growing scouts: Buy a sleeping bag that will fit your son when he has finished growing. Granted this is a guessing game to some degree. However, it allows you/your son to think in terms of a one-time purchase of an excellent sleeping bag. The bag may be too long right now, but your scout can cinch the bag with a boot lace or stuff the foot end with extra clothing to minimize the tendency toward cold feet until he grows into it.
References
- Review by Barbara Y. of Troop 63
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