Sleeping Bag Help

i have the same north face bighorn bag. for the money, i have no complaints...it's a good bag!


fmajor007 said:
i've found compression sacks to add a bit too much weight and can be spendy
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i just received my kifaru compression stuff sacks - it's very lightweight but spendy (as are ul gear in general). https://kifaru.net/stuffsack.html. i'll update my woobie/doobie review in the coming days.
 
Those are neat. I hadn't seen them before. Keep in mind that you can kill the loft of any bag, synthetic or down, by overcompression, but particularly by storing it compressed. I would hope we all store our bags in a large, loose breathable bag. This was one of the bigest turn-offs to me of the Slumberjack bags I saw in a store. They were packed and displayed compressed. The Marmot bag I bought off of eBay last year took nearly a week of hanging to reach it's full loft after I received it from the seller (a used bag). Likewise it takes several hours now to loft during a trip and I am sure it has never reached it's as-manufactured potential.
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I am anal about how I store my gear. The wife cant understand why I WON'T just keep my stuff the garage. I have a new down bag coming and I am trying to figure out how to store it so it laid out full length. Under the bed wont work because of the dog. Do you think its better to fold it in half and hang or in a lose stuff sack?
 
Me? I hung the Marmot on a very heavy suit coathanger from a hook in my livingroom ceiling trying to get it to loft. But I store them very losely stuffed into a cotton or mesh bag. My North Face Cat's Meow in it's bag is about 14x24" and the Marmot is 14x20". Best, IMHO, would be hanging full length in a closet or cabinet. I must tell you though that I am no expert. I was able though to keep a down bag in good shape from 1974 thru 2007 when it was stolen. If I had a garage, a couple of full height prefab closets would work well enough if they had air circulation but were rodent and insect proof.
 
NevadaExplorer said:
I am anal about how I store my gear. The wife cant understand why I WON'T just keep my stuff the garage. I have a new down bag coming and I am trying to figure out how to store it so it laid out full length. Under the bed wont work because of the dog. Do you think its better to fold it in half and hang or in a lose stuff sack?
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I'm not an expert, but the best way i've learned to store a down sleeping bag is, uncompressed, in the cotton storage sack they come with. Hanging them over a board/door/whatever puts stress on the stretchy, "no-see-'um" nylon baffles used to contain the down fibers. I store my bags inside the house, in the cotton sack and they still loft like the day i bought 'em (2 are 15 years old the other is 8 years old).

I personally spoke with a Western Mountaineering Senior Tech and thats how he told me he stores *his* bags. Good enough for him, good enough for me.
 
I also store mine in the loose cotton bag that came with the sleeping bag. My understanding is that's the cotton bags purpose. I have kept down bags hung for three seasons only to find that they settled towards the feet of the bag. As far as compression sacks go, I used to use the GI version similar to the one in post #77, but it was almost as bulky as the sleeping bag itself. I also use a heavy duty yard waste plastic bag and have done so for three years now. You know the old adage......Ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain.
 
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JV3 said:
i have the same north face bighorn bag. for the money, i have no complaints...it's a good bag!




i just received my kifaru compression stuff sacks - it's very lightweight but spendy (as are ul gear in general). https://kifaru.net/stuffsack.html. i'll update my woobie/doobie review in the coming days.
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Good to know brother. I like those Kifaru compression sacks.

I have another question, do you right handed people like right zip, or left zip? Why?
 
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My last TNF bag was a right zip since I am right handed. Sounds logical? Not. I got a left zip when I replaced it. My arm won't fold up tight enough to use a right zip comfortably. Left zip I just reach across.
 
Codger_64 said:
My last TNF bag was a right zip since I am right handed. Sounds logical? Not. I got a left zip when I replaced it. My arm won't fold up tight enough to use a right zip comfortably. Left zip I just reach across.
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I was talking to the guy at the store that sold it to me, and he said he always used left hand zip, and was right handed. He said the same thing, that it was easier to reach across. I'm kinda big, and that made sense to me. I bought the left hand zip. I did read that if you sleep on your left hand side, better to get a right hand zip, or else you would be laying on the zipper. Seems like this wouldn't matter much, if you're using a pad.
 
I use an insulated air pad, but I also roll in the bag somewhat so the zipper isn't under me. Regardless though, it should be covered with the draft tube and not be that obtrusive.
 
The Warrior said:
I was talking to the guy at the store that sold it to me, and he said he always used left hand zip, and was right handed. He said the same thing, that it was easier to reach across. I'm kinda big, and that made sense to me. I bought the left hand zip. I did read that if you sleep on your left hand side, better to get a right hand zip, or else you would be laying on the zipper. Seems like this wouldn't matter much, if you're using a pad.
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i'm a lefty and bought a left zip and regret it. also, i sleep on my right side more often than on my left and if i don't zip up fully then my back is exposed. if it was right zip then i can just grab it like a blanket to re-adjust every time i tossed around...my next bag will be a right zip for sure.
 
I'm a righty and bought a right zip because the zip on my bivy is right zip and I imagine it would be awkward to work a lefty zip inside the bivy. I generally do see it recommended to get a zip opposite of your dominant hand, but I can reach across and work the zip with my left hand pretty well.
 
6shooter said:
I generally do see it recommended to get a zip opposite of your dominant hand, but I can reach across and work the zip with my left hand pretty well.
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Same here, I can unzip with my left fairly well.
 
DevilsKnob said:
Who sells this? I didn't see it at Campmor.
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Just Google "Compression Sack for Modular Sleep System". Should be able to find them.
 
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