OK, I’m alive. When I went to bed it was about 23°. Got into the cold bag (KUIU) and it warmed up nicely. To note, my pillows a little too big to go full mummy mode on either bag. I can’t pull in the face opening all the way tight, so keep that in mind as that can affect the temp rating. Although, to be clear there were no drafts that I could feel coming into the bag. I just may have been able to retain heat a little bit better with the bags closed around my face.
Also, if you followed my bag tests last year, I am a cold sleeper, most people sleep warmer than I do, so keep that in mind.
By about 3 AM it dropped into the teens and my thighs started to get cold. I turned on my side and curled up a little bit thinking that would warm me up, but it didn’t. I slipped on my lightweight FL Obsidians but was still chilled on my thighs an hour later (rest of me—torso, head, feet—were fine).
So I decided it was a good time to jump in the Western Mountaineering Badger, and see if it did any better. It did not.
In the temp department, it was a virtual tie between the two bags and I was only able to get to 19°. No I wasn’t freezing by any means, just at the point of discomfort. If I would’ve pulled a jacket into the bag and covered my thighs, I would’ve been just fine. My feet were NOT cold. But I’m obviously nearing the limit of the bags in these conditions for a cold sleeper.
To note, I’d eaten lentil soup at 530 PM but didn’t go to bed till 1230, so pretty much an empty stomach. This affects temp ratings for most people with hunger lending to less heat generated.
A note on conditions, we had high winds all night, with gusts in the 30s. (In fact most of the schools are closed today.) You can see above the wind chill was -2° and was rarely below 20mph
That certainly played into the warmth of the tent, as the wind comes up underneath the fly, and creates a draft in the tent that wouldn’t normally be there.
Hoping on the next night I get to test there’s no wind and the temperatures are similar and I’ll see if it makes any difference.
Also, I was sleeping on my Exped Megamat Lite MW. It’s R-value is 5.3 and rated for -4°, but from what I understand, air pads are not as warm as sleeping with no air underneath you, like on the ground or in a cot with a foam mattress. So that will be my next test on the night we have these same temperatures.
For my size, 180 lbs, 5’9”, the KUIU fits a little snugger, as in a good way. The Western Mountaineering bag had more room, and a little more dead airspace to fill. I’ll edit this post to reflect the actual bag sizes as soon as I can, but whatever they are, they were ordered for my size and they fit me.
The draft collar on on the KUIU is really easy to use although I never snapped it up because it almost doesn’t need it. I struggled with the zipper a little bit more on the KUIU , only because the draft flap gets in the way a little bit as you’re zipping it up and down. Just takes a little more learning to use, and it has a tag on it so that I was able to grip with gloves.
With the Western Mountaineering bag, there’s no tag so you have to feel around on the zipper until you get a hold of the metal tab, but it zips up and down very smoothly and doesn’t snag easily. I did not test the draft collar on this bag, simply because I got into it in the dark and didn’t really have a chance to figure out how to best use it. However, the bag seals up nicely around the neck just the way it was.
As mentioned, my pillow may be impeding the best use of both these bags, so I’ll consider that on the next test.
And if anyone cares, the KUIU is a better looking bag overall.
So I have some test parameters I need to work on next night out as described above.
I’ll also make sure I go into full mummy mode on the next night of testing.
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I would bet the Kuiu does fine. But the badger is the only one with untreated down. Guess we will see if treaded down is overrated or not. Good stuff ROBO.
