Synthetic bag question’s

[gostovp]

Anyone use a high quality synthetic bag on your backpack hunts? Simply for the fact of cooking yourself dry at night…
I know all the advantages of down over synthetic (warm, longevity, packability,etc) and I own a WM AlpinLite bag which I really like, but after a few days of crawling in it damp at night I can tell the bag is losing loft and maybe feeling somewhat ‘damp’ ( WM bags do not use treated down )

Thoughts and experiences?

 

[Macchina]

I've tried many synthetic bags, Big Agnes and Marmot seemed to be the best but they sit collecting dust. There is simply no comparison to down even when camping out of your truck. When backpacking, down is magnitudes better.

My 20° Marmot synthetic bag is the only one I'd use down to freezing and it takes up half of my backpack compressed. I would much sooner bring 2 down bags than 1 synthetic bag if it was anywhere near freezing.

The only application I've found where synthetic works is in the dead of summer when I can use one of those ultralight cheap synthetic 60° (I think I would die if it actually got to 60°) bags basically as a pad cover and wrap up when I get chilly at 2am. This system works well because I'm not compressing down when I sleep completely on top of it. Even then, I'm more likely to bring a light down quilt.

Have you considered using a nice down quilt? They can be completely opened up during the day to dry and without the down underneath you there's a lot less to get wet. When you get warm in one, venting is a lot easier to prevent sweating.

Having said all that, I've never wetted out a down bag in a week of hunting, even when it's mostly rain. We're really careful about our bags during the day, but we often camp in a tippee so we deal with a lot of condensation from the exposed ground. Maybe you're doing something that is wetting out your bag? Are you drying your clothes or boots in it at night?

 

[gostovp]

Thanks for the feedback. I wonder if my clothes are a bit damp at night? I usually try to just sleep in my bad layers. Wonder if my pad is ‘to warm’ … I use an Exped Ultra 7R ( down filled pad rated to R7)

 

[Clovis]

A few thoughts--modern high end down bags seem to shed moisture really well. I always try to find time to air out the bag if I can and set it out in the sun opened up. It has never been a problem for me and I feel like I have experienced the "cook yourself dry" phenomenon in a good down bag. I don't know about seriously and constantly wet environments, but barring that, if you are bearing down hard on performance and weight it is hard for down to not win in most circumstances. That said, I spent years using a Sierra Designs synthetic bag for everything from couch surfing to backcountry and still break it out every once in a while for a trip twenty years later and still love that sleeping bag. It doesn't seem to have lost a lot of loft either, not sure why, it has been used plenty.

 

[rayporter]

i try to air out my bag daily. 10 minutes of sun does wonders.

on an 8 day moose float it rained for 5 days. i was starting to feel the moisture in my marmot down bag. when the sun tried to peek through we pulled over and had every bush covered with bags and clothes.

 

[mrbillbrown]

I used a Kifaru Slick bag for years with zero regrets. Synthetic wouldn't wet out, lose ability to keep me warm when wet, dry out my damp clothes, etc. The Slick bag also has a shell that's tough as nails. Never feared dragging it across the ground in the tipi, sitting on it without a ground sheet, it would tear and id lose all my insulation, etc. The only "negative" was a bulky size and additional weight over a down bag. Wanting to go smaller and lighter in my pack....I switched to a WM Badger. Zero regrets with it so far; however, I feel I need to care for it way more than my trusty, indestructible, Slick Bag.