Originally Posted by
J.C. Koto
Wow, thanks a lot for all the great replies!
The reason I asked is because I took a one-nighter and borrowed a friend's 30*F down bag that was left in its compression sack for who knows how long. It seemed to take quite a while of "fluffing" the bag to get the loft back, and despite this, I was still pretty cold that night (it got right to 30*F). My feet really got pretty cold, but I think that since the bag was pretty long, there was too much circulating air space in the foot box. A jacket stuffed down there solved that, plus kept the jacket nice and toasty for when I got up.
I did like the fact that the bag was about the size of a football in its sack, and weighed next to nothing. I am a little dubious about the temperature ratings -- I think I would have been cozy at about 40*F rather than the 30*F the bag was rated for.
I think I'll consider some other options. Thanks again
sounds like your friends bag was tired and compressed for too long. When I bummed about 30yrs ago I took a down bag because synthetics were too bulky but waking up in a leaky cheap tent with wet feet wasn't the fault of the down. Thereafter all my bike camping was in relatively warm temps and synthetics got better so my subsequent bags were all synthetic. Recently I bought a sub 2lb down bag before a short tour and was blown away by how cozy it was and the baffling was better than my old bags.
I think I got the 30degree bag.
http://www.montbell.us/products/list.php?cat_id=28