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Coleman Cloudcroft 40 Degree Down Mummy
Bag
Long Term Report November 26, 2006
Tester's Information
Name: Liz Neely
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Height: 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight: 145 lb (65.8 kg)
Email address: liz at armory dot com
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Tester's Background
I've been day hiking for many years, and started backpacking in 2005.
My hiking and backpacking has been primarily in the San Francisco Bay
Area of California, on designated trails, with occasional stream
crossings. My backpacking
trips have ranged in length from two to four days and have all been in
state and national parks in the San Francisco Bay area. The
temperatures I encounter range from 25 F (4 C) to 80 F (27 C), the
elevations are between sea level and 7500 ft (2286 m), and my pack
weight is between 28 to 36 lbs (13 to 16 kg).
Product Information
Manufacturer: Coleman
Year of Manufacture: 2006
URL: http://www.coleman.com
Note that weights and
measurements below are for size Regular.
Listed Weight: hangtag says 2 lbs 1 oz (936 g);
Coleman website says 2 lbs 2 oz
(964 g); Coleman press release says 2 lbs 3 oz (992 g)
Measured Weight: sleeping bag: 2 lbs 2 oz (964 g);
stuff sack: 1.75 oz
(50 g)
Listed Size: packed: 6 x 14 in (15 x 36 cm);
unpacked: 31 x 80 in (79 x
203 cm)
Measure Size: packed: 6 x 14 in (15 x 36 cm);
unpacked: 30 x 80 in (76
x 203 cm) at the shoulders, which is the widest section
Insulation Type: Gray Goose Down
Temperature Rating: 40 F (4 C)
Available Colors: I believe this only comes in one color, which is
orange on the top side, black on the bottom side, and gray inside.
MSRP: $120 (from Coleman press release)
Other options available: this bag is also available with temperature
ratings of 20 F (-7
C) and 0 F (-18 C). According to the press release, a Long version
of this bag will also be available, although I don't see that on
Coleman's website.
Washing Instructions: 1. Send to a cleaner experienced in down
products. Should not be dry cleaned. Solvents in dry cleaning can strip
the natural oils from the down. 2. To machine wash: use only an
over-sized commercial, front-loading washing machine. Never use an
agitator style machine. 3. Use a mild soap and wash on gentle cycle in
cold water. Rinse multiple times to ensure all soap residue is removed.
4. Drip-dry or tumble dry at very low heat setting. Sleeping bag cover
and liner can melt if exposed to high heat. It may take several hours
for the bag to completely dry. Check your bag throughout the drying
process. 5. Never steam, press or iron the bag.
Product Description
This is a goose down filled mummy style sleeping bag, which is rated as
being appropriate in temperatures down to 40 F (4 C). This sleeping bag
has the following features:
- 310 Invista Tactel® nylon cover and liner material
- Tactel nylon has a tight enough weave that no additional
coating (i.e. weight) is needed to make the fabric down proof.
- Tactel nylon is water and wind resistant.
- Tactel nylon feels nice to the touch.
- Warmth-retention features
- Goose down (600 fill power) has a high warmth to weight ratio.
- Fully sculpted hood naturally covers more of the head for
better heat retention.
- Full-length insulated draft tubes keep warm air in and cold air
out.
- Baffle box construction allows the down to fully loft, yet
keeps it from shifting.
- Side-block baffle keeps the down from shifting from the top of
the bag to the bottom.
- Insulated zipper gussets minimize heat loss at the zipper base.
- Ground-level side seams keep warm air in and cold air out.
- Which One draw cords for easy hood adjustment: there are two draw
cords, one adjusts the top of the hood and the other adjusts the lower
portion of the hood. The two cords are colored and shaped differently
so they can be differentiated even in the dark.
- Trapezoidal foot section is angled to allow for the foot's
natural position during sleep.
- Full length, double slider, locking zipper for ventilation;
zipper guard to prevent snags
- Interior utility pocket
- Small nylon stuff sack and 100 percent cotton storage bag are
both included.
- Foot loops are on the bottom outside of the bag for an
alternative long-term storage option.
Initial Impressions
To read about my initial impressions of this sleeping bag, please read
my Initial
Report.
Impressions after two months of field testing
To read about my impressions of this sleeping bag after two months of
field testing, please ready my Field
Report.
Field Information
For detailed descriptions of my experiences with this sleeping bag
during the first two months of testing, please read my Field
Report.
Since writing my field report, I have used the Coleman Cloudcroft 40
Degree Down Mummy Bag on two backpacking trips.
The first backpacking trip was a two day/one night trip at Portola
Redwoods State Park, CA. The elevations were between 400 to 1000 ft
(122 to 305 m) and the temperatures were between 52 to 76 F (11 to 24
C).
The second backpacking trip was a two day/one night trip at Henry Coe
State Park, CA. The elevations were between 1500 to 2900 ft (457 to 884
m) and the temperatures were between 43 to 70 F (6 to 21 C).
Summary of feelings about this sleeping bag after four months of
field
testing
My opinions about this sleeping bag have not changed since my Field
Report. It still remains comfortable and warm enough in the
temperatures for which it's rated. There are two things that I did not
report on in my field report, and those are how the bag performs when
damp on the outside, and how easy or difficult it is to wash and dry.
During my most recent backpacking trip it was pretty cold outside, so
we closed up all the vents in the tent, which caused the inside of the
tent to become
covered with condensation. When I felt the outside of my sleeping bag
in the morning, it was very damp/wet. I'm happy to report that this did
not affect the
performance of the sleeping bag at all. The moisture remained on the
outside surface of the bag and the inside remained dry and warm, and
the bag remained as puffy as always.
This sleeping bag didn't really need a washing after four months of
use, because I always put on clean socks and pajamas before getting
into my sleeping bag. But,
for the purposes of a complete test, I washed and dried it anyway. I
washed it in a large front-loading commercial washing machine, as
specified in the care instructions. Since the instructions indicated it
could take several hours to dry, I took it home wet from the laundromat
and dried it in my large home dryer, on the lowest heat setting. I had
heard and read that when washing a down sleeping bag, a tennis
ball should be put in the dryer with it to break up lumps of down. My
original
plan was to include a tennis ball when drying the bag. However, upon
further thought, I decided a better test would be to follow the care
instructions recommended by Coleman. They didn't mention a tennis ball
in the care instructions, so I called customer service to ask them
about the tennis ball. They said there was no need to put a tennis ball
in the dryer with it, so I didn't.
When the sleeping bag came out of the washing machine, it had a slight
odor to it, similar to the odor fabric gets if it's left damp for too
many days. This concerned me, but I hoped it would go away once dry. I
took it home and put it in the dryer, and checked it about every thirty
minutes to see how it was doing. For about the first hour and a half, I
could tell it was still wet inside because it wasn't puffing up fully
and it also continued to have the odor to it. But after a couple hours,
it was puffy and the odor was gone. I had trouble determining if it was
fully dry inside; since the lining is water resistant, I couldn't feel
whether the feathers were still damp. I took it out of the dryer and
laid it out and found that there were still some sections that did not
appear to be as puffy as they should be, so I continued to dry it for
another hour. After three hours total, I took it out, examined it, and
decided it appeared puffy everywhere so it was probably dry. I checked
each section to see how it fared the washing. What I found was that, in
a few sections, the down had moved around and was no longer evenly
distributed. I gave the bag some good hard shakes in the direction I
wanted the down to distribute, and that resolved the problem. I also
felt all around for lumps in the down, and didn't find any, so I guess
a tennis ball is not needed when drying this bag. I examined the bag
carefully for loose stitching, tears, and any other damage due to
washing it. I found 3 stray small feathers, but, other than that, I
found no damage.
Conclusion
This is a great sleeping bag, and I recommend it to anyone looking for
a lightweight, comfortable, mummy-style sleeping bag for use in
temperatures down to 40 F (4 C). If the temperatures are expected to
drop below 40 F (4 C), I recommend bringing extra layers of pajamas. I
believe the manufacturer is accurate with their temperature rating of
40 F (4 C) so I don't think this sleeping bag should be used when
temperatures are expected to be significantly lower than 40 F (4 C). I
will continue to use this sleeping bag year-round, and only plan to use
a different sleeping bag when I expect temperatures to drop well below
40 F (4 C).
Thank you to BackpackGearTest.org
and Coleman for giving me the
opportunity
to test the Coleman Cloudcroft 40 Degree Down Mummy Bag.
Read more reviews of Coleman gear
Read more gear reviews by Liz Neely
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